October 6, 2005

Change In Comments Policy

Hatched by Dafydd

Due to the diligent efforts of a particular commenter to disrupt the dialog and drive away other commenters through sheer insufferable boorishness, I am forced to add a new rule to the Big Lizards Reptillian Comments Policy, which is now Rule 4:

Comments whose primary purpose is to derail, disrupt, or destroy the conversation, or to drive away other commenters, or to serve any similiar troll-like goal, will be deleted and the troll warned; subsequent violations -- or even a single violation for anyone on comments probation -- can result in permanent termination. The hosts are the sole judges. Squeals of "censorship" will be considered further abuse. While the hosts dislike having to institute this rule, we dislike even more seeing other commenters driven away by the abuse of the few (or in this case, the one). Reasoned dissent is welcome; verbal assaults and intimidation will not be tolerated.

Enforcement of the rule begins immediately for all comments subsequent to this announcement.

Examples of such abuse include but are not limited to repeated deliberately off-topic comments, endless epithets to describe those the commenter dislikes, and incessant use of circumlocutions to insult other commenters.

The comments section is for conversation and discussion -- not infantile game-playing to see how close the troll can come to violating specific commenting rules without technically crossing over the line.

Simply put, the line is no longer one pixel wide; it is now thirty pixels wide and fuzzy. All other commenters on this blog, including others who disagree with the hosts, have managed to stay well within the lines, making reasoned arguments for their side without stooping to trollish behavior. One commenter has not.

These are the new rules, for which I apologize. But necessity is the mother of restriction.

-- the Mgt.

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, October 6, 2005, at the time of 2:33 PM

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Comments

The following hissed in response by: Teafran

Good job - sometimes you gotta wonder about the nimrods who appear not to have a life and just want to disrupt things. I had thought most of them haunted Usenet - apparently not.

However, speaking of boring lives, when I read Posting Rule #4, "....we dislike even more seeing other commenters driven away by the abuse of the few (or in this case, the one)." I immediately thought of Bablyon Five and the classic Zathras line "You are The One and you are The One and you are the One".

Pretty sad huh? I really need to get a life.

The above hissed in response by: Teafran [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 6, 2005 3:03 PM

The following hissed in response by: Bill Faith

Bravo, good sir. The First Amendment says you can stand on any streetcorner in the country and say anything you feel like saying. It does NOT mean you can stand in my living room and mouth off, nor does it mean you can use my Comments area for that purpose. I'm glad to see you've made your stand on the subject so clear.

The above hissed in response by: Bill Faith [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 6, 2005 4:00 PM

The following hissed in response by: RiverRat

Bill Faith and Wilsonkolb,

Clearly you, err, gentlemen don't conprehend reasoned. I hope the Big Lizard will soon find a hole to bury both of you in.

BTW, there are some great on-line dictionaries available for the under-educated and under-socialized.

Bye now,

The above hissed in response by: RiverRat [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 6, 2005 4:33 PM

The following hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh

RiverRat:

I'm sorry, I think my comments-page structure misled you: both of the two comments directly above yours were by Wilson Kolb; Bill Faith posted the comment that begins "Bravo, good sir," and supports the new rule.

Bill Faith:

I suspect RiverRat confused Kolb's first comment with you; I'll try to figure out a way to make the connection between comment and name on the comments pages more clear. Sorry about that!

Dafydd

The above hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 6, 2005 5:02 PM

The following hissed in response by: steve sturm

At the risk of getting myself in trouble, I wonder why a certain commenter (cough..wilsonkolb...cough) assumes that Dafydd is talking about liberals when Dafyyd threatens to ban those engaged in "verbal assaults and intimidation"?

The above hissed in response by: steve sturm [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 6, 2005 5:04 PM

The following hissed in response by: RBMN

The reason that it's important to insist that people stay on topic, vaguely at least, is that when a troll just drops his big pile of disjointed false assertions--eight or ten at a time--then it's just too much work to correct all eight, or ten. Why even try? It drowns discussion. And the trolls don't give a damn about the truth anyway, so what's the point in correcting them? But, if they at least stay on topic, then there's some point in responding to what they're spewing today.

The above hissed in response by: RBMN [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 6, 2005 5:07 PM

The following hissed in response by: Athos

Kudos, Dafydd, for taking the time to try it one way, and then provide a cogent reason for the change in policy. It's not too improper to expect people to stay on topic, offer reasoned / cogent debate, and for people to be held accountable for when they cross the line you define for your 'house'.
-Athos

The above hissed in response by: Athos [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 6, 2005 5:58 PM

The following hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist

This isn't good news for humble me, especially on the heels of having spent yesterday at the Guinness Book of Records headquarters!?! It seems that i have been banned from more websites “since 1992” than any other human. i immediately threatened to sue anyone and anything that looked to be connected to the Guinness Book of Records...even remotely connected to them!!! However...however, it was made clear to humble me that the Guinness Book of Records’ Lawyers have quite a few facts on their side. Like timelines...like various websites...like i was the first to be banned by “YAHOO!”...like my banishment from the Ann Coulter website was only one day slower than my being banned from the Daily Kos website, and the banishment from Daily Kos was the fastest ever recorded (according to the Guinness Book of Records – my Attorney managed to have that one tossed out)...etcetera.

Big Lizards Management...allow me (a humble one) to speak in my Defense:

1) “disrupt the dialog” – i try to follow the dialog diligently here!!!
2) “sheer insufferable boorishness” – OK...guilty.
3) “drive away other commenters” – No way...check the records.
4) “troll-like goal” – Scheesh!!! Guinness needs to check on the record of whom has been called a “troll” the most often. Terrible Dualistic word, “troll”.
5) “verbal assaults” – No WAY!!! i have tried hard to avoid such here, especially after experiencing ‘Da Serpentine Curse!!!
6) “endless epithets” – i’ll take the Fifth on that one...
7) “incessant use of circumlocutions” – Yes, i have been circumcised, but have never bragged about it?!? i needed a reduction (still do), but am trying to correct that problem.

Clearly, humble Low and Ignorant Insane swamp hermit me ain’t the “particular commenter” that Dafydd has spoken of, in my opinion...so to speak in my own Defense.

KårmiÇømmünîs†

The above hissed in response by: KarmiCommunist [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 6, 2005 7:28 PM

The following hissed in response by: TVMANIAC

By all means, Dafydd, keep up the good work and don't take any crap.

The above hissed in response by: TVMANIAC [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 6, 2005 9:11 PM

The following hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh

One commenter has been banned and made an unperson.

Y'all can probably guess who....

Dafydd

The above hissed in response by: Dafydd ab Hugh [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 6, 2005 11:25 PM

The following hissed in response by: Mr. Hyde

Well said, gentlemen, and well acted. As I said in one of my previous comments, I'd have nuked the individual in question even earlier.

Thanks for elevating the level of the debate.

The above hissed in response by: Mr. Hyde [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 7, 2005 5:16 AM

The following hissed in response by: Linh_My

The problim with rule 4 is that it eliminates almost all seriously Left of center dissent. Asking them to be reasonable and thoughtful is cruel censorship.

The above hissed in response by: Linh_My [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 7, 2005 11:03 AM

The following hissed in response by: Bill M

"The problim with rule 4 is that it eliminates almost all seriously Left of center dissent. Asking them to be reasonable and thoughtful is cruel censorship.

Posted by: Linh_My at October 7, 2005 11:03 AM"

The ball arches gracefully through the air, descends sharply, and swishes firmly through the hoop. Nothing but net! Well said!

The above hissed in response by: Bill M [TypeKey Profile Page] at October 7, 2005 8:13 PM

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