8 Simple Rules for Dating my Teenage Daughter.... OOPs wrong forum
8 Simple Rules for Derailing a Thread
1. Call someone a troll, baiter or some derogatory name.
2. Totally disagree in a condescending manner with any and all posts that contain an opinion that is not in agreement with the majority, or the minority.
3. Question the intelligence of a poster.
4. Type your entire post in CAPS to emphasize how right your opinion is.
5. Make a grand production of the benefits of using of the ignore button.
6. Ask a poster what rock were they born under, or what planet they come from.
7. Belittle a post for any reason.
8. If all else fails, SNARK, SNARK, SNARK, SNARK.
Obviously, I am joking, and since I do believe we have a wonderful opportunity to improve the quality of my favorite forum, which is the Caylee forum, I will post my personal rules, that I try to abide by
8 Simple Rules for Spirited Debate (and avoiding the ray-gun)
1. Avoid the use of numbers 1 through 8 above.
2. Be nice, polite, and respectful, even when you feel a poster is not being nice, polite, or respectful in return. Keep you nose clean, and let the mods deal with unruly posters.
3. If you state something as fact, be prepared to prove it, or just refrain from posting something as fact.
4. Try to understand opposing opinions. We are all different, and we all have opinions, and not everyone is going to agree with our opinion.
5. When a certain thread is hot, and emotionally charged, give the thread a little time to cool.
6. Respectfully agree to disagree when the debate becomes circular.
7. Occasionally, when a thread becomes, volatile, a joke can break the tension (provided one doesn't use a poster as the butt of that joke).
8. If the blood pressure is rising, that may a good time to log off, have a cup of something calming, and watch a rerun of Friends.
The 8 rules for derailing a thread are a great way to get yourself a timeout, or get yourself banned. There are at least a couple of posters (by their own admission) including myself who have been guilty of breaking rule number 8. We are all human, and occasionally frustration wins out, and a wee little bit of snark slips through
I really do try very hard not to allow myself to indulge in 1 - 8 rules for derailing a thread. On the other hand, I do try very hard to follow my 8 rules for a spirited debate.
I hope I am not sounding preachy (if there is such a word), and I am absolutely not trying to tell anyone what to do here, I am simply sharing the rules I personally try to follow, to avoid the ever present ray-gun. One other thing I do, when I believe something is a fact, and someone points me to a link that proves that fact is incorrect, I will admit I am wrong. I freely admitted to being wrong on this forum both times it happened to me............ok, maybe it was a little more than two times LOL. Seriously, though, I am not afraid to admit I am wrong, and I have eaten my share of crow.
It is obvious from the posts in this thread, that many are concerned about the post verdict trend that has caused our wonderful moderators to start this thread. The name of the thread "It's getting old" should be a wake up call to us all.
I hope we can all agree to make an effort to follow the suggestions Beach and Salem made in the first two posts in this thread. I can only speak for myself, but I will be making an effort to follow those suggestions.