Public Service Announcement
Wank has exploded on, like, all of the most recent entries in which I state the perfectly obvious.
Some of this has involved trolls, some of it has involved dumbasses, some of it has involved friends attacking friends. Almost all of it has involved people who both have perfectly valid points arguing with one another. Each party then reads the worst of the opposing point of view into the other party's words, and nothing but wank gets made.
I'm sick of this. Not the least because it causes me to lose time I should spend on other things policing a small percentage of y'all.
This is not, primarily, a political journal. This is a personal journal in which I write about things relevant to my interests. As such, all commenters are, essentially, guests in my home. I welcome comments and commenters, I welcome discussion and debate, I even welcome wit and sarcasm and scathing retorts, but I do not welcome drunken brawling in my kitchen.
Rather than kick all y'all out and not allow comments to certain entries, which would be stultifying, or not writing those entries at all, which would be cowardly and counterproductive, I'm instituting a new policy.
This must, sadly, apply to everyone, no matter how much I may cherish you for being a snarky bitch. I strongly dislike doing this. I despise being forced to step in and say to friends that they need to back down. It has, alas, come to that.
Therefore.
Know that I am the sole authority around here. I am a certified dictator. The only rule set in stone is that on this journal, what I say goes. This is my journal, my house, my show. The Morningstar Hall Carnivore Guild Philosophical Salon and Lunar Howling Society is my popsicle stand. I am the alpha and the omega, the first and last word. I decide when and how to apply the rules, and to whom. No list of rules will ever encompass all possible permutations of things that will piss me off. Therefore, the below is not to be considered the final list, but rather, a beginning.
To avoid friends fighting with friends, keep your exchanges civilized. Because I don't expect everyone to know who is a friend or a regular and who is not, and because anyone can occasionally say something right in a wrong way, I am now instituting a version of the three comment rule. Unless the person is a blatant and obvious troll, they get the benefit of the doubt. I'm sick of perfectly wonderful people getting taken apart at the seams by other perfectly wonderful people because of a misunderstanding or minor disagreement. Misdirected wank does nothing to encourage other people to comment, and has been destructive to conversation as a whole.
Don't make it personal. Disagreement and debate are fine. If it degenerates into personal insults and attacks, I will issue warnings, freeze threads, and ban, in that order. Yes. Even if you are my friend, and even if I haven't minded it until now. Sorry.
Ranting and swearing about things in comments here is fine. I do it in my posts all the time. Swearing at people, not just around them, is not okay. You may ask me or other commenters not to attack you personally. You may not tell me or anyone else not to swear at all, and if you're offended by being sworn near, and not at, tough fucking shit. We do not subscribe to bullshit notions of who may and may not employ foul language. More on that in a separate post. That said . . .
Watch it with racist or sexist language. That's got nothing to do with swearing, and everything to do with not feeding into negative cultural ideas about gender and race. If someone says something that pisses you off in this way, let them know about it politely. If someone calls you on it, respond politely. When in doubt, politely state your stance and let it go. I am personally pretty soft on this, but if I step in and say it pisses me off, don't do it again (see rule #1 above).
Off-topic discussions are tolerated at my sufferance. It's important to talk about related issues or raise issues of relevance for discussion, and I'm fine with that provided you do so in good faith and do so in an appropriate and civilized way. If I deem a discussion off-topic, not constructive, or actively damaging, I will close it and I will freeze or screen the thread if I feel I have to. There is a difference between raising off-topic issues for discussion and actually derailing a conversation. In my space, my judgment as to what constitutes discussion and what constitutes derailment prevails.
It is not my job to educate you. I'm okay with a certain amount of that. It's why I write some of the things I do. That said, if your arguments or questions are covered under Feminism 101, I and other commenters may not elect to continue the conversation and instead link you to relevant information. It is not my duty to educate anyone else so that they can participate in the conversation on an informed level; it is their duty to be informed before they join the conversation. I do not want to have the same conversation over and over before I can carry on the conversations I wish to have.
Commenting is a privilege, not a right. If a person disagrees with me or my other commenters, it is their duty to disagree in a civilized fashion, with the awareness that I do not have to provide an outlet for their opinions. I am doing so as a courtesy to a guest.
I bear no ill will toward anyone, none whatsoever. I do not intend to hold actions taken before this announcement against anyone when arbitrating future disputes. Y'all have been granted a pardon for that.
From here out, though, sorry, but it's going to have to be different for a while. I know it's not what you're used to from me, and again, I hate doing it. It is, however, how it's going to have to be.
The vast majority of my commenters are perfectly wonderful people, and this won't change a thing for you. Some of you are perfectly wonderful people who get riled easily, and tend to let both barrels go on a hair trigger. That's fine, I understand that, and I hope you will always be there to put the railspikes to whoever really deserves it, but it's getting pretty difficult to swing a cat in here without hitting wank. My time and patience are pretty limited right now, so if we could keep that to a minimum, using the above as a guideline, that would be great.
To paraphrase Lucian, you're acting like a pack of rabid dogs, and that simply will not do. Put some clothes on, would you?
Link.
Some of this has involved trolls, some of it has involved dumbasses, some of it has involved friends attacking friends. Almost all of it has involved people who both have perfectly valid points arguing with one another. Each party then reads the worst of the opposing point of view into the other party's words, and nothing but wank gets made.
I'm sick of this. Not the least because it causes me to lose time I should spend on other things policing a small percentage of y'all.
This is not, primarily, a political journal. This is a personal journal in which I write about things relevant to my interests. As such, all commenters are, essentially, guests in my home. I welcome comments and commenters, I welcome discussion and debate, I even welcome wit and sarcasm and scathing retorts, but I do not welcome drunken brawling in my kitchen.
Rather than kick all y'all out and not allow comments to certain entries, which would be stultifying, or not writing those entries at all, which would be cowardly and counterproductive, I'm instituting a new policy.
This must, sadly, apply to everyone, no matter how much I may cherish you for being a snarky bitch. I strongly dislike doing this. I despise being forced to step in and say to friends that they need to back down. It has, alas, come to that.
Therefore.
Know that I am the sole authority around here. I am a certified dictator. The only rule set in stone is that on this journal, what I say goes. This is my journal, my house, my show. The Morningstar Hall Carnivore Guild Philosophical Salon and Lunar Howling Society is my popsicle stand. I am the alpha and the omega, the first and last word. I decide when and how to apply the rules, and to whom. No list of rules will ever encompass all possible permutations of things that will piss me off. Therefore, the below is not to be considered the final list, but rather, a beginning.
To avoid friends fighting with friends, keep your exchanges civilized. Because I don't expect everyone to know who is a friend or a regular and who is not, and because anyone can occasionally say something right in a wrong way, I am now instituting a version of the three comment rule. Unless the person is a blatant and obvious troll, they get the benefit of the doubt. I'm sick of perfectly wonderful people getting taken apart at the seams by other perfectly wonderful people because of a misunderstanding or minor disagreement. Misdirected wank does nothing to encourage other people to comment, and has been destructive to conversation as a whole.
Don't make it personal. Disagreement and debate are fine. If it degenerates into personal insults and attacks, I will issue warnings, freeze threads, and ban, in that order. Yes. Even if you are my friend, and even if I haven't minded it until now. Sorry.
Ranting and swearing about things in comments here is fine. I do it in my posts all the time. Swearing at people, not just around them, is not okay. You may ask me or other commenters not to attack you personally. You may not tell me or anyone else not to swear at all, and if you're offended by being sworn near, and not at, tough fucking shit. We do not subscribe to bullshit notions of who may and may not employ foul language. More on that in a separate post. That said . . .
Watch it with racist or sexist language. That's got nothing to do with swearing, and everything to do with not feeding into negative cultural ideas about gender and race. If someone says something that pisses you off in this way, let them know about it politely. If someone calls you on it, respond politely. When in doubt, politely state your stance and let it go. I am personally pretty soft on this, but if I step in and say it pisses me off, don't do it again (see rule #1 above).
Off-topic discussions are tolerated at my sufferance. It's important to talk about related issues or raise issues of relevance for discussion, and I'm fine with that provided you do so in good faith and do so in an appropriate and civilized way. If I deem a discussion off-topic, not constructive, or actively damaging, I will close it and I will freeze or screen the thread if I feel I have to. There is a difference between raising off-topic issues for discussion and actually derailing a conversation. In my space, my judgment as to what constitutes discussion and what constitutes derailment prevails.
It is not my job to educate you. I'm okay with a certain amount of that. It's why I write some of the things I do. That said, if your arguments or questions are covered under Feminism 101, I and other commenters may not elect to continue the conversation and instead link you to relevant information. It is not my duty to educate anyone else so that they can participate in the conversation on an informed level; it is their duty to be informed before they join the conversation. I do not want to have the same conversation over and over before I can carry on the conversations I wish to have.
Commenting is a privilege, not a right. If a person disagrees with me or my other commenters, it is their duty to disagree in a civilized fashion, with the awareness that I do not have to provide an outlet for their opinions. I am doing so as a courtesy to a guest.
I bear no ill will toward anyone, none whatsoever. I do not intend to hold actions taken before this announcement against anyone when arbitrating future disputes. Y'all have been granted a pardon for that.
From here out, though, sorry, but it's going to have to be different for a while. I know it's not what you're used to from me, and again, I hate doing it. It is, however, how it's going to have to be.
The vast majority of my commenters are perfectly wonderful people, and this won't change a thing for you. Some of you are perfectly wonderful people who get riled easily, and tend to let both barrels go on a hair trigger. That's fine, I understand that, and I hope you will always be there to put the railspikes to whoever really deserves it, but it's getting pretty difficult to swing a cat in here without hitting wank. My time and patience are pretty limited right now, so if we could keep that to a minimum, using the above as a guideline, that would be great.
To paraphrase Lucian, you're acting like a pack of rabid dogs, and that simply will not do. Put some clothes on, would you?
Link.