[Scotty]

This is a letter of intent.  Further explanation for this decision can be found here and here.  Please note that this decision has not come about as a result of consensus moderator discussion: I am acting on my own initiative following the frankly shameful display of behavior that permeated several threads throughout General Discussion in the past and recently.

The important changes are thus:

• The letter of the forum guidelines for good behavior are hereby ignored.  The reasoning for this is present in the two posts I have linked.
• In their stead, I will be moderating within the spirit of the guidelines for good behavior.  Too many incidents in General Discussion go without action because they are just within the letter of the guidelines.
• Obvious attempts to bait or incense other members will be met with warnings.
• Because I am not an administrator, temporary bans will be accomplished by issuing warnings that impedes users posting.  Warnings decay automatically over time, meaning I won't be able to forget to re-enable a user's privileges.
• I am not acting on behalf of the moderation staff, I am acting independently.  If, for whatever reason, the consensus of the moderation or administration staff is that I've overstepped my bounds, so be it.  I will abide by that declaration.
• Until then, I will be keeping very close watch on General Discussion.  There will be consequences for infractions before they become too egregious to ignore.

I will leave this topic open for feedback.  Posts expressing the opinion that I have overstepped my bounds that do not come from another moderator or administrator will be met with amused laughter.  Posts expressing sincere misgivings or questions will be handled candidly.

EDIT: expository links added.

[Scourge of Ages]

I believe you have overstepped your bounds, sir.
(not really, but I like the idea of causing amused laughter)

[SpardaSon21]

* SpardaSon21 approves of these changes.

[MP-Ryan]

As the person who basically wrote the text of the current guidelines.... I like this.

[AdmiralRalwood]

* SpardaSon21 approves of these changes.

* AdmiralRalwood approves as well

[SypheDMar]

I mentioned this on IRC, but I'll say it here as well.

I am for this change, but I also expect there to be proactive moderation.

[karajorma]

I banned Lorric for this sort of reason earlier and I did say he wouldn't be the last, merely the first. So I was pretty much already doing this already and I'm obviously on board. 

[Grizzly]

I suggest renaming general discussion to major gibberish to promote a feeling of light-heartedness

[InsaneBaron]

No complaint here. I was always a little worried that the letter of the law was getting priority over the basic goal.

And yes, I'm aware that I've caused trouble myself over this kind of thing. And yes, I'm the first to admit I was in the wrong.

[Beskargam]

I'm all for this. I've been avoiding gendisc for years basically for this reason.

[Luis Dias]

Well I for one will disagree a tiny bit here. Forum guidelines are precisely that, guidelines. As far as I am aware, a guideline is something that is really useful as a guide of action, but should never be read as a literal document from the Almighty that is set in stone in legalese fashion, one which everyone should obey in the literal sense, rather than in the spirit of the thing.

A guideline is always useless if one pays more attention to the legalese of it rather than its spirit. So my disagreement isn't exactly with what Scotty has decided, but with the wording of it likening this to "let's drop the guidelines". I think that's a bad idea. A document that may evolve in reasonable terms is better than arbitrary decisions on what is "good behavior" as subjectively perceived by any moderator... Not that I distrust anyone in the board right now, and I know that "direct moderation" seems just so much more powerful and immediate, but if the only guideline from now on is "behave" then we are all up for grabs here.

Furthermore, I haven't seen any recent activity that required this drop in the guidelines, especially those two links you posted. Yes, that thread is heated, but in comparison with the wider net, I think it's ****ing paradise.

"Don't be a dick" is not always sufficient.

[Dragon]

Err... he's saying exactly what you are. The letter is dropped, the spirit persists. Essentially, he's reducing the guidelines to... guidelines, whereas they were treated like actual rules before.

[karajorma]

I don't see what your issue is Luis. Scotty clearly said that he'd be moderating based on the spirit of the guidelines rather than the letter of the guidelines. That doesn't mean that the guidelines are being ignored, just that people who act like dicks and then try to say that they didn't actually break any of the guidelines will still be in hot water.

If you follow the intent of the guidelines you won't have any trouble. If instead you try to make sure you stay in them by just being only dickheaded enough to not cross the line, you will be noticed and their will be consequences.

No one mentioned dropping the guidelines.

[deathspeed]

I'm all for this as well.  My post count may not be very high, but I've been registered for over 10 years and reading almost daily for the last four years, and the level of civility seems to have dramatically dropped off.  Or maybe I am just getting sensitive in my old age.

By its very nature, moderation can never be 100% objective, and rules cannot be codified to cover every situation.  I don't have a beef with anyone here, but it does seem that a few people tend to constantly push the boundaries, both written and unwritten.  There are some incredibly smart people posting here; half the time I can't even tell what they are really saying or why they are getting so mad at each other.  While many smart people do enjoy probing the boundaries, I think most of them also know when they have gone too far, even if there is not a written rule they can point to.  Just like when I used to admin a server for a popular FPS - there was not a written rule that said "you will be banned if you tell an admin to STFU during the game", but most people could figure that out on their own without trying it.  The ones that did try it may have expressed surprise that I was an admin, but not a single one was ever surprised at the ban itself. 

There is always going to be some subjectivity involved, whether it is another member reporting a post for moderators to review, or a moderator/admin stepping in on their own.  I'm sure that even moderators are not going to agree with each other 100%; after all, they are smart people, too, and each individual has different sensitivities and tolerance levels.  But just like that server, this forum has a process by which a person can ask to have an action reviewed, or at least get an explanation if they honestly do not know what they did wrong.  And just like that server, with some of the blatant stuff I have seen on here, I don't know how anyone could be honestly surprised if they get a warning, time off, etc.  The moderation staff here seems to me to be very tolerant.

[Colonol Dekker]

Hi there.

As the #moderator (albeit in fleeting moments in recent time) based in GD I* also endorse this. I had non Admins could affect members operating in forums out of their mandate so this is also interesting to me. Scotty old bean. Have a pat on the back for highlighting this.




*not based on global defense initiative

[karajorma]

Actually, about that. Would you have a problem if I unmod you Dekker? Through no fault of your own you've basically ended up being the only moderator of Gen Discuss who doesn't have access to the Global Moderator forums we are now using to discuss issues to do with moderation.

Since you're not around enough to make it fair to give you a global mod badge, it seems the only fair thing to do is to allow you to retire (with full honours).

Anyway, send me a PM if you have any issues and we can discuss it.

[Luis Dias]

My problem is that I really suck at reading english sometimes. Now I understand what Scotty meant by "The letter of the forum guidelines for good behavior are hereby ignored". By "letter" I understood the literal sense of a "letter", a written issue, basically MP's whole "letter". Now I facepalm and realise that this word "letter" means exactly taking the words in the "legal" sense.

TLDR: Ignore what I said and move on!

[Colonol Dekker]

Actually, about that. Would you have a problem if I unmod you Dekker? Through no fault of your own you've basically ended up being the only moderator of Gen Discuss who doesn't have access to the Global Moderator forums we are now using to discuss issues to do with moderation.

Since you're not around enough to make it fair to give you a global mod badge, it seems the only fair thing to do is to allow you to retire (with full honours).

Anyway, send me a PM if you have any issues and we can discuss it.

No issues at all mate. If I could get my Rank back that'd be neat or some sort of gold watch retirement badge?

[Dragon]

My problem is that I really suck at reading english sometimes. Now I understand what Scotty meant by "The letter of the forum guidelines for good behavior are hereby ignored". By "letter" I understood the literal sense of a "letter", a written issue, basically MP's whole "letter". Now I facepalm and realise that this word "letter" means exactly taking the words in the "legal" sense.

TLDR: Ignore what I said and move on!

Don't worry, it happens to everyone.

[Mongoose]

My problem is that I really suck at reading english sometimes. Now I understand what Scotty meant by "The letter of the forum guidelines for good behavior are hereby ignored". By "letter" I understood the literal sense of a "letter", a written issue, basically MP's whole "letter". Now I facepalm and realise that this word "letter" means exactly taking the words in the "legal" sense.

TLDR: Ignore what I said and move on!

This actually raises a very good point: idioms are the absolute hardest part of any language to comprehend for a non-native speaker (hell, they can vary greatly within the same language), and we native speakers generally don't spare much thought for that fact.  Since we have so many users for whom English isn't their first language, we should probably do our best to use uncomplicated language, or at the very least provide a "translation" in plainer English.

some sort of gold watch retirement badge?