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Resolutioners straightdope sdmb9/26/2023 The assumption that creating a slew of rules will help manage the game is false. Else, presumably, those upset with a decision based upon something as nebulous as “you are being a jerk” could complain that their purchased right to participate was being violated. This process was accellerated at the time we went to Pay-to-Post, because the assumption was that the paying members deserved some sort of spelled-out boundaries, part of the contract, as it were. This way, they think they can accomplish two purposes: warn away potential jerks by giving them concrete boundaries not to cross, and make decisions about whether or not someone is being a jerk without having to worry about being wrong, since they can point to a rule and say that the rule is being broken. In the fear that they may get a decision “wrong,” they have resorted to trying to establish bright lines to measure jerkiness by. Sadly, over the years, the powers that be have been led down a seductive path. Planners as a whole have traditionally favored mailing lists, and they are perceived as being “more serious.” We have to be rather strict with rules enforcement so other planners consider the site to be a legitimate resource. We’ve got an unusual situation on my site it’s a board catering to a niche topic, with the majority of members being practicing urban planners and planning students. The “no leeching images from sites you have no control over” is probably the most unpopular, but I defend it with 1) we don’t like it when others steal our bandwidth, and we don’t want to be hypocrites and allow others here to leech, and 2) Goatse, Tubgirl, Lemonparty, and Two Girls One Cup. I’ve had a few users on my site complain about the length of the rules, but when asked what they’d change, they’re usually silent. While on some other sites rules are scattered around on various subforums, in the registration agreement, in an FAQ, and elsewhere, I wanted to make sure they’re all in one place. The rules are organized and in plain English, because it can be hard finding something in long narrative paragraphs, like on the SDMB. I want to make sure that everything is written down, out in the open, and that new users without institutional knowledge are not at a disadvantage because they’re unaware of unwritten rules. The tyranny of structurelessness is one of the reasons why the rules on my site are quite detailed. There’s a long set of rules on my site, but the main intent is to avoid the “ tyranny of structurelessness”. There’s also the oddball rules like “Don’t post ‘pulling up a chair’” and unwritten rules like that prohibiting offering technical advise related to site performance and vBulletin. I’ve noticed that the rules on the SDMB can be confusing, with long narrative paragraphs and separate sub-rules that may apply only to one forum. People, whether they want to admit it or not, frequently demand rules. Sometimes they have, more than a few times they haven’t IMHO. Which isn’t to say that management has always responded appropriately to these boundary disputes. Repeat ad nauseam and in a thousand different permutations. And by the way how was what I did different from poster B, who you indicated wasn’t being a jerk? You should define what you mean by a jerk in this particular instance.” “Who say I’m a jerk? These thirty people in this pit thread disagree I was being an jerk. Mangetout is essentially correct - a message board group naturally given to questioning and debating has proven unable to resist pushing boundaries or accepting “arbitrary” rulings. Rules lawyering ( on all sides ) has slowly but surely eroded that early foundation. I’ve been here many more years and this is close to how things used to be ( very early on ). Why not just a rules of “don’t be a jerk,” “post the appropriate content to respective forums” (a general description of the forum could be loose guideline), Why are there so many rules here, with each forum having a long list of very specific rules for that forum? This is a pretty unique message board in that regard. I’ve been here a couple years and I’ve always wondered something.
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