A New Tone

[Scott]

Originally Posted by Open Mind

Ian, don't assume too much .... wait and see ... if people are making less provocative posts, there is no need to reply like one would need to on the hostile to anything but materialism forums like JREF.

I have to say most 'skeptics' who joined the forum mellow over time. They come from a JREF forum or skeptic club where they have been conditioned to think attacking claims is a good thing ... but in reality few things are clear cut and one hopes 'skeptics' look close enough to realize that.

One hopes 'proponents' look close enough to realize that too.

[Scott]

Originally Posted by Interesting Ian

I'm not going to post if it's going to be deleted. It can take some time and effort to make a post. Not most of them, but on occasions.

There are situations where crossing the 'civil' line is needed. I find it hard to think why that would be needed if everyone keeps on the civil side of the line.
There is a time that force may be called for in an argument/situation, but if you are safe from that level of attack, the justification is all but eliminated.
If it takes a bit longer to make your point without crossing that line, ... I am not sure it is a bad thing. I think this goes for all of us.
I do think the harder part is going to be when referring to public figures where people have very different perceptions/views on their character. Also on positions that people have strong feelings on.

Is saying that "psi is a silly a ridiculous outdated concept that should be tossed to the curb" any different than "materialism is a silly a ridiculous outdated concept that should be tossed to the curb"? In neither case is the insult targeting a person.

I agree with Andy that the "rules" will be more of a working guideline that will evolve as the need arises.

On the Spirit thing - What if the Spirit of the New Tone tells me that the rules should be broken? Is it a test? Or just someone messing with me? :-)

[paqart]

Originally Posted by David Bailey

My guess would be that 99% of deleted posts will be short, idiotic quips - not reasoned arguments. I would seriously wait and see what happens.

David

This is my intention, though long inflammatory rants won't last long either. I have run across a couple of long posts that had just a few items that were inflammatory. In those cases, I asked the poster to edit the items, and it was done.

AP

[NinjaKitty7]

my only complaint at this point is that I keep getting tangled up with possible trolls and then my responses are erased with them. I'll never get my senior member status at this pace. And I'm certain there is something awesomely cool that happens when I do.

[paqart]

Originally Posted by NinjaKitty7

my only complaint at this point is that I keep getting tangled up with possible trolls and then my responses are erased with them. I'll never get my senior member status at this pace. And I'm certain there is something awesomely cool that happens when I do.

LOL. Sorry about that. I have come up with a new method for dealing with this. It won't be retroactive, but you'll get to keep your post count, though it is more work for me. In most cases, material quoted from a deleted or troll post will be replaced with the text "[removed]." If the user who made the post has been banned, the username will be changed to "BannedUser", no matter what the name was originally.

As long as your post makes sense without the quoted material, it will remain. Also, I don't want to do too much of this, but when there has been a serious troll attack, as there was today, it's hard to make promises. The goal is to sweep them out completely.

AP