Barefoot Bree

If I were to post this in an appropriate thread, I'd have to put it in ALL of the top 10 threads right now.

Please cease the following NOW. They are against EoG guidelines, the Rules, and general polite discourse.

* Comments about other users, even the OP of a thread.
* Accusations or remarks about trolling, driveby's, etc.
* Snappy one-liners.

The EoG forum is supposed to be for "a high level of discussion aimed at discussing the question of whether or not God exists." (thanks, xorbie) All of the above DO NOT help such a goal, and only make your moderators cranky and edit-prone.

Thank you,
The Eo-God Mod Squad

Agnostic Theist

Is this open for discussion or will the thread by locked?

Gawen

Not really. What we'd like to hear is:


"Ok. We'd love to abide by the rules of the website which, by the way I agreed to when I signed up...AND....any and all guidelines of each forum".

Agnostic Theist

OK - I just thought it seemed that this was the kind of thread that gets locked and left up as an announcement, ie an imperative, not a means to facilitate debate or discussion about the viability of IIDB rules.

Ravear

For the record

Ok. I'd love to abide by the rules of the website which, by the way I agreed to when I signed up...AND....any and all guidelines of each forum.


Off the record..

I appreciate trying to increase the signal-noise ratio (in fact that's one of the reasons I like this forum) but I already feel like I've gotten all I'm ever going to out of it. It's like I'm spending more time trying to educate people than actually learning something.

Point is when the goal is persuasion with someone who hasn't read what you have, a thread can get to 20 pages without ever going anywhere. It's hard to keep up a high level discussion. I'm not saying yours isn't a good approach. I just think there might be other (maybe more effective) ways of making the forum more useful.

Ulrich

Ok. I would love to abide by the rules of the website which, by the way I agreed to when I signed up...AND....any and all guidelines of each forum.

And please, do not hesitate to inform me by PM, or in thread, if I am behaving in a way that violates this agreement.

Howard

On the record: If the OP is as poorly conceived and presented as many are around here, it’s difficult to have a “high level of discussion.�? I don’t see why some posts can’t be dealt with in the manner they deserve.

Can’t make a silk purse and all that…

PoodleLovinPessimist

I've pretty much abandoned the upper forums. I see no particular reason to return.

Barefoot Bree

Yes, people come and go all the time, and there's a constant influx of new users having the same tired arguments. That's the nature of an ongoing internet forum.

I'm always sorry to see a veteran poster wander off, the forums are always a bit poorer for their loss. But it's perfectly understandable - tastes and interests change over time, and there's that nasty intervening thing called Real Life.

However, I'd like to address another point. The way to elevate discussion, particularly in regards to a poorly-presented OP, is not to sink to it's level, but to either a) respond at the level you'd like to bring it up to, or b) ignore it and let it sink off the page into ignonimy.

Malintent

Wouldn't that be a "snappy one-liner"?

Shouldn't more depth and value be contributed to that response? How about something like this;

"That seems reasonable on the surface. I cannot speak for the other good people that share this board, but, speaking for myself, I receive great pleasure knowing that I am behaving in a socially acceptable manner, relative to the current venue. I find it offensive that anyone would suggest that these moral values I am expressing are out of fear of some mythological "Mods" unleashing their wrath, when the source of my attitude is that of a Natural Humanist framework."

Better?