THE POLITICS OF MODERATORSHIP AND MOCKERY
 

Wherein we shall discuss the merits of moderatorship, the delicate balance between the blesed peace order brings and the corruption that accompanies all power, not matter how small, and the importance of satire, jest and Mockery.

It's my thread, so I'll start.

IT'S ALL GOOD.

Well, mostly. Threads that have nothing whatever to do with Politics, News, Philosiphy or Religion should simply be made elsewhere. I am however, pretty loose about what is fair game within those parameters.

I think without the Mockery, there's little reason to be at this politics forum, as opposed to any other, and I have no desire to be in a totally serious discussion. They are often tedious and unctious, and they ignore what a powerful tool for understanding wit and satire can be.

It should be noted, one is not required to employ wit or sarcasm, and often posters here fall quite far from the mark in the attempt. I myself have been known to be less funny on some occasions than on others. Humor, though, is subjective, and cannot be empirically judged. If it could, I would suggest myself as Humor moderator and lock threads that are poorly written. I'm sure it would bring me a great deal of joy and that I would soon (if not immeditaley) be corrupted by power, repalcimng entire posts with things like. "I am stupid and I have wet myself". Luckily for all of us, I have high standards for freedom of attempted comedic speech and would never accept or seek a position to control it.

When posters say something personal, uncalled for, beyond the pale, etc. the post itself is the punishment. It's there for all the world to see. When a poster says another has his 'head' up his 'ass', or drags two completely innocent young girls and the quality of a posters fatherhood into a discussion (as Vinth often did, and perhaps one or two other posters whose grasp exceeded their reach) they pillory themselves. Their argument suffers by the display of poor character and control.

And, as Mr. Sppadowsky pointed out, most of us here are perfectly capable of defending themselves.

If a thread becomes solely a slap fest, it could just as well take place in the Mock Wars forum, though I don't think anyone here cares to admit that all they want to do is fight without care to content. But if the insults are coupled with discourse, I say let them stand, and let the quality of the writing speak to the posters character, and let their character speak to their argument.

Message boards, silly as they are, may be the last bastion of purely written communication. I'll be the first to admit they are rarely used that way, but I believe that here at least we should let style, skill and content, or LACK THERE OF speak fro itself.

I don't particularly care if you were offended by what abc said or not. I'm glad you're thick skinned, I'm glad you have a fabulous sense of humor, and I'm glad you realize that we're supposed to be mocking each other. But it's not about defending one particular person who may or may not be offended by the comment made. That's not the point.

I asked you two to chill out, and hopefully you will. I don't think that was going too far. Now, starting a completely separate thread in order to continue talking on and on about something that was said and done....now that's taking a message board too seriously.

Preechr calls this the big kids table. I think that's a fair enough comparison, and I'd like to keep it that way. Maybe YOU come here for mockery and jollys, but I get the feeling others don't. So I'm going to try to enforce the rules, rules I didn't write, btw.

THAT'S RIGHT, FOLKS. OFFICER KEVIN OF THE INTARWEB POLICE DEPARTMENT IS HERE TO LAY DOWN THE LAW, AND HE AIN'T GONNA TAKE NO GUFF.

Best thread ever

Kevin; I beg your pardon, but I did not post this thread because I was concerned you thought I was offended. I posted it for two reasons.

1.) I felt the back and forth on the subject of what is and isn't appropriatte to moderate had ironically derailed the thread far more than the insults in it had. I felt, however, that it touched on issues worth discussing. So, I started another thread.

2.) The question of when to step in as moderator and how the rules here are interpretted, applied, or written is an entirely political question. I'm glad you don't care about the level to which I was offended, and I'm glad your glad I have a fabulous sense of humor. But if you think those are the reasons I made ths thread, you wound me sir. I feel this thread raises questions worth discussing. If you find that taking the 'big kids table' too seriously, though it pains me, I must disagree. I think, in this thread, I am treating it with precisely the right amount of seriousness. It's your perogative to disagree, and if you choose, ignore it. But I think it breaks no rules.

I didn't say you broke any rules, I just said it's dumb.

I used the words "congressionals" and "fajita" in the same sentence. Who's the dumb one now? pwnt

Kevin. I think your pinafore is on too tight.

Oooh oooh! Lemme walk in to this one...

What's a PINA FOR?

peeking under.

i would like to add in this very serious thread about executive responsibility that abcdxxxx is a huge faggot.

Somebody please summarize it for me so I don't have to slog through page after page of crap.

Can we talk about dropping bombs, I mean those really stinky ones that when you think your finished a watery spackle poop explodes out your butt leaving a nice spackle poop for the next person? :)

Do I get to ban anyone because of whatever happened? That's the only thing that satisfies me nowadays. :(

ever since kevin starting eating meat he's become increasingly aggressive :o maybe it is evol afterall

I NEED TO BAN SOMEONE. GAWD. >:

Assign numbers and roll a hundred sided dice.

<Insert 69 joke here>

You could ban me, Chimp. I'm never here anyway.... :(

Cosmo = tehsuck

It's OK. I banned 65,000 Austrians instead and now I feel fine.

He was so offended he typed in all caps. I think jsut cause the mod disagrees with you doesn't mean he is corrupt. He has let you get by with a lot of questionable threads. the draft one, a few 9/11 conspiraceys, obvious flamebait. Just be a little more respectful is all I ask. Well that and please only post sober if your in for serious debate, if I didn't accept it from Boris Yeltsin I'm not taking it from you.

courage were you even alive when the USSR existed

I'm tempted to make a horrendus "In Soviet Russia" Joke :/

What is that artwork called? "Tim Curry IS GOD"?