Rules & Regulations

I underestand there needs to be some rules & regulations on this board,
but does anyone else think some of these rules are a little harsh?
whenever i read a thread i see a poster warned and threads erased.

i guess the rule that stood out the most for me was the use of all caps, and the use of u instead of you, 2 instead of too etc etc..

also the ignore button bothers me because if you are unwilling to hear someone elses opinion that makes you very closeminded.

I might not beleive in everything michael savage, sean hannity or mark levine have to say but i do listen and i actually do agree with them once in awhile. just my two cents, had to get that off my back.

Most of the rules I can agree with but, being brutally honest, I think the rule against ad hominem attacks needs to be done away with. Sure, I don't like being ad hominem attacked but sometimes I feel it has to be done. Like what if someone's lying? What if they have a well-deserved bad reputation? I'd rather someone get their feelings hurt than try to have debate in a straight jacket, anyways.

reply to post by chromatico


Ad hominem does not mean you are not allowed to check a background of people who make claims. It does not state that you are not allowed to point that because a person himself publishes some book x, which states y, he is propably simply spreading a word to get better sales.

It also does not mean you are not allowed mine data that tells a person has been proven wrong before.

What it does say however is that people, a person, are/is not wrong about the fact that people like normal sex just because he likes animals more. It does say that somebody's physics is not wrong because he likes science fiction, likes to discuss alternative theories and also likes some fantasy involved in that as well. You are supposed to look what was written seriously and discard all the rest.

In my opinion you do not understand what ad hominem means (this sentence is not ad hominem, as I wrote you why).

Hmm, one more thing. I'll give you an easy example.

Person x has long hair, is a man, and likes flowers. He is also a pacifist, thus does not support war in any form. He is also homo sexual, not liking women that much.

Then what happens is that this person comes to a politics forum and states that all wars should be stopped, but realizes that military is sometimes required to maintain peace.

There's no paradox in that opinion, having a military does not mean there actually is a war going on.

He can be attacked and ridiculed because of his personal features, but his opinions are in any case very logical. In this context it is very likely that people just laugh because of those personal features. Attacking those features is what ad hominem is all about.

However, if he has written fanatic posts about dismantling all military on earth, and then he comes to say that military is sometimes required, there IS a paradox and that paradox can be pointed out by digging that data and opiinons from other forums where he has stated such things. That's not an ad hominem.

I hope this helpt.

The rules here do seem harsh and maybe a little anal retentive but when you compare it to other boards, it becomes very refreshing. You do not have to worry too much about one liners and off topic jokes between members where threads end up getting hijacked and nothing serious ever gets to be discussed.

The no cussing rule is nice as it helps encourage people discuss thing intelligently and not with anger and vulgarity.

As for the no all caps rule, no all bold rule, and no net slang all we can really say, is that even necessary anyways? It is super annoying to see comments consisting of such things so it's nice to have a rule against it.

On an end note, look at the crowd ATS seems to draw: older, mature, intelligent members which leads to more mature and intelligent discussions.

I hate to see a post of all capital letters. It's the equivilent of writing out your post in green crayon. I'm not too thrilled about the no swearing thing,as i swear like a trooper in real life. but then I guess it's a good thing,as it makes me think a little more over what I want to say. So I guess I'll get used to it.

I mod on another board,so I know whoat a thankless task it is. I can understand why these rules are in place,and i could imagine what this place would be like without them.

I think the rules are fine, none of them are really ridiculous. Plus it makes for a much better board.

Originally posted by AshleyD
On an end note, look at the crowd ATS seems to draw: older, mature, intelligent members which leads to more mature and intelligent discussions.

Snork. You owe me a cup of coffee, and a handy wipe.

I guess that's true, if you're, er, I mean 'your' 6 years old, present company excepted, er, I mean 'accepted'.

While I agree the discussions can be quite intelligent, sometimes by accident, it seems to me that most of the posters are between 14 and 17. I could be wrong, er, I mean 'rong'. Maybe it's some of the colloquialisms they're, er, I mean 'there' using.

Guess it depends which time of the year it is. I don't mean too, er I mean 'to' harsh; sometimes it's difficult to, er, I mean 'too' think and type in a synchronously parallel fashion.

Regardless, er, I mean 'irregardless', ATS/BTS is a fun place to be and, actually, I wouldn't change a thing.

Originally posted by Badge01
Snork. You owe me a cup of coffee, and a handy wipe.

Hey! A member made me spill my drink all over the place a few days ago so you're not getting any sympathy from me!

While I agree the discussions can be quite intelligent, sometimes by accident, it seems to me that most of the posters are between 14 and 17. I could be wrong, er, I mean 'rong'. Maybe it's some of the colloquialisms they're, er, I mean 'there' using.

There's definitely some... er... 'unique' individuals here but for the most part and compared to other forums it seems the quality level over here is much higher.

Someone even posted the site demographics a while back and most of the members were well into adulthood. How they gathered the statistics is unknown to me (stalkers!) but it was interesting nonetheless.

I like the, 'How are you' instead of 'HW R U' all capitals and text talk anoys me, imagen if some one did an entire research project like that !?!?!

but i will agree that the ignore button does kinda mock the whole, listen to every one else opinions thing.

Fox

reply to post by ProTo Fire Fox


Yeah, true. I once mused about having an unlimited 'ignore' button, or maybe a select your 50 fave ATS posters then ignore the rest,

But now I only have one person I keep on permanent and eternal ignore, and then a couple of people that I put in there to keep me from flaming them. Then I clear it out every week.

I've learned to laugh more and be tweaked less by my own compulsions.

PS - I LURVE your Avatar. What is that from, if you don't mind my asking...

[edit on 11-3-2008 by Badge01]

reply to post by Badge01



This might be of interest:

The ATS 2007 Demographic Profile

Jak

reply to post by JAK


Actually I did look at all of that and did an extensive analysis.

The 'statistics' put forth in the manner of that demographic has a tendency to mislead. I even created an Excel spreadsheet and did a few calculations. (I think I still have it somewhere)

You have to balance out the numbers with the frequency and the longevity.

Though it appears to be skewed toward older posters, at anyone time, given the newbies creating accounts just to jump in and say something 'out there', the real picture, or ATS snapshot is as I described.

I even went through several of the 'ATS' pictures of members and searched on 'age' and things like that.

Again, I'm not complaining. There is a core of members and regulars that do more-or-less the 'older, and mature' demographic.

Thanks for the link, though, Jak. If you don't mind my asking, how old are you?


[edit on 11-3-2008 by Badge01]

I might not beleive in everything michael savage, sean hannity or mark levine have to say but

Welcome to ATS....Lets hope your intentions aren't politically motivated.

I personally don't have a problem with the rules in this house,in fact I like them.

Typing in caps is equal to yelling and it's hard on the eyes.I look at it as an attention getter.

I prefer it when people take the time to spell out their words and form coherent sentences. When I see "I'm GR8,how R U?",it looks immature and if I saw a board cluttered with stuff like that I couldn't take the site seriously.It also shows (to me) laziness and a short attention span.

Ad hominem attacks are childish.If someone is lying then prove it.If the person is still insistent that they aren't wrong and you've proven it,use that ignore button.
I've never ignored anyone myself because I may eventually miss some information just because I don't agree with a view point.

I use to be a moderator on a site that had very little rules and it was a nightmare.

In my view,this site is meant for mature,rational and analytical minded people.

That's just my two coppers.

Edited for spelling

[edit on 21-3-2008 by citizen truth]