Rule Changes + New Restrictions

[pocaracas]

One off insults are a natural part of discussion. Escalating those insults to the point where you are using them regularly and for seemingly no reason is when it starts to become a problem.

I have to admit I've never understood the distinction between flaming and insulting. Does that mean everyone gets one free shot at insulting the other but the next insulting comment is flaming? Or is flaming when it appears the person is only engaging the other person as a personal vendetta?

Personally I wouldn't have a problem if the rules stated something like:

This site was created to permit a wide variety of interactions between people of every stripe of religious belief and disbelief. We endeavor to permit as much freedom as possible for self expression. But somewhere there is a line between permissible styles of expression and vicious cruelty. No manner of pinning down where that line lies will ever be entirely adequate. So suffice to say the volunteer moderators and admins who oversee the site will step in where they deem appropriate. Anyone who finds the moderation here too loose or too stifling is welcome to find a site more to their liking or to start one of their own.

That would leave you completely at the mercy of an individual mod... Imagine a mod gets into a heated argument with a user... the mod must refrain him/her-self from hitting the ban hammer.... imagine this particular mod loses control... (it has happened on other forums, could happen here... though, I don't think it could happen with the present mods ).

Rules are required so the users know where the boundaries are... and the mods too.
I like the rules here. simple and lax enough for people to interact, regardless of their mode of speech. Some people use more profanity than others and all can use their own version in here.
And, if any user has a gripe with a rule... he can get the fuck out.... when he signs-up he agrees to abide by the rules and that's one of them... or rather lack of it....

What I said earlier is that this lack of a "no profanity" rule can (and does) repel more theists than atheists...
Though... I would guess that any theist registering on an atheist forum should be expecting it...