Thanks Cego. Yeah, the vote was a mistake; as I said afterwards, all it did was cement the view that people were allowed to insult, and that caused more people to use insulting language. It was certainly a catalyst for the forum becoming unfriendly and a hostile environment, and since we commissioned the poll, we found ourselves to blame.
As for the new rules, we've said that we'll enforce them, but we won't be complete assholes about it. If you insult someone by accident and nobody complains about it, there isn't any reason to do anything. If someone does complain, we may have a few private words, gentle reminders to think over attitudes in posts before you click "Submit", but I don't expect to be banning anyone for breaking the rules unless they go completely overboard (i.e trolling) or decide they just don't want to obey them anymore.
Thanks for the kind words everyone
As for the new rules, we've said that we'll enforce them, but we won't be complete assholes about it. If you insult someone by accident and nobody complains about it, there isn't any reason to do anything. If someone does complain, we may have a few private words, gentle reminders to think over attitudes in posts before you click "Submit", but I don't expect to be banning anyone for breaking the rules unless they go completely overboard (i.e trolling) or decide they just don't want to obey them anymore.
Thanks for the kind words everyone
