Posted on 01/22/2004 8:05:12 AM PST by I Am Not A Mod
Hello everyone. I hope your New Year is going well so far.
It has been a while since we had a reminder about what the Smokey Backroom is all about, and we have been getting a sense that some don't really know what it is about.
As you all know, we have guidelines against personal attacks and flamewars. We try to keep things within those guidelines, but face it, sometimes discussions get tempers up and things get heated. Sometimes, the cure (pulling comments, suspending, and banning) can be worse than the problem. Sometimes an alternative cure is better-- letting those who are bound and determined to have it out, have it out, but not right in the middle of our proverbial living room.
Occasionally, when things get heated, we will move a thread out of one of the main forums (News/Activism, General Interest, Religion, etc.) and send it to the backroom. We give a lot more leeway on the flaming and the language back there. It is enter-at-your-own-risk. If that style of discussion doesn't suit you, then don't reply to a thread that's in the backroom. Simply choose not to participate. And if a thread is in the backroom, hitting abuse because you are being flamed probably isn't going to get you anywhere unless there are threats being made.
However, one thing that won't be tolerated is throwing spitballs from the backroom. If someone is not participating in a thread, don't be pinging them to it with baiting posts or with flaming posts.
If you were on a thread that was not in the backroom, and the thread was later moved, but you are getting flamed because of a post you made to the thread before it was backroomed, and you don't want to participate in the backroom-style brawling, hit abuse and ask for your own post to be removed so that you don't keep getting pinged back.
Threads should be moved to the backroom rarely. If, however, you are finding that a significant number of threads you participate in are being backroomed, you may want to consider if you are contributing to the problem.
Also, some people get mad when discussions get moved to the backroom. If a thread gets moved, but you think the article really should be in the main forum, then post the article again, and add a note reminding people to maintain decorum on the thread and give a link to the backroomed thread for those who find that simple request to be too much to ask.
Thanks, the staff.
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