The forum guidelines

[Jdsk]

A couple of points that have recently been raised by other threads:

AIUI the guidelines do not include permission to breach them in retaliation. On the contrary they ask posters with concerns to contact the Moderators rather than respond.

AIUI the guidelines do draw a distinction between negative comments about other posters and negative comments about third parties who are not posters.

Jonathan

"Message Boards : Posting Info & Guidelines"
viewtopic.php?t=3661

[admin]

In summary: "Be polite and considerate in what you post".

[mjr]

AIUI the guidelines do not include permission to breach them in retaliation. On the contrary they ask posters with concerns to contact the Moderators rather than respond.

What you may be seeing is that the initial insult has been reported to the moderators, who have then declared that it is "polite and considerate" by refusing to intervene, so a very similar insult is then posted in retaliation. The refusal to intervene is not normally made public, which is something I've previously suggested is unhelpful.

[Jdsk]

AIUI the guidelines do not include permission to breach them in retaliation. On the contrary they ask posters with concerns to contact the Moderators rather than respond.

What you may be seeing is that the initial insult has been reported to the moderators, who have then declared that it is "polite and considerate" by refusing to intervene, so a very similar insult is then posted in retaliation. The refusal to intervene is not normally made public, which is something I've previously suggested is unhelpful.

I see what you mean.

Thanks

Jonathan

[Jdsk]

In summary: "Be polite and considerate in what you post".

It would be hard to improve on that in eight words. : - )

My second line in this context would be something about the difference between commenting on other posters' posts (generally desirable, and no problem with robustness) and commenting on other posters (the source of most problems here and elsewhere).

Jonathan