yolland
Forum Moderator
- Joined
- Aug 27, 2004
- Messages
- 7,471
Re: Iraq Threads And The Closing Of the War Forum
As some of you have probably already noticed, the War forum has now been officially closed and its threads moved back into FYM according to date. I anticipate this will come as happy news for most of you.
However, since many Iraq threads have caused problems when posted in FYM in the past--both by overloading the forum, and by turning off too many FYMers due to their tone and style--I would like to offer a few reminders here about some guidelines we should all be following to help keep future Iraq discussions civil, on-topic, and consolidated. Please take a moment to read these over and make note of them, because I will most likely be referring people back to this thread in the future if these guidelines are not being followed.
--Posting informational items such as news stories; op-eds; excerpts from pertinent US/UN policies; brief lists of statistics, etc. in moderation is fine, so long as they are relevant to the thread topic. Repeatedly cluttering up threads with mammoth posts consisting of nothing more than these types of items is not fine. Bottom line: FYM is first and foremost a place for *discussion*--therefore, informational items should be posted judiciously, and because you feel they will further enhance the discussion. Not as a chronic substitute for people taking the time to articulate their own views and directly engage the comments of other posters.
--As with other hot button issues, it is very easy for sentiments about Iraq to slide quickly into generalized, off-topic fuming about how Democrats/Republicans/peaceniks/military/fundies/anti-fundies/etc. just in general embody pretty much everything that is wrong with Iraq/the US/the world/etc. today. While this tendency is understandable emotionally, it does not make for good discussion. Please refrain from making these types of posts, and please refrain from perpetuating the mistake of those who do by responding in kind to them. Stay focused on the thread topic.
--Again, as with other hot-button issues, a little extra care to make sure your wording conforms to the usual Interference rules is called for. Do not relentlessly hound individuals by making multiple posts in a row attacking the same point, and do not repeatedly post "responses" consisting of mockery and nothing else. Doing these kinds of things repeatedly may constitute harassment, and will likely result in turning off multiple people to the discussion.
--Stay respectful of the thread starter's intent when keeping "on-topic." For example, do not attempt to turn a thread about funeral protesters in the US into a thread about civilian casualties in Iraq, or vice versa.
--Before you post a new thread pertaining to Iraq, please quickly scan through the last few days of posts to make sure there isn't a recently active thread that might be just as appropriate for what you have to post. And do not make a habit of starting spurious threads that are clearly intended simply to mock another thread. This will help keep FYM from getting Iraq-cluttered, and it will also save me thread-merging work.
--If you have any other concerns regarding Iraq threads, please feel free to either post them here, or to PM or email me privately. Also, should you feel in the future that these guidelines are not being adequately held to, please contact me about it.
Thanks for reading, and happy continued debating!
As some of you have probably already noticed, the War forum has now been officially closed and its threads moved back into FYM according to date. I anticipate this will come as happy news for most of you.
However, since many Iraq threads have caused problems when posted in FYM in the past--both by overloading the forum, and by turning off too many FYMers due to their tone and style--I would like to offer a few reminders here about some guidelines we should all be following to help keep future Iraq discussions civil, on-topic, and consolidated. Please take a moment to read these over and make note of them, because I will most likely be referring people back to this thread in the future if these guidelines are not being followed.
--Posting informational items such as news stories; op-eds; excerpts from pertinent US/UN policies; brief lists of statistics, etc. in moderation is fine, so long as they are relevant to the thread topic. Repeatedly cluttering up threads with mammoth posts consisting of nothing more than these types of items is not fine. Bottom line: FYM is first and foremost a place for *discussion*--therefore, informational items should be posted judiciously, and because you feel they will further enhance the discussion. Not as a chronic substitute for people taking the time to articulate their own views and directly engage the comments of other posters.
--As with other hot button issues, it is very easy for sentiments about Iraq to slide quickly into generalized, off-topic fuming about how Democrats/Republicans/peaceniks/military/fundies/anti-fundies/etc. just in general embody pretty much everything that is wrong with Iraq/the US/the world/etc. today. While this tendency is understandable emotionally, it does not make for good discussion. Please refrain from making these types of posts, and please refrain from perpetuating the mistake of those who do by responding in kind to them. Stay focused on the thread topic.
--Again, as with other hot-button issues, a little extra care to make sure your wording conforms to the usual Interference rules is called for. Do not relentlessly hound individuals by making multiple posts in a row attacking the same point, and do not repeatedly post "responses" consisting of mockery and nothing else. Doing these kinds of things repeatedly may constitute harassment, and will likely result in turning off multiple people to the discussion.
--Stay respectful of the thread starter's intent when keeping "on-topic." For example, do not attempt to turn a thread about funeral protesters in the US into a thread about civilian casualties in Iraq, or vice versa.
--Before you post a new thread pertaining to Iraq, please quickly scan through the last few days of posts to make sure there isn't a recently active thread that might be just as appropriate for what you have to post. And do not make a habit of starting spurious threads that are clearly intended simply to mock another thread. This will help keep FYM from getting Iraq-cluttered, and it will also save me thread-merging work.
--If you have any other concerns regarding Iraq threads, please feel free to either post them here, or to PM or email me privately. Also, should you feel in the future that these guidelines are not being adequately held to, please contact me about it.
Thanks for reading, and happy continued debating!
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