Originally Posted by
simla
Rules always backfire in my experience. Just look at all the traffic stuff the police constantly come up with and it doesn't seem to achieve anything much.
Personally, I prefer the golden rule instead: do unto others etc. On a forum like this, that boils down to simply dealing with the problem of trolls. Nobody has ever come up with a clear definition of that, so rules are a bit pointless, and that's what moderators are for surely? I've been trolled a bit (in my opinion) but I don't expect to be totally protected from that, merely for the forum to exercise judgement from time to time to calm things down. Life isn't perfect.
And I think people have to give Vince less stick when he does make decisions. With due respect, but isn't complaining about who has been banned just more trolling, of Vince? By all means send him a PM, but in public? After all, someone has to make decisions. Agree that many bans should be short term, but sometimes people have such volatile personalities that they aren't well suited to forums like this in the long term?
However, separately, I think outsiders may understand the purpose of this forum less than regulars, and so I would like to see a general disclaimer at the top all the time reminding people that these are just personal opinions. I mention that myself from time to time on posts, but that's a really tedious and repetitive thing to do, and I think it should be displayed at the top of the forum, even if not in huge letters.
So, no, I'm not in favour of fixed rules. Sorry, Vince, but I think you just have to keep standing in the middle from time to time, rather than coming up with rules. Yes, it's been a bit messy lately, but I think that will settle down again.