Godwin's law!

Back on topic though:

I really fail to see why some people are afraid of these rules. When I was moderating, more often than not, I would be yelled at for "making up the rules". I thought the moderators were using the teachings of a school named "common sense", but as time went by, we started noticing that common sense is a very, very fluctuating metric. People with different backgrounds, different involvements in different topics, and different points of view will have different "common senses".

Then, I see this wonderful idea that we will finally have a rulebook, something that had been whined for so often.

I think that most moderators are actually setting up these rules to protect themselves -- please don't start crying, and finish reading my post.

I truly believe most mods are tired of having to legitimise their actions. We are courteous enough to tell people when we take actions (and even then, we get yelled at, claiming that, for example, "we've deleted the evidence so that nobody will ever know what has happened", which is utter bollocks, considering that the moderators use the "soft-delete feature". See my reply to RevdKathy for further details).

Having this rulebook will allow moderators to point the offending user (or when they warn him) to the rules. There will be no more "you guys are bullies" talks, there will be nothing of the likes. At least, that's the hoped outcome. YMMV.

It is about damn time that people start understanding that moderators are here TO HELP. We are not your enemies, we are not Nokia's pets. There is not a big conspiracy to keep certain points of view out, as long as they are on topic. Post a nice, clean thread, with informed points of view, or at least, asking for information from those who hold it, and then use that as the foundation of a debate, rather than stupidly asserting things which will never hold, and basically troll the place down.

I hope that some of you recognise yourselves as you read these lines, because if you don't, then I really believe that no matter what we try to do, there will always be trolling, abuse, and a really stinky bad smell around here.

Get a bloody grip, we're here because we love the devices, and the OS as much as you do. Nothing less, nothing more.

You want to know the irony of things? Even when we ask the community to help write the rules, some people cry wolf. You have the ability to change things to your liking. Argue with thoughtful and thought-out replies, change our minds. This is the whole spirit of debate.