from the cl to me
Find a Conversation
| Sat, 10-04-2008 - 11:22am |
thanks to weber. i'm afraid this will get buried and is too important to miss, so i'm pasting here:
For those who are new here are a few board rules that I can remind you of.......
1. Candidates and the Pres are called by their correct name. Name calling went out in school and your debates are not credible if you call them names.
2. You can back up you posts with facts if you choose....but many times I know that people don't have the time. Opinions are also welcome to be shared as well.
3. Be respectfull and talk about the issues.....not the other posters.
4. Review the TOS and the rules of play for this board BEFORE you post....that way you you will know what is and isn't acceptable to post. http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-psmomspol&msg=3625.1&ctx=0
5. Violations of TOS and Rules of play, and SPAM will be reported to iVillage. Any person can report violations and questionable posts by clicking on report a violation at the bottom of each and every post. Members are encouraged to report violations so that posts that that are violations can be removed quickly before they cause damage to the moral of the board.
6. The ignore button is a wonderful feature and you are encouraged to use it if you are becoming frustrated by a poster. You can do this by clicking on ignore posts on a post made by that poster (it is on the bad to the side of the post.....under the posters name and avatar. You can also click on their member name and click ignore posts. If later you want to reinstate them go to board settings, friends, and click next to the ignored name....then submit.

With all due respect to the cl, and with the understanding that I've never referred to candidates or the President by other than their actual name or title, there is no "rule" that says they must be so referenced.
i think the points are:
- yes you can share an opinion
- no not every opinion requires a reference
- yes you should be prepared for someone to ask you to support your opinion
- no you cannot state a fact without a reference (well, you CAN but then it becomes an opinion and not a fact)
- yes a reference needs to be fact-based not opinion-based
and finally
- yes you can resort to name-calling because no one can stop you but it stymies discussion and debate because:
1) it is intentionally and unnecessarily offensive
2) it distracts from the issues
3) it shows you are desperate and irrational v. reasonable and rational
4) it raises the likelihood that your responses will be ignored
Bea
Yep, that's it in a nutshell.
Those who actually are attemtping debate already follow the unwritten rules of the site, those who don't care about debate also don't care about the unwritten rules.
You are right there is no iVillage law for these things....but these are things that people will do in a debate.