Political Debate rules. “I have gained this from philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law.” - Aristotle. The #politicaldebate channel has rules, moderate and simple rules to facilitate discussion that is both pleasant and lively, and as most civilised people intuitively abide by them as a matter of course, what follows has no application to them. However there are some people who insist on behaving in a fashion quite contrary to the conventions of civilised conduct. Why this should be so we can only speculate, perhaps due to a failure of parental discipline they never became acquainted with polite society nor how to conduct one's self therein. So for this latter, and thankfully small group, here are the rules so that they may not be in any doubt as to what is improper behaviour in the channel: 1 – Personal abuse is not tolerated. Personal means abusing them specifically as an individual. To avoid confusion: One may express contempt for a group of people who share a particular trait, such as “I hate short people.”, but if this is directed at a particular person, “I hate you Joe because you are a slimy short person and deserve to die.”, then this is personal abuse and will not be tolerated. 2 – Excessive swearing. While one recognizes that thanks to a free socialised education system that for some people swearing is essential to communication, this must have its limits. Particularly when employed in personal abuse also. Then there are a few people with Tourette's Syndrome who just flood with swearing, which is annoying and boring, take it elsewhere. 3 – Threatening to stalk, maim, or kill channel members. If you can't handle their opinions put them on ignore. 4 – Flooding. Self explanatory, one of the age old hazards of irc. 5 – Spamming. Fortunately quite rare on irc these days. And before you protest, the aegis of free speech does not cover any of these behaviours. As for the punishment's incurred for infractions of these rules, they are as follows: |
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