Making it Better: The future of WP

Post Reply New Topic

Hold on until I've finished my coffee. Yeah, you'd almost think someone was (still) campaigning to have him banned or something.

With the sh** storm certain people have posted in this and another thread aimed at Fnord over the last year, I honestly think it's very admirable that he has kept his cool. Thumbs up!

Criticizing right-wing ideas without criticizing the person is not bullying.

Criticizing left-wing ideas without criticizing the person is not bullying.

Criticizing centrist ideas without criticizing the person is not bullying.

Just don’t criticize the person while you’re criticizing the idea.

No worries, Padde...

I'm doing fine ... just fine ...

The word "bullying" isn't in our rules at all. Alex mentions personal attacks and personal insults, but doesn't use the word bullying, which is more vague.

The rule is that you can debate topics or ideology, with support for your own position, but you can't insult or belittle the person making the opposite comments. You can't imply or state that the person is bad or inferior to you based on their differing opinions. Likewise, you can't criticise groups of people (on or off WP) either, because that's a generalisation.


(August, 2016)

Regarding Right Wing, of course people can criticise the ideology, especially if they give reasons. It wouldn't be OK to make broader speculations and generalisations by assuming the person is racist, white supremacist, violent, psychotic, or the member of any worldwide fascist hate group, because of the person they may have supported in a previous election. Likewise with Left Wing, people can criticise their ideology with reasons but that criticism shouldn't extend to the person's character by using lies, libel, or wild speculation that they are violent or part of a hate group.

It's the same with religion (no one can insult anyone else's religion as being delusional / wrong, or insult their lack of religious faith as atheists and agnostics).

PPR has the same rules as every other part of Wrong Planet. The mudslinging we see might get heated in terms of informed debate, but it's still important that no one uses belittling or provocative language against other members (e.g., calling people names, making assumptions about their character, or otherwise shaming them as individuals for their contributions).

"You" is also general and you say "you" without meaning the person directly you are responding too. That is what I meant with my hypothetical comment about parenting.

Just like how trolling isn't against the rules here nor being a fake person here, you know having a virtual life.

We have actually had members here that fit this description here but they are no longer here.

You're right. I haven't seen the word "troll" in the rules, but there are WP rules by Alex, which mean the same thing.

Troll definition:

"In Internet slang, a troll is a person who starts flame wars or intentionally upsets people on the Internet by posting inflammatory and digressive,[1] extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community (such as a newsgroup, forum, chat room, or blog) with the intent of provoking readers into displaying emotional responses[2] and normalizing tangential discussion,[3] either for the troll's amusement or a specific gain." (wikipedia).

Alex's rules, which are similar:






A person can be online all day if they choose, but they can't seek to cause conflict with other members by flaming, or using belittling, provocative language to insult or mock others. That's pretty much the same as trolling. If a member were to post the same belittling comments across different subfora (e.g., PPR, News, Haven, Administrative), I would consider it to be an act of trolling, or breaking the rules Alex set forth.

^ I got one more to add. I couldn't find it at first thought the wording had been changed recently.

This one is important too. It's a rule addition made by TallyMan in 2012.

Sadly, comments that were belittling or provocative have been made in The Haven.
They've caused considerable distress for some members.

When members speak up, they're often told that they're too sensitive or they should grow thicker skin, even when it's a direct rule break which should not be allowed. Then the cycle perpetuates, with those members being called "fragile" or "snowflakes", or other dismissive terms which are judgemental and insulting.

It really is baffling that such simple rules can't always be understood.

This is an inherent problem with the English language, we don't have a word like you that doesn't imply you personally. One could use one, but that's less common and reads slightly awkwardly.

Probably because of interpretations and what is considered an insult or what is belittling.

I once read a story that astounded me and I think this was a true story. Someone wrote how we needed to be cautious about the B word (bully) when we label students that. One example was there was this 13 year old kid who was going around calling people names and putting them down and he got asked by the teacher "Now what do you think a bully is?" and he said "going around and calling people fa**ots" and that was shocking.

He wasn't going around calling people slur words so he didn't see himself as a bully.

I even had someone tell me online about the word b***h, "is just a word."

To some people, they are just words and have no affect on them. Good for them. So in their mind, there is no insult and it's just a word.

And on Reddit, when I did a comeback when I got insulted by telling someone "you are an idiot if you think you have to insult people to disagree" because they called me an idiot, they seemed shocked and surprised and played the victim and were like "but but but what you said was stupid" as if they thought they were justified. A spade is a spade you know.

The mindset people out there have is mind boggling. Then they are surprised at your comeback or when they get a warning from a mod or something.


When I was a kid, I thought a bully was taking lunch money from kids or teasing someone every day calling them names that are meant to hurt them and it's done with intent. If someone didn't fit the bully description you always see on TV they were not a bully. So I am not surprised if bullies out there do not see themselves as a bully.

Maybe ? When I was a kid I thought bullying had to be physical so any teasing I received I didn't consider as bullying even though it's was harmful.

The Haven is different though. There's no reason for a member to post ANY comment about another member, or group of members, in The Haven. I'm not sure why anyone would go into The Haven and write judgements about another member.

The Haven is for people to express personal upset and frustration. People can offer support or choose not to, but making comments about other people or negative generalisations against one another is really in poor taste. There shouldn't have to be a judgement call because we shouldn't be discussing each other anywhere, let alone in The Haven.

So I take it you don't live in the US.

I found out we have a different use of words like how we use "like" and "you" like I just did now.


We have words that have more than one meaning or have words that are spelled the same but sound different depending on how it is used like "read" and "bow" and we have words that are spelled different but sound the same like "red" and "read" and "buy" and "by" and "bye" and "hi" and "high."


I also found out the hard way that how we use words can be cultural like for example, the word dump when we talking about dumping people off somewhere like "I will dump you off at the store while I run this errand." but I offended some mom online when I told her "good thing you checked that place out before dumping your kids off there." It was a daycare she checked out and it was horrible, it wasn't cleaned, didn't follow the safety codes and one of her daughters dug up a pair of scissors from the yard outside. The mom got mad at me and called me ignorant when I had given her a compliment and was shocked at the place and told her it was good she checked it out first before dumping them there. I told my mom this story and she was confused about her reaction and then told me it might be cultural on how the word is used. This was how everyone around her had always talked and my family.

I hear the US has different cultures as well. On the west coast, cashiers will try and make small talk with you but go east, there is no small talk from them. It could be the same with use of words too so the word dump maybe has a different meaning where she is from vs where I am from.

That is why listing location is relevant because of different cultures and plus if you are in another country, you have different laws than us.

My husband had the same thought as you. He said he was never bullied until high school. He meant he was teased and then he started to get beat up in high school.

A new rule was added in my period as moderator regarding the Haven , Skilp posted it , I can't seem to find it now. ?