House Rules (Please Read)

Welcome to the all-new Big Bad Serious Forum! You've probably heard of the Big Bad Serious Thread, where we keep discussion of serious real-world topics, but that thread has now been expanded into its own forum! You can discuss all sorts of deep, meaningful, and serious topics ranging from science, to religion, to politics, to philosophy, and really anything else that you feel fits the forum's definition. We're a very peaceful and open-minded forum, but because some of these topics are controversial, it's worth remembering the House Rules that Petty set forth in the original BBST on the old forum.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:1. No disrespect. Unless somebody happens to hold all the secrets of the universe and beyond then none of us are in a position to tell someone else what they think is stupid. So don't. Disagree and debate by all means but no blanket statements of that kind.

2. No name calling. No liberal/nazi whatever here- that's fun enough when its in (half) jest over Tolkien and how to adapt but not on when discussing religion, politics and the like. Good debate is the aim here not abuse.

3. Try to learn something. One of the greatest accomplishment a human (or hobbit) can achieve is to listen to another persons point of view and learn something from it. So bear this in mind when reading others comments- particularly if your first reaction is to disagree.

4. No cheating! By this I mean I want to hear what each of you thinks on a subject- so if the discussion is on say the BIg Bang, read up on it if you feel you want to but no going to wiki and copying and pasting entire entries here. Interesting links on a subject are permitted however.

Please bear in mind that these are not hard-and-fast laws that must be obeyed, but general guidelines for how to hold an interesting and polite debate on any number of topics. You may note that the fifth and final rule from the original has been excised because, since this is a now a forum, individual topics can be posted in their own threads. However, the main Bigger, Badder, Even More Serious Thread is still open, and any minor topics and comments or what-have-you can be posted there. Sufficiently long and/or interesting tangents may be split into their own threads if that seems like a good idea.

Feel free to ask any questions. Petty is the best person to direct them towards since the BBST was his idea originally and he has always played a key role in guiding it along. Have fun and enjoy the debates!

Wow I am so out of the loop. O did not know about all these rules. I have read different people be put down. In fact when I first came o someone took a dislike to me and misunderstood my motives and made no bones about explaining myself to me and how most others act in a similar situation
No one thought anything of it.Why do those rules only apply to this thread. O was quite cut up but. ... I decided to stay and love this place for what it is
And I have been put down or rather my views disguised under niceness and I myself have been very direct. No one paid for a hit on me. So why can we not just have a knock down name calling fight if so desired? Not that I ever would or could, but it seems we can all give it out but not take it.

Hi Leelee, nice to see you posting again

I joined the forum long after you did, and I generally stay out of the Big Bad Serious Forum ( or any 'serious' debates really), so you'd have to speak to Eldo or Petty about the rules and/or any issues you may have had.

So why can we not just have a knock down name calling fight if so desired?

Petty and Figgs seem to have a pretty good go at this every other week, but it's all good natured ribbing (for the most part ), speaking personally Forumshire is the most welcoming forum I've posted on, noone here seems to have issues with each other, and even if they did, I'd assume they would be mature/considerate enough not to throw insults around at each other in the open, if I ever fall into an unwanted argument online, or suffer abuse from a fellow member, I mostly just ignore it, cowards and trolls for the most part, with too much free time and anger on their hands, not worth your time getting worked up about.

Well the OP in this thread is just over four years old and and the rules in the quote box are even older. When Petty first came up with the idea of the Big Bad Serious Thread (it wasn't yet it's own forum) it wasn't clear if religious or political discussions would be allowed, but GB decided to try it provisionally, but with certain guidelines and with everyone knowing that if things got out of hand it'd be shut down. I don't recall anyone ever having invoked the special rules for this forum though so they're basically more just guidelines at this point. Ones that I think most of us strive for though we don't always meet; lord knows that's true for me anyway. At this point I think we all know each other fairly well and when fights do occur we tend to make up in relatively short order. That's the cycle that I see happening.

NB I know that when you started posting here emotions were still very raw regarding relations between Forumshire and Planet Tolkien. I'm not proud of that and I'm sorry if anything that was said then still bothers you.

Simul post with malick.

malickfan wrote:if I ever fall into an unwanted argument online, or suffer abuse from a fellow member, I mostly just ignore it, cowards and trolls for the most part, with too much free time and anger on their hands, not worth your time getting worked up about.

I think that's generally a pretty good attitude to take, but if anyone feels harassed or set upon and is not comfortable just riding it out, then please reach out to one of the mods so we can do something about it.  And if it's one of the mods who you feel uncomfortable about, then hopefully you can talk to one of the others.  We all have different approaches to moderation but we engage in self-criticism amongst ourselves as necessary and hopefully are all growing and improving just like everyone else.

Well you are all dear to me and I can,t imagine any of you not here and if anyone has a problem with that Tough Darts!!!

I don't think I've ever noticed this thread!

That's two of us then.

What a strange gangrel place it truly is!

Yes, who knew there were.. like.. rules..

Eldo has always told me there were rules somewhere - maybe I should have listened at least once to where he said they were. I suspect that there will be other rules somewhere else too. I mean, Eldo never does anything but half measures. (I hope the new Admin doesn't plan to have a heap of rules. These ones were bad enough!!!! )

I thought rules were there to be broken ? Rules dont make sense unless you can rebel against them ? And I think whoever sets them likes to be challenged so,.....?