Puns

[SkStu]

Allowed or not?

The extensive list of rules does not make any reference to the use of puns. Whether they are clever or stupid, they are harmless and a good bit of fun. For some reason, Tets seems to feel within his rights to delete them simply because he doesn't like them or find them funny. I am assuming no one else has complained? Wouldn't puns just be easier to ignore than to police like this, especially if the rules don't reference them in any way, shape or form?

[osarusan]

There's little enough chat around the place, without deleting harmless stuff like that.

[DeLorean]

Concede defeat Tets, or you won't have time for anything else once Troy Parrott spreads his wings.

[pineapple stu]

No reason in the world to be deleting them.

[tetsujin1979]

Posted this on the 28th

One day.

The posts continued past the deadline, so they were deleted.

[DeLorean]

That's hardly the point.

[tetsujin1979]

It's exactly the point. One day, that's the rule. Anything after that and it all gets deleted.

[DeLorean]

The point is that there should be no warnings or rules at all, that they're harmless and you're the only one (it seems) that has any issue with them whatsoever.

[SkStu]

It's exactly the point. One day, that's the rule. Anything after that and it all gets deleted.

Agree with Del completely obviously. But it also wasn’t one day.

What’s the harm in puns? It’s weird that this would bother you so much. And there are no rules against puns in the FAQ section. Go take a look.

[tetsujin1979]

Go back and check the time I posted "one day"
Then check the time of John83 and Eminence Grise's posts

[pineapple stu]

It's exactly the point. One day, that's the rule. Anything after that and it all gets deleted.
It's not the rule tets.

Everyone on the forum gets a bit of craic out of it It's absolutely not for a moderator to dictate to forum members about stuff like this.

[John83]

Go back and check the time I posted "one day"
Then check the time of John83 and Eminence Grise's posts
Didn't even see that. Your post, nor that you'd deleted one of mine. Can't say I'm much bothered. If there's another conversation being lost in puns, it makes sense to stop them, but there's feck all traffic on this forum any more anyway.

I knew a punster once who liked to say that a day without puns is like a day without sunshine: dull.

[passinginterest]

Really is an encrouteable situation. Hopefully this is the right plaice to impart salm of my knowledge. I wouldn’t want to get too caught up in what’s a slippery situation but it’d be a shame to let the good ones slip through the net, the forum’s gone a bit flat lately anyway. Something fishy going on.

[tetsujin1979]

I've no interest in reading endless one liners because Sammon the name sounds like salmon the fish.
It got so bad on another forum they had to designate a separate thread as the "no pun" thread.
The last time this came up, I agreed I wouldn't do anything for one day, and anything posted after that would mean everything gets deleted.

[pineapple stu]

I've no interest in reading endless one liners because Sammon the name sounds like salmon the fish.
Do you know what tets - it doesn't ****ing matter what you have or haven't interest in. Because this isn't your personal fiefdom to dictate to.

Everyone who has posted on this thread is ****ed off at you unilaterally deleting posts because of your random personal preference.

Have you no respect for the views of the rest of the posters at all? Is everything about you here?

[tetsujin1979]

It wasn't random. If the deadline was respected, I would have done nothing.

[pineapple stu]

Tets - ignore your deadline.

I'll ask you again - do you have no respect for the forum members here that, when everyone is asking you to stop deleting posts, you do it anyway?

Are you really that disrespectful?

Can I ask you to actually address my post - and this thread - in full, rather than ignoring large chunks of it?

[osarusan]

There were almost a dozen puns deleted.

I thought some might survive the cull, but unfortunately no pun in ten did.

[SkStu]

Go back and check the time I posted "one day"
Then check the time of John83 and Eminence Grise's posts

I was going to ignore this line of argument as your rule is completely self-serving, asinine and irrelevant because it does not appear anywhere in the actual rules of the site but, even if it were relevant, you deleted other posts that were posted within this day limit. You cant even follow your own lousy rule.

The bigger issue, however, is as Pineapple and others have laid out - you have no authority to do what you did to these and any previous posts and you refuse to acknowledge the damage you are doing to the forum with your over-moderation on petty stuff like this.

[dahamsta]

pineapple stu, there's no need to get so het up over something so unimportant, calm down.

The moderator sets the rules, the rule is clear, he acted according to the rule. Appeal the rule, not the rulebreaking.

[pineapple stu]

pineapple stu, there's no need to get so het up over something so unimportant, calm down.
OK, fair enough.

But we are appealing the rule here. It's not a rule. Or if it is, it's tets' own rule that he made up, and everyone on this thread seems to be in agreement that it shouldn't be a rule.

[DeLorean]

The moderator sets the rules, the rule is clear, he acted according to the rule. Appeal the rule, not the rulebreaking.

I would've thought it was a moderators duty to enforce the rules already in place, not create their own ones?

[tetsujin1979]

I was going to ignore this line of argument as your rule is completely self-serving, asinine and irrelevant because it does not appear anywhere in the actual rules of the site but, even if it were relevant, you deleted other posts that were posted within this day limit. You cant even follow your own lousy rule.

The bigger issue, however, is as Pineapple and others have laid out - you have no authority to do what you did to these and any previous posts and you refuse to acknowledge the damage you are doing to the forum with your over-moderation on petty stuff like this.

I deleted everything because the deadline was ignored. I would have done nothing if it wasn't.
I didn't delete anything until after the 24 hours had passed.

[pineapple stu]

Tets - please stop ignoring the issue here

This rule is one you made up.

It annoys everyone, and this thread is unanimous in asking you to stop it.

Discuss

[Eminence Grise]

The moderator sets the rules, the rule is clear, he acted according to the rule. Appeal the rule, not the rulebreaking.

The rule is arbitrary, self-serving and contrary to the wishes of every poster who has contributed to this thread, except Tets (and you, but you're impartial for a reason). If it is to be a rule then it must be a rule for every thread i.e all 82,960 of them containing 1,754,096 posts, as per the site stats right now. If that is not going to happen, then why does one thread - a harmless bit of fun - get singled out for punitive treatment?

By the way, posting 'one day' is ambiguous: I took it to be the equivalent of an exasperated 'one day this will end' (which, in fairness, it will: Sammon's 33 and not got much playing time left) not 'one day to make jokes and then I delete your posts according to a rule I made up'.

I'm as angry as Pineapple Stu over this. There's a bunch of us taking part in the most benign form of oneupmanship you can imagine being treated very shabbily and very disrespectfully.

[Real ale Madrid]

If that is not going to happen, then why does one thread - a harmless bit of fun - get singled out for punitive treatment?


You were told to stop EG.

[Eminence Grise]

Don't get me started, RAM! To misquote Baldrick: I have a punning clan. (That's an anticipatory tongue slip, by the way, and most definitely not a pun.)

Look, all any of us want is a solution that satisfies everybody. I genuinely like Tets for his contributions here, but this has't been a good episode for the site.

[CraftyToePoke]

I take tets point about another forum being ruined with pages of pun only content, but we have nowhere near the traffic here anymore to fear that.

There's a few of us left, that few seem pretty much unanimous on this to me, that there is no harm in this, no forum rule being broken other than a mod pet peeve being triggered which surely can be relaxed a bit given the points above ?

Would make sense to me anyway.

[Real ale Madrid]

Look, all any of us want is a solution that satisfies everybody. I genuinely like Tets for his contributions here, but this has't been a good episode for the site.

Look in all seriousness - if Tets hates puns that much move the Conor Sammon thread to LOI section where I'm the mod and you can Pun away in there without any Punishment. I know its only a bit of craic but if Tets is that set against it and he's the only person taking time out to moderate in there then I think we should come to some solution.

Although if any of you use this as a licence to start calling the New Limerick club - Stoners FC then you are all banned for good!

[CraftyToePoke]

It has arisen on other threads in the Ireland section, no ?

[Real ale Madrid]

It has arisen on other threads in the Ireland section, no ?

There was a bit of messing when Declan Rice identified as Irish but apart from that not much I think.

[Eminence Grise]

Moving the thread could work.

But Stoners FC?

And lo! The name was made flesh. And all of the Tribe of Puns did RAM it down the moderator's neck every chance they got!

[CraftyToePoke]

I don' agree, if its a site rule then ok, but there should be consistency on the site I think, moving it to placate what should really be a non issue isn't a fix.

Think there were Parrot puns also, and it will reoccur some other time too.

[Eminence Grise]

It has arisen on other threads in the Ireland section, no ?

I seem to recall occasonal short-lived flurries on various threads - Rice was probably the longest of those. Sammon is the only one where puns [sooo tempted to write spawn, but out of deference I won't] take on a life of their own.

[CraftyToePoke]

How about this, a page limit on pun posts, say four per page or something similar. If you're about to pun, check the page, if the limit is already reached, keep your powder dry and make a sensible contribution till a new page on the thread ? Protects from over fishing, keeps the stock healthy, no one loses, no one wins. Something for everyone.

[pineapple stu]

How about just pun away?

Why is it such a big issue? It flares up for a day or two, then dies down, then talk goes back to why it's ridiculous that Parrott hasn't been given the number 9 jersey this year. What harm?

[CraftyToePoke]

Yeah, I would be of that mind too, but am looking for a workable solution whereby no one has to fold. Few deep breaths from you would help Pineapple, try to reach calmer waters, as it were.

[pineapple stu]

Yeah, I would be of that mind too, but am looking for a workable solution whereby no one has to fold.
It's admirable, but the problem is it just gets unwieldy. We already have the suggestion of a 24-hour punathon - that's what's started this thread. A four-pun limit is unworkable in practice. People won't check (and really, truly, why should they?), and I think it's also the case that some people will have a different number of posts per page displaying.

Honestly, the best solution is to quietly drop the rule, delete this thread if needs be, and in a fortnight's time tets will still be a valued member of the forum community, there'll be some puns on a couple of threads and none on most threads, and this will all have been forgotten.

[tetsujin1979]

Only getting back to this thread now.
I'm not against puns, I'm actually in favour of a good one liner. Most of my sense of humour is based around a relevant one liner from the Simpsons/Family Guy/Fight Club/Father Ted/anime/etc
I'm against opening the forum and having to skip 24 new posts all based around the fact that a player's name, or surname, sounds like something else. Towell, Harness, Sammon, etc, to get to something approaching a discussion or news.
I've no interest in reading any of it, and I'm convinced it's part of the reason there's been a drop off in traffic on YBIG. That, and the same four posters making the same arguments on every thread.

[pineapple stu]

You're still not addressing the fact that it's pretty much everyone against you here.

I don't know why (or if) YBIG traffic has dropped, but it's far more likely to be because of the general demise in forums in the past few years rather than because of a few puns.

[tetsujin1979]

We're not talking about a few puns, we're talking about page after page of them

[pineapple stu]

So what?

We're not talking about one poster objecting to what you're doing; we're talking about page after page of them. You're still ignoring that point.

[nigel-harps1954]

It's nice to see a busy thread on foot.ie again

[Eminence Grise]

I did a bit of digging into the Sammon forum to see how bad the pun problem is.

The thread started on 13 November 2010, and the first 22 pages (440 posts) took it to 23 September 2014, a three year, 10 month period which roughly coincided with his peak/Ireland years. In five years, four months since then, there are 71 posts on four pages:



There are six puns on page 23 (23 September 2014 - 26 July 2015), the first of which acknowledges an Irish Indo headline that contained a Sammon pun.
There are 10 on page 24 (26 July 2015 - 23 January 2018).
There are four on page 25, (14 January 2018 - 10 July 2019), if ‘I never expected him to sink so low’ is a pun - while it references his name it could be taken as a face-value comment.
There are five in 11 posts on page 26 (10 July 2019 onwards).


That's 25 puns in 71 posts in a little over five years. I don’t think that's excessive, though I don’t overlook the possibility that some puns may have been deleted, and that could skew the figures.

We need a solution, not finger-pointing: Tets doesn’t need to apologise or rationalise his dislike of puns. In every other thread he’s a good, even-handed moderator and I think we all respect him for that.

As I see it, the options are:


The thread can be moved – RAM suggested to his LoI threads;
Another moderator can take over just this thread;
The thread carries on as most posters want it, with puns allowed. We’re looking at a player at the end of his career: the last five years show how little activity there’s been, and how little there’s likely to be. Meanwhile we try to avoid obvious puns that have been done to death. Up the game, lads – nets, scales, streams and the like are the low hanging fruit of punning. (Maybe they come in punnets…?)


Are there any other suggestions? Should it be put to a vote? Or can we reach an agreement?

[SkStu]

So what?

We're not talking about one poster objecting to what you're doing; we're talking about page after page of them. You're still ignoring that point.

You’re swimming upstream with this PS.

The only option I have any interest in is allow puns.

[tetsujin1979]

Or, to follow the rule that was established the last time this happened.
Puns allowed for a day, and if that's ignored they all get deleted.

[pineapple stu]

Literally the point of this thread is that that was your rule, and nobody wants it.

Why won't you accept this?

[SkStu]

No, there’s no justification or support for it. Only one person has a problem with the puns.

[John83]

Or, to follow the rule that was established the last time this happened.
Puns allowed for a day, and if that's ignored they all get deleted.
But you ignored the rule that puns can't be deleted on days ending in y. I find this difficult to understand. It's a perfectly simple rule.

[DeLorean]

There are four on page 25, (14 January 2018 - 10 July 2019), if ‘I never expected him to sink so low’ is a pun - while it references his name it could be taken as a face-value comment.

I can confirm that this was indeed an attempt at a pun. :)