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View Full Version : Rules & Info - Current Affairs ONLY Please!



dahamsta
10/01/2006, 1:26 AM
Keep topics in this forum to Current Affairs only please. That means topical, interesting information on current events, specifically political or social events. That means comments by Mary Harney on "blacks", an obituary of a respected columnist, or the social aspects of a movie on ID are in; and debate on the CGI in King Kong, how many bellies Jimmy "Five Bellies" really has, and commentary on Britney's latest hairdo are out. You can still posts on topics in the latter category in Off Topic if you wish.

As with most new forums, this one is on probation until it proves it's worth; if it doesn't get traffic or it becomes a hellhole of trolling, it'll be closed and threads will be merged back into Off Topic. This forum will also have a very specific set of rules, which will be developed by myself and the mods as we go on. Rule Number One is posted below, read it carefully before posting.

Your hosts today are tiktok and pete, who have my permission to moderate misbehaviour and stupidity with an iron glove. Pete, being a Foot.ie supermod, will only be hanging around until such time as a suitable replacement comes along, so if you shine like a diamond in here, you may find yourself nominated as a mod at a later date. Hint hint.

Rule One: A lot of topics in here will consist of debate, which I welcome with open arms. However I don't welcome flame wars in any way shape or form. This means you have to back up your comments with facts, via links or references to texts; or in the case of opinions you have to argue your point in detail. Saying "in my opinion" followed by one sentence is not "detail". This particularly applies to thread starters: Links to articles or forum posts without commentary will be deleted.

If you have suggestions or comments, please post them in the Support forum.

adam

dahamsta
26/01/2006, 8:53 PM
I'm opening this thread for discussion of rules for this forum. If you have comments, please post them below.

Thanks,
adam

Dr.Nightdub
26/01/2006, 8:57 PM
This isn't about me quibbling over having my knuckles rapped last night - if my da read this forum, he'd come down on me a lot heavier than Adam did, as he's spent years trying to drum into me "Get your facts marshalled, THEN make your argument." So, mea culpa, etc.

A couple of philosophical points about the rules:

There may be times when something that is broadcast, but hasn't yet been published in linkable form, deserves to be the subject of comment in a thread in the Current Affairs forum. Maybe there should be some leeway for use of reported speech in such instances?

Selective quotation from sources, or even selective statements of fact by sources, is gonna be very hard to police. If even recognised media can get their "facts" wrong, either for genuine or malicious reasons, it could be quite difficult for the Current Affairs forum to stay free from the same.

rebs23
27/01/2006, 11:27 AM
The problem with statistics or facts is that the winner writes history and that there are statistics, more statistics and damn lies!! They can be twisted, taken out of context, misquoted, etc, etc.
It's all about freedom of expression and respect for the existance of different opinions, something we all fall down on every now and again!!!

Closed Account 2
07/02/2006, 11:13 PM
post number one here now needs updating with a rule that you can't quote whole articles.

dahamsta
07/02/2006, 11:35 PM
http://foot.ie/faq.php?faq=rules#faq_new_faq_item

dahamsta
08/07/2009, 7:07 PM
Just wanted to bounce this back up for dicussion. The CA forum is quite busy these days and the moderation a bit light-handed for my liking, particularly wrt to circular arguments. Is a heavier hand needed do ye think? With fixed rules or just tougher general moderation if so? And if the former, what should they be?

(Bizarre to see a post by Nightdub above btw. Whatever happened to him?)

Thanks,
adam

Dodge
08/07/2009, 7:46 PM
(Bizarre to see a post by Nightdub above btw. Whatever happened to him?)


Still about on other forums. Think he just got bored with this place

On Moderation; I know I'm very reluctant to moderate any thread I'm involved with. I don't think I'd moderate to suit my view (etc) but I don't want to leave it open to accusation either

Wolfman
09/06/2015, 11:05 AM
Why not just allow free speech?