Focus on the Subject and Be Agreeable, Even When You Disagree

[Shaun]

Current affairs can be contentious but that does not mean discussions have to be hostile or negative. Please post in the spirit of sharing, informing and learning from each other, just as you would at work, home, on a club run, or in the cafe or at the pub.

When replying DO NOT focus on the poster, focus on the subject or ideas posted.

If you wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it, that’s fine. But remember to criticise ideas, not people. Please avoid:

• Rudeness, name calling, belittling, patronising, saying someone is stupid or otherwise putting someone down.
• Ad hominem attacks (undermining opinions by attacking the person's character).
• Responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content.

Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.

If we feel a post is disagreeable we are likely to edit or remove it and exclude you from the thread for 24 hours as a reminder of the tone we would like for our current affairs forum. Continued reminders will eventually lead to a posting exclusion.

Reports to the moderator team should be made with the aim of keeping the current affairs forum healthy and on track - not with an expectation of refereeing personal or political differences; those should be sorted through reasoned discourse in the discussion threads.

Thank you for your consideration and co-operation.

Shaun

 

[Moderators]

Posting of links only or pictures only within News & Current Affairs (NACA) are not allowed.

Links:

NACA is a forum for the discussion of subjects as per the forum title between individual members. A simple link post does not add to the discussion.

If you wish to add a link to your post please state either the reason why it is relevant to the discussion and/or your views on the material that you have linked to.

Pictures:

Picture only posts are not allowed. They are problematic in that individual interpretations of the meaning of a picture post vary considerably - they generally produce a spate of reports because of this and can cause considerable unnecessary workload for the Mods.

In the past pictures have been used by some members as a non-verbal vehicle for sarcasm or other negative comments against other members. This clearly goes against the ethos of the forum.

If you wish to post a picture please add supporting text as to how it adds to the discussion and/or the precise meaning of the image.

The no pictures rule has previously been covered within the forum rules/guidelines and the following extracts are highlighted for clarity:

Language – We are an English language community and require content to be posted in English so that it can be easily understood and moderated. Short, common use non-English phrases are allowed, as are requests to have text translated; and if you wish to post a quote in another language, please post the English translation alongside it so that the meaning is clear. Moderators will remove non-English text where there is no accompanying translation or any doubt as to its meaning.


Pictures are not always easy to understand and moderate. This includes pictures that include some text content - these too are easily misinterpreted

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If you wish to respond to something by disagreeing with it, that’s fine. But remember to criticise ideas, not people. Please avoid:

· Rudeness, name calling, belittling, patronising, saying someone is stupid or otherwise putting someone down.

· Ad hominem attacks (undermining opinions by attacking the person's character).

· Responding to a post’s tone instead of its actual content.

Instead, provide reasoned counter-arguments that improve the conversation.


A picture is not a 'reasoned counter-argument'.

A picture used as a 'message' to a fellow member that is belittling, patronising or insulting etc is clearly in breach of the rules.

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Reposting. Please don't repost entire articles from other sites. To initiate a discussion about an article, post a link to the article, quote a bit of it if you like, and include your own comments or questions so people know why you think it's worthy of discussion.

Logically, picture posts are included within this rule.