Revised Forum Rules for the BBQ Pit: read this before posting
The BBQ Pit is the forum for rants about the outside world or quarrels between posters - often the first turns into the second. Although the standards of discourse are looser than in the other forums, the Pit is NOT a free-for-all - you don't have to be nice, but you do have to be reasonably civil. Please observe the following rules when posting in the Pit:
Rants should be suitable for the Pit
Cutesy, "I Pit puppies for being sooo cute!" non-Pittings are not welcome here. Put them in a General Forum catagory. Rants which are genuine but simply too tepid or mundane for the Pit will be moved or closed as we see fit. Lastly, rants about personal trauma that are expected to generate mostly supportive, sympathetic responses will likely be moved to a General Forum category. This is not a commentary on the seriousness of said life events, merely not the best forum for that type of thread.
The Pit is not your personal diary
The Pit isn't Cranks' Corner or group therapy. Posters who glut the forum with threads or consistently hijack the threads of others may be subject to moderator action. No, there isn't a magic number of threads or posts per day that are acceptable. (And if you're even asking, you probably need a LiveJournal.)
Include links when Pitting other posters
When Pitting another poster, it is considered good form to include a link to the post or posts that inspired the Pitting. In the case of thread parodies, including a link to the thread being parodied is mandatory. Otherwise, no one knows what you're talking about and confusion ensues.
Do not threaten harm or wish death on another poster
Do not threaten another poster with physical harm, or wish for their demise. This includes hypothetical statements like "it would make me happy if someone ran you over" or "I hope you say that to [someone prone to stabbing people] and they stab you".
Do not post contact information (email, phone, mailing address, etc.) to facilitate a campaign for/against a person, group, or issue
We don't want the board used to hassle people or groups of people. You can urge people to write their Congressperson or other political leaders, but let people find the contact information themselves. Don't post it here.
Quoting: do not alter words within quote tags beyond fair usage standards
Do not change quotes of other posters or off-board citations beyond fair usage standards. If you delete material, use either ellipses or descriptive tags (e.g., <snip>, [material deleted], etc.) to indicate you've done so. To add non-editorial explanatory material, use square brackets, which means things like [sic] or replacing a pronoun to make a partial quote clearer. If you add formatting for emphasis, please indicate you've done so, either in square brackets within the quote or immediately after the quote. Quote tags are for actual quotes only - don't use them to paraphrase another's argument or make a joke.
No hate speech
If you say hateful and/or racist things, you may get warned or banned. Some slurs are likely to be viewed as hate speech when used as insults, some aren't. No, we aren't going to give you a list. Our goal is not to restrict any and all speech which could be viewed by someone as offensive, but simply keep a modicum of decency, even here.
No trolling
By trolling, we mean posting of inflammatory comments solely to get a rise out of people. If we feel your primary goal as a poster is to make people mad, you'll quickly find yourself on the road to banning. On the flip side, the fact that a poster consistently makes you mad doesn't automatically make them a troll.
Don't go nuts in thread titles
Profanity is permitted, but don't get carried away. We reserve the right to do something about thread titles we think are over the top.
Observe the Pit language rules
A few expressions are not to be directed at other posters; a few others should be used sparingly. We may update the list from time to time. We reserve the right to take appropriate action in cases of posts we find exceptionally cruel, shocking, or crazy, regardless of target.
The following expressions should not be directed at other posters.
- cunt and variants, e.g., cuntlapper
- motherfucker
- cocksucker
- fuck you and variants, e.g., go fuck yourself, fuck off and die
- suck/lick my dick/cock and variants
Expressions not referred to above but which are normally considered vulgar (e.g., asshole, dick, prick, bitch, kiss my ass) are subject to the following limitations:
- occasional use only
- no posts consisting solely or mainly of vulgarities.
Don't play games. For example, don't say, "X [some offboard personality] is a cunt, and you're like X."
This list is subject to revision.
No harassment of other posters
If you have a quarrel with a poster in a particular thread, fine. If you follow that poster from thread to thread and attempt to pick fights, that's harassment and may get you warned or banned.
No complaints about DDG administration in the Pit
All comments or complaints about DDG administration should go in the About This forum, not in the Pit. Pitting of DDG staff is permitted for views they express as ordinary posters.
Mind the moderators
In the Pit as in all other DDG forums, the role of the moderators is to moderate. If we feel a thread is getting out of hand, we may tell you or the thread participants generally to back off. Such comments are simply cautions and in themselves won't get you tossed off the board. (We reserve the right to make exceptions in extreme cases.) However, refusal to cooperate or persisting in arguing with a mod after you've been told to stop may result in disciplinary action. If you feel you've been unfairly treated, take your complaint to DDG forum Administrator at forumadmin [at] digitaldjinn.com.