1. This is not a free speech zone. I reserve the right to ban anyone for any or no reason.
I intend to be a benevolent dictator, but a dictator I remain. I accept no accountability for the manner in which I tend my garden.
2. Adhere to civil discussion norms. Avoid fallacies.
Whatever you do, do it well.
3. Keep the tone civil and polite.
If you make someone angry, they might offer stupider counterarguments as a result, and you might lose the opportunity to change your mind.
Respect doesn't mean agreement. You can respectfully say that a position seems unreasonable, or thoroughly debunked. It's the difference between tolerance and acceptance.
Use people's preferred names and pronouns wherever this is reasonably feasible. (The infeasibility clause should be invoked only in truly extraordinary cases, such as The Artist Formerly Known As Prince.)
4. Clear language is preferred.
Use common words in common ways, rather than unnecessary insider jargon; but use appropriate technical terms where this enables you to be clearer or more precise. Say "here" rather than "the present locality", but "lander module" rather than "part that flies down to the other world with two people inside".
Use capitalization and punctuation in common or standard ways, so that the reader can, as easily as possible, parse your sentence and understand your meaning.
5. If someone fails to meet any of these standards, refrain from flaming them; instead, ask for clarification if necessary, or offer a better rephrasing and ask if it reflects what they meant, or just ignore the flaw and move on.
6. I have disabled nameposting. Rational debate is about the message, not the messenger.
Post last edited at