Quote:
Originally Posted by scveteran
Third, I understand that you were not taking part in the discussion and then pulling the moderator card as others have complained about. However, if you run into the discussion to back up another moderator, it does leave a bad taste. I think this is one major reason that the moderators who are in the discussion must not call out someone they are disagreeing with. Either the other moderators should notice it on their own or another member should alert a moderator. Otherwise it gives a bad image.
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Just to be clear, I've been following the thread and I did notice the problem on my own, and was going to comment even before I saw the post criticizing Nate's remarks.
I agree that ordinary, occasional use of bold text does not count as "shouting" online. However, when overused and combined with multiple exclamation points, invective ("parasites," "rotten legislation," etc.), all-caps, and red coloring, I think somewhere in there the line between polite discourse and ranting has been crossed.
That being said, I'm not saying people can't get a bit excited, only that we try to keep things civil here. Yes, I know there are places out there in the 'net where ranting is the norm, but MobileRead hasn't been one of those places, historically, and we'd like to try to maintain that.
(And I've been online since the days of 300 baud modems, if that matters.)