• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

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    Posted 08/15/2025
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    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

want to know if something is against the rules

I would say that it depends on where you post it.....
While the statement itself isn't against the rules, per se, it would be off topic in a BOI thread...and if it inspired more troll comments, or an off topic response from the target, then it would certainly be disruptive. (Disruptive off topic posting = 4 point infraction).

(One could also argue for it being "borderline abusive", which is the one used for name calling, but I think the situation would have to tick one of us off to earn that one.)
 
Oh....and if you were inclined to post a picture with the statement on the BOI
attachment.php

that hasn't been acceptable for at least a few years. That sort of thing is definitely considered disruptive.
 
Regarding the BOI, I personally do feel it is name calling if someone specifically calls another member a 'troll'.
 
I think a good rule of thumb is to think about how YOU would react being called such a name. If it tweaks your nose a bit, then probably the recipient will feel the same way. As such, a moderator reading it would likely come to the same conclusion and issue an infraction for it.

But "trolling" is a gray area with no strict boundaries defined. People DO troll, and are thereby acting as a troll. But that is a subjective call that might be best left to the moderators to handle by reporting such a post for them to take a look at.
 
WebSlave said:
But "trolling" is a gray area with no strict boundaries defined. People DO troll, and are thereby acting as a troll. But that is a subjective call that might be best left to the moderators to handle by reporting such a post for them to take a look at.
Click to expand...

That's basically what I was talking about....if the person is clearly being a troll, I wouldn't generally have much of a problem with somebody identifying it. (Person after person commenting to that effect falls under disruptive off topic posting)
On the other hand - which I had overlooked earlier - if somebody is calling another member a troll simply because that person doesn't agree with them, and is presenting another theory/possibility/fact (as has happened a few times that I can think of) it can be a different matter.
 
The BOI is not where I was going to post that. :eek: I know better than that. :)

It was in reference to Rich's post Ancient civilizations and reptilegeek181's comment about aliens, and subsequent racism comment. In that situation Eddie was being a troll.
 
I'm not seeing it, sorry. That was pretty mild for him, and was likely just a matter of some thin skin.
 
But how many people have been prevented from "feeding the trolls" simply be seeing a post that tells them not to. Most forum users are familiar with what a troll is and they have their own views on how to deal with them. If I am going to respond to one I'm not going to change my mind just because someone else tells me not to. All your "don't feed the trolls" posts does is add another post to the thread and bump it up. 100% ignoring is the best way to deal with trolls. If they get no responses they will eventually quit.

I suppose if a troll is getting responses that would indicate people are thinking he is serious a "don't feed" post might serve to remind them that it is a troll but I would contend that in that case, as long as the discourse was civil it might actually serve a purpose. Sort of like a Devil's advocate type thing, and therefor not be consider a troll in the traditional sense.

Still, ignoring them is the best way.
 
Like I said, thought I'd ask.
The comment could be taken the wrong way & start a whole mess of troubles. :(

It is a normal comment on other boards, but here now that I think about it, it's not really appropriate.
Although, we do have a few that are out right annoying. :)
 
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