- Mattbluhalofan
- |
- Intrepid Mythic Member
Posted by: Great_Pretender
I agree with Ultima on this issue. That IS an excuse as far as I'm concerned, but if after being warned to read the rules you're not going to, you'll never do it.
That last statement kind of nullifies the "ignorance is okay" argument. There is a twenty-four-hour hiatus upon first joining, wherein you cannot post in the forum. What you should do in that time is read the rules and stickies. So, therefore, lenience on ignorance shouldn't be employed because they had their chance. Let me give you an example.
A student has three days to do a homework assignment. They procrastinate until the final day to decide to work on it, when something happens, and they are unable to do it. Should the student be punished?
Yes. They had three days to do that, and wasted two. Granted, they can't control when those disruptive things happen, but they can make a potential problem nonexistent by doing the homework on the first two days.
The same goes for ignorance of rules. They had a whole day to read through those, and they neglected it. So, if they do something wrong, they should be punished, because it's their own fault for neglecting the rules.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not telling you how to do your job, I'm just voicing my opinion. In a debate, you have to be firm. You can't ever use "I think", because then it's all opinion-based, which has no factual ground.
People like that are cops who give speeding tickets to people who are having babies or give out fines for having no seatbelt on on a five minute journey with their disabled son on Christmas Eve (that one actually happened to my dad. That was a poor Christmas).
My sympathies, but that doesn't work well as a metaphor. A cop who gives a ticket to a man with his disabled son on Christmas is just a power-hungry, unsentimental control freak who feels no sympathy, and likes punishing people for illegitimate reasons.
However, as I stated earlier, neglecting the rules isn't a legitimate reason, due to the fact that new users have a full day to do so.
I've let people go more often than not, because their actual breakage of the rules wasn't that severe, and they were new members. I don't see any problem with that.
That's your opinion, and yours is by all means more important than mine, as you're a moderator. I do appreciate the fact that you're more lenient than most moderators, as well as more mature.
[Edited on 3/12/2007]