his post was thoughtful and interesting and calling him out on a minor rule violation is not.
It's not a matter of it being a rule violation. It's a shitty, pretentious tactic.
Ignoring "minor rule violations" is how major rule violations start slipping through. Internet communities are only as good as the vigilance of the members allows.
Strict enforcement of the rules can kill internet communities. We are not robots. We make mistakes. We can consider context. We can forgive. We can consider the spirit of the law as well as the letter.
These 'rules' are not black-and-white orders handed down from on high. They are guidelines shared with us. We are free to disagree with these rules, to follow or ignore the rules, to enforce the rules or not, and to face the consequences of those decisions. We are thinking and reasoning beings associating freely.
The question shouldn't be, "Was a rule violated?" The question should be, "Does enforcing this rule in this instance help achieve our goal?" In this case, I believe I could make a compelling argument for both sides; but I am not convinced that thinking in absolutes will achieve our shared goal.
> Please resist commenting about being downvoted. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading.
> Please don't bait other users by inviting them to downvote you or announce that you expect to get downvoted.