To those of you who like to preface your posts to trolls with "I'm not a Moderator, but..." and then proceed to do the Moderators' job - DON'T. Anyone who continues to do so is cruising for a temporary banning.

As for posts made by said trolls, NO ONE who isn't either a Moderator or a Member of the Priesthood should be replying to them. There's a nifty little "Notify" function you should be using instead.

Thank you for the info; I'll use the notify next time.

If any of my actions have offended any Moderator or member of the Church of Satan Priesthood – I sincerely apologize.

After doing some searching on the forum – I have found that this topic has been brought up several times, many referencing documents or posts concerning this policy that have either been deleted or moved. The closest thing I can find to documentation of this policy is an explanation by Priest Hagen von Tronje:



With this new knowledge, I will admit that some of my past posts may have been construed as civilian policing. It is not my intention to do the Moderator’s job, to be pretentious, or to attempt to be a spokesperson for the Church of Satan. It has been difficult for me to refrain from attempting to share my knowledge when another user posts something that is contrary to the philosophy laid down by Doktor LaVey.

Could the documents referenced in the past posts that have been moved or deleted be added to the “New Users - Please Read This First” section? I was not aware that rank and file users were not to respond to certain posts in the General Discussion forum until Priestess LKRice’s post.

Please know that I am not attempting to cause trouble, or am I attempting to challenge the Moderators or the rules of this board by any means. I just want to understand. I will try to use more discretion in my haste to attempt to share my opinion in the forum in the future.

Its not a matter of "offending", its a mater of protocol and propriety.

Thank you Magister Phineas.

Understood.

You are most welcome.

Is there not at least a "sticky" post about this yet?

Mods seem to have been banging on about it for over a decade.

P'raps one in all of the public forums may do the trick?

Thing is... People don't pay attention to the sticky posts. Or fail to even read them. (The forum description for the CoS Questions forum is another good example of something people fail to read and heed.) So it has to be pounded into their heads from time to time.

A little common sense goes along way. Perhaps when faced with the temptation to respond to "trolls" one might consider using a little restraint, maybe they could ask themselves is it really my place to respond? Those among us who are not (yet) members of the COS or even VIPs on this forum should be the last ones to reply to a thread of a certain subject matter. As guest in a this Satanic lobby our job could be to mingle a little and maybe even learn a little something as we consider our place... As in all social interactions Lex Satanicus applies.

I don't think a "sticky" post will do the trick because there is nothing wrong with the forums setup. It more so has to do with the nature of those who come here. This can be proven by those who continually break the rules even after being longtime members here and KNOWING what they can and cannot do.

This kind of shit happens in every online forum, but this particular forum has some of the most meticulous moderators around, and like to keep it as civil, straight forward, and most importantly, on-topic as possible.

I have sailed the widest seas of the internet. I have seen horrors no man has seen. I have looked into the abyss, and seen 4chan staring back at me. This is by far the most regulated, to the point, polite forum I have ever seen in any regard.

The thing about this post is that it's much more effective to give a widespread shout-out than it is to privately message each individual transgressor, because of an unfortunate case of herd mentality that exists even here from time to time; people see someone speaking up against somebody who is out of line, and not to be bested, they decided they would also like to jump on the bandwagon and join in on the razzing. That's why, when this kind of crap doesn't happen, member or non-member, you will not see people who have been here for a long time doing the same unless something has REALLY pissed them off for whatever reason, and they feel a need to share their two cents; but even they usually end up correcting themselves because they know better.

It's all too tempting to put the wrong people in their place, but that's why there are certain people in charge of handling that, just like in any other forum. And they do a much better job, with a much clearer set of rules at their disposal, than is done almost anywhere else.

A "sticky" post is like the sign on the door that says "use other door"...DUH. People will still try and walk thru, hell I've dont it too.

Just to be on the safe side, I am ensuring that I heed it Priestess LKRice, Ma'me.

Thank you for this fair warning.

Oh, my dear boy...

I feel for you.

'Tis a wonder and definite positive on your strong state of mind..that you are still indeed, able to string a sentence together.

The horror...the horror...

Oh my, this topic appears to reoccur quite often. One would think it would not need so much repetition to be enforced, especially considering the forum.

Tis a shame...