(This was originally a post in the General Discussion Forum, but Owner, arguing that it dealt with general policy rather than big breasts, moved it to the Off-Topic Forum. While he is technically correct, the Off-Topic Forum is, for me, the Antarctica of the BEA. You probably know the old saw about the ages of women:

• at 15, a woman is Africa:
  virgin and untamed;
• at 25, she is South America:
  still wild and largely unexplored;
• at 35, she is North America:
  free and technically perfect;
• at 45, she is Asia:
  exotic and fascinating;
• at 55, she is Europe:
  quite mature but still interesting in places;
• at 65, she is Antarctica:
  everybody knows where it is,
  but nobody wants to go there.

Since, as a general rule, few people visit Antarctica or the Off-Topic Forum (at present there is only one thread besides my exiled one, even if you go back ten days), I've decided, at the last minute, to make it my contribution to this issue of BEhavior. So here it is.)

CLICK TO
ENLARGE

I just want to supplement that stick with a carrot. It's clear that many complaints and attacks in the Forum are well-meant attempts aimed precisely at blocking such obnoxious posts, and the complainants will now find themselves banned despite their good intentions. Dura lex sed lex. But I would like to reassure them and encourage them to restrain themselves - not just from fear of the stick of banishment, but also because of the carrot of accomplishment of their ends, viz. the reduction of obnoxious posts in the Forum. Indeed, the best means of combating such posts may in fact be self-restraint.

Fifty years ago Cyril M. Kornbluth published a story, "The Mindworm", which described a being that fed on emotions: love, hate, anger, fear - any emotion would do, the stronger, the better. Grant Naylor used the same idea in Better than Life (his parasite could also shift form and was therefore called polymorph), and I understand it was used in Star Trek as well.

The BEA has mindworm participants, participants who feed on any strong reaction: if appreciation is not forthcoming, annoyance and outrage will do for them to wallow in. How to combat the mindworms? We can’t use a stake through the heart, which was the answer in Kornbluth’s story, or heat-seeking missiles (satisfying as that might be) as in Naylor’s. No, the best method available to us is to ignore them. It may not be a 100%-success-guaranteed method, but it’s better than feeding the menace. Incidentally, Zorlond recommended similar tactics against what he called "attentavores": good name, though I prefer Kornbluth’s, and Zorlond agrees.

Ignoring the mindworm also has the advantage of avoiding Owner’s big stick. However, I feel that his "one strike and you’re out" policy is too harsh, because many of these flaming attacks are well-meant attempts to stop the obnoxious posters, and in my opinion such motivation at least entitles them to a warning. Also, some of the flaming is done in good fun: the best time I had in the old Forum was a good-natured but otherwise no-holds-barred flame war with my esteemed colleague Judge Oaf. Would we now both be banned for this?* Parcere subjectis et debellare superbos.

In any case, I think most of us are certainly agreed that the bickering must stop, and Owner’s policy should help stop it. There are positive and negative reasons - the carrot and the stick - for every participant to comply with this policy. I fervently hope that it works, and that the viciousness does not simply spread to the Users’ Gallery (as has happened before). Registration in the UG would be a big step towards preventing this, and Owner tells me that he will be getting around to that soon (at the moment he has other fish to fry - I think he said something about digging a canal and charging up a hill...). Anyway, I hope we are on the verge of a new era of peace within the bosom of the BE Archive. Pax vobiscum.

*Owner has already replied to this point, to the effect that of course he distinguishes between respectful and/or good-natured argument and vicious flaming.