Get real. We are not going to 'make new rules' here. We are just going to post around and then be surprised when the vast majority that had nothing to do with this thread don't go along with what a small subset of the forums wants to do.
This is a powerless dictatorship pretending to be a democracy. Which I find the idea of such both funny and sad.
You're still fundamentally missing the point.
It doesn't matter if other users decide to go along with the plan, or not. It doesn't matter that what users say or do has no effect on how the forum is moderated or administrated. The point is to basically say "we swear to not make stupid posts with no content (and whatever else this thread adds up to, if anything), so we can do our best to avoid letting this sort of thing happen again", albeit in terms of less... finality.
To be frank, soundandfury, I think your choice of terms (ie "1776") has given Criptfeind (and probably others) completely the wrong idea.
I think you're right, 3, but I was trying to tie in the fact that a bunch of disgruntled ex-members are setting up a new forum (
they are the ones declaring independence, not us).
As for what the point is, as well as what 3 said, there's also an element of saying to the others, "
this is all we're asking you to do/stop doing, we think you can do this without having any less fun (unless your intent is in fact to troll,
which of course none of you would do)". Also it'll be harder for them to paint us as joyless Puritans who want to expunge all mention of (insert frivolous topic here), once we've made clear what we actually want.
And, Criptfeind? "dictatorship pretending to be a democracy"? I'm afraid I don't understand you, since this is neither.
It's a consensus-driven discussion group, trying to draft a document to represent the views of its members (and create something its members, and those of like mind, can pledge to). We're not voting on anything, and we're not forcing anything on anyone.
PS: I'm amazed at how much interest this has generated, and how fast it's got started. There's clearly a lot of feeling about these issues.