21/2/11 PLEASE READ: Electioneering, mud-slinging, posters with agendas, etc

Eliot Rosewater

We've had a number of threads and posts set up by people who are clearly only interested in mud-slinging, smear campaigning and electioneering for their cause. The goal of these posts is to forward the person's agenda. They are not in the debating spirit, nor in the interest, of the forum.

We are going to be strict with threads and posts like this. In the final week of the election campaign we do not want to see this forum hijacked by people with agendas for the purpose of twisting peoples' vote by mud-slinging. You can attempt to convince and debate, of course, and you are encouraged to. But posting "Enda Kenny is a racist" multiple times is not on. That is clearly a smear attempt.

I am also asking people who set up topics (and post generally) to source their claims. It's very easy to set up a thread with tons of allegations. Unless you can prove these, ideally by reference to online resources that every poster can check, it could be considered an instance of mud-slinging.

The usual rules apply, especially that new topics are expected to generate discussion and debate. Those that don't may be locked or deleted.

Regards,
Eliot.