When its all over....here's the rules...

bonkey

OK,

over the past few weeks, the Nice topic has been given a fair amount of leeway. Countless threads were left open which were nothing but carbon copies of others.

It was (and still is, as of time of writing) an incredibly important and emotive issue.

We, the mods of politics tried to give this as free a reign as possible, whilst still keeping it uder control. We may or may not have succeeded, but I'd like to feel we gave it a good shot.

As one of the more active posters on this topic (which is ironic, given the location of my domicile) I would like to thank all those who took an active part without descending into flamery. Regardless of what I, or anyone else thinks of your views, you acquitted yourself admirably ladies and gentlemen, and for this I thank you.

Now that I've the niceness out of the way, heres one last rule.

As the votes come in, and after the result is anounced, we will have no triumphalism. We will have no "told ya so" posts, no "up yours, losers". Equally, we will have no reactive "call to arms" or "travesty of justice" posts.

The debate leading up to this has been varied in quality (my own posts included), but at almost all times, it has been incredibly well-behaved.

I (and I assume the other mods) expect that such restraint will carry over into the next few days. I'm not saying dont discuss....I'm asking that you remember the rules, and more importantly, remember your fellow boards members.

OK, yes, I'm drunk. Im prosaic. I'm waffling. But I'm still serious.

jc

Biffa Bacon

I'm just looking forward to all the hilarious "Best out of three?" letters to the Irish Times.
Can we ban such posts here as well?

mike65

I dunno if this would be badly recived but I'd go for a deliberate cooling-off period of say a week, then allow posts on what the result means for Ireland and Europe while locking all the pre-poll threads.

Mike.

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

Cork

"told you so" posts etc., should be deleted...

I agree - We are all democrats. If this shambles of a treaty is carried or defeated - I think the big winners are Sinn Fein & the Greens.

I think that - the EU still needs more accountability & It needs to be more relevent.

The star performers were John Rodgers, Patricia McKenna, John Gormley, Anthony Coughlan, Brian Cowen & Alen Dukes.

I think Boards was a great website during the campaign - where we all exchanged ideas. It is a great forum for debate. It has become my favourite website. Although - the debate was so full of spin nationally - I think - we debated the issues well on boards.


So, what ever way the vote goes - I think that it will be close - Fair play folks!

mike65

Well said, Cork!

Oh no, I feel a group hug coming on

Mike.

swiss

As the votes come in, and after the result is anounced, we will have no triumphalism. We will have no "told ya so" posts, no "up yours, losers". Equally, we will have no reactive "call to arms" or "travesty of justice" posts

I am 100% behind bonkey on this one.

Triumphalism belongs in the schoolyard. If any poster decides to engage in triumphalism, not only will you be displaying your mental age, your entire post will be deleted. Repeat offenders will be banned from posting from politics. The reason why this may be more draconian than normal is because you have been specifically warned here.

Just to clarify, it is OK to say something along the lines of

"Well I am glad to see this result, and this is why.."

but not

"Woo-Hoo WE WON, WE R T3H W1N!!11" or any such drivel.

Similarly, for those who didn't win, we will have no melodramatics. For examples of this look at bonkeys post above.

Civil and reasonable debate is welcome. Flames are not.

DeVore

Well said Cork. I got just about ALL of my unbiased (or at least all of my debated!) information from Boards during the vote.

Much more informative then either of the camps.

Also, once again let me reiterate my thanks to the Mods.


DeV.