# Rules



## Bil

Hi Bunni

The other night, a woman in China began a thread in the English forum that was asking for suggestions regarding films that would be helpful toward listening-comprehension skills.  The so-called movie "hits" had been proving more defeating than useful to the students in her language course.  Her wording was so precise and her sincerity so palpable that I was left with the impression that she had invested a lot of time in the composition of her request.

In response, I spent time searching for and compiling a short list of available, clearly recorded but interesting PBS productions.  However, when I tried to submit my work, her post was nowhere to be found.  It had been deleted by a moderator.  Yes, over the past month or two a couple problems have appeared in the forum.  Encouragement toward building a database is suddenly being supplanted by an inordinate amount of chatter about rules.  Unfortunately, affinity for rule enforcement unfailingly proves itself to be self-serving and, consequently, runs contrary to the progressive spirit of law.


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## cuchuflete

Hello Bil,

I don't know what "progressive spirit of law" means in the context of your post.  Please tell us.

I didn't see the post you describe, nor do I know the details of the deletion.  Did you contact any moderator to ask about the reasons for removing it?  From your description, it seems that it might have been well outside the scope of the English forum.

Many threads are started in all the WR forums that are sincere, have fine motivation, treat interesting topics, and simply do not belong in these forums.  There is nothing inherently wrong with them, and they may deserve serious consideration and response in another forum with a different set of objectives.

Your post was tacked onto the end of a thread asking about the deletion of a post that had a number of chatspeak abbreviations.  I've separated it, so that your distinct topic doesn't get confused with another.


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## roxcyn

Bil you could always send a private message to the person---that way your message doesn't go to waste   I hope that helps you out next time.


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## SPQR

cuchuflete said:


> From your description, it seems that it might have been well outside the scope of the English forum.


 
How can a request for help in improving English listening and comprehension skills be outside of the scope of the English only forum?

Couldn't the post  have been locked, and then other users might have PM'ed the person?


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## cuchuflete

SPQR,
Here is all I know about the thread, from Bil's post:



> asking for suggestions regarding films that would be helpful toward *listening-comprehension* skills


Here is the plainly stated purpose of the English Only forum:


> For questions involving English *usage*.



If the disconnect is not obvious, we should consider posting a sticky, that many will ignore, saying that the forum is not about pedagogical technique.  

Regarding your second question, it has been beat to death in this C&S forum many times.  The mission of these forums is interactive, public conversation about language.  They are not a message board to invite private communications.


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## Bil

What's _really_ strange about this is that I didn't start this thread.  This was entered as a post in a thread entitled _"Entire posts deleted over "lol"?"_  Something screwy is going on, something George-Bushian.

_Hey, George!!  George Jr.!!!  Have you somehow weaseled your way into the WordReference Forum, too?!!  You're not foolin' me!!  I know your type!!!     _


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## cuchuflete

Bil said:


> What's _really_ strange about this is that I didn't start this thread.  This was entered as a post in a thread entitled _"Entire posts deleted over "lol"?"_  Something screwy is going on, something George-Bushian.
> 
> _Hey, George!!  George Jr.!!!  Have you somehow weaseled your way into the WordReference Forum, too?!!  You're not foolin' me!!  I know your type!!!     _



There is a clear and present danger in reading. 
Look at post #2.



> Your post was tacked onto the end of a thread asking about the deletion of a post that had a number of chatspeak abbreviations. *I've separated it, so that your distinct topic doesn't get confused with another.*


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## cuchuflete

We have gone from a discussion of chatspeak, which is not allowed in these forums other than as a topic of discussion,
to the split of an unrelated question, which is post #1 in this thread, to another off-off-topic discussion, which I will now split into yet a third C&S thread.

Please stick to a single topic per thread.

This one is now closed, as the question has been addressed.


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