Decoy's Lounge Rules of Discourse (Bylaws):

1. Winner Breaks. Money racks.
2. Abusive, Ad Hominem, Overly Mean-Spirited. Attack arguments and ideas, not people. And please refrain from wishing bodily harm, death, or illness on others. Ad hominem arguments (in which one attacks a speaker to try and disqualify an argument’s validity) are not appreciated. A clarification on this point. If you want to comment that “George Bush is an idiot” or “Barack Obama is a moron” that will probably be tolerated — though not particularly appreciated. What will not be tolerated is direct ad hominems toward The Lounge hosts and owners.
3. Non sequitur (Latin for "it does not follow"), in formal logic, is an argument in which its conclusion does not follow from its premises . These arguments usually poison debate and are indicative of intellectual laziness. In general, Logical Fallacies may be employed for humorous purposes only - use of any such in a rational argument shall be cause to be paraded for public ridicule.
4. Profanity. Whatever.
5. Disgusting. Let’s avoid toilet humor and pornographic commentary. We’re not in third grade any more.
6. Off topic. Go ahead and try to change the subject - good luck.
7. Monty Python. While the pithy and universal humor of the greatest comedy of all time can seem an appropriate reference at times, we've actually heard it all before AND have it all memorized verse by verse AND seen it in every possible context. Enough already.
8. Racist, sexist, and homophobic. The Lounge takes a realistic attitude toward what constitutes these concepts. Being against anyone's policies is not racist due to that fact alone. Being opposed to someone of a specific race because they are a certain race is racist. Being against gay marriage is not homophobic. Suggesting that gays need to get AIDS and die is. Holocaust Denial will be considered Anti-Semitism and will not be tolerated.
9. Duplicates. Please do not copy and paste the exact same comment on multiple threads. Please do not copy and paste the exact same comment on multiple threads. No double clicking the Post Button.
10. Other Source Material. Please do not post someone else’s source material as your comment. You are more than welcome to provide a link to the content with a short summary or even a short quote with citation, but posting lengthy outside source material is prohibited. This includes Pink Floyd lyrics, specifically (Again - we know them, we love them, enough already.). Corollary: alt (Jack Reis) is a fucking idiot.
11. Threats. If you threaten or intimidate another commenter, a post’s author, or a public figure then you will immediately be banned from posting on The Lounge and you will be reported to the proper authorities.
12. COMMENTS THAT ARE WRITTEN IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. THESE COMMENTS PROBABLY WON’T BE DELETED BUT THEY ARE REALLY ANNOYING TO READ AND USUALLY WILL NOT BE GIVEN VERY MUCH RESPECT. [If you have to use all caps because of vision problems then that’s acceptable. Please just mention that in your comment.]
13. Internet Trolls. If justified, Lounge guests may call TROLL at any time. If TROLL is called on a Lounge guest, the guest may ask for a ruling from Wax or Decoy. Their determinations are considered the God-like absolute truth and are final.
14. No Masse.

- The Mgt.

4/20/2012