***Flat Earth Q&A Change***

The Flat Earth Q&A forums are changing on a trial basis.  From now on, the only people allowed to answer questions are flat-earthers or people giving genuine flat earth responses.

Things this will fix:
-Round-earthers peppering earnest questions with quick and flippant responses.
-People will be able to have their questions answered without the thread quickly dropping into chaos.
-It will preserve the image of the society as a place of seriousness.
-It will help better define the different forums.


Things to avoid:
-Snarky responses.  We will remove them.
-Dissenting round-earth opinions.  We will remove them or move them to FE Debate where they belong.
-Disingenuous responses.  (Example... Q: How does the moon work on a flat-earth? A: We think there is no moon.) We will remove them.

You are allowed to present a true flat-earth opinion, if so inclined and we will be giving out plenty of warnings until everyone is accustomed to the new system.  If you have a burning desire to respond to a post in a way that will start a debate, open a new thread in Flat Earth Debate and argue there.

We will entertain questions here, but if you would like to dispute the change, please make a post in Suggestions and Concerns.  Thank you and good hunting.

Thank you, Pongo.  Well done. 

You should probably sticky (and maybe lock) this.

This is a welcome initiative.

May we respond to posts if we ask for clarification?  Or follow-up questions that are related? I know it's a fine line between debate and clarification, but some answers could use elaboration.

This is a welcome initiative.

May we respond to posts if we ask for clarification?  Or follow-up questions that are related? I know it's a fine line between debate and clarification, but some answers could use elaboration.

This is all fine as long as we keep to the spirit of Q&A.

In other words, real "Round Earth Facts" will no longer be permitted but "Flat Earth Fantasies" will be permitted ? Such as that old chestnut about the distance from the earth to the moon being 327,150 miles and not 3,000 miles ?

Why not just make this a "Flat Earth Society For Flat Earthers Only." ?

What if flat Earthers want to ask a question about how something works on a round Earth? Like, "if the Earth is spinning, why don't we all fly off"?

All nicely stated, Pongo. It seems this opportunity to involve an intensified FE response should be attractive to some REers when searching for a more focused approach to their particular issue. 

Plenty of room in the upper fora for discussions continuing as they do in FEG and FED. Well done!     

In other words, real "Round Earth Facts" will no longer be permitted but "Flat Earth Fantasies" will be permitted ? Such as that old chestnut about the distance from the earth to the moon being 327,150 miles and not 3,000 miles ?

Why not just make this a "Flat Earth Society For Flat Earthers Only." ?

You are still allowed to post your real "round-earth facts" but you must do it in Flat Earth Debate, and to a lesser extent, Flat Earth General. Simply start a post in Flat Earth Debate with the topic(s) you would like to discuss. I assume you want to debate the flat-earthers anyways, bogging down a person's honest question isn't very polite of us -- both round-earth and flat-earth a like.

What if flat Earthers want to ask a question about how something works on a round Earth? Like, "if the Earth is spinning, why don't we all fly off"?

That's what The Round Earth Society is for. In all seriousness though, the rare times we do ask questions to roundies, we are usually looking for a debate and would better fit it in Flat Earth Debate. That being said, if someone started a topic with "For Round-Earthers" in the title, I wouldn't have a problem with people giving the round-earth opinion.  THAT being said, we are immersed in round-earth theory every day, I doubt we will be asking any questions about how it works. We all already know the round-earth model by heart.

I started a thread some time ago . It was based on a well  know fact and how one group's operations were simply how they had determined how those operations agreed with the well known facts. But the best the FE's could answer was simply a denial of all the factors involved. So, except for "Round Earthers" it is  useless to post well known facts, backed by evidence, when the only response you are going to get from "Flat Earthers" is denial or meaningless trolling, off-topic posting or de-railing.

That was the reason for the suggestion that the debates and discussions be limited to "Flat Earthers" among themselves. If you would wish that no further true facts be posted, I would be happy to vacate this website if it would make you any happier. 

I started a thread some time ago . It was based on a well  know fact and how one group's operations were simply how they had determined how those operations agreed with the well known facts. But the best the FE's could answer was simply a denial of all the factors involved. So, except for "Round Earthers" it is  useless to post well known facts, backed by evidence, when the only response you are going to get from "Flat Earthers" is denial or meaningless trolling, off-topic posting or de-railing.

That was the reason for the suggestion that the debates and discussions be limited to "Flat Earthers" among themselves. If you would wish that no further true facts be posted, I would be happy to vacate this website if it would make you any happier.

I'm sorry that you feel that way. No one would like to see you go, but if using Flat Earth Debate for debates and Q&A for questions and answers is something that you cannot abide, then I suppose it's for the best. You'll always be welcome back.

I'll probably just be going into the "lurking" and observing mode.

But I have found it to be useless to exchange in an intelligent debate with an FE on any well known fact of RE-vs-FE. I still enjoy this website for the amusement of the weird ideas that FE's have. So I won't abandon this website entirely, but I will try to avoid posting any facts , figures and evidence on any given subject.

In other words, real "Round Earth Facts" will no longer be permitted but "Flat Earth Fantasies" will be permitted ? Such as that old chestnut about the distance from the earth to the moon being 327,150 miles and not 3,000 miles ?

Why not just make this a "Flat Earth Society For Flat Earthers Only." ?

Do you not understand that FE Q&A is an area for new people to ask Flat Earthers questions?  Why should we allow round Earthers to post in a forum that is devoted to giving flat Earth answers? 

Make a thread in the debate forum if you do not like the flat Earth answers.  Easy as that. 

Let me get this straight.

RE'rs must not interject on a Q&A thread and prevent the deliberate spread of misinformation?

FE'rs: YOU WILL BE BANNED if you do not give us FE'rs free reign to troll on noobs. A person brand new to the site is ripe for misinformation and we would prefer that you allow us to troll the shit out of them. Q&A is our steeple.

sounds like, "Have you heard about Jesus?"

RR, does it really make sense when someone asks "how does the Sun rise and fall on a flat earth" that the answer they get back would be "it doesn't because round earth"? They come to FE Q&A to get a flat earth answer.

Also, will there be leniency of the warnings in relation to leading up to a ban of some kind?  Is it a possibility for Q&A infractions to lead to just a ban from Q&A, or is that even a desire?

RR, does it really make sense when someone asks "how does the Sun rise and fall on a flat earth" that the answer they get back would be "it doesn't because round earth"? They come to FE Q&A to get a flat earth answer.

Also, will there be leniency of the warnings in relation to leading up to a ban of some kind?  Is it a possibility for Q&A infractions to lead to just a ban from Q&A, or is that even a desire?

Well I admit, saying that it is because it doesn't because the earth is round and leaving it at just that doesn't make sense. Once the answer has been given though, I don't see a problem with talking about that answer. A lot of the time, RE'rs do know the FE response and give the FE answer and then follow with why this is erroneous. I don't see anything wrong with that either.

Also, will there be leniency of the warnings in relation to leading up to a ban of some kind?  Is it a possibility for Q&A infractions to lead to just a ban from Q&A, or is that even a desire?

Personally, I expect to just give out a warning now and then.  However, if someone repeatedly and deliberate ignores warnings, the option of a ban is always out there.  I think most RE'ers will be adult enough to understand this rule, though, and I don't see banning of forum members happening very often. 

I think there is an option to ban people from specific boards.  I remember having a purgatory ban that kept people from posting in the upper forums, so I am sure that it could be done.  However, I don't think this will be necessary.

Only admins can place people in purgatory and I believe that the practice has fallen out of fashion as it encourages alts.

Really, any ban encourages alts.  I don't see how banning someone from Q&A would encourage an alt any more than a regular ban. 

I'd think a Q&A ban would actually discourage alts more than a regular ban or purgatory since the person would still be free to post in other boards.

All nicely stated, Pongo. It seems this opportunity to involve an intensified FE response should be attractive to some REers when searching for a more focused approach to their particular issue. 

Plenty of room in the upper fora for discussions continuing as they do in FEG and FED. Well done!   

Since I've joined this message board I've found a glaring absence of FE responses to any of my questions.

(Edit) I hit save accidentally.

If I could get a RE to answer some of my questions, using their opinion on how a FEer might answer, it would add to my understanding more than FEer silence.

Are you implying that you would prefer flippant round-earth responses that are meant to mock you and your question rather than genuine flat-earth responses?

If I could get a RE to answer some of my questions, using their opinion on how a FEer might answer, it would add to my understanding more than FEer silence.


"Are you implying that you would prefer flippant round-earth responses..."
Those are easily ignored.

-Round-earthers peppering earnest questions with quick and flippant responses.
-People will be able to have their questions answered without the thread quickly dropping into chaos.
-It will preserve the image of the society as a place of seriousness.
-It will help better define the different forums.

Things to avoid:
-Snarky responses.  We will remove them.
-Dissenting round-earth opinions.  We will remove them or move them to FE Debate where they belong.
-Disingenuous responses.  (Example... Q: How does the moon work on a flat-earth? A: We think there is no moon.) We will remove them.

I agree generally with your attempts to elevate these forums beyond the level of a grade-school playground, but unfortunately, I'm guessing that the new "rules" could inadvertently stifle a lot of genuine debate.  To date, the moderation on these forums has been woefully negligent, and unresponsive to many complaints lodged about the content of certain individuals' posts.  Can you guarantee that the standard of moderation will improve commensurate with these new, more strict rules?

Several flat earthers have been repeatedly ignoring any/all of the rules I've bolded above.  For example Vauxhall, sceptimatic, Charles Bloomington, jroa, Goth, tappet etc.

If you care to check back, you'll find I've repeatedly suggested that certain members (such as sceptimatic for example) repeatedly lower the tone and credibility of the forums with their puerile, off-topic, insulting comments to other members' serious questions.  And jroa is a recognised master of the trivial one-liner put down in lieu of addressing questions.

So Pongo... are you prepared to guarantee absolutely that flat earth members will be subject to these new rules in precisely the same way as round earthers will be?  Will the current favouritism shown flat earth members over round earthers be a thing of the past?  Will member bans amount to more than a couple of days' "slap on the wrist" for breaches of the rules—as has occurred numerous time with sceptimatic in the recent past?  Will flat earthers such as Charles Bloomington and sandokahn still be allowed to use a forum as their own personal political/religious soap-box and totally derail the thread?

—So yes: I for one will be more than happy to see (and abide by) the introduction and fair and consistent enforcement of these new rules.   

This rules change was decided upon and endorsed by administration.  We weren't looking for a "hard switch" to the new rules as we assume it will take some time to adjust.  We are focusing on new threads to enforce the rules with lots or reminders and letting the older/bigger threads run their their natural life cycle on their own without much or any moderation.

He who pays the bills can make the rules but it was hard enough to get a straight answer around here before, if you don't want my scorn don't post stupidity. Most FE answers are plain stupid. People who learnt physics by watching cartoons tend to have a hard time with the real world. I am sick of posting real questions and getting bullshit answers or just a run around.     

One of the best features of this forum is the low moderation and the free form of expression. If these are corrected, it will be like any other average CT bullshit. Also when FEers avoid the question or give some silly answer is part of the charm.

Just to note that calling Vauxhall, sceptimatic, Charles, Goth, tappet idiots is not name calling because they are idiots.

One of the best features of this forum is the low moderation and the free form of expression. If these are corrected, it will be like any other average CT bullshit. Also when FEers avoid the question or give some silly answer is part of the charm.

Just to note that calling Vauxhall, sceptimatic, Charles, Goth, tappet idiots is not name calling because they are idiots.

And tappet says "is QuQu French for kookoo"?

And tappet says "is QuQu French for kookoo"?

No, it is not french. And i'm proud to be kookoo, because i do (and did) for a living things that the cretins listed above claim do not exist.