Rantzien has double-posted!

[Slothy]

Pretty much this. The reason to have a rule like no double posts as opposed to don't be annoying is pretty straight forward: the former is this wishy washy, nebulous thing which exists but is pretty much impossible to objectively define in a hard and fast way. Someone might find a bit of a spam post annoying. Someone else may find it funny and perfectly fine. Same for double posts. So instead of saying don't be annoying, and force the staff to basically debate what is and isn't an annoying use of double posts, we've got the hard and fast, easy to define rule of don't double post. And everyone can see when a double post happens.

I disagree that such "hard and fast" rules are so useful or even desirable. I also disagree that a lack of those rules would cause any problems. The staff already says "don't be annoying" or "don't be rude to other members" or "don't talk about how Shlup's ass got stuck in the door that one time," or other similarly vague instructions, and while I personally just ignore everything they say, most of the rest of the members seem to have no trouble following along.

Care to elaborate? I would certainly concede that set in stone rules with very clear requirements may not always be the best thing, and certainly the member and situation should be taken into account any time a punishment is being doled out, but how is a very clear rule and easily understood ruler about not cluttering up threads needlessly a bad thing?

You can't get much clearer than don't double post. There's no wiggle room for someone to argue they weren't doing it or that they shouldn't be punished for it if it's deemed enough of a problem to actually punish a member. It's right there in black and white (and blue), clear as day: don't do this. Did you do this? Yes? Well, too bad for you.