Reply #8: There are rules for posting on DU and they are sufficiently

[EST]

detailed and comprehensive to be able to cover most of the vagaries of democrats. Sometimes habitually rude people will think it over and develop a little more thoughtfulness, but it's rare.
A thick skin is a valuable commodity on any public board and the alert button to turn the situation over to the mods serves a valuable purpose. It serves as a measure of the attitude of the alerter, as well, because, if the mods don't have a come to jesus meeting and a re-read of the rules with the offending poster, it might be a good sign to evaluate one's own guidelines.

Either way, if we can't be reasonably polite with each other, how in the hell can we have any credibility when we criticize the real luddites?