Pinside rule #1: Be nice!
We expect everyone who participates on Pinside to be welcoming, friendly, and respectful on the forum. It's as simple as using common social sense and acting as if you're interacting with another Pinsider face-to-face.

It's either keep things civil or let it turn into a wretched hive of scum and villainy

But basically, it amounts to the Golden Rule and exercising some common decency.

This doesn't fall under the "Be Nice" rule. In any case, most people try to be helpful and post what they think is the correct information. Obviously, some of that information is not always entirely correct. So, someone who does know the correct information usually steps in. Or, if there is a debate on a topic of what the correct information actually is, there is a discussion, and those interested usually take it a step further and do some research on the topic, then present their findings.

It is rare that someone actually posts misinformation intentionally just to be malicious or to trick someone. Most of the time, people are honest about posting information. I don't think I've ever seen misinformation intentionally posted in any of the tech forums.

Of course not. Debates are fine. Heated discussions can be ok too, so long as it doesn't start to get personal or nasty. However, when one person starts slinging mud, everyone else usually ends up getting muddy too if it continues.

People have legitimate criticisms about games and manufactures all the time. People are still free to discuss and share their opinions. But again, if it starts getting too personal or nasty, then it will be addressed in order to keep things civil.

Unfortunately, not every situation fits in to neat and tidy little boxes. We can't have a rule for every specific or minute instance, or even foresee every kind of situation that might arise. These rules allow some flexibility and leeway for both members (if they start coloring outside the lines) as well as moderators (if a situation doesn't fit neatly inside an established rule). This is usually where cries of moderation bias, unbalanced/unfair moderation practices arise, but honestly, the moderators are not out to get you. If everyone more or less gets along, it makes our jobs easier, and we can just enjoy the site just like the rest of you. We're just tasked to help keep the peace and to try to let everyone enjoy the site and the discussions that they participate in.

Obviously, pinball is very near and dear to many of you--and it's no different for the moderators. We wouldn't volunteer our time to help maintain the site if we didn't care a lot about pinball and the people who are in the community along side us.

There was a complaint in another thread about a couple of quote alterations that someone reported which fell through the cracks and weren't responded to at the time of reporting.

Yes, it seems a little silly to go back to an old post and issue an infraction. But, since there was a complaint and it is technically against the rules, that's how things arrived to this point. I don't imagine you'll do it again, the warning probably served its purpose, and everyone can move on.

Sigh.

The general idea is that most people would like to be treated with a modicum of common decency, civility, and respect, and you should expect the same in return. It's not supposed to be complicated.

Obviously, if you want to be treated otherwise, you can just communicate that in some way.