Rule #1: Reject all Star Trek past TNG as "non-canon": This is your Prime Directive, folks. One thing to keep in mind: your goal is not to convince them of the validity of this approach; it's to use this policy in all "vs" debates on his site. Remember that Darkstar never convinced us or ASVS of the validity of his "ignore the starwars.com and Star Wars Encyclopedia claims about the EU being a larger view of the same universe because of a Lucas quote from TV guide" approach* either, yet he still treated it as an immutable rule when he debated in both venues. He even treats it as a matter of executive fiat on his boards, by declaring that it's a "rule" that in his "vs" forums everyone must obey his personal definition of canon. Well, Roddenberry said "it ain't Star Trek until I say it's Star Trek" (they try to contradict this quote by saying that he turned over control before dying, as if this proves he would approve everything that Berman has done since his death
). You can't get much simpler than that, and we don't even need to take it out of context the way he did with George Lucas. Roddenberry obviously didn't personally approve any scripts made after his death, so it's all "non-canon". Any time anyone on that board mentions anything from DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, or any movie after ST6 in a "vs" debate, just dismiss it as "non-canon" and ask for actual canon evidence. If Darkstar invokes his "rule", simply accuse him of hiding behind it.Rule #2: Attack not by making vague challenges but by identifying specific errors or deceptions in his arguments. While it is only fair to restrict ST canon the same way he artificially restricts SW canon on his forums, there is no need to lower ourselves to the level of the typical Trekkie debater whose entire argument boils down to "you're really biased so you're wrong". Keep in mind that every single usage of DS9, Voyager, Enterprise, or post-ST6 movie evidence on his website can be considered an "error" and attacked as such, the same way he treats the use of official SW material on this website.
Rule #3: If he bans you, call it proof of cowardice. While we will not recommend that you troll or act the way he or his minions did here, the fact remains that if you do get banned for some reason, you might as well give him a taste of his own medicine and loudly proclaim in other public venues that he's afraid of you. This one's technically not very sporting, but it's pretty much been the sum total of his conduct since he left here (even though he blocked me from his E-mail), so the whole goose/gander thing certainly applies.
Rule #4: If he refuses to approve your signup, see Rule #3.
Rule #5: If you must flame, do so with thinly veiled condescension, not direct insults. Even though "dipshit" was his favourite word when he was here, he is now going for the "take the moral high road" approach, and telling people that flaming is not allowed on his board (I guess it was OK for him to run around calling other people "gaping pussy" on their boards, but we must observe Miss Manners rules on his board).
Rule #6: If your posts or threads get deleted or you get banned, be sure to report the details here. There's no reason not to make some kind of record of your activities.
If anyone else can think of more rules, feel free to post them here or PM them to me and I'll edit this post to include them.
PS. Yes, this is a Darkstar thread, and yes, this would normally go in the Hall of Shame. But for this particular case, I think we should keep it here, so that it can be linked to from other places and viewed by non-members.
PPS. Note that this is not a formal "call for invasion". This is a list of rules which people should try to keep in mind if they do go over there.
PPPS. Stickified.
PPPPS. De-stickified. Darkstar took his board down.
* You should see Wayne Poe's discussion of canon on his website for more details, since he goes into quite exhaustive detail on the whole issue. G2k has already attacked the single paragraph as an oversimplification of the situation, since it is apparently difficult to cram an entire subject of numerous threads and debates into a single short paragraph without leaving anything out (gee, who knew?)
Damn, you just made my day.
Man, I'm having too much fun with this...
