Important Change to Forum Rule 1.3, Astrobiology Discussions Options

[Astro0]

Please note a important amendment to this rule as noted in Post #3 of this topic.

This is a very important announcement about a change to Forum Rule 1.3 related to discussion of astrobiology.
Please make yourself aware of the revised rule which now reads:
1.3 Astrobiology may not be discussed here, even in the context of a mission with those stated goals. This includes other banned topics such as SETI, "Red Rain," alien visitors, exobiology, biosignatures, microorganisms, organics, fossils et cetera.
Previously this rule allowed limited discussion on astrobiology in the context of missions like Viking or Curiosity.
After many years of debate on this issue by the Admin team, it has now been decided to completely ban discussion of astrobiology on the Forum. While we certainly support the science goal of discovering evidence of life beyond Earth, experience here and on other websites and forums demonstrates that discussions on astrobiology and alien life almost invariably results in polarizing arguments building up or it attracts the lunatic fringe who see "martian skulls" at every turn. Either way it becomes a moderation nightmare.
While some members may find this change to the rules difficult to deal with, especially in the context of a mission such as Curiosity, we want you to know that the decision was not taken lightly. We believe that there is plenty of scope for people to discuss astrobiology on any number of other space related forums (Google them - they're are out there).
Please note that this change to Rule 1.3 is effective as of 19th October 2012.
If you are at all unsure about what this change means, please contact me (as part of the Admin team) anytime.

[nprev]

Eyes, we have a "Welcome to UMSF" thread pinned to the very top of the Forum in which all new members are urged to review the complete Forum rules before participating. I don't think that messing up Astro0's beautiful banners would help; it's just incumbent upon all to fully understand the rules before posting. We've gone to great lengths to make that as clear as possible.

Gregson, you're right; there ARE indeed other places on the Web to discuss 1.3-related matters. UMSF is not one of them, and for those whose primary interest in space exploration lies in these areas this is probably not the right place for them to be. 1.3 may undergo tweaks, but will be Forum policy for the foreseeable future.

Explorer, admin/mod workload is part of it, but not the core reason. Preventing anomalist tin-hat stuff is the objective. Again, this has been said a million times (and it's in the Forum guidelines as well), so why not one more time: UMSF has a hard-won reputation for "an impressively high signal-to-noise ratio", which is precisely why an even more impressive list of space professionals & scientists frequent us.

This high SNR will be preserved.