== Following our chat... == 

 ...at ANI, something occurred to me. Hi. 

 I've thought about the question of whether it should be "against the rules" to call someone a "little shit". As the nature of a "rule" suggests, we can talk about the principle of whether one should always issue 3 hour blocks for calling people "little shit"s. On the other hand, we don't have to apply categorical rules like that. I would even suggest that our first, and fundamental rule is that we don't apply categorical rules like that.  Now, if you can impose a 3 hour-block on an administrator, 6 hours after they call someone a "little shit", and have that block generate a community-wide re-evaluation of our culture... then that's a good block. If that or some comparable effect doesn't result, then it was a bad block.  It's not about applying abstract rules. It's about what happens. -