The problem with the directive "Please be nice" is that it's unclear what behaviour it prescribes. "Nice" is self-assessed. Almost everybody thinks they are b

The problem with the directive "Please be nice" is that it's unclear what behaviour it prescribes. "Nice" is self-assessed. Almost everybody thinks they are being nice, and fair. Even despots think that when they self assess. It's more constructive to have guidelines that tell people specifically what to do and not do. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html