"Forum Safety Nannies", "Nanny police", etc. Why is there a need for name calling? I can feel in it the underlying animosity towards other's views.
You are a Canadian with a picture of a moose as your icon. You come from the most polite culture I have ever encountered - so it almost seems impolite to even disagree with you.
Having said that - I'l explain. You are correct that the terms "nanny police" etc. are a kind of ribbing. I would disagree that they fall all the way to schoolyard name calling. Saying someone is an "idiot" or worse - that is, to me, schoolyard name calling.
"Safety police" "Self appointed nannies" - those terms have a specific meaning. And it is
absolutely not about someone's views on safety. I think we can all agree that safety is important and we should be alert when we drive. Rather, it is pointing out an irritating, reflexive tendency of certain self righteous Captain Obvious types to tell other people that their behavior is not safe. That tendency is the basis for the famous muppets character Sam the Eagle - the video I posted on the other thread as a response to someone who asked me to explain myself. Rather than explicitly explain myself I diverted to humor again as an illustration of my point - again, as a tool to cauterize the discussion.
The "self appointed forum police" term purposely critiques the behavior of folks who feel the need to lecture other people on the obvious.
And so, you see people like me saying "forum police" as a way to inject humor into the "call out" and simultaneously take those nannies down a notch. If one were to begin to argue with logic you'd end up in an endless nerd fight. You cut off the argument and cauterize the debate by injecting some mild humor into the scenario.
There is a strong current of the socially awkward dweeb who has no sense of humor and no self awareness here on the Tesla forums - much stronger than on any other kind of automotive forum. I seriously think this is due to a high portion of super-high-iq engineer/scientist types here - Teslas at least over the last few years have attracted a unique crowd - financially successful but also fascinated with technology and early adopters. That's not an insult - it could be a compliment - it's simply an observation. There is very little tolerance here for any kind of teasing. You can see this because when very mild ribbing takes place people here quickly get indignant and take offense.
Whenever you see a person on TMC say "I looked at an e-mail while using autopilot" you can practically write the scene yourself. It's like something out of high school:
Nasally voiced, turtle neck wearing observer sees someone on a skateboard jump off some stairs and thinks he is helping improve the world by observing loudly for everyone to hear "Jumping skateboard off the stairs is not safe. IT'S NOT SAFE! DO YOU HEAR ME? YOU MIGHT CRASH INTO A PEDESTRIAN WALKING BY!!"
What makes the safety nanny a target for teasing is his or her incredible lack of awareness how silly s/he sounds lecturing another person on the obvious.
