On minding your tongue and
on staying on-topic when
others fail to mind their own
That’s partly because much is at stake. It’s also partly because there are myriad ways to push for change, from “Please stop” to “Do that one more time and I’ll whack you across the head with an iron mace.”
Tend too close to the latter end of the continuum and you can bet that not a few voices will cry, “Can’t we engage in polite discourse?”
The voices have a point—but only to a point.