With the hope that the forum becomes a kinder, gentler place - what measures are in place to discourage abusive PMs and in-game whispers as a result of disagreeable forum postings?

Will 'Report Spam' be enough, or would a full GM ticket be recommended?

HeathenStorm, you are correct: Anything in your inbox should be handled by the GMs, yes. As such, if you get an abusive PM, please let the GMs know so they can investigate. It is just as uncalled for in a PM as it would be in chat or on the forums.

oops........................
Sorry, wishstone.
My bad.

EDIT: Actually, this gives me an idea.

What about adding a button that would scan a post for anything that might be considered breaking the forum rules? sort of like the preview changes button, only it highlights things that might lead to infractions.

What Peregrine said. Also, consider this: best trolls don't technically break the rules, they don't flame anyone or anything, usually it's enough for them to start a speculative thread on controversial topic. No.... this clearly requires human moderation element.

Heh and you know what happens when you ban people here? They goto ESD.

And boy, do they whine. I know, I know, I should hit the "ignore" button. But... everyone would have to at the same time. because then people start asking questions, the conversation gets turned and its impossible to avoid, it really is.

Two days ago on ESD a fellow declared he was banned from the forums last summer "merely" because he pointed out cryptic was baiting and switching people and tricking them into buying the dreadnought (along those lines, I won't get into detail)

This guy's logic was... well, missing logic. Probably slightly disturbed. Still, banning does not always get rid of the problem...

This. Or just let him rant, when I see such people trolling ESD (like every day), I simply switch to the "fleet" window, where I see fleet reactions and whispers only. Simple as that. Ranting on ESD about how Cryptic sucks is like trying to talk your way out of being arrested. It's pointles, it never works and it only makes you look like a... you know what. In worst case it can actually make things worse.

Edit: the truth is, no matter how many time you can say "it's just a game", certain aspects of it (namely the social interaction) will always upset people. Some people will always take seriously what is being said on ESD chat and there will always be other people having fun at the expense of the first type.
So yes, these rants are usually harmless, it's just venting off the steam. You can make a thousand rules and ban the ranters to kingdom come, but their frustration won't go away by you banning it. Instead they'll just go outside and kick a cat or something.
Wishstone (or was it someone else?) said "We are adult people, let's act like them" - but the truth is, if everyone was acting like an adult, world would be a much better place to live in.

"Acting like an adult" confuses me. What does that actually mean? I'm a man of the world. I watch the news, I visit places. I see no consensus on how an adult should act. One man's rationality is another man's childish arrogance. One woman's faith is another woman's terror.

Children aren't always raging, whining entities bent on fulfilling selfish desires. Or is child-bashing cool now? Or are all adults supposed to be transcendent beings, above petty bickering, violence, hate and ignorance? We as a race are not that wonderful, I assure you.

I'd rather people say "write your thoughts with polite respect" than "act like an adult."

Have you ever seen the show "Leave it to Beaver"? I think when people say "act like an adult" they have in mind some idealized 50s version of how the "perfect" adult acted on TV shows like the parents in the show I just mentioned. Of course, that isnt slightly realistic.