LFG

Let's look at the bigger picture here.

This all started when Cochy called a CS person a "jew" for taking both his 100 P and his item as punishment for the incident underlying this thread.

And then discussion of the word "jew" being used in a derogatory sense lead to comparisons with the "N" word, and why those two terms aren't allowed here when saying "fag" and "gay" is allowed.

In my view, the exact same mentality is involved with not understanding (a) why both your plat and item was taken after a trade scam, and (b) why it is not socially acceptable to use the N word publicly in any form vs. why you aren't legally justified in hitting someone in the face if they called you a fag where you would be if they called you the N word and you were a member of that race.

These misunderstandings are highly related. Let me explain.

I've recently been surprised to read people saying that since other people have cheated in EQ2 before but didn't get their loot taken away, it wasn't fair they got their own items or experience taken away when they got caught cheating later in a different way.

I'm sorry, but you can argue for fairness and equality in benefits that you are entitled to receive (e.g., two people doing the same quest should get the same item), but you have zero right to complain when someone else is punished more severely than you are for cheating.

You can't compare being allowed to keep an item after exploiting a raid mob vs. getting your exp removed after exploiting quest mobs vs. getting double your shit taken after a trade scam. You don't have the fucking right to complain about that. All those situations were different, and you should be thankful your accounts weren't banned, rather than complaining that Johnnie got cake and you didn't because mom was so busy beating both your asses she forgot to take his away.

The same thing goes for what words are and aren't permitted on this site. I have very strong personal convictions about use of the N word and saying words like "jew" as an insult. For personal and professional reasons, and based on my strong personal feelings on this issue, I cannot be associated with a site that permits those words to be abused.

In addition to that, we have people from SOE that use and contribute to this site, some of whom are black, and some of whom are Jewish. I will not fucking trade the value and benefit of all future dev participation on this site for some misplaced feeling of entitlement anyone may have about being able to use the N word here or calling anyone a "jew" as an insult.

No single word represents 400 years of slavery and oppression of black people more strongly than the N word. It is a serious, seriously hateful and hardcore insult to many people. Calling someone a "dirty jew" or similar is also unacceptable, for reasons so obvious I shouldn't need to type them out. Use of these words as an insult against another person is legal justification for getting your ass beat in many jurisdictions. The same is not true with other derogatory words about other types of people, such as gay people.

What I need to do on this site is enforce EASILY UNDERSTOOD, MINIMALLY INTRUSIVE RULES that TAKE THE MINIMUM AMOUNT OF MY TIME POSSIBLE. At least 99% of people who live in civilized society either know or should know it is NEVER acceptable to throw around the N word in public or call someone a "jew" in the context of a financial transaction.

So for the same reason you don't get to pick your penalties when you get caught cheating, you also don't get to mandate what terms are and are not allowed on this site.

I'm basically asking people not to use 3 or 4 words here. Is that hypocritical, since I don't restrict every possible derogatory word ever uttered? Yes, it is to some extent. But restricting every derogatory word in the English language isn't feasible on this site, and would make this site lose it's soul and flavor.

So that's the way it is. I don't think not being allowed to say 3 or 4 different words (or their derivatives) is too much to ask. Accept that here, or go elsewhere, it's your choice.

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