Missing Rate-a-Retard

[Khalan]

F. Hate Speech: Do not use hate speech or fighting words on this site against any person or class of people.


I'd say trying to entice a user based on their orientation/lifestyle choices would fall under hate speech and is strictly forbidden under the site rules.

To say that Racism is wrong but Bashing someone on orientation is Ok is a huge double standard. IMHO anyways

[LFG]

Originally Posted by Khalan

F. Hate Speech: Do not use hate speech or fighting words on this site against any person or class of people.


I'd say trying to entice a user based on their orientation/lifestyle choices would fall under hate speech and is strictly forbidden under the site rules.

To say that Racism is wrong but Bashing someone on orientation is Ok is a huge double standard. IMHO anyways

You probably remember a lot of old posts on this same subject, which added up to hundreds of pages in total.

The interpretation we adopted was based on generally accepted rules of behavior and legal standards in society. I admit this can be considered a double standard, and I just don't have the energy to go into this again. My point in typing this out is just to explain.

Under the interpretation of Hate Speech on this site, it is allowed to call someone a "fag", but it is not allowed to say things like "all queers should die". That's because it is common in the US for dudes under 40 to call each other fags and accuse each other of sucking dick or taking it up the ass as a form of insult. But, those insults do not cross the line and become "fighting words", in a strict legal sense, without going further.

This is all very gray area and hard to understand without a law degree. Racial and religious slurs are much more strictly enforced on this site, as they are in civilized society. All I'm trying to do is provide the maximum amount of freedom possible with respect to what you can and can't say on this site, while minimizing user loss from people who would stop using this site if people started throwing around the "N" word and making religious insults here. Also, no person has ever sent me a PM on this site saying that they are a homosexual and offended by the use of the terms "fag" or "queer". Many many people have sent me PMs on this site saying they are African American, Hispanic, or Jewish, and strongly objecting to use of slurs regarding those identities.

I also closely watch and follow what other "hardcore" forums allow, and try and keep the rules here in line with I guess what I'd refer to as "flame board industry standards". For example, somethingawful.com doesn't permit racial or religious slurs, but they do allow users to call each other fags and queers.

Back to the present case: I soft deleted the post because I felt sorry for the person. Nobody had mentioned the damn thing for six months, yet it was still coming up in Google and affecting the person in game and RL. The thread is pretty much just multiple pages limited to the fact of the person started life as a man then ended up as a woman. There are no accusations of bad acts by the person in the thread, no information in the post with information from lost witnesses that would need to prove anything. It was purely entertainment and sport for people. I felt that based on the reasonable request I received, enough was enough, so I removed it from public view.

In my opinion, allowing that particular post to stay up would cause this site to cross the line from being like a forum with rules similar to the arena in the movie "Gladiators", which was the original intent of this site, to being more like "Lord of the Flies II". Hopefully someone with an education and more time than I have can explain that metaphor.

I am again stating that this was a one time exception, I will never remove a post like that again, and you can quote me on that.

Thanks

[Broomhilde]

Originally Posted by Khalan

F. Hate Speech: Do not use hate speech or fighting words on this site against any person or class of people.


I'd say trying to entice a user based on their orientation/lifestyle choices would fall under hate speech and is strictly forbidden under the site rules.

To say that Racism is wrong but Bashing someone on orientation is Ok is a huge double standard. IMHO anyways

I couldn't agree more with you. As a person of color and seeing the racist hate expressed here by certain individuals and in the game itself, I appreciate that LFG makes the efforts to keep it at a minimum so that ALL peoples feel free to post here. I dont see the difference in this particular situtation.

WinWin, welcome to the forums, I dont mind the pink letters btw Ignore the racist/sexist/prejudiced male and female trolls and you can actually glean some useful info and entertainment from EQ2 flames. I am also in the midst of compiling a list of some more open-minded and multiracial gaming websites, when I am done I will shoot you a pm with the info. Take care and have fun!

[Khalan]

I agree LFG and wasn't trying to undermine your ruling, just posting my 2cp is all.

Btw this thread is fucking gay.

[Broomhilde]

Originally Posted by LFG

In my opinion, allowing that particular post to stay up would cause this site to cross the line from being like a forum with rules similar to the arena in the movie "Gladiators", which was the original intent of this site, to being more like "Lord of the Flies II". Hopefully someone with an education and more time than I have can explain that metaphor.

Thanks

Hummm, I'll take a crack at it. I have the education and time, but I may still miss the mark, please feel free to correct me.

Forum rules similar to the rules of a gladitorial arena would be a "Kill or be Killed" situation. You get in, try and defeat the opponent and whomever wins (with the best argument/defense/etc) is the victor and the matter is closed. You move on to the next retard/topic/issue at hand. The LOTF scenario is more like a drawn out torture of constant harrassment and thread bumping for the sake of continuously denigrating someone. The person doing this may not have a good argument or worse may even have lost the argument (as has happened in many threads here) but will continue to showcase the topic in the hopes that others will join in and continue drawing the matter out (hopefully in agreement with them). People like this also tend to "resurrect" threads in the hopes of gaining renewed interest from others and continue their harrassment. To many its a sort of stalking behaviour, and one thats quite prevelant on the internet due to the anonyminity. /shrug I could be wrong, but thats my guess at what you meant.

[LFG]

Originally Posted by Broomhilde

Hummm, I'll take a crack at it. I have the education and time, but I may still miss the mark, please feel free to correct me.

Forum rules similar to the rules of a gladitorial arena would be a "Kill or be Killed" situation. You get in, try and defeat the opponent and whomever wins (with the best argument/defense/etc) is the victor and the matter is closed. You move on to the next retard/topic/issue at hand. The LOTF scenario is more like a drawn out torture of constant harrassment and thread bumping for the sake of continuously denigrating someone. The person doing this may not have a good argument or worse may even have lost the argument (as has happened in many threads here) but will continue to showcase the topic in the hopes that others will join in and continue drawing the matter out (hopefully in agreement with them). People like this also tend to "resurrect" threads in the hopes of gaining renewed interest from others and continue their harrassment. To many its a sort of stalking behaviour, and one thats quite prevelant on the internet due to the anonyminity. /shrug I could be wrong, but thats my guess at what you meant.

Excellent, A+

Please send me a PM for a title.

[Wump]

Originally Posted by Broomhilde

Hummm, I'll take a crack at it. I have the education and time, but I may still miss the mark, please feel free to correct me.

Forum rules similar to the rules of a gladitorial arena would be a "Kill or be Killed" situation. You get in, try and defeat the opponent and whomever wins (with the best argument/defense/etc) is the victor and the matter is closed. You move on to the next retard/topic/issue at hand. The LOTF scenario is more like a drawn out torture of constant harrassment and thread bumping for the sake of continuously denigrating someone. The person doing this may not have a good argument or worse may even have lost the argument (as has happened in many threads here) but will continue to showcase the topic in the hopes that others will join in and continue drawing the matter out (hopefully in agreement with them). People like this also tend to "resurrect" threads in the hopes of gaining renewed interest from others and continue their harrassment. To many its a sort of stalking behaviour, and one thats quite prevelant on the internet due to the anonyminity. /shrug I could be wrong, but thats my guess at what you meant.

To those who are about to post!

We salute you!