| Kantor said: Alright, I'm going to be direct here. Galaki's post was not offensive. Galaki's post did not break the rules. Galaki's post was a pun based on your thread title. If you do see anything that offens you, by all means report it. If it's moderatable, it will be moderated. If it isn't, then it won't, and you need to accept that although it was offensive to you, we didn't consider it to be objectively offensive. I'm going to try to put this as nicely as possible, so I apologise if it still seems a little bit harsh. But we are not here to deal with people being offended. That's far too subjective. We are here to maintain a certain level of discourse and keep this site from becoming a giant flamewar. No part of that requires the banning of jokes that certain people find offensive. Women are more than welcome here. You, personally, are more than welcome here. But that doesn't mean that we are going to bend over backwards to do everything that every user wants us to do. That is not feasible. |
Oh, you shouldn't be worried about being direct, because my OP is very blunt and to the point. Harsh or not, this is the line you have chosen to follow and I and others have pointed out many of the consequences that result from it. This is not really about bending over backwards to address someone's sensitivities... I really laugh at this, because to me... remaining curteous is not a matter of being thick-skinned or even being a good poster, but it is kinda a prerequisite to having actual discussion with people.. you can't have a discussion with them and purposely say stuff you know might offend them. Doesn't that actually make your job harder?
It's counter-intuitive for any poster to do and say things to set people off... unless of course that is what they do, because it is easy entertainment.
So why is this sort of stealth trolling not important to the moderators? I try to be more curteous because there are people here who I do like to talk with and even people whose criticisms I largely disagree with, they provide interesting discussion.... the problem is, many here are saying they do not like the standard that is being set (which is too low for me) and have stated their points. Rather than listen to them, you're telling someone you will not be bending over backwards for them... which is dismissive, and doesn't even bother to address the actual criticism itself.
Lemme put this out there for example...
You say you are "moderating", but then leave the comments up on the site to be read for just anyone who will take that offensive matter further... that said, plenty of stealth trolling goes on and it's just a lost cause to set a standard I feel. If you are too afraid to "hide" such posts because people might question the bans and maybe one person might get offended... isn't that kinda counter to what you just said about not having to bend to what people say?
I have a lot of empathy for the actual job of moderating. I've done it and I have been truly miserable doing it. I've administrated a few forums and communities in the past with people far more immature than the groups on this site... actually running it and programming the site, being in shoes I probably wasn't thick skinned enough for at the time.... My point is, I know it can be done... to me, it's hypocritical to say the moderation team cares enough to do one thing to stay transparent but then seems unwilling to see the whole matter of "taunting" that goes on all over the forum as "fair game" because it's a "joke".... or "We don't care if you feel welcome, but hey, feel welcome and btw just put up with it?"...
How am I supposed to be welcome if the message is, just get over it... your opinion matters less than others because we're a minority, even though a majority of us are like "Please, could you guys stop?..." <-- results in taunting everytime!
There are plenty of people here who are asking for a compromise...
I do not wish to see people banned left and right as that doesn't fix the problem. I just wish posts were actually moderated and removed from discussion rathern than let it go this sad route continuously. If it's frequent, something needs to be done. If it's every once in a while... who cares... it's the fact, the religious intolerance (which I agree with) that has been mentioned, the female issue, and other "anti-unpopular" issues that are allowed to breed here is basically skewing this whole site into the gutter.
