a serious question, please add your input.

Is it honestly unreasonable that i (and in turn my admins and mods) enforce an anti-bigotry stance? Or that i ask that you not use two rather demeaning words on the forums?

Again please respond honestly and try to keep it civil.

In an atmosphere of mutual respect some rules are necessary to keep things civil. And it's not like you're asking much of anyone.

I has thought so my self. We only mod topicality at tc request, only mod content based around the forum regs and I try to give you guys as much freedom as possable with out anarchy breaking out.
But still members get angry at the staff, and I just want to know if we are overstepping these bounderies somewhere and if we can work out a solution with out gfaqs type mod hate erupting.

If people are honestly mod-hating on this forum, they should just leave the internet now since there is no place that will satisfy them.

Raymond Stantz wrote:I has thought so my self. We only mod topicality at tc request, only mod content based around the forum regs and I try to give you guys as much freedom as possable with out anarchy breaking out.
But still members get angry at the staff, and I just want to know if we are overstepping these bounderies somewhere and if we can work out a solution with out gfaqs type mod hate erupting.

If you act like a mod and add some rules in and actually enforce them, people will think "gfaq mod" because those mods actually did rules and stuff too and it's like any other forum with moderators and stuff, they do the exact same thing. The only bad part about GFAQ is the unfair modding for absolutely no reason but you give reasons. If they bitch about it, they bitch about it but at the end of the day you are trying to enforce some kind of law into the forum. This forum is better than the GFAQs one but srsly, we shouldn't have to complain. We have developed well and being an ass because there are rules is stupid.

Ingsmasher wrote:In an atmosphere of mutual respect some rules are necessary to keep things civil. And it's not like you're asking much of anyone.

Yeah i agree with that. It's better to have some rules so you cut down on people arguing with each other which just creates more drama and messes things up.

I honestly have no clue why anyone would even be remotely mad at the rules. They're the most lenient rules you'll ever find on a forum. Without the rules we have now this place would go to hell.

yay im with bla. just letting us say fuck and swear is pretty leinient(?).
plus i think we can still talk here like normal way we can talk irl. keep up the modding.

btw bla whats ur avatar anyway

It's from Bloodsport.

Yeah I think the rules are fine just don't go overboard with them. Don't turn anti-bigotry laws in to thought crimes you know; some people's beliefs conflict with others and people get mad at that and call it bigotry.

We need rules against challenging people's religious beliefs, with science or even other religions. It's just unneeded and dickish.

Ducksaws wrote:We need rules against challenging people's religious beliefs, with science or even other religions. It's just unneeded and dickish.

I wouldn't go too far with that one. If it's unwarranted I agree completely but sometimes people bring their religious beliefs in a position to be challenged. Like if they use their beliefs as evidence against something in a debate.

There's no need in that case either. You can just say that not everyone agrees with your religion so you can't apply it to everyone, or the first amendment guarantees that your religion is not recognized by any laws, etc.

And when I say "religious beliefs" I mean scientific creation theories too, ie, not challenging science with religion and no vice versa either. Conflicts always spark over these arguments and it's just unneeded.

I agree with that to some extent just don't make it to the point where people aren't even allowed to express their religious beliefs, or lack-of religious beliefs. Because really if you think about it just stating your religious beliefs is in a way challenging everyone else's, since most religions conflict with each other. People just have to be a mature about it, and I think they can. I've seen plenty of civilized religious debates.

Tupac Shakur wrote:I agree with that to some extent just don't make it to the point where people aren't even allowed to express their religious beliefs, or lack-of religious beliefs. Because really if you think about it just stating your religious beliefs is in a way challenging everyone else's, since most religions conflict with each other. People just have to be a mature about it, and I think they can. I've seen plenty of civilized religious debates.

Stating is fine, what annoys me to see is always "No no no, X didn't happen, Y did because my religion/scientific beliefs say so". And everyone knows these arguments go no where.

Ducksaws wrote:

Stating is fine, what annoys me to see is always "No no no, X didn't happen, Y did because my religion/scientific beliefs say so". And everyone knows these arguments go no where.

Yeah in that case those are always dead end arguments.

Why? who said something racist?

Walter Peck wrote:Why? who said something racist?

kramer did

I think the rules are fine the way they are.

i think yall do great at your mod jobs, and i agree with the "my religion is better yadayada" arguments are dumb.

i just find it sad that anything to do with religion or gay marriage/gay rights gets out of hand

I'm concerned with the growing crop of "offended" people. We're on the internet, not at church, or school, or the office. I don't understand why it's forbidden to use the word "*****" on the fucking internet. I don't understand how intelligent discussions on science are closed because some member gets butthurt because it clashes with their beliefs. I don't understand how someone could get offended that I said, (obviously tongue-in-cheek) to "kill all the Muslims" in a thread about a Muslim terrorist plot to kill children and others at a Christmas tree lighting.

This increasing environment of thin-skinned users is wearing thin on me. If the prevailing desire is for this place is to become a little bubble where no one ever gets offended at anything, I'm out of here. To me, I thought the Speakeasy was an escape from thought police and heavy handed moderation at the least little thing. A place where the big boys could shoot the shit, and where disagreements in thought would be handled the adult way (i.e., hashing it out, not moderating the shit out of everything or devolving into flame wars). In my opinion, this place is moving very far away from that.

I don't think people should be running around here calling each other the "n" word or directly targeting attacking each other, but heated discussion should be allowed. Off the wall, "offensive" thoughts should be allowed. Otherwise, this place is just a GameFAQs forum where off-topic posting is tolerated.

If you're that easily offended, maybe you should leave instead of trying to change everyone else.

I agree with you on a lot of those points blackholedreams.

This place really doesn't need much rules at all. It's a pretty tight community, so if you're going to act like an asshole it's going to get noticed and you're not going to be looked at in a good light from the rest of the community. I think being shunned is more effective than any moderations really.

What are the two banned words by the way? I'm guessing one is the N word, but the only 5 letter one I know is bitch, which I'm sure that's not banned....

Intelligent discussions on science are not "intelligent" if they consists of "blah blah blah your core beliefs and your entire life style is wrong cause I read some thing in a book". Feel free to talk all you want about evolution and big bang theory, it's just plain common courtesy and "not being a dick" to leave other people's religions and beliefs out of it.

Because honestly those arguments go nowhere, neither side can prove themselves completely right or wrong (or else the whole world would be either one religion or all atheists) so it's just annoying and immature.

I completely agree with you blackholedreams.

i would gladly welcome a heated debate or two, if they didnt devolve into 3rd grade shouting matches.
there is a difference between potentially offence material and insinuating that an entire group of people should die because of the faults of a few with in their ranks.

I think that in any religiously sensitive thread you should just keep these things in mind and it will prevent the thread from going to hell:

1. Don't call the other person ignorant. People get really fucking pissed at this, sometimes even when it's not used in a derogatory manner. If you do this than chances are you are only going to get insults and return and then the debate is ruined.

2. If somebody want's to just express their views and stay out of a debate, let them. They're obviously going to be offended and just get pissed at you.

3. Never say that another viewpoint is 100% wrong. People will take this as an insult. What you should do instead is give people evidence that will help them come to that conclusion themselves if they wish.

I'm not suggesting that these be rules or anything but I'm saying that if you follow these guidelines you will find less people throwing Ad Hominem insults at you and the thread will be more civilized as a result.

Tupac Shakur wrote:I think that in any religiously sensitive thread you should just keep these things in mind and it will prevent the thread from going to hell:

1. Don't call the other person ignorant. People get really fucking pissed at this, sometimes even when it's not used in a derogatory manner. If you do this than chances are you are only going to get insults and return and then the debate is ruined.

2. If somebody want's to just express their views and stay out of a debate, let them. They're obviously going to be offended and just get pissed at you.

3. Never say that another viewpoint is 100% wrong. People will take this as an insult. What you should do instead is give people evidence that will help them come to that conclusion themselves if they wish.

I'm not suggesting that these be rules or anything but I'm saying that if you follow these guidelines you will find less people throwing Ad Hominem insults at you and the thread will be more civilized as a result.

A lot of these aren't even just because they'll be pissed at you, but just out of basic respect. Everyone has their own beliefs and they're entitled to them and you're not going to change them.

This place was created so you could have...... wait for it........ hold on a second...... off topic posting "SUPRISE" THis place wasn't created so big boys could be dicks to each other. Heated debate is one thing but the topics that have been modded have gone far from just being a debate.

There are over a million words in the english language so if by not having 2 of these words you are not able to prove your point or create a good strong argument......well then....... your just an idiot!

THis is the internet not church is not a valid argument..... Sure you can get away with more here, and it is a more relaxed environment but really???? Your going to walk around and say kill all muslims as a joke. WTF! THats not funny no matter how you look at it! Remember that this is the net and tone does not come across like it does in a face to face conversation. If you don;t know what tone it then look it up.

Yes I am being a bit of an ass here but the fact that there are a few rules and 2 words that are not banned makes this place such a bad place to be, and then to compare us to GFQ......Well FUCK OFF is what I have to say to anyone that compares this place, or its staff to GFQ! I have a lot of respect for some of the members here and most of the guys and gals here I think are pretty cool people that I love to talk to. If some of you think this place is to harsh then you really have no sense of what this place is about and you find my comments in this post offensive and leave......well I'm not going to miss you.

Raymond Stantz wrote:i would gladly welcome a heated debate or two, if they didnt devolve into 3rd grade shouting matches.
there is a difference between potentially offence material and insinuating that an entire group of people should die because of the faults of a few with in their ranks.

See, it's funny because that's what they do. Radical Muslims cry daily for the death of Americans. See what I did there? Protip: irony. But no, delete it because someone's "offended."

Egon Spengler wrote:This place was created so you could have...... wait for it........ hold on a second...... off topic posting "SUPRISE" THis place wasn't created so big boys could be dicks to each other. Heated debate is one thing but the topics that have been modded have gone far from just being a debate.

There are over a million words in the english language so if by not having 2 of these words you are not able to prove your point or create a good strong argument......well then....... your just an idiot!

THis is the internet not church is not a valid argument..... Sure you can get away with more here, and it is a more relaxed environment but really???? Your going to walk around and say kill all muslims as a joke. WTF! THats not funny no matter how you look at it! Remember that this is the net and tone does not come across like it does in a face to face conversation. If you don;t know what tone it then look it up.

Yes I am being a bit of an ass here but the fact that there are a few rules and 2 words that are not banned makes this place such a bad place to be, and then to compare us to GFQ......Well FUCK OFF is what I have to say to anyone that compares this place, or its staff to GFQ! I have a lot of respect for some of the members here and most of the guys and gals here I think are pretty cool people that I love to talk to. If some of you think this place is to harsh then you really have no sense of what this place is about and you find my comments in this post offensive and leave......well I'm not going to miss you.

I think the problem is that the moderation is very heavy handed. Someone can't get along in a thread and the entire discussion is shut down. This is bullshit. An entire line of discussion is halted, which is difficult to just recreate in another thread. Maybe instead of just closing a thread because someone can't play nice, you could talk to them directly?

Someone can't handle the real world and cries because they're "offended" and so posts are deleted. This bothers me. I don't understand where this massive influx of easily offended people has come from. I don't feel like it's fair to have to walk on eggshells because someone might not like what I say.

Ducksaws wrote:Intelligent discussions on science are not "intelligent" if they consists of "blah blah blah your core beliefs and your entire life style is wrong cause I read some thing in a book". Feel free to talk all you want about evolution and big bang theory, it's just plain common courtesy and "not being a dick" to leave other people's religions and beliefs out of it.

Because honestly those arguments go nowhere, neither side can prove themselves completely right or wrong (or else the whole world would be either one religion or all atheists) so it's just annoying and immature.

There's a difference between discussing science (evolution, the big bang), and discussing philosophy (religion). Jumping into a scientific discussion with philosophy is the dick move.

Heavy handed?????

Ok here's the thing. 9 times out of 10 when something arises that gets reported or catches the eye of an admin, or mod we will typicaly open up a thread in the staff room and discuss what action should be taken. So when something gets modded its not just done out of the blue we have typically talked it over some to find the best course of action.

I can understand why you would be upset that an entire thread gets locked down, but saying I understand dosn't mean that threads are not going to be locked in the future. Sadly a good thread can be ruined and even after you mod the few posts it still continues on a downhill spiral and users will continue posting offensive content so the thread will just need to be locked and moved.

Egon Spengler wrote:Heavy handed?????

Ok here's the thing. 9 times out of 10 when something arises that gets reported or catches the eye of an admin, or mod we will typicaly open up a thread in the staff room and discuss what action should be taken. So when something gets modded its not just done out of the blue we have typically talked it over some to find the best course of action.

I can understand why you would be upset that an entire thread gets locked down, but saying I understand dosn't mean that threads are not going to be locked in the future. Sadly a good thread can be ruined and even after you mod the few posts it still continues on a downhill spiral and users will continue posting offensive content so the thread will just need to be locked and moved.

Heavy handed, excessive, forceful, extreme. You might deliberate on it, but thread locks and post deletions are extreme forms of moderation.

Also, where did this focus on "offensiveness" come from? This shit is what really chaps my ass and seems out of the blue. It seems like everyone is offended about something. Get over it. Be an adult and move on.

To me, this place needs to make a decision. Either we need an extremely firm and well enforced set of guidelines (aka rules and explicit instructions on what not to post), or this place just needs to be laissez-faire. You can't have both.

https://speakeasyclinic.forumotion.com/the-lounge-f1/forum-regulations-t352.htm


There ya go. The forum guidelines. Tis has never been out of the blue, we have had to edit, and lock threads in the past. Maybe its out of the blue for you because it affected a topic you where posting in and reading.

We do not delete posts or at leaset its rare that we do. Typically the offesive word or comment is just edited out. Thread locks will occur when a topic gets out of hand.

Yea exactly get over it. grow up and move on. There are few rules here and if it chaps your ass then grow up or move on. This is one of the most relaxed easy going forums I know. It's sad that since there are a few rules and the fact that a few users can;t use a little common sense on their posts that we have to get involved at all. So if users can;t be a little more adult in their initial posts than we won;t have to mod at all. There is ALOT that slides by on this forum that wouldn't in other forums.

It's pretty simple though that if you want to be a troll, an outright dick, break the few rules that do exist here then we will come down on it. If you think its heavy handed then o well! Sorry bout your luck but grow up.

I'm not going to post. Awwwww I sooo sowwwy I had to edit out your word...will you forgive me please. I don;t have the time to waste ont hat bullshit. Nobody on the staff is getting paid. I don;t want to waste half my time posting apologies or editing out 6 pages of a topic. We are going to edit out the bullshit and lock down the bullshit!

Simple! God damn this place is not that strict!!!!!!

@Blackholedreams:

Do you really think that your comment couldn't have potentially offended someone?

I took action based on a couple of reasons. I saw the post and immediately thought it was offensive. Joking or not joking is totally irrelevant. If we have any Muslim members here then it would be irresponsible to leave that post there.

Like DL said tone is not conveyed over the net. A /sarcasm would have made it more clear or a j/k but to be honest it wouldn't have matter and I would have still taken action on it.

The reason I contacted you about it was because I felt that it was offensive and lo and behold as soon as I drafted and sent that message to you the post was reported so I took action.

When it comes to comments of that nature it's always been pretty clear that those types of messages wouldn't be tolerated so your "out of the blue" comment is inaccurate.

While there may be cases where some similar comments were not noticed by the staff, I believe our stance on comments like the one you made has been the same since the site started.

In regards to the guidelines and such, this site is still pretty new so things will change over time as the board evolves and stuff so people need to evolve with the board.

There's a difference between discussing science (evolution, the big bang), and discussing philosophy (religion). Jumping into a scientific discussion with philosophy is the dick move.

Not really. Science and religion have been mixed together and butting-heads for centuries.

People just need to remember to respect someones differing opinion.
There's a big difference between saying "I completely disagree with you" and "You're a fucking idiot if you believe that". The science/religion thread had way to much of the latter...

The rules are pretty simple: Don't fuck with peoples race/sex/orientation/religion

This is a forum for open discussion and assertion of opinions, but please keep it civil and friendly.

Civil and friendly. Or it may get locked/deleted/moved/ etc...
Saying all [insert your religion of choice here] must die isn't civil or friendly and also breaks the religious beliefs rule. Pretty clear-cut.

Winston Zeddemore wrote:@Blackholedreams:

Do you really think that your comment couldn't have potentially offended someone?

I took action based on a couple of reasons. I saw the post and immediately thought it was offensive. Joking or not joking is totally irrelevant. If we have any Muslim members here then it would be irresponsible to leave that post there.

Like DL said tone is not conveyed over the net. A /sarcasm would have made it more clear or a j/k but to be honest it wouldn't have matter and I would have still taken action on it.

The reason I contacted you about it was because I felt that it was offensive and lo and behold as soon as I drafted and sent that message to you the post was reported so I took action.

When it comes to comments of that nature it's always been pretty clear that those types of messages wouldn't be tolerated so your "out of the blue" comment is inaccurate.

While there may be cases where some similar comments were not noticed by the staff, I believe our stance on comments like the one you made has been the same since the site started.

In regards to the guidelines and such, this site is still pretty new so things will change over time as the board evolves and stuff so people need to evolve with the board.

Number one, I don't live my life in fear of offending people, and I'm not going to do that here.

However, I don't go around intentionally trying to offend people. I don't want to be an asshole. I thought it was patently obvious in the context of the thread that my comment was ironic. I don't see how anyone could have taken it at face value.

Furthermore, I made no comment against any board member.

Also, I am sincerely disappointed by DL's tone. I am not a fucking child and you have no fucking right to speak to me in that manner. I'm trying to have an adult conversation and patronizing me is accomplishing nothing.

I started off my first post stating I was going to be an ass and I am not going to apoligize for it. That's the problem is that the points you are arguing is really childish in my opinion. Your upset because we have 2 or 3 words that are banned, and you don;t understand why we lock the handfull of threads we have locked. You argue that you should be alowd to say whatever you want here, and acuse us of being heavy handed. Your offended of the thin skinned users around here ruining your experience and threaten to leave.

So yea I was being an ass and Iknow I was and said I was going to. It's getting exausting to have to explain ourselves everytime we have to mod something when its pretty damn obvious why it was modded. In a public place and this is a public place you don;t say kill all muslims. If you think that is ok well....... sorry man I think your a child.

Number one, I don't live my life in fear of offending people, and I'm not going to do that here.

Not much I can say to this. Cool, I guess.

However, I don't go around intentionally trying to offend people. I don't want to be an asshole. I thought it was patently obvious in the context of the thread that my comment was ironic. I don't see how anyone could have taken it at face value.

It wasn't even relevant to me what your aim was with your comment. A) I thought it was offensive, joke or not. B) At least one other member here thought it was also.

Just one of either of the previous things was enough for me to take action, but both them just made me sure that I had to.

Furthermore, I made no comment against any board member.

True, but like I said previously, you aren't aware if we have Muslim members or not that may have gotten offended. So while you didn't directly make the comment against a member, if there are Muslim members on this forum then you could have indirectly offended them.

Black, dl is a bit heated, but look at it from our perspective.

Some one makes an offensive comment, it gets reported..multiple times.
We can do two things mod it. (pisses of poster)
Ignore it, (pisses off repoters and any number of members. Also may lead to more common place posting of such comments.)

Its better in the end to draw a clear line on what can and can't be said here, so that members think over their posts before we run into this problem.
Because if not, either way I'm pissing somone off.

Raymond Stantz wrote: Black, dl is a bit heated, but look at it from our perspective.

Some one makes an offensive comment, it gets reported..multiple times.
We can do two things mod it. (pisses of poster)
Ignore it, (pisses off repoters and any number of members. Also may lead to more common place posting of such comments.)

Its better in the end to draw a clear line on what can and can't be said here, so that members think over their posts before we run into this problem.
Because if not, either way I'm pissing somone off.

Then do the best that has more of a positive side. Only two or three people complain that topics and stuff are being modded out off 80+ people >.<.

I think words should be banned the fact they were filtered is good because if I say something accidentally, at least it was fixed auto and I don't have to worry about it yet I still try to watch what I say.

If you piss off more than just 2/3 people then fine we can all try and sort something out, remember it's not just you that has the load. We are in this as well and if we agree with something at the time and bitch about it later.. it's more likely our fault and not yours.

This is ludicrous. Have fun being offended at everything.

blackholedreams wrote:This is ludicrous. Have fun being offended at everything.

Again this is something a child would say.......

blackholedreams wrote:This is ludicrous. Have fun being offended at everything.

Black the thing is, we don't get offended at everything. Why are you being so serious about this?

LOL @ this guy.

Again that was childish.. 99% of everyone gets along fairly well here I think and then one person has to blow shit up like this.

Does anybody else here like pineapple as much as I do?

Well I used to like hotdogs but seeing your pic of slimer in sig not so much!!! HAHA

I love pineapple just don't eat too much or you'll be sorry.