Support NeoGAF

[Dead Man]

Maybe you're right, but I've seen a lot of really tasteless and offensive puns in threads about horrible news stories that never resulted in a ban.

Yeah, it does seem to be one of the more inconsistent rules. I basically never am able to think of a pun anyway, so it doesn't effect me, but a good rule is probably not to post if it is tasteless. A good general rule anyway.

 

[IrishNinja]

At the very least, we should be able to troll Nintendo fans again.

the sun has set on the amirox empire, puddles
even quantic fans are coming outdoors again

 

[bjork]

Based on the creepshots thread, I will say that yes, GAF is too strict.

This is where Stump would advise that I move on to another forum. I probably should, but I do know that lots of long-standing posters on this forum agree with me. I do think that community moderators should at least attempt to maintain some of their community's original spirit. Yes, moderating a forum of 80,000 is different than moderating a forum of 800, but I honestly think that a more snarky, old-school GAF could work even with the current population.

This place will never be SomethingAwful or 2001-era TeamXbox, but it used to be more fun, and not all that long ago.

Unless you were someone else before or lurked for years before being approved, you missed the true wild west of gaf.

 

[Blackace]

 

[shanshan310]

I always thought the rule was 'don't pun about rape or death' but everything else was fair game. Apparently not!

Nah. I remember the thread where a kid hung himself in a gaffer's unfinished house that was littered with "don't get too hung up on it" puns. I don't remember anyone getting banned.

 

[Mully]

So it looks like this newscaster thread is heading towards where the other weight debate threads ended up.... I'm out of there before someone says something really awful.

 

[ShinNL]

Anyone who has been following the thread for a while and know what I've been talking about earlier in this thread? If you do, please PM me. It's been nagging me on my mind but talking about it in public feels like such an underhanded thing to do (since it would reveal the names).

Greetings,
-Shin

 

[Count Dookkake]

Nah. I remember the thread where a kid hung himself in a gaffer's unfinished house that was littered with "don't get too hung up on it" puns. I don't remember anyone getting banned.

This is not true.

I was banned.

 

[Cyan]

I don't agree with Puddles about the percieved changes of the forum but his post made me think of something I've been thinking of from time to time. I do think that mods/admins sometimes gets too banhappy when they come across a thread they need to clean out, some posters seems to get caught even though they didn't make any offensive posts.

Things have certainly changed. You can disagree on whether those changes are for the better or not, but they've absolutely changed.

 

[G-Fex]

This board still is a lot better than a lot of other boards.

Can't say the same for the community sections though but yeah.

 

[Darren870]

Is there like a chain of command with the mods? I know evilore is at the top but is Bish the next in command followed by other mods?

Or is every one pretty much the same?

 

[Stumpokapow]

Is there like a chain of command with the mods? I know evilore is at the top but is Bish the next in command followed by other mods?

Or is every one pretty much the same?

We're like Valve.

 

[Tess3ract]

Apparently you're not allowed to say the "C word" even when you're talking about video game characters.

Cool -_-

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

We're like Valve.

Wheels on the desks and everything?

 

[Canis lupus]

Apparently you're not allowed to say the "C word" even when you're talking about video game characters.

Cool -_-

Can we say "the final boss is a real B"?

 

[Platy]

I think last I read, we make up 47% of gamers? But there's really no way of telling if those numbers include stuff like FarmVille.

I know some people SO adicted to farmville that they probably watch TAS videos of farmville to learn new tricks to use =P

If gamers means being hardcore than I guess farmville players CAN be gamers

 

[Monroeski]

Can we say "the final boss is a real B"?

I wouldn't if it's female. Go ahead if it's male.

 

[Tess3ract]

double standards

 

[Monroeski]

double standards

Didn't say I agree with it, I just think that's the situation.

 

[Tess3ract]

Didn't say I agree with it, I just think that's the situation.

Oh I know. But it's a stupid situation.

 

[Shin Kojima]

Oh I know. But it's a stupid situation.

It's ridiculous.

 

[Cyan]

double standards

Exactly. And all double standards are wrong and evil.

 

[Tess3ract]

I'm of the opinion of "it's just a word" for quite a lot of expletives and I don't care about their origin. If I'm going to say something that could be insulting to a gender, I'd be a lot more specific about that person and why I'm upset than a single word.

 

[Mumei]

Can we say "the final boss is a real B"?

Here.

The example I gave was for a level; I don't think there would be a misunderstanding for saying the same thing about beating a boss. And yes, Tesseract, we have different standards for different words.

 

[Tess3ract]

So, "stop being a bitch" is not appropriate, for example.

Also from that thread:

Yes. But the majority of people associate "Douchebag" more with Women than they do with the medical use.

Anything else devolution

Actually they associate it with men.

Speaking of demasculization: Women find it offensive to be portrayed as the weaker sex, but for men it's not really about that. Men are competitive beasts. We're always trying to make the other guy look worse than us. If you're essentially saying "don't be a woman" it's more about "you're no longer a man" than "women < men"

 

[TheGreatDivide]

Is there any word a woman could say regarding a man that would be considered sexist and be banned for?

The bitch thing is so weird when women call each other bitches non fucking stop. If you are around a group of women for any length of time inevitably they will call a former friend or someone at work a bitch.

 

[CHEEZMO™]

Whoever that Souther guy is I wanna know what he's smokin'. Douchebag is a textbook example of an insult directed almost exclusively at men.

 

[Tess3ract]

Women can say a few sexist things, but likely no one will care because "men have always been in power compared to women" and then ignore it.

Again, double standards.

As a forewarning: I am 100% for equal status between women and men, but I don't have good experience with feminists because 9/10 of them I meet are crazy.

 

[pigeon]

Speaking of demasculization: Women find it offensive to be portrayed as the weaker sex, but for men it's not really about that. Men are competitive beasts. We're always trying to make the other guy look worse than us. If you're essentially saying "don't be a woman" it's more about "you're no longer a man" than "women < men"

Actually, it should be clear that "you're no longer a man" is only a criticism if the thing you now ARE is worse than a man. I mean, that's pretty obvious.

Is there any word a woman could say regarding a man that would be considered sexist and be banned for?

The bitch thing is so weird when women call each other bitches non fucking stop. If you are around a group of women for any length of time inevitably they will call a former friend or someone at work a bitch.

They would get banned for that on NeoGAF also?

THE EVEN HAND OF JUSTICE

 

[Anton Sugar]

Speaking of demasculization: Women find it offensive to be portrayed as the weaker sex, but for men it's not really about that. Men are competitive beasts. We're always trying to make the other guy look worse than us. If you're essentially saying "don't be a woman" it's more about "you're no longer a man" than "women < men"

As a male, this is a pretty reductive and general statement to make. I'm not a "competitive beast", nor would I ever want to be referred to that way. You've never met a highly competitive female in your life?

Using your own example: by saying "don't be a woman", you're inherently positioning men above women, as if being a woman is a negative. Even saying "be a man" is pretty childish, because you have to define what being a man is.

Women can say a few sexist things, but likely no one will care because "men have always been in power compared to women" and then ignore it.

Again, double standards.

Like what?

The bitch thing is so weird when women call each other bitches non fucking stop. If you are around a group of women for any length of time inevitably they will call a former friend or someone at work a bitch.

Just because someone uses a term that's insulting to his/her gender, doesn't validate the use of that term. Many people (genders, races, etc.) are self-deprecating without really realizing it.

 

[Tess3ract]

Actually, it should be clear that "you're no longer a man" is only a criticism if the thing you now ARE is worse than a man. I mean, that's pretty obvious.

Perhaps, I think of it more like.... You're standing on a different playing field.

Think of it this way. Pretend men are from earth and women are from Mars. An earthling goes "don't be a martian" It doesn't necessarily mean martians are bad, but they aren't earthlings.

 

[shadowsdarknes]

The problem with this site is everything gets taken so literally. You can't even question someones argument civilly without them getting upset. Also, you can't challenge anyone's opinion here just for the sake of challenging an opinion because whenever someone feels the pressure they immediately jump to conclusions on your argument. It's kind of ridiculous how some people get banned for such silly things, yet others can toss around insults even with mods participating in the thread and continue on.

 

[pigeon]

Think of it this way. Pretend men are from earth and women are from Mars. An earthling goes "don't be a martian" It doesn't necessarily mean martians are bad, but they aren't earthlings.

...nope, that does imply that you're referencing a specific trait that Martians possess that you think is bad. An imperative statement such as "Don't do X" always contains the implied followup "because X is worse than the alternative in this situation."

Even when you use the phrase to reference a concept thought of as generally being positive, like "don't be a saint," the immediately communicated idea is that you are exhibiting the negative traits of that concept, to your detriment -- like the idea that saints are fundamentally naive.

 

[Tess3ract]

I was implying more that "if you aren't an earthling, you don't belong on this planet"

Maybe my example/post didn't quite get that across. I'm not very good at articulating my thoughts.

 

[TheGreatDivide]

Just because someone uses a term that's insulting to his/her gender, doesn't validate the use of that term. Many people (genders, races, etc.) are self-deprecating without really realizing it.

But this is it. I don't think bitch is a sexist term. It's a gender specific term, sure, but I don't think a word specifically designed to insult a woman you dislike is necessarily sexist. It just means you dislike that woman.

There is a massive difference between saying "bitches ain't shit" and "*random celebrity* is a bitch". One of those is gender specific, the other is person specific. The use of bitches to identify all women would be a sexist example, I don't think the other is.

I mean I don't care, I don't use the word much, I just dislike broad definitions of words that have many meanings. Language isn't simple.

 

[Anton Sugar]

But this is it. I don't think bitch is a sexist term. It's a gender specific term, sure, but I don't think a word specifically designed to insult a woman you dislike is necessarily sexist. It just means you dislike that woman.

There is a massive difference between saying "bitches ain't shit" and "*random celebrity* is a bitch". One of those is gender specific, the other is person specific. The use of bitches to identify all women would be a sexist example, I don't think the other is.

I mean I don't care, I don't use the word much, I just dislike broad definitions of words that have many meanings. Language isn't simple.

From Mumei earlier:

There is not a blanket ban on the word "bitch." There are, however, ways you can use "bitch" which could get you banned. Opiate recently addressed questions about this in another thread:

Is it contextual or zero-tolerance?

It's going to be hard not saying the b-word. Not in the offensive variety, but I mean.... There's a Batman quote with it.

Definitely contextual, always. For example, I just said all four of those words, and you'll notice I'm not banned! Generally speaking, regarding the word "bitch," if the word is clearly not intended to apply in a gender sensitive way -- if you use it as a synonym for "asshole" or "jerk" -- it will be fine.

But other uses are not fine. If you are applying it to a woman in a situation that might be even remotely gender-specific, be careful. Also, applying it to a man in such a way that you intend to emasculate them, or imply they are weak or pathetic, is also not appropriate. So, "stop being a bitch" is not appropriate, for example.

Context will always matter. While sometimes people are not moderated simply because we don't see the post (it happens), many times people complain that [Poster X] was banned for saying a bad word, but [Poster Y] was not, and people think this is unfair. As you say, however, context matters -- the same exact words can mean very different things coming from different people at different times.

This makes the rules harder to follow, I realize this. They are not hard, fast, simple rules. We are relying on your ability to be reasonable and mature, and in almost all cases you'll be fine if you do.

Again, feel free to send me PMs if you need. Thanks.

I want to be clear, however, in stating that using it as a synonym for "asshole" or "jerk" is still unacceptable when used towards another poster; it is something in practice that is available more for self-deprecation or towards a task (e.g. "This level was a bitch to get through") that is not directed towards another person.

Nearly all rules about language here are contextual. There is no list of words that you are not allowed to post; any word in the right context or in the right discussion can be acceptable. But there are words that have a heightened scrutiny around their usage, such as gendered or racist or homophobic slurs.

 

[Tess3ract]

In that case, I said something along the lines of "That boss was easy. Now these two bosses, they were right cunts" and got banned for it.

Doesn't that go against what mumei just said? It wasn't specific to any person. I was using it in the terms of "these bosses were jerks/assholes"

 

[Anton Sugar]

In that case, I said something along the lines of "That boss was easy. Now these two bosses, they were right cunts" and got banned for it.

Doesn't that go against what mumei just said? It wasn't specific to any person. I was using it in the terms of "these bosses were jerks/assholes"

I am not familiar with the circumstances involving the banning of "the C word" on GAF. There are many possibilities, one being the derogatory misappropriation of female anatomy.

 

[Blackace]

Perhaps, I think of it more like.... You're standing on a different playing field.

Think of it this way. Pretend men are from earth and women are from Mars. An earthling goes "don't be a martian" It doesn't necessarily mean martians are bad, but they aren't earthlings.

This thread is full of bad analogies

 

[Cyan]

This thread is full of bad analogies

Don't be a person who makes bad analogies.

 

[polyh3dron]

In that case, I said something along the lines of "That boss was easy. Now these two bosses, they were right cunts" and got banned for it.

Doesn't that go against what mumei just said? It wasn't specific to any person. I was using it in the terms of "these bosses were jerks/assholes"

were the bosses female bosses?

 

[Tess3ract]

They were both male I suppose. They have male names but they're monsters.

 

[Razek]

They were both male I suppose. They have male names but they're monsters.

There is a good chance I'm wrong, but I believe any use of the C word that is in an insulting manner regardless of target is generally frowned upon here.

If I'm wrong, let me take this opportunity to say once again: Please amend the TOS/Member Etiquette pages because I frequent this forum very often and I don't even know the rules.

 

[Blackace]

Don't be a person who makes bad analogies.

If you were a rock and said that it would still be silly

 

[Mumei]

In that case, I said something along the lines of "That boss was easy. Now these two bosses, they were right cunts" and got banned for it.

Doesn't that go against what mumei just said? It wasn't specific to any person. I was using it in the terms of "these bosses were jerks/assholes"

We were not talking about the word "cunt." We were talking about the word "bitch." When we talk about a word, we are actually referring to that word; you cannot just substitute a different word that you used and presume that the situation is going to be identical. We can set more stringent standards for different words.

We also did not say that it was acceptable to refer to people or things you don't like as "bitches" as a replacement for calling them "jerks / assholes." We said that "bitch" could have acceptable uses which might include (non-exhaustively) self-deprecation, shorthand for referring to some task as difficult (such as beating a level or a boss), or ironic in-group usage. We did not say that it was okay to use "bitch" as a replacement for "something I don't like", whether you are talking about people or characters.

 

[Stet]

If you were a rock and said that it would still be silly

So what you're saying is you hate rocks.

 

[A Pretty Panda]

So what you're saying is you hate rocks.

I think so.

 

[Blackace]

So what you're saying is you hate rocks.

Some of my best friends are rocks

 

[Avixph]

Some of my best friends are rocks

Rockcist.

 

[Llyranor]

A rock killed my parents.