Clarification on TW Racism Rule

[Shaddowknight]

This is getting more and more convoluted, Left.

[joke]I expect nothing less from a lawyer.[/joke]

[Crescent Seal]

This zone has some of the worst people I've ever experienced in any aspect of my life, and I've been on the front lines in the war on terror and face to face with Fred Phelps from Westboro Baptist Church つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

[Left_Eye]

I will break it down one more time.

The obscene.txt is used for words that have NO other context/meaning besides racism. As I pointed out some examples earlier, I will take the time to point them out again: "nig," "spic," "kike," etc. However, cracker is NOT one of these phrases because it has a double meaning: both as to the food and the racist meaning. It makes zero sense to add cracker to obscene because then all names/sentences using "cracker" will be blocked out for everyone. So if someone wanted to make the name "Saltine Crackers," it would be blocked by the server for obscenity. The same goes with the term "chink" which has more than one meaning. It makes no sense to block a sentence/name that uses the legitimate, non-racist meaning of the term. Tell me, how does that make sense to block such uses as obscene when they are in fact not obscene?

For words on the obscene list (words that are racist in and of themselves), Demonic wanted people to use ?obscene if they didn't care to see such language (when spelled correctly). However, if it is not on obscene list (a word that has multiple meanings for instance), then it all depends upon the context it is used in. The harassment policy change is only to be used for words that fall under the obscene.txt (words that have NO other meanings besides the racist context) AND spelled correctly. In that case, if they mean to say it towards any individual and spell the term correctly (with no letters, spaces, hyphens, symbols, etc.), then yes, that's harassment.

If they circumvent the obscene filter, then that is when you can warn them for racism (because everyone sees it regardless of having the ?obscene filter on or off).

However, if anyone has any questions on administering the policy, then please see me in game. I would be happy to break it down further if you still need the extra time to comprehend this policy.

ShaddowKnight: As a SMod I expected more refinement in attitude and personality, but seems I was wrong to assume that based on status. If you want to clarify your rude remarks, feel free to see me in-game and we can settle this like adults, perhaps with Beasty or M_M God there if it makes you feel better.

[Crescent Seal]

ShaddowKnight: As a SMod I expected more refinement in attitude and personality, but seems I was wrong to assume that based on status. If you want to clarify your rude remarks, feel free to see me in-game and we can settle this like adults, perhaps with Beasty or M_M God there if it makes you feel better.

[Ricko]

I'm not sure why there has to be so much discussion over the racism rule; if you say something with intentionally racist undertones then you're running the risk of being warned, all this disputing just seems like people looking for a loophole/the one racist term they could potentially get away with and run with it.

[Shaddowknight]

Question: would racism that is warned for racism also not need to be warned for harassment as well? Or is only some racism harassment while other forms are not? I feel like this is something that needs to be clarified.

[paradise!]

I'm not sure why there has to be so much discussion over the racism rule; if you say something with intentionally racist undertones then you're running the risk of being warned, all this disputing just seems like people looking for a loophole/the one racist term they could potentially get away with and run with it.

the discussion is justified, ricko.

to say we are outlawing racism is incorrect. I think the tl;dr version of this is that we are now allowing " I hate all chinks/spics/kikes/etc." except the n word and cracker.

to Left:

I know we shouldn't add cracker to the obscene list. But, it is worth noting that we are not treating cracker like "spic" or "kike". We are treating it like "nig". Meaning it is never OK (unless you are talking about Saltine crackers). But, I'm with ya Left, I'm down for mopping up the racism rules. Just worth knowing that people like War/Beam/Weak are going to have a field day with this stuff finding all the possible loopholes.

[Wormhole Surfer]

TW needs a message displayed when you enter the zone that says something like "If you are a small child or a woman (that includes most of the men here) and can be easily offended, please type ?lines=0

[bkgmjo]

I seriously fail to see a reason to legalize some insulting and language and criminalize others. If you want a newbie and vet friendly environment just make it clear that any form of heavy trash talk is illegal, no matter what topic. It makes forums a mess, public chat annoying, frustrates staffs, makes serious discussions impossible and drives off players who just want to have a good time on a game and not have to deal with some idiots who didn't make it past their "your mom!" years. Not to talk about those folks causing tons of extra work for staffs who could spend their time on more useful things.

So can we just say verbal harassment, spamming and the like in any form is unwanted and punishable - if continuously used - and be done with this endless discussion? Seems pretty pointless to me to put some words here, some there and to keep allowing and disallowing variations of those. I haven't even heard 90% of the words or seemingly random letter-number combos in question here until they apparently became important now and some of them have a completely different meaning in other languages or context. So since an auto-block, -ban or ?obscene won't ever work correctly anyways, just watch chat and calls and take the trolls ammunition of always finding new ways to type them away maybe?

[Crescent Seal]

i blame demonic for this entire situation. the change was sketchy to begin with and not fully thought out, but this gives us a great chance to do a detailed revamp of it.

ricko, tw isn't an utopia lol. people will always try to find loopholes, lure staff, or just naturally vent their frustration through racism. there is no point in questioning the need to be racist at this point. be practical. the major focus should be on creating a solid revamp of the rules and training staff to deal with these situations. 99 percent of these cases can be dealt with by proper staff discretion. unfortunately we have faggots like azov who ban people for days or silence them for hours just because they said "nig" one time.

[Turban]

there will always be racism in every game no matter what you do unless you want the game to die. it's impossible to have a perfect community and you will just have to learn to live with it. as long as people don't overdo it and get personal with their insults then i really don't see much reason to completely censor racism from the game. ban the worst offenders, but at least give us some freedom of speech. a lot of our rules need some revamping. i'll try to have a talk with you on a later date (*winkwink*) lefty.

[Ev0lUtIoN]

In certain context, it is racist. In-game, however, is only subject to the harassment rule, not the racism rule. #Idontneedyourstinkinlogic

you obviously missed the point of my post . but ok

[Ev0lUtIoN]

Cracker is illegal under the racism rule when used in a racist context. Cracker is not on the obscene list because of the simple fact that it also refers to the actual thin, crisp wafer more often than used in a racist context.

When used in the racist form, it is specifically warnable under our racism rule.

For example, when someone says "I love cheese and crackers," nothing can be done because it is simply not racist. As always, context is key in determining if something is racist or not. If someone is participating in a racist conversation, then specifically says "i hate crackers," with the surrounding context, is it not hard to see what they mean by that language. Under that situation, it is warnable under our racism rule. Additionally, if someone says "ur a f'kin cracker," it is not hard to tell they mean the actual racist meaning as opposed to calling them a thin, crisp wafer.

Harassment rule would really play no part in this because cracker cannot be blocked by using ?obscene; therefore, everyone sees the word "cracker" whether they have ?obscene on or off. Only the "main" key words that are racist in and of themselves can be blocked by ?obscene, so then staffers have to use the above procedure in my first post.

As I said above, if people want to use racist language, it is safe to assume the language used is illegal and actionable under our rules.

Lots of love,

Left_Eye

P.S. Love Spacely, Mighty, Raver<420>, soupero, LF, WAR, and zreqdf!

Pretty much knew this just wanted to see if I could get a rise out of a couple idiots who think they're big shots. thx for clarification though

[Jones]

alternatively, people could use racism and get warned/banned/silenced for it and just not whine about it like sissies

[roxxkatt]

jones just made post of the year