Rules regarding racism

[Muezza Ansar al-Fitnah 3]

Hey so I was playing on your server today when an admin warned me for racism. I had no idea what I had said until he pointed out my use of the "n" word. Yikes.

Before I go on, I want to be clear that I'm not trying to stir up trouble, provoke anybody, or just be a general nuisance. I don't know if I've played on your server in the past, but I enjoyed my time on it today and I think the staff is pretty laid back and chill. I appreciate that Irony (the staff who warned me) tried to explain the rule and directed me to the forums, rather than simply kick me or mute me. I can respect the restraint.

But I seriously have a problem with the apparent rule. I absolutely used the "n" word. I use it so often that I don't even consciously add it to my sentences anymore. Regardless, I can confidently say that I never said anything racist. My use of the word "niggah" was benign. It was a casual pronoun, not a derogatory insult. 

 

There's no such thing as a 'racist word'. A word can have a negative connotation attached to it, sure, but it's meaning is defined by context and perception. Beyond a small minority, I highly doubt anybody is going to be offended by the word I used, within the context I used it. I just can't fathom how casually referring to a friend as "nigga" could possibly be construed as an expression of racism. That's just not how language works. 

 

Now I completely understand the reasoning behind your rule! Trust me, I really do. I know how common it is to have mindless idiots pop into the server spewing inflammatory remarks simply to get a rise out of people. Trolls exist, of course. And I understand that having these rules makes the server more accessible and accommodating to any demographic. You guys are a community. You want to keep things inviting and friendly. 

But I really feel that arbitrarily banning words for their perceived negative baggage is just not the morally correct choice. I'd even go as far to say that it's divisive and alienating.

 

Again I'm honestly not trying to be contrary or annoying. I just seriously feel that the rules should be adjusted to address obvious racist intent and hate speech, rather than blacklist individual words.

The word is part of my vocabulary, but I'm not a racist person by any stretch of the imagination, and I'm sure there are plenty of people just like me. Is it really alright to punish us for thoughtlessly letting a word slip? I just can't wrap my head around it.

 

I hope you guys give this a little thought and approach it objectively. 

Either way, thanks for reading!

[Dylan 558]

Ya dude remove racism rule 2k16 

 

Me not being able to call someone a stupid _____ is against my freedom as an american it triggers me that I cant say what I want 2!!! 

#AllowRacism2k16

[Joscal 339]

If you can't handle it don't use chat in the servers.

 

It's not difficult to use appropriate language. I have my own opinions about the rule but that's not the point here.

 

The problem with most of your approach is that if we were to use a 'racist intent' rule, it becomes subjective to enforce and is enforced differently by different admins.

Trolls/people intending to cause harm would stretch the boundaries of the rule.

This isn't really something that needs to start happening.

 

Additionally, this has been discussed to death, general searches for racism in forums outside of the Complaint Department should give you a few hints about our staffs' perspective for the rule.

[Iherdcows 3419]

yes, while these words do not always have negative baggage with them in this day in age, it does not change the fact that these words were originally used to treat other humans like trash, attempting to make it so they were inferior. While it would also be nice to allow the words to be said without the negative baggage, thats just simply not possible. If were to let certain words to be said in certain contexts, it would be up to the admin online to decide if the context of the world was used in a racist manner. What flies with one admin doesn't always fly with other ones. We try to limit admin desecration as much as possible as it also limits admins playing favorites. The orgin of these words will always have the negative meaning.

Edited June 8, 2016 by Iherdcows

[Yunki 2197]

Vexer you missed his point lol.

Anyway, I see what you are saying, and I know you don't have the intention of saying the word with a negative connotation to it, but could you imagine the 12 year olds who would start trying to act edgy on the server by saying "what's up my ni**as!!11!". Sure some people use the word casually, but I'm assuming Staff does not want to be associated as the server that has kids saying shit like that. And like Joscal said, it would then be up to admin discretion, which is something people on the servers already seem to hate. 

All in all, it's not allowed and won't be allowed anytime in the future as far as I can see.

Edited June 8, 2016 by Yunki

[Sandy 2032]

ANOTHER ATTEMPT

 

ANOTHER CHALLENGE WHEN WILL SG FREE MY ______________

 

 

[The Lowki 147]

I get what you're saying here but it would create a whole other big problem where people would use that excuse.

I'm going to be 100% honest with you here, if you really appreciate the server and have good times on it just make sure not to let anything slip it's really not that hard...

Edited June 9, 2016 by The Lowki

[Ironic 2277]

2 hours ago, Muezza Ansar al-Fitnah said:

 Irony (the staff who warned me) tried to explain the rule and directed me to the forums, rather than simply kick me or mute me. I can respect the restraint.

Again with people getting my name wrong and calling me a "Staff member".

 

I would though, like to thank you for how chill you were after I told you not to use that word. You showed a lot of maturity by that, and I'd again like to thank you. We had a small conversation about why we don't allow it, but I did tell him that if he had anymore questions, to post a topic on the forums, which as you can see he did.

One thing he did point out, that we might need to change for clarity to new individuals that come to our servers, is it doesn't state specifically in any of our rules that the N word does count as a "racist" term. Even though most people know that originally yes, it was used as a racist term, a lot of people still like to argue that it's not. It may be easier if we specify in our general rules that "Ni***" does count as racism. Just a thought, I understand if not though.

[MisterTurkes 544]

The rule exists to keep a community of people who would seek to spread racist comments through our community out of it. The rule's focus is not to censor people, but rather to avoid a toxic piece of communal conversation out of the greater community as a whole. If you give a little, people will take a lot so the idea of no tolerance is to avoid any and all bad things that could come from racist speech in our servers and on our forums. Look at previously permanently banned users like Zed or Hoestomper who spread bigoted speech that disenfranchised members of our community for no good reason other than racist ideology. 

[ctark 1983]

3 hours ago, Muezza Ansar al-Fitnah said:

Now I completely understand the reasoning behind your rule! Trust me, I really do. I know how common it is to have mindless idiots pop into the server spewing inflammatory remarks simply to get a rise out of people. Trolls exist, of course.

3 hours ago, vexer said:

Ya dude remove racism rule 2k16 

 

Me not being able to call someone a stupid _____ is against my freedom as an american it triggers me that I cant say what I want 2!!! 

#AllowRacism2k16

 

And this is why we can't have nice things...

 

Seriously though, I would like to thank you on the effort you put into forming that post Muezza.  It was actually enjoyable to read (even though half the forum probably don't understand some of the words you used).  You make good arguments for your opinion, but the best response I could give is to agree with Joscal in regards to it becoming subjective.  We try to keep things as consistent as possible, so that Admin A will enforce the rules in the same way as Admin B does.

 

[Face 1910]

Following with Ctark. Uprep for quality post instead of the typically "N**** isn't racist!" thread we get.

 

I think limiting admin discretion on most rules is one of the most important things we can do. With admin discretion, it typically devolves into an arguing shit-show on the server, mid-game, and everyone and their brother likes to throw in their 2 cents on what should or shouldn't be against the rules. It gets really frustrating from an admin perspective, and a lot of people generally don't give a shit and hate to listen to people arguing over rules.

 

If the rule was to be changed (which I don't think it should be), it'd have to be something like "No directing racial slurs at individuals, excessive use, or using them in an obviously racist way" (which still allows too much discretion)  But then, as Yunki said:

Quote

but could you imagine the 12 year olds who would start trying to act edgy on the server by saying "what's up my ni**as!!11!"

 

This is one of those rules that I believe exists not because of what is right or wrong, but simply to make it a lot easier to maintain order and keep a (relatively) friendly environment on the servers.

Edited June 9, 2016 by Face

[Dakka 854]

I used to have a similar stance on the rule, but then I just started calling people "my dude" or "my brother".

[PeeWee 120]

It's ironic that, while we're not allowed to call people the n word, we're allowed to call people crackers, beaners, etc. 

[cookie eater 965]

I honestly think its really stupid for an admin to just kick automatically for saying the N word, If your being completely racist and using it in a way to make someone feel bad, then I do understand it. I think we should have to Verbally/Text warn someone for being racist before kicking them as their "warning". The rules use to be that no matter what rule they broke (except thinks like ddos/hacking) you had to Warn/Slay, Kick, Ban, not just Kick then Ban. 

Some admins are cool with it and wont even punish for the occasional use of the word. Some admins will warn you, and some will just out right kick you. You just have to be careful with who's online.

[Ian 325]

50 minutes ago, PeeWee said:

It's ironic that, while we're not allowed to call people the n word, we're allowed to call people crackers, beaners, etc. 

 

I have kicked so many people from TTT for saying those things. If "****INFRACT ME FOR RACISM****" and "nigga" is racist then so is "cracker", "beaner", and "chink". I don't think racism belongs on the server at all. I have never heard racial remarks on TTT Vanilla being used in the context that the OP suggests either.

[MistaChang 2023]

The reason I play on sG servers is to avoid racism other servers blantenly allow.  Hint hint*

[Darren 272]

I've always been on the fence about "nigga". It's derived from the derogatory "-er" version which is why it's grouped with it and labelled racist. However, it's a colloquial term that is often used in completely non-derogatory ways and is genuinely a part of many peoples' vocabulary for that reason. 

 

I don't know. My rule of thumb has always been that if someone says "nigga" in chat in a non-derogatory way I'll let it slide. If they continue to use it I'll issue a warning like Ironic did, not because I think the use of the word is racist, but because it would cause others (who might not use it in such harmless ways) to think that using the word is perfectly fine. And it is not perfectly fine because it can be difficult to tell who's using it genuinely and who's using it just to be an edgy twat.

[Face 1910]

6 hours ago, PeeWee said:

It's ironic that, while we're not allowed to call people the n word, we're allowed to call people crackers, beaners, etc. 

I've seen everything kicked for except cracker, and I don't think anyone kicks for cracker...

As everyone knows, words only have power if you let them have power. White people never got bothered by cracker/honky/hick/redneck, so nobody considers them to be real insults.

Edited June 9, 2016 by Face

[Rune 2783]

What the fuck is racism?

 

[Sith 1050]

I banned a guy on Gmod TTT for calling me a spic. Racist slurs are racist slurs, regardless of their popularity.

 

Jokes on him though, I'm Native, not Mexican ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)