I am posting this as a user, who also happens to be a staff member and an admin...this is not an official statement from the forums council, the forums staff, or anyone else. This is my personal little rant.
matthew
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Every once in a while I get a private message from a user, or we find a reported post, or someone posts something like this in a thread. The following is a direct quote, with some things removed to obscure the specific user and thread. No other editing was done.
Okay, where do I start?i would like to report that a user on this forum has offended me very much by using bad language. I know last time this happened and i emailed you guys you did nothing. I am sick of being offended and nothing is ever done about it.
he said the P word in *link* .
I am very religious and the bible says this word is not right to use. please make sure he does not offend me or my beliefs again.
First off, I have read the Bible. I have also read the Qur'an, and several other religious texts. I can't recall any of them forbidding the use of any word that starts with the letter 'p'. Specific individuals may be offended by the use of some words, but let's not pretend that is a matter that can be finally and authoritatively decided by any specific religious text.
I like to call this person a Holy Misroller (see the second post, about 3/4 of the way down). Holy Misrollers are those online forum participants who give Christians (or other religious adherents) a bad name. The HM believes himself or herself to be a Christian (etc.) and will generally tell anyone who'll listen about his or her faith in God and in Jesus. At the same time, however, the HM will display decidedly un-Christian behavior, frequently making an *** out of him- or herself. The HM is often characterized by a great deal of anger and hostility. The breed tends to lash out at anyone and anything not in keeping with its incorrectly narrow worldview. The saddest part about HMs is that they do not truly understand Christianity at all.
That last line is important. I am not criticizing all adherents of any faith or philosophy. I am criticizing the arrogant and self-righteous from among them. This is a small, but vocal minority among people of strong belief.
I should pause here to emphasize that Christianity is not the only religion that has problems with people doing this. Fundamentalists exist in all religions and can also be found among the non-religious. Think about specific forms of open-source/free software zealots who complain incessantly about people who make choices different from the ones they would make. We could point to various political factions as well. Please, no one think that I am intending to pick on one specific faith or belief system. I'm not anti-faith in any way, neither am I anti-politics or against having strong beliefs. I am anti-arrogance.
I am happy to have religious users in these forums. I am also happy to have non-religious users in these forums. I am happy that users of various nationalities, ethnicities, genders and ages all come and participate in this community. I am thrilled to welcome people with strong beliefs as well as people with weak ones. I like people. Period.
In these forums we have a code of conduct for behavior. Anything that is not covered by that code of conduct is permitted. When we (the Forums Council) discover a hole in the code of conduct, we discuss the problem and modify the code as needed.
This does not include modifying our style of moderation on the basis of zealots of any persuasion, whether they be religious, free-software, political or of some other sort.
I am glad to allow anyone who participates in these forums to believe, think, and act as they will (within the CoC while in the forums). I am in no way willing to allow those beliefs, philosophical or religious, to coerce other forums users to fit in the sometimes small boxes that some users have.
It is the ultimate of arrogance that some people believe that their specific religious or philosophical tendencies should govern the actions of other people. It's no wonder that some very good religious and philosophical beliefs have terrible reputations when their adherents behave in this manner.
So, that is my long-winded way of saying that the guy quoted above and others like him either need to "suck it up" and allow others to speak/write as they will within the forums CoC, or they need to leave. We are not going to come to any deeper agreement on that. Our rules are very clear and are designed to foster mutual respect among members. That goes both ways. For things that are not universal in nature, like the use of specific words that many, perhaps most people do not find offensive, then we need to choose to treat those whose opinions differ from ours as we would like them to treat us.
Here's my main problem: I'm really tired of people saying they want everyone to follow their system of belief or personal philosophy of life (all software must be free or else...join my religion or else...etc.) and then threatening the staff because we don't allow those demands to be made. Seriously, guys (and it almost always is a male...), if you want people to follow your way of life, all you have to do is show us how, and why it is better, by being a better person than the people around you. If you want people to follow you, lead by example with respect, with kindness, and yes, with good and logical arguments that do not demean those who disagree with you, but rather show a better option than what they are presenting.
Okay, I'm done with my tirade. I feel better now.
Adv Reply
Originally Posted by anaconda
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