NationStates Jolt Archive

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13442893&postcount=310
Not the worst, but sets the tone for this:

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13443477&postcount=336

I really don't want this swept under the rug, because I let a lot slide in this forum in the name of free speech, but being told that I do crack and steal people organs just because of the colour of my skin is not okay.

Agreed. This is the kind of "subtle" racism that's too easy to let go because it's not as overt as an epithet and can be passed off as "just kidding". I hear it all the time, and not just from my students.

It's still going on to some degree:
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13444312&postcount=429



I know this is mild, just thought I'd point it out.

Um... pretty mild...

Islam is just system based on one bedouin's crazy ideas. It is not a system of religion.
that is insulting to me as an arab and muslim here is the thread
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=549593

that is insulting to me as an arab and muslim here is the thread
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=549593

You probably need to make a new thread for that buddy. And Btw, don't waste your time, because it won't amount to anything.

that is insulting to me as an arab and muslim here is the thread
http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=549593

I just wasted 15 minutes of my life reading that thread, and the only Moderation comment I can add is ...

"Grow some skin".

Um... pretty mild...

After letting "kaffir" slide, I really don't know why I expected you guys to do anything. This isn't the NS I used to know.

We used to hold your hand to make sure mean people didn't say mean things?

At what point does it go over the line, though?

http://forums.jolt.co.uk/showpost.php?p=13442674&postcount=281

Basically several people in that thread decided to have a discussion about how hideous Rotovia is, how they don't like him, how he looks high and like a criminal and stupid and apparently like a murderer who sells organs for crack? What would they have to say for it to become a flame?

If you post your picture in a thread where people are supposed to judge your picture, prepare to be judged.

By the way....I didn't say it was because you are black. There are other posters who are black who posted their pictures who didn't recieve the same comment from me. Perhaps it's because of your individual appearance? Perhaps don't play the race card?

If you post your picture in a thread where people are supposed to judge your picture, prepare to be judged.

By the way....I didn't say it was because you are black. There are other posters who are black who posted their pictures who didn't recieve the same comment from me. Perhaps it's because of your individual appearance? Perhaps don't play the race card?

What does selling organs for crack have to do with how he or anyone looks?

What does selling organs for crack have to do with how he or anyone looks?
Because I said he has a thuggy apperance. I didn't say "black people would sell my organs for crack", I said he looks like...ect ect ect

Because I said he has a thuggy apperance. I didn't say "black people would sell my organs for crack", I said he looks like...ect ect ect

Racism isn't against site rules, so frankly, who cares if it was racist. But you can't see how saying he looks like he kills people to sell their organs for crack might be considered a flame? If that's not a flame, what do you think is?

I would think one can expect to be judged on whether or not someone finds them attractive in a thread like that, but not on whether or not he looks like a murderer, an organ trader and a crackhead. I don't see how it's a free shots thread, or people could just come in and say all the things they've been saving up about anyone in the thread.

"Hey, look, TAI is in the thread. We get to tell him what we think of him. You look like a brain-damaged, pretentious asshole. I said 'look like' not 'are' so I'm not really flaming you."

(No, I'm not calling you any of those things. Just pointing out how silly it is to claim he asked for it.)

Regardless, I'm not here to argue with you. I came to ask a legitimate question of the mods. They've already ruled, but frankly I cannot see what would qualify as a flame if those things aren't.

Jocabia, I've had several goes at explaining why I would feel uncomfortable about hammering people who express negative opinions in that thread, and each time I've ended up deleting them because I can't pin it down. So this is the nearest I can come:

Ordinary thread.
OP: What do you think about this? I think it's great because ...

Poster A: I think your arguments are [negative statement] ... (gets away with murder)
Poster B: I think you are [negative statement]... (gets hammered).

Tell me what you think I look like thread.

Poster: I think you look like [negative statement] ...

What happens next? The statement isn't off topic, and the poster was invited to make it. The mods didn't close the topic, so it must be a legitimate question to ask and have answered.

I can see that some of the things said, if accompanied by body language, facial expressions, generalised Hooray Henry bullying attitude, could lead to majr trouble. But in this case the internet works for the belligerent poster: we can't see the expressions, and the poster could be from a culture in which people (especially males) typically indulge in friendly abuse that sounds outrageous to observers.

Unfortunately, being equally outrageously abusive would probably have got the thread closed, so I'm glad Rotovia had enough sense not to do it, because I think such social threads usually make forums more friendly.

Frankly, I don't know where the line is drawn, but I think it has to be somewhere further on than "my opinion is that you look like ... ", moving into the "you are a ...".