Chomp8645 posted:

Hello friends.

I was gifted this avatar and red text today, maybe from banned from Starbucks or Trash Ops or someone else, which is cool. Thank you! This was gifted over a trend I've seen in CineD over the past week, which also resulted in a QCS thread, and I think it's worth addressing. Especially because it seems that parts of it were unclear, and I always try to be open about how I mod.

Bigoted language isn't welcome in CineD, and I will probate a poster over it.

There is, obviously, a distinction between slurs, and how some are pointed towards ethnicities, skin colors, while others are pointed towards nationalities or sexualities. Different slurs carry different weight, which I understand; the n-word and the f-word are harsher weaponized words than those like "frog" and "wop". I've been reminded by hopefully well-meaning goons that treating every slur the same is regressive. And I understand that. To clarify this, every use of slurs to be pejorative towards a person or a group of people or a nationality will get a probation for bigoted language. Context and the type of slurs used will dictate the length of probation. As mod of CineD, and as a person that tries to promote it as a welcoming place to talk about movies, and I don't think condoning bigoted language is the way to do that.

If, somehow, a lesser-known slur is used out of accident, and you are probated, feel free to PM me. I don't think that's what happened with the "frog" incident that happened in this thread, which lead to some nice PMs and getting gifted an Av that shows I don't tolerate bigotry. If a probation seems too harsh or doesn't seem well explained, I'm willing to rethink what I've decided, with discussion and context, cuz I make mistakes just like everyone else. But words like "wop", "frog", "polack", even though antiquated and not as common, still carry bigotry with them, whether it's intended or not. I know that a lot of these have basis in jokes and humor, but it's important to point out that jokes about an entire nationality or country is a regressive act, and still involves forms of xenophobia.

In the context of the joke that got banned from Starbucks a 24 hour probation, while I am fully aware that it was a joke, making a joke about a French character that is a direct pun involving a slur, in a week where that slur has weirdly been thrown around a lot (including one case where a person making a Luc Bresson joke implied that every French person is a pedophile), I wasn't in the mood to be tolerant of it.

For the simplicity of moderating, whether or not a slur is "punching up" or "punching down" or "punching sideways", it's still throwing pejorative punches, which is probate-able. Letting small slurs slide by is a slippery slope I'd rather not get into. If you think that being limited on what slurs should and should not be allowed is wrong, I'd say you should probably check your heart and think about why you care about posting that way in this community.

The discussion around various forms of bigotry and pejorative language and the sliding scale of slurs is big and involves a lot of nuance, so I hope this post was more clarifying on how and why I probate for slurs. If you want to PM me in SA or on Discord, I will address it when I have the time and mental energy.