Girls in... threads and the lack of reasonable moderation

projectsome

T.M.H.N.E.T wrote:

I did ask before were there any Jamaicans who didn't like my signature. Funnily enough,none came forward.

I think I even stated that I would remove it if so.

This is the first time I've seen your signature, as I generally don't post outside of the Crudcatcher, hub, and rare occasions mtb general.

Being of Jamaican descent I find it slightly offensive in a stereotypical manner...

DonDaddyD

ddraver wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

How arrogant/ignorant do you have to be to simply dismiss being told that something is offensive to the person or the type of person the text relates to?

It's indicative of this thread really. Several women have posted saying that they find some of the images, the more sexually explicit/suggestive ones, offensive. The response in general is to tell them that they are basically wrong for thinking that.

Who Cares if it is offensive - what right to they have to control what I think say or do. If they can come up with some solid reasons WHY they don't like them then fine, but as yet I ve not seen anything to convince me.

This is not specific to this discussion, it's something that winds me up generally. People (usually politicians) assume that being "offended" automatically means that everyone has to stop doing what ever it is that "offends" them. In reality they just don't like it but that's no reason to stop others doing it.

Edit - Stephen Fry says it much better than me - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnSByCb8 ... re=related

and...

"I'm sorry you take offence at my remarks. I shall be glad when we move on from what seems to me to be an era of offence taking. I have expressed my opinions robustly but, I hope, carefully and thoughtfully. Please disagree with them as robustly as you like. There are now six billion of us, and there are bound to be a lot of opinions and views out there we profoundly disagree with. I wish we could just accept that and have the arguments and think about them not be in such a rush to take offence the whole time. If you find my remarks to be dishonest, thoughtless, malicious or even stupid then I apologise for them wholeheartedly. If you merely find that you strongly disagree with them then please disagree back. But wherein lies the offence?"

That's just some self rigtheous drivel. Clearly there are things: words, images, text, phrases, sentences, gestures, actions etc that are can be taken as and/or are intended to be offensive. Offense can be the very meaning of the thing it's connotations/denotations.

Yes, there are times and there are people who are offended too easily. Acknowledgement of this doesn't suddenly negate the notion that there are things that can cause actual offense whether intended or not.

And we should care not to offend or insult someone. When did being obnoixous become justifiable.

supersonic

Topic is temporarily locked: reports have been looked into and actioned. The thread will be unlocked when the following actions have been put in place. From the site admin:

The Admin team (here on referred to as 'we') have discussed the issue of "girls in" threads, and would like to thank the people who have taken the time to participate in what has been mainly a productive and engaging debate.

We recognise the need for off topic sections in our forums, however the content displayed in them has met objections from some parties. On the other hand, there's clearly a large number of people who don't find the content objectionable, or disagree with the objections put forward.

To that end we're creating a new off-topic area within the Road section (Bottom Bracket) that differentiates itself from the one that exists (Cake Stop). This was previously done successfully in the MTB section.

The Bottom Bracket may include more adult material but you'll have to be logged in to view it. Do not enter such areas if you are liable to be offended. This does not mean there will be no rules - if you see any posts that do not comply with the rules please report them and a member of the team will act on it.

Pictures of a sexual nature, nudity, erotica or suggestive imagery or animations are now banned from the Cake Stop, Commuting Chat and The Hub section. One such thread per the Crudcatcher and the Bottom Bracket shall be permitted, again with strict warnings regarding content. Existing threads will be locked.

Rules regarding these images are as follows:

- Images of nipples, uncovered breasts (the majority of the chest should be covered), genitalia, or the anal region are strictly prohibited.

- Images mimicking sexual acts, masturbation or any other form that could be considered overtly sexual are prohibited.

- If in doubt DO NOT post such images. We reserve the right to remove any content we find breaks these rules and issue warnings and bans to users.

Full forum rules will be displayed prominently in all areas of the forum, an guidelines for off topic forums in the correct areas respectively.

If the Commuting area calls for an area akin to the Crudcatcher or Bottom Bracket, it shall be discussed.