time to talk

[zefrank]

was in london for a couple days....what happenned?

offensive jokes about sexually molesting babies?

???

is this some sort of meltdown?

are you getting bored?

what are we going to do here? i'm actually being serious. i'm not interested in being associated with that sort of crap.

[Avalon]

If you read, and I am sure you have, the responses to this thread, you will see an over whelmingly negative reaction. It was perperated by one person and reacted upon by others.
I think, for the most part, the Monkeys reacted responsibly..REacted.

[masterofNone]

• freedom of expression leads to offensive behavior at some point.
• the bounds of what's offensive is a vague boundary at best.
• i don't know how you can stop people from crossing an invisible line.
• the supreme court calls obscenity any speech that violates the standards of the community.
• it seems, at least to some degree, the standards of this community were violated.
• but that doesn't make the violator a bad person.

[surflugen]

totally agree. I would hope that we (the inhabitants) could get along with out any suppervision in regards to how you would like us to behave, but I am afraid that with out someone constantly moderating, we will continue to find offensive statements and pictures being posted. For me, I have found myself not even going into threads that I might find offensive or if I do come accross some, I just ignor it and try to forget it. I find it hard to ignor some though and restrain myself form mouthing off back to the poster my feelings, but that is what they are looking for so I don't give them the satisfaction. I don't see how you will be able to controll this from happening when post are put up instantly without review. I hope you can find a way to keep this going. Maybe you can use your polling to determin if anyone in particular should be banned from the site for affending everyone else if that would not to affensive as well.

[lapietra]

Considering who it was, I don't think a banning is necessary. I think it was a case of poor judgement and an underdeveloped sense of humor on an individual's part; we all responded and, I think, the message was received.

[sparticle]

Well, though i haven't been here long, my two cents is that even though censorship is unpopular, this is your pop stand, and if you don't want something on the board, it shouldn't be on the board.

As with anything, I think it's a discretionary thing. There's a difference between deleting a thread where there's a bunch of "you're a poopy-head" - "no, YOU'RE a poopy-head" -- "well, you're an even BIGGER poopy-head" -type foolishness and zapping out something that is potentially offensive to just about anyone.

And it's your place. You built it. Your name is on it. If it were my place and I built it and my name was on it, I wouldn't want that type of stuff associated with it either.

What I would do (and I can only recommend what I would do, not tell you what to do) is delete the offending material, write a brief note to one and all explaining that we don't do that here (which you have done above) and ask that it not happen again.

Is there any official user policy? Now might be a time to post one, either in the FAQ's or on the home page. I know it's no fun to be the Rule Guy, but sometimes if stuff is understood up front, problems can be avoided.

I know, I know. You shouldn't have to say anything. And to censor might seem fascist. But if it's understood up front that some types of material are not appreciated, it might help avoid it.

You did create this space in the first place, after all. How you want it used should be up to you. It's great that we're all creative and that it gets pretty outrageous around here at times, but I think common sense tells you what's okay and what's beyond most people's tolerance.

In other words, it's up to you.

[sparticle]

Originally posted by lapietra
Considering who it was, I don't think a banning is necessary. I think it was a case of poor judgement and an underdeveloped sense of humor on an individual's part; we all responded and, I think, the message was received.

Yeah, I really don't think anyone ought to be banned, for this or for much of anything else short of maliciously harassing another member (dinz and beale's exchanges excluded, LOL). I would just delete whatever it was that caused the problem and forget about it.

[zefrank]

i'll set up a basic guidelines thread and stick it up top.

i'm not going to ban anyone....especially someone who has contributed so much to this board.

[sparticle]

There ya go!

[nycwriters]

I miss good ol' Blue.

As for the other, as I think I said in that thread, while I don't agree with the content, there's bound to be something that someone posts, on a daily basis, that offends someone else. It can't be controlled when you get all kinds of personalities mixing it up.

And I agree with Lala, I don't think anyone needs to be banned.

[masterofNone]

yeah, no.

[Avalon]

I'm in for the long haul

[sparticle]

If *I* were banned I might actually get some work done, but I would never advocate banning anyone else.

[zenbabe]

I think it is kind of like when you leave your cats and go on a trip and come home to find horrid messes on the carpet.

[masterofNone]

Originally posted by masterofNone
yeah, no.

by which i meant "yeah, we don't want that... the banning of people. no. that would be bad."