quick question: when you see the offensive images or posts---do you report them?

i ask that because i have noticed a huge drop in reports to mods in the one forum i moderate...now, my perception could be wrong (could the decline be due to no longer mod'ing p&r?) but i still check out the mod log and it appears that less stuff is being reported...

so i ask, if theres something you feel is offensive, do you report?

sosgemini said:

I have taken the time to report a post that I find offensive, Trouble is, if it's in the GD forum, I have found that a certain moderator will not do anything, even if you complain and try to explain why the post is offensive to you.

psychodelicide said:

orgnote or email another mod, within gd, directly.

sosgemini said:

Tried that, it didn't work.

psychodelicide said:

really? did we at least respond to your inquiry?

sosgemini said:

Yes, I got a response, but it was not what I was hoping for.

psychodelicide said:

well, could it be the content, while questionable, did not meet our site's definition of offensive?

sosgemini said:

I guess, who knows? But it's the lack of a decent response that makes me hesitant to even report offensive posts anymore. I'm just going to have to learn to ignore them, I guess.

psychodelicide said:

please don't. let's work through this for a second (and i do hope the other mods will join in on this discussion).

if something it reported that ends up not being against site rules what do you think would be an appropriate follow-up response to the orger that originally reported the offense?

Hmm, none of the mods have anything to say about what I've posted above?

psychodelicide said:

I know it wasn't your intent, but maybe that post of yours made 'em your bitchez.

sosgemini said:

Well, it would be nice if the moderator who is making the decision whether or not to snip a post would send a follow up orgnote to the person making the complaint, explaining why they've decided not to snip it.

I remember awhile back, making a comment the Justin Guarini looked like a sheep with his curly hair. When I went back to look at the thread, I noticed that my post was completely removed. The same policy should be applied when an orger makes a comment such as, "The Pope is creepy and the Catholic church is creepy, too", because to me, it violates two org rules.

1. "Be civilized: Don't create offensive, vulgar, obscene, threatening, abusive or excessively profane posts. Do not instigate, engage in, or encourage 'flame wars'." The orger making the comment, "The pope is creepy and the Catholic church is creepy, too" is definitely instigating by making the comment that they did. The comment made is definitely offensive to those of the Catholic religion. It also is very uncivilized, and is not a very nice comment to be making to begin with. It seems like they are encouraging a flame war by making that comment. There are certain religions that I find "creepy", yet I keep my opinions to myself and don't make offensive comments about certain religious groups.

2. "Do not post 'hateful' material. Making hateful comments, directed at a person or group, may get your account immediately suspended. We are extremely serious about this. prince.org is not a place for hateful speech." The Catholic Church and the members of it are a "group". The moderator who I complained to is not taking the statement "We are extremely serious about this. prince.org is not a place for hateful speech" seriously by letting the nasty, negative comment stay as is, and by it not being snipped, as it should have been. I found the orger's view of the Catholic Church to be "hateful". Not only that, he/she is baiting when he/she makes such a comment.

If my post about Justin Guarini got deleted because someone found it offensive, then the same policies should be applied if an orger posts offensive/flammatory comments about religion, race, or sexual orientation. The fact that the moderator that I complained to about this did nothing, and did not even orgnote me to explain why, both angers and puzzles me. This is also not the first time that I have had this issue with this moderator.

If there are rules in place for prince.org, they should be good for everybody, and not just for some people and not others. There should be some good, firm rules in place for people who make negative, hateful comments about different religions, race, or sexual orientation, and they should be adhered to at all times, and no exceptions!
[Edited 4/28/08 16:21pm]

That's the thing, my post was just snipped with no explanation given. The moderator in question seems to feel that if the post is not offensive to them, then the post is allowed to stay where it is. That is so wrong, because different people react to things in different ways. Just because a moderator may not be offended by a post, does not mean that a person on the org reading it will have the same opinion of it.

I am the person who made the comment about the Pope & the Catholic Church being creepy. My intention was absolutely not to offend anyone. As I stated on that particular thread I was truly surprised to find out someone considered it offensive. But if the mods are going to censor people's opinions about organized religion then half of the Prince/JW threads would need to be sanitized as well. Saying something/someone is creepy is not offensive nor hateful in my opinion. People say MJ is creepy all the time---not hateful or offensive. Prince just sang a song called "Creep": not hateful or offensive. Creepy is not a hateful adjective.

Also, I thought you said in the other thread that you were over it so I don't understand why you brought up again here. I'm sorry you didn't get the outcome you hoped for by reporting it, and I'm sorry you felt offended. But I don't understand why you are bringing it up again...I am honestly not a troll, nor was I trying to flame or bait anyone. That is totally not my style, and I think (hope) the moderators know that based on the fact that they rarely (if ever?) have had to snip my posts or warn me, etc.

I'm not trying to start shit, but I feel like you are overreacting just a little bit. There are way more offensive things that go on both here and in real life than someone thinking a church is creepy.

DevotedPuppy said:

I posted the above comment before I saw what you said on the other thread. I don't feel that I'm overreacting, since I was not the only person who was offended by what you had posted. Prince singing "Creep" at his Coachella performance has got nothing to do with what's being discussed here, so why is it being brought up? I think it's best to agree to disagree on this, since we obviously have very different views about what is offensive and what is not. I'm also going to just ignore comments I find offensive from now on, and not even bother to report them. I'm done for real now with this whole thing....
[Edited 4/30/08 23:03pm]

psychodelicide said:

The difference is that she is critiquing a public figure and a public institution. If she were saying "all catholics are hateful, horrible people" that may be something we'd look at a bit differently. We allow criticism of public figures as I said above and the P&R forum allows criticism of relgious and spiritual ideas in the proper context. If someone said "the President of the US is creepy" we would surely allow that, though some Americans might find it offensive.

Do you see the distinction?