http://www.democraticunderground.com/10025721870#post88Oh my.
AndreaCG (1,791 posts) Mon Oct 27, 2014, 11:48 AM
PC overkill on this forum
This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by bluesbassman (a host of the General Discussion forum).
I just served on a jury where the complaint was that the word redhead was used in a post. There was nothing inflammatory after the word redhead, no insult. The mere use of the word made it an alert worthy post. The jury voted 7-0 to leave it.
I've been serving on a lot of juries lately, and frequently because the poster took offense at something similarly innocuous that was not even an insult directed at the poster the person responded to. It makes me think the RW has a point about the over PC attitude of us on the left. Can we PLEASE be a lot more judicious about when we alert a post and not take mere disagreement or even a sarcastic remark as flame bait? Thank you
It's a very long thread, so only a couple of primitive comments, selected at random:
NYC_SKP (62,476 posts) Mon Oct 27, 2014, 11:57 AM
5. Indeed, I agree. Also, software that identifies alert-stalking (bullying).
I know damn well that some members follow other members and alert on them.
New DU rules encourage it: if a member has even one hide, they cannot be a host.
It's pathetic and it should be addressed by the administers of this site.
NYC_SKP (62,476 posts) Mon Oct 27, 2014, 12:03 PM
11. The point is that overraction is silly and it makes us look stupid and it's not helpful.
If the member had bothered to read the article in the OP, they'd have seen that the use of the word came from a quote by Kaci Kickox's boyfriend:
Her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, a nursing student in Fort Kent, Maine, said she had not planned on speaking to the news media but changed her mind after Mr. Christie said on Saturday that she was “obviously ill†when she knew she was not.
“Now he’s messed with the wrong redhead,†he said of her frame of mind.
The point is that people troll for things to alert on, or they don't bother looking for context, and it's just silliness and probably people who have never read the site rules.
I think it's a fair observation to say that sometimes people overreact but I also agree with you that the system works in the sense that the alert failed 7-0.
Personally, I think the moderator system was more consistent.
NYC_SKP (62,476 posts) Mon Oct 27, 2014, 12:04 PM
15. Kaci Hickox's boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, a nursing student in Fort Kent, Maine, said
Her boyfriend, Ted Wilbur, a nursing student in Fort Kent, Maine, said she had not planned on speaking to the news media but changed her mind after Mr. Christie said on Saturday that she was “obviously ill†when she knew she was not.
“Now he’s messed with the wrong redhead,†he said of her frame of mind.
The alerter probably didn't bother checking the source.
I would superglue their alert button for 30 days for that.
And then geezuz, the primitives have to go bother Skins, who has more important things to do:
Skinner (59,847 posts) Mon Oct 27, 2014, 12:19 PM
32. An alert getting shot down 0-7 is "PC overkill"?
Seems more like a unanimous repudiation of PC overkill.
Skinner (59,847 posts) Mon Oct 27, 2014, 01:07 PM
88. That's not what the alert said. It did not claim that the term "redhead" was a slur.
You received a notification that includes the reason for the alert. Here is what it said:
What does the color of her hair have to do with it? Redhead's are regularly discriminated against, and stereotyped. This is offensive to fellow redheads and should be hidden.
To be clear, I think the alert was lame. But it is simply false to say that the alert claimed that the word "redhead" was a slur.
Skinner (59,847 posts) Mon Oct 27, 2014, 01:24 PM
103. No, it doesn't.
It doesn't say that the use of the term "redhead" is offensive to redheads.
It says that making reference to the woman's hair color in this context is inappropriate. It is not a complaint about the use of the specific word "redhead."
Skinner (59,847 posts) Mon Oct 27, 2014, 01:32 PM
112. No, it doesn't. The alerter uses the term "redhead" to refer to redheads.
Clearly the alerter does not have a problem with the word itself.
AndreaCG (1,791 posts) Mon Oct 27, 2014, 01:41 PM
119. Skinner, I'm not going to argue with you further
Because I respect your work as a moderator* here. But I am going to ask if any other posters see the word offensive in what you quoted. If no one else does, then it means my eyesight is sorely lacking and I'll get glasses.
*obviously the primitive has no idea who Skins
is.
tclambert (6,899 posts) Mon Oct 27, 2014, 02:04 PM
141. Andrea, you're right. Skinner's wrong.*
Case closed.
*Uh oh. Not only is this primitive now on Skins's excresence list, but he's on franksolich's excresence list too, for daring to contradict one of his betters.
Skinner (59,847 posts) Mon Oct 27, 2014, 02:05 PM
144. Obviously the word "offensive" appears in the alert.
<<<bets Skins is pissed for having to waste his valuable time on this.