Are you saying we can use any language I want, then, in thread titles and the like? Because anything else is editing. We don't. We know we don't. I can't imagine a thread title yelling "retard!" or "crip!" Is it a majority thing, then?

Actually, I was saying I was a wee bit uneasy.

And no, not a marjority thing, but not a minority thing either. More of a common sense thing. We all have to deal with less-than-perfect situations in life, and I guess I would just sooner see people deal with the fringe things on their own terms, than to try to compell the group to bend to their viewpoints.

So it's a universalist thing. I really am indifferent to which way it goes, save for the road of individual selection seems destined to create more angst than the simple effort of not taking offense to something grossly out of the offensive-context.

My point about witchcraft, and my problem with the use of the word 'Bitches' are just two examples. Should the Bitches thread be renamed now that someone on the board is actually offended by that word in some contexts? Or should I accept that the word is used in a non-aggressive, non-hurtful, non-offensive manner by a group of intelligent and good hearted people who are more adept at playing with language than using it as a tool of hate?

I'm leaning towards the latter, if indeed it becomes a majority thing - or a 'long term poster' thing - then the fact that I'm offended by 'bitches' won't be given the same weight and grave concern as the fact that you are offended by the word 'spaz'. I don't know, and I am pretty spanky new here, but rumour has it that the folks in these parts are uber-fair, so I doubt that kind of distinction will be made.

Maybe we could both put our faith in the board's intelligent posters, and accept that most words are contextularized by their usage, and here, words like 'Bitches' and 'Spaz' are in a context of fun and goofyness, where as words like 'Retard' and 'crip' would be single-meaning, universally acknowledged hurtful words, and not used in light conversation here.

I am eager to see.

There are quotes from the thread itself that could work.

Couple of my favorite Elena gems:

Torturing Spike wins out over Tortured Spike. Advance does Yoda. Taciturn man goes down without a whimper...

But...isn't comparing words now universally accepted as degreding to a word with a secondary regional meaning a wee bit of an overstatement of the situation?

Um, regional? You do realize we're talking about the entire United Kingdom here, yes?

And What Everyone Else Said about this being a community where people try to act respectfully towards one another. We realize that most of the internet does not operate this way, but we like it here, and we're very protective of it.

words like 'Bitches' and 'Spaz' are in a context of fun and goofyness, where as words like 'Retard' and 'crip' would be single-meaning, universally acknowledged hurtful words, and not used in light conversation here.

That's demonstrably not true -- I know I've seen "crip" used in jest here. Not in a thread title, but in conversation.

(And I hope I'm not cross-posting again, because this is how people feel ganged-up on, and I'm not meaning to do that.)

But if you keep rubbing it in their faces, how can they ever find a life beyond?

Can't we all just get beyond Thunderdome?

Hola all.

Consider my entire point dropped. I've been informed that newbies maybe shouldn't question TPTB so energetically, and that my little foray into the workings and mechanics here may not be all that well received, and having been a long-term-member of boards in the past, I don't see that response to my newbieness as a bad or unnatural thing (because hey - you've all been here longer than I, so you ~are~ more informed than me about this place), so let me apologise for stepping upon toes, raising ire, or generally pressing a point that is truly minor.

Instead, let me simply say thank you for the welcoming (up there somewhere), step off the medium-sized horse, remove my nose for a moment (I'm made of felt), and fade into the background with a sinsere "carry on".

Rafmun, I don't think your points were unwelcome or inappropriate. The problem is that when discussing community sensibilities you need to have a guage of...community sensibilities, which is something newbies, by definition, lack. I learned that the really, really hard way.

Rafmun, I don't think your points were unwelcome or inappropriate. The problem is that when discussing community sensibilities you need to have a guage of...community sensibilities, which is something newbies, by definition, lack. I learned that the really, really hard way.

My bad. Won't happen again.

Rafmun, put your nose back on, you're freaking me out.

Rafmun, put your nose back on, you're freaking me out.

Watch it dear, noseless people everywhere may take offense to that statement.

No doubt you'll be hearing from Mr. Jackson's legal time very shortly...