A LANDFILL

im under the impression the forum rules don't apply. treat this like a separate forum, it's on this forum out of convenience and the other chat forum still exists so this place hasn't superseded that one.

i vote that harrassment & slurs and stuff shouldn't be allowed because we need a modicum of order.

I disagree with this alleged "need for order" and would want to keep things as casual as possible. This order is available elsewhere, but it leads to over-conscientiousness, and I haven't seen any harmful 'disorder' as of yet.

Here's a question: Why do people on tumblr use one set of swear words that older generations draw offense from to sound like they're big bad rulebreakers and trendsetters while hawkishly looking out for a new set of words that holds just as much offense to their own generation's sensibilities? (Is it to try to fool themselves that they aren't going to turn out just like their parents?)

The answer is because in the eyes of someone with a middle class habitus, what language is seen as ugly happens to also be lower class language. Filtering out people who use the offensive language is a easy way of filtering out people who don't fit into class conventions (because they do not have time to keep up on all of the updates to class conventions) much like what happened with the person who laughed by saying *laffs*.


If you wanted to make your suggestion a rule, you would have to define 'harassment' and what constitutes a slur - both things which require some subjective judgment and can be used or misused based on the judge's personal taste. I think it's better to let people say what they will. The freedom to say bad things allows people to make mistakes - and when they do, someone else can talk to them patiently about why that certain thing is bad instead of just issuing a command and punishment that makes them wary about saying anything at all in the future. And if they were to just leave after being scared off without changing their attitude, that doesn't mean anything is fixed - they will simply flock toward likeminded people. Then, if you push too hard without offering any humanity to them in return, you might actually invoke spite in other groups who only see your righteous side and assume you to be acting in malice because they see nothing offered from your ilk!

If you want one way to think of how to act when you come across a Wrong Sounding Thing, something that sticks out at you, you can think of it like in those ol mafia werewolf game terms - 'is this scum or dumb?' Then remember that people generally want to be good and a mishap usually comes out of ignorance (only ~1% of the pop is sociopathic), not malice.

We've all been stupid in youth. Most of you would probably spit on a ten-years-younger version of you. But now look at you! You've grown! Because someone gave you a chance. The only way to learn is by other people taking the time to talk to you like a human being and help learn mistakes - not by being hit with a ruler for deviating from an ever-changing catechism. Words and their meanings change, but the basic intents of human beings do not, and you should judge people's posts (which are conveyances of thoughts) based on the intent, not the words themselves. So punch a proven jerk, but talk it out with a fool.

. . . i m h o.

very casual, wheat