Strengthen the Racism and Harassment Policies.

Today I encountered a disturbing incident with racism and harassment being directed towards me. The context of this incident can be found here:

https://www.seriousgmod.com/threads...ing-told-to-eat-watermelon.35503/#post-322600

A mod suggested I make a post here rather than continuing the previous thread. Please read the locked thread in order to gain context.

Introduction

I would like to begin by saying that I understand it is not the mods or admins intention for racism to occur on the server. In addition, I believe that they believe that racism has no place on the forums or servers. However, my issue here is that the rules do not do a good enough job at preventing racism and harassment.

Discussion

If you look at my case, the only rule breaking comment (regarding racism) is when users said "Nigger" on the microphone. I want to mention briefly that it is extremely difficult to get proof when users say it on the mic. Instead, the onus becomes on the victim to constantly record the game.

Anyways - the other variations of the word (Niga, Niger, Nigga) are allowed even though they have the same intention. Furthermore, jokes about hanging, whipping, and slavery do not break the rules. The other comments telling me to go 'eat watermelons' or 'bananas' were also not rule breaking.

Rather, the only rule breaking activity seemed to be ghosting and RDMing. Its important to note that the ghosting and RDMing was done in the context of the racism and harassment. However, the current rule set does not appear to take this form of intent into account.

Suggestion

Strengthen the rules around racism and harassment by:

• Making use of any form of "Nigger" a ban. This includes 'Nigga.' Currently, Nigga is used as a loophole when a user is warned of their use of the word 'Nigger.'
• Making any racist comment a ban. This includes the jokes about watermelons, bananas, hanging, etc.
• Not allowing for users to make parody accounts of other users. This is a form of direct harassment. This should be a ban.

These are just suggestions and I am open for discussion. My intention here is that racism and harassment are dealt with swiftly and aggressively. This will prevent users from using the current loopholes that are in place.

 

Ok, bro. Here's the breakdown.

Why #1 will never happen

Because it's racism/harassment first warning and though it can be a very detrimental word to say the same would go for most harassment if other people have been triggered by a parent's death and people are egging them on. We can't just ban immediately for and use of the N-word. This place isn't literally hitler with it's rules and that's what makes it good though it allows people to toy with the rules a bit. They'll be well known eventually as someone who pushes the limits, and a mod may eventually ask for discretion from an admin to ban them since they constantly push the limits each time they play with them everyday.

Nigga however, is not the same as the N-word. Sure, it may have derived from the N-word however it has a completely different meaning if used in a "friendly" sense and we can distinguish this from the N-word being used the same way because that word cannot be used in a friendly sense. People are not dim enough to not be able to distinguish when someone is using nigga racially or when they aren't and that especially goes for the staff members.

Why #2 will never happen

Let's also make sure I can't talk about my dinner last night, KFC, right? Let's also remove any talk of calculators or math (rip my sigfig discussions) because that may relate to Japanese stereotype racism and wait let's remove the Jihad from the chocolate servers because it's basically a shot torwards Muslim terrorists. This is not going to happen because of many reasons however again if a staff member sees such comments going TOWARDS a racially charged comment pertaining to watermelon eating in relation to stereotyping a black person then bring it to their attention. It's not a joke. it's harassment. Jokes about bananas or watermelons dont always have to have a racial undertone.

Why #3 is already in place

It's basically when you have someone named J3rk0ff and Jerkoff in the server. They're the same name, and staff does take care of this and it does result in a ban after being warned and ignored like 3 times or whatever. Someone can clarify.

 

I say nigga sometimes and after seeing your last post I'll stop.

-1 to this, because the bans are too harsh.

If there's a staff member on, they'll be able to gag/mute the racist people.

 

I am all for being harsher on players who harass others, but not this harsh. A single ban is a tad bit much when you consider how harassment in for the most part hugely subjective. Imagine for a second I get on the server and I call you a "butt". You could easily go to the mod and say that I am harassing you, and the mod will more than likely tell me to stop and warn me about it. In our normal system of harassment, I would have the chance to learn from said warning and avoid further punishment. In your system, I would be banned on the spot because another user didn't like my comment. I want you to understand that I don't promote racism, and I try my hardest on the servers to do away with it, but this addition will not help. Simply banning users with no warnings or even so much as a chance to change is not something this community stands for.


Oh and btw, I attribute racism and harassment as the same thing, so when I say harassment you can substitute racism idc

 

The current rules are fine.

Remember that admins can exercise discretion.

 

The issue here becomes when a staff member is not on. I think in the recording you can hear them saying its open season since the mod left. Having stricter rules can help prevent this.

Having stronger rules will have users think about their actions more deeply when a mod is not on since someone can be recording.

 

Bans would have to be backed up by something. A recording, logs, mods presence, etc. My intention is not for this to be one persons word against anothers.

 

I don't agree with the ban idea, but I do think nigga should be treated the same way as the hard "r" ending.
I won't plus one this because instant ban is too harsh, but yea- I think both forms should be treated the same since they have the same intent.

 

Obviously. We do that now. What I am saying is, the warning that we give to players can be a chance for them to change and even better themselves. In the case that they don't take that warning seriously or just brush the moderator out of their way and continue should be the point where a punishment should be given.

 

These two are an example of harassment/racism, which are already things that are prohibited.

Nigga is a legal word to say if it isn't said/used in a harassing manor.

 

From what i'm gathering, the main issue here is the degree of punishment. Is there disagreement on expanding what is racism and specifying other forms of harassment? I.E. Watermelon, Hanging, Slavery comments. I would also be fine with expanding what is considered racism and harassment in order to prevent abuse of the loopholes.

 

If a staff member isn't on, people aren't going to think about how harsh the punishments are. If they are, then they can enforce it.

It seems like this was brought about because some people were harassing others and a staff member wasn't online.

In that case, record and report.

 

Harassment is subjective.

 

In this case, two mods were online but at different times. So they did not have the full context. Having staff online still allowed for this to occur.

 

I'm sorry that you had a bad experience, and thank you for approaching the forums politely and maturely. I'd just like to respond to your suggestions.

I'll first start by saying that it's unlikely that a ban right off the bat will be issued in these scenarios. I can see why you would want a ban instead of warnings and kicks, but it is my opinion that it's too harsh of a punishment. If someone has a history of toxic, harassing behavior, globalized and extended bans can be issued for a much stronger punishment. That said, let me address the actual point. The word 'Nigga' is often used as a friendly term. This is not always the case, unfortunately. But it's important to notice the difference in "What's up, nigga?" and something like "You stupid nigga". Furthermore, if someone continues calling you nigga after the word 'nigger', discretion can be issued by admins for a ban. It is not uncommon to see people try to loophole this way, but it's easy to catch and is not tolerated. Finally, the use of the word 'nigga' is not be allowed if someone is offended. If no one speaks up, then I let it slide. The moment a player expresses discomfort, that is when I follow protocol.

Once again, it's important to pay attention to the tone and that sort of thing. If they're intentionally directed at you, and not just a silly banana joke, harassment protocol should be followed.

This can be harassment, and in your example it was. Once again, harassment protocol should be followed.

I hope this answers some of the questions you have.

 

So is "RDM" but the rules still specifically explain what is RDMing in order to prevent loopholes. While instead, there is one line on harassment in the non-exhaustive rules.

 

The only part I agree on is on the treatment of variations of racist slurs such as "nigga", "niger", and such be treated equally as "nigger" if used in the same context.

Regarding the punishment protocols for harassment, I believe they are fine as they are.

 

I used to get discretion to gag/mute people using "nigerian" as a substitute, after they had been warned for the N word already.

You can tell when people use it offensively anyway.

 

i made a mistake in my post its should be isn't in the last part

 

RDM is doing damage without any reason. That's not dependent from person to person. That's objective.