I don't understand this warning in the Pit

[Peter_Morris]

I don’t usually read the pit, except when I’m really bored, and I make a habit of not posting there. However I stumbled over this particular thread.

The thread started with this:

@Ronald_Raygun

Lick my shriveled tranny balls. Some dudes would pay a lot of money to do this on Santa Monica Blvd., but – lucky you! – I’m inviting you to do it for free. Hurry! For obvious reasons, this offer won’t last long! Yes, I made a tranny joke, and I don’t give a flip of a wooden nickel. I have every right to be complicit in my own oppression.
…
I can think of another group of people who blame the world’s ills on us disgusting trannies.

Then, presumably after consulting the pit rules, RR added this:

@Ronald_Raygun

Originally Posted by EdZotti
the Pit is NOT a free-for-all - you don’t have to be nice, but you do have to be reasonably civil.

LOL oh shit. In my defense, being cast aside by some disgusting utilitarian calculus due to a condition that I’ve desperately tried to wish away since childhood makes me Very Angry.

Miller replied :

@Miller

[Moderating]
Don’t sweat it. You’re entirely inside of bounds here.
[/Moderating]

However, Septimus said:

@septimus

I supported SenorBeef in that thread, so I submit to having my balls licked also. Send a gorgeous lesbian please. Airfare not included.

What you have to ask yourself is:
Would you like to have Trump running the White House until 2024, with a McConnell Senate? – Trannie haters, every one?
Or
Would you rather have the D’s back in charge, albeit with some lukewarm on trannie rights?
The coming election is very important for America and the world. It is not a sure thing.

Before we can start refurbishing the passenger and dining cars, we’ve got to pull this train out of the mud and get it back on the tracks.

And Miller replied:

@Miller

[Moderating]
This, on the other hand, is going to get you a warning. Most things go in the Pit. Racial and sexual slurs do not.

Do not do this again.
[/Moderating]

I don’t get it. Is the warning for use of the word Trannie? But RR used the exact same word, and was within bounds. Is it because a trans person is allowed to say the word, but nobody else is?

What if two Dopers of color were to address each other as “Nigger,” in the pit or elsewhere. Is that also permissible?

[Darren_Garrison]

I’m betting that Miller didn’t notice the word in the OP–but will be retconning a justification as to why the difference in moderation was correct.

[BigT]

I on the other hand do 100% understand the moderation. It is a slur.
However, I would recommend leniency because Ronald Raygun had just used the term. I think septimus was likely copying that usage, assuming it was acceptable because the trans person in the thread had already used it.

I mean, he directly copied even RR’s unusual spelling. I don’t think someone who knew they were using the slur would have done that.

I’m not saying it shouldn’t have been moderated. But, if the Warning was based on assuming it was intentional, that maybe strongly worded Note would be sufficient.

If it’s a zero-tolerance policy, then fine. I don’t object to that. I just don’t think that septimus was trying to make a bigoted comment. At the very least, maybe a more thorough explanation for the problems with that word would be warranted.

[Riemann]

@Peter_Morris

Is it because a trans person is allowed to say the word, but nobody else is?

This is certainly the situation in real life.

What has board policy been on this type of word in the past? Online, we don’t really know who anyone is. Do we follow the irl rule? It seems to open up the possibility of a troll claiming to be (say) a black person in order to throw the n- word around. And even if someone is really a black person, how would someone new to the board know that? They will just see someone using the n- word and wonder wtf this place is.

[Darren_Garrison]

@Riemann

What has board policy been on this type of word in the past?

I seem to recall someone recently banned for calling Michelle Obama that. Kind of hard to search for other uses, though, given that a search seems to show more than a thousand uses (the limit of the search engine) where most of them are talking about vehicle transmissions (with the “tranny” spelling, not the “trannie” used by Ronald Raygun and septimus.)

[Darren_Garrison]

Here is a rather ironic instance of it being used as a slur…

[DSeid]

In the context it was clearly not meant as a slur.

The warning was out of line. At most a note explaining why ithe word was okay in the op but not okay in his post supportive of the op and building on it.

[septimus]

I sometimes slip up and use a slur word to be cute or sarcastic.

But in this case I simply did not know it was a slur word. I live in “an Asian jungle”, haven’t visited North America for 19 years. SDMB is my major cultural contact with Americans.

I copied OP’s use of the word. Anyway, my own contribution to that thread had nothing whatsoever to do with any gays — mine was all about the political need for Ds to unify against Rs.

[kopek]

I am quite confused; I figured it was “I supported SenorBeef in that thread, so I submit to having my balls licked also. Send a gorgeous lesbian please. Airfare not included.” that drew the note and not the use of the word trannie.

[TriPolar]

Maybe he should offered to pay her airfare.

[DrDeth]

@septimus

I sometimes slip up and use a slur word to be cute or sarcastic.

But in this case I simply did not know it was a slur word. I live in “an Asian jungle”, haven’t visited North America for 19 years. SDMB is my major cultural contact with Americans.

I copied OP’s use of the word. Anyway, my own contribution to that thread had nothing whatsoever to do with any gays — mine was all about the political need for Ds to unify against Rs.

Yeah, and that word has been a bit here and there. I think your warning shoudl be reconsidered.

[Just_Asking_Questions]

@Riemann

Online, we don’t really know who anyone is. Do we follow the irl rule?

Exactly. How about those of us that don’t know RR is a trans person? Because it looks like a slur - how am I supposed to know it is “OK” there?

[Miller]

Sorry for not getting to this thread earlier. I saw it last night, shortly before I accidentally knelt on my glasses, which made me pretty much useless until I got to an optometrist this morning.

So. The warning was for the use of the word “tranny,” which is considered a slur by most trans people. Context does matter in these sorts of cases: a transwoman using it self-referentially is different from a cis person using it to argue that trans rights are unimportant or not worth fighting for. Coupled with the disgusting “send a lesbian to lick me,” opening, and the post read as strongly homophobic to me, and the use of “tranny” in that context seemed much more of an intentional jab.

However, I’ve since read septimus’ posts arguing that he was unaware of the implications of the term and was using it in ignorance, not malice. Considering what I’ve seen of his other posts, this seems credible to me, and so I’m rescinding the warning.

[DrDeth]

@Miller

Sorry for not getting to this thread earlier. I saw it last night, shortly before I accidentally knelt on my glasses, which made me pretty much useless until I got to an optometrist this morning…

However, I’ve since read septimus’ posts arguing that he was unaware of the implications of the term and was using it in ignorance, not malice. Considering what I’ve seen of his other posts, this seems credible to me, and so I’m rescinding the warning.

Excellent!

[septimus]

Thanks! It really is true that I’m very out of touch with American culture; SDMB is my major source of such info. You guys often mention actors, singers, memes, etc. I’ve never heard of.

There are a very very few Americans who also live here in Nowheresville. Most of them are at least as weird as me!