No, sorry if I was unclear there. I was pushing back against the idea that it’s a class slur - or at least, against the idea that it’s classist origins should impact if it’s moderated as a racist slur.
I’m not disagreeing with Miller, please don’t present it as such.
I was saying the non-pit forums are a lot less tolerant of any type of insult.
The Pit is not the same as any other forum.
Of all the possible outcomes of this thread, getting accused of white fragility for not treating “cracker” like the n-word was not one I anticipated.
How is it “centering the feelings of white people” to simply say, “Hey, don’t use racial or ethnic slurs”?
What else do you call it when someone privileges their own desire not to be seen negatively by PoCs over just being firmly anti-racist??
And you didn’t answer me about the existence of the Great Pit Cracker-Calling Epidemic of 2020.
Or was that an entirely hypothetical fear you were privileging over taking action, not experience talking?

I’m not disagreeing with Miller , please don’t present it as such.
Well, that’s how I read your respective comments. Sorry.
Haha! In a weird coincidence I’m currently debating this same point on Facebook with a couple of white liberal friends who grew up in an “exclusive” neighborhood (no Blacks, no Jews, and apparently at some point in the more distant past, no Irish or Italians either) in suburban Cleveland. Very brahmin, old money types but ostentatiously woke.
One of them called some folks from Alabama crackers. A Black friend and I objected. The two of them are claiming that they can use it because they are white, like Black people owning the n-word, and that we have no standing to object. I’m claiming that they are no more “cracker” than I am so they are in no position to “own” this term.

This is not rule-lawyering. I want guidance as to the acceptable standards. And the answer seems to be it depends on the personal views of each mod, individually
Many rules vary from forum to forum. I am a mod in Cafe Society, IMHO, MPSIMS, and Site Feedback.
I am comfortable saying that use of racial slurs, as slurs, will not be allowed in those fora. I’ll be shocked if any of the other mods disagree with that.
Of course, the words might be mentioned. A cafe society post might quote a movie or book, maybe even ask posters how they reacted to the use of the slur in the work. IMHO might have a question about whether a word is a slur.
But using them in those fora is not appropriate.
If you see a slur used, please report it, use “something else”, and include the slur, and if it’s not obvious, who it refers to. One thing I’ve learned is that there are a lot of slurs i don’t know. The same is likely true of the other mods. So please make our job easy.
No problem, glad to clarify it then.
But if I had to moderate the Pit, well, no I couldn’t to be honest. It is hard enough to moderate GD and P&E.
The poster intended it as a racist comment. The term has a long history of being both classist and racist. The argument that it doesn’t offend some white people seems disingenuous at best. A mod note is warranted.
If we go further and look at the history of the poster, which is part of the system here, it seems even clearer: a mod note is warranted.
Folks digging in on this, IMO, do seem to be exercising their white fragility. I say this as a white person who had absolutely demonstrated their white assumptions on this board and elsewhere and been rightfully corrected on it.
It’s either our policy to stop using racist terms and hate speech or it isn’t. On this, we ought to be consistent.

That’s great for you, but that’s not going to make me feel like any less of an asshole
So now the rule for moderation is whether it affects your personal opinion of yourself?
Why not just have a general rule against racial slurs? Is that so hard?
I guess it is. Sad.

Or was that an entirely hypothetical fear you were privileging over taking action, not experience talking?
It’s experience talking. I don’t recall if it specifically happened in the context of George Floyd, but I’ve been a mod here for something like fifteen years. This isn’t the first time the issue’s come up.
Just to get back to this : no-one’s asking you to treat cracker like the word nigger, least of all me.
I’d expect someone who used the word nigger to be insta-banned.
This? We’re talking about a mere mod-note, and better guidance to everyone moving forward.
So you can cite some instances, then? Because that’s clashing rather a bit with my recall.
I think what made it nasty was the use of family members to attack Andy, by putting words in their mouths; and the way DA did it came across as weirdly racially-stereotyping, like, “I bet this is how Black people think!” almost like putting on a “blaccent.”
I’m never a fan of this sort of personalizing things in the pit, whether it’s making fun of someone’s mental health history or using their painful divorce to mock them or imagining how their children must hate them or whatever. Always seems like dirty pool to me, and I wouldn’t mind if it were moderated, although I understand why it’s not. But when it’s got that racial stereotype element to it, it’s an extra heaping spoonful of gross.

I’ve never been offended, personally, by “cracker” or “honky”. I’ve never heard or seen “ofey” before this thread. But pretty much every time I’ve seen “wypipo” used, I’ve been at least a little offended.
I do not understand why we are grading racial slurs by how much a individual Mod is offended. I knew a Black woman once who was offended by being called “Black”.
How much any one given person is offended by a racial slur is totally meaningless.
It is whether or not is it generally considered by be a offensive racial slur, and if is used as such. In the present case, “cracker” was meant as a racial slur. If I say “I like really crispy saltine crackers” it is not.
A cite for what, exactly? That someone has used the word “cracker” in a Pit thread before May 2021? That’s all I meant by “the issue has come up before.” I didn’t mean there was a previous ATMB thread, if that’s what you were looking for.

I think what made it nasty was the use of family members to attack Andy, by putting words in their mouths; and the way DA did it came across as weirdly racially-stereotyping, like, “I bet this is how Black people think!” almost like putting on a “blaccent.”
Thank you. This is how I felt about it when I first read it but I couldn’t find a good way to articulate it. As usual you arrive at the best way to communicate something. I felt like it wasn’t racist against Whites, but against Blacks. I had trouble thinking how to phrase that argument so that it makes sense but you did so.

But if I had to moderate the Pit, well, no I couldn’t to be honest. It is hard enough to moderate GD and P&E.
I can imagine. GD and P&E would intimidate the hell out of me, but modding the Pit must feel like you’re the mop guy at an adult bookstore.

I can imagine. GD and P&E would intimidate the hell out of me, but modding the Pit must feel like you’re the mop guy at an adult bookstore.
I like that, I was just thinking more like a Mosh Pit, but yours describes it well.
Okay, I think I’m getting to the point where I’m holding my position out of contrariness more than anything else. You all have made some good points, and I’m changing my thinking on the issue. I’ve got some errands I need to run for a couple hours (including my second vax shot!) I’ll be back after that to settle up and clarify my where I’m at right now.