Some time ago I was involved in a thread which made several references to “libtards”. At that time, our esteemed Jonathan Chance wrote:
Recently, in a MPSIMS thread, Blank Slate posted this:
Is the use of “Trump and his tard army” in MPSIMS acceptable? In reviewing the forum rules I see:
If “Trump and his tard army” is apparently within the rules, is the use of “libtard” in a similar context not verboten either? For example, could I start a MPSIMS thread with a title like “Stupid libtards and the 'tarded things they do”? Or could I refer to Cuomo and “citizen fleet” as “libtard in chief Cuomo and his tard army”?
Hurtful name calling that serves no purpose other than to insult and demean should be banned because it has no place in an intelligent debate. It just stirs up anger and triggers retaliation. Criticisms that are based in proven fact and which are couched in intelligent language, however, should be perfectly fine even if they reflect poorly on the political figure being criticized. For example, now that Trump’s own man, Giuliani, has outed him as a complete liar, the phrase “our lying president” would be acceptable because it is, in fact, a proven truth. A word like “libtard”, however, is nothing more than a nasty adolescent insult.
Did you report the post? Did you discuss this with the forum moderators by PM?
Tolerance for certain terms may vary by forum. If in doubt, it is best to discuss such things with forum moderators.
Unless you reported the post and verified that it was within the rules, you have no basis for this conclusion. I’m surprised at your questions, since you’ve been here long enough to know this.
Yes, I reported the post. I received no response. I took that silence to mean the moderators consented with the usage, but I started this thread to have a further discussion around the issue. I wasn’t aware of the intermediate step of “discuss this with the forum moderators by PM”, and am not clear on who the MPSIMS moderators are.
Word usage like ‘tard’ And similar denigrating insults are, as I said, intensely context sensitive to moderate. Note, though, that never said such are banned in GD. Instead, I stated that use of such isn’t best practice and could lead to sanction.
Note, also, that acceptable behavior varies widely by forum.
Asking about rules or clarification is fine, and PM is not required. No response though shouldn’t be taken as affirmative agreement. We haven’t made a specific rule prohibiting the use of the XXX-tard or other variants in GD and Elections, though we have had many many mod notes over the years cautioning against the usage. I struggle to see how it could be used constructively, though I may not be imaginative enough.
As has often been pointed out in this forum, non-moderation of a post, even a reported one, does not justify the conclusion that it is within the rules. A few of us mods actually have lives;), and may have been busy or overlooked the report. Unless a mod has positively made a ruling that something is within the rules, you shouldn’t jump to that conclusion.
I would certainly moderate “tard” in any context or combination in GQ if it were brought to my attention.
Based on my own observations of moderation and the rule in question, such would be permitted, You even quoted the relevant part: “Group insults, while permitted in most cases, will not be tolerated if they are aimed at other posters participating in the discussion.” “Trump and his tard army” sure seems to be a group insult, so, unless it was directed towards a poster, it would seem to be acceptable.
“Libtard” would be similar. The main problem would be that it’s more broad, as, if not limited in some way, it attacks all liberals. As such, it may more easily be seen as attacking a particular liberal or liberals in the thread in question. This is less of a problem with the idea of a “Trump army,” since such would only describe his most militant supporters.
That said, I hate the prefix -tard, and view it the same as the “retard” slur. I would not mind in the slightest if I’m wrong.
Wouldn’t want that! I’m actually away at a conference and have exchanged very nice PMs with the OP, who pointed out this thread.
Speaking personally, without having time or a lot of access to look at previous rulings, I don’t like the -tard suffix. I’d be inclined to leave a Mod note, unless there was some really specific context that made the comment not derogatory (can’t think of an example, but I’m willing to not have a bright line statement about it).
I only have a few minutes between sessions, but I’ll try to look at the thread unless Loach gets there first.
Given all that, the re:tardigrades joke was very good.
