# Moderation of inappropriate sexual commentary **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [May 6, 2013, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626 "2013-05-06T15:55:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/101 "2013-05-06T18:46:55Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > So, the board staff tries to use the existing rules about hijacking, insults, and don’t be a jerk to become a bit more strict on the issue of sexism and/or misogyny, and they get hammered by ATMB protests about “changing the rules” and “not announcing the rules changes”. > > So they sit down to craft a statement of intent so they can provide new guidelines on this closer scrutiny, and they get hammered that the existing rules were sufficient. I didn’t think the rules needed changing before, just enforcement. And I’m a likely target of that enforcement too. However, I get your point, the mods are stuck in a no-win situation here. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/102 "2013-05-06T18:48:53Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Claiming that the extent of the damage isn’t felt because she isn’t a poster here is sort of being willfully ignorant to the harmful culture it creates in the first place. The culture the rest of us experience every single day. Which was the point in the first place. And, as mentioned, if and when this becomes part of **your** experience on **these** boards, it will be modded. And no one will object. Until then, I find it difficult to believe that reducing the number of jokes on the Internet about pantsless women in Pope hats does much to fight against sexual harassment of 14 year olds. Those two things don’t seem to be very closely connected. This reminds me of people objecting to pornography because it objectifies women, and thus increases rape. Do you think that is a good argument? Do you think it is at all similar to your argument that making jokes about pubic hair design establishes a culture where school counselors harass minors? Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/103 "2013-05-06T18:50:11Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Claiming that the extent of the damage isn’t felt because she isn’t a poster here is sort of being willfully ignorant to the harmful culture it creates in the first place. The culture the rest of us experience every single day. Which was the point in the first place. I can understand what you are saying. I have a 22 year old daughter who I love and for whom I want nothing but the best. I don’t recall any posts I’ve made that I wouldn’t say to her. The extreme examples (tit jokes in breast cancer threads? Seriously?) are repugnant. Anyway, let’s see what happens. ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/104 "2013-05-06T18:50:32Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Claiming that the extent of the damage isn’t felt because she isn’t a poster here is sort of being willfully ignorant to the harmful culture it creates in the first place. The culture the rest of us experience every single day. Which was the point in the first place. So you’re against Guideline #1 then? It’s your opinion that these sexual references shouldn’t be articulated, even if it’s someone not on the board? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/105 "2013-05-06T18:57:39Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > Watch us pat ourselves on the back. Oh it is so hard to be a mod…poor little us…you posters are sooo mean. :rolleyes: Seriously? Knock it off, **Oakminster**. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/106 "2013-05-06T18:58:10Z")
Thanks, mods. FTR, anyone who reviews my posting history in ATMB will quickly see that I am not up the mods’ asses as a general rule. However, I think this is a good response to what has been a complicated and difficult issue. I’m a lot more impressed with the mod response to this than I am by the behavior of several other long-time posters in these threads, I’ll tell you that. ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/107 "2013-05-06T19:02:38Z")
> [@MsWhatsit](#): > > Thanks, mods. > > FTR, anyone who reviews my posting history in ATMB will quickly see that I am not up the mods’ asses as a general rule. However, I think this is a good response to what has been a complicated and difficult issue. > > I’m a lot more impressed with the mod response to this than I am by the behavior of several other long-time posters in these threads, I’ll tell you that. Everything that she said. I don’t understand the resistance to treating posters with a basic level of respect, but since it’s there I think the new rules are a good response. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/108 "2013-05-06T19:03:11Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > I don’t understand the resistance to treating posters with a basic level of respect Then the Pit should not exist. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/109 "2013-05-06T19:05:47Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > Nitpick: At no point in the trying-to-get-fired thread did I say inappropriately-dressed young woman was hot. Just inappropriately dressed, and young. But you did describe her attire in sexualized and humorous language: “stretch pants so tight that no detail of sub-waistular topography was left uncertain” “ribbon that did jack-diggly to conceal the level of erectness of her nipples” “a top sheer enough that no one needed X-ray vision to see that freckles were not confined to her face” I don’t think it’s beyond the pale to suggest the language in your OP set a tone for the thread, that allowed for other humorous comments to be made. So mods, are you going to answer the question as to whether the comments that got called out in the bottomless pope woman thread and Skald’s employee thread were in violation of the current rules, and why or why not? If youre not going to answer that question, can you at least acknowledge that you’re not going to answer it, so we’ll stop asking? ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/110 "2013-05-06T19:05:48Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > Then the Pit should not exist. I thought it would go without saying that I understand having issues with specific posters. Guess not. ---
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/111 "2013-05-06T19:06:21Z")
Good job, Mods. A very reasonable solution well explained by **Ellen**. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/112 "2013-05-06T19:07:03Z")
> [@Enginerd](#): > > I thought it would go without saying that I understand having issues with specific posters. Guess not. But it goes against your “treat other posters with a basic level of respect” idea–have you seen the pit? Respect is actively disregarded. It is not merely “having issues with specific posters.” ---
**Author:** ![DiosaBellissima](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a8b319/32.png) [@DiosaBellissima](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DiosaBellissima)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/113 "2013-05-06T19:07:53Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > It’s a solution looking for a problem, with certain mods falling over themselves to out-liberal each other. Yes, because- as we all know- it is a long held conservative tradition to be an unabashed, sexist pig. Wait. That can’t possibly be what you’re trying to say. > [@Happy\_Lendervedder](#): > > So you’re against Guideline #1 then? It’s your opinion that these sexual references shouldn’t be articulated, even if it’s someone not on the board? Not at all, actually. I think Guideline #1 works fantastically in conjunction with Guidelines 2 and 3, which I suspect would more than cover what’s being discussed here. I don’t buy into the concept that a naked woman is an inherently sexual thing and that she’s “asking for it”- whatever it may be. I don’t think most people here feel that way either. Again, mock away, but that’s a whole world of different from the implication that because she showed her reproductive organs, we get to make crude comments about wanting to fuck her. Her ideas: stupid. Her protest: absolutely stupid. That doesn’t mean she’s asking to get fucked, as many comments seemed to suggest. We teach this to young children, so I’m not sure why it has brought about such conflict here: attack the ideas, attack the arguments-- but attacking the person is the weakest form of argumentation. Do I think these opinions should be tempered in real life? Yeah. And I think for the most part they are. It still certainly happens, though. I just don’t get the blowback here about treating each other with the same basic level of human decency we try to display in meatspace. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/114 "2013-05-06T19:08:35Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > So mods, are you going to answer the question as to whether the comments that got called out in the bottomless pope woman thread and Skald’s employee thread were in violation of the current rules, and why or why not? If youre not going to answer that question, can you at least acknowledge that you’re not going to answer it, so we’ll stop asking? I meant to say earlier that I’m leaving this for the MPSIMS mods. I sent an email informing them that a couple of posters are asking about these threads. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/115 "2013-05-06T19:09:41Z")
> [@liquorinthefront](#): > > that’s not funny Ha…says the guy who’s username is a sexual innuendo that ends with “poke her in the rear”. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/116 "2013-05-06T19:10:57Z")
> [@Red\_Barchetta](#): > > But it goes against your “treat other posters with a basic level of respect” idea–have you seen the pit? Respect is actively disregarded. It is not merely “having issues with specific posters.” Well, yeah - be a jerk in the pit, and don’t be a jerk on the rest of the board. What’s your point? ---
**Author:** ![liquorinthefront](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/22d042/32.png) [@liquorinthefront](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liquorinthefront)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/117 "2013-05-06T19:13:10Z")
> [@FoieGrasIsEvil](#): > > Ha…says the guy who’s username is a sexual innuendo that ends with “poke her in the rear”. > > :rolleyes: Um, who posted the set-up? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/118 "2013-05-06T19:14:55Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > Yes, because- as we all know- it is a long held conservative tradition to be an unabashed, sexist pig. > > Wait. That can’t possibly be what you’re trying to say. Again - even ironically, this isn’t GD and it’s not the place for a political discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/119 "2013-05-06T19:15:03Z")
> [@DiosaBellissima](#): > > And none of this has anything to do with _mocking_ somebody’s vagina because they’re talking about it. It’s the implication that because she’s talking about it, you (the general you) have the right to talk about wanting to fuck it. Even if she’s talking about a serious medical issue. If a woman’s reproductive organs are visible or mentioned, the implication is that everyone has a right to do or say whatever they want, even if it violates her. Because free speech. And she’s asking for it. Or something. But I think there is a dichotomy here. Let’s say that I say that in general women who don’t wear panties under dresses are sluts that want easy access for fucking. I have a right to say that and you have a right to be offended and the mods have a right to take or not take action as they see fit. The difference is if **you** were to write in a post that you don’t wear panties then me calling you a slut should have taken action against me because that is a direct attack against you. The question is where do stupid, sexist, racist, political, etc. post cross the line where they need to be censored? For me, juvenile humor about a woman promoting sexuality with no pants on is a target for jokes and I don’t think anyone is advocating or seriously condoning sexual assault. What happened to you in school is completely different. The other question is what level of violation is there by posting in an anonymous message group? You’re wrong saying I don’t have a right to say something crude like “You sound very fuckable.” if you’re describing something intimate whereas you’re right that I may not have that right to say that standing next to you trying to look down your top because that is a violation of you right to feel safe. As others point out, private organizations do not need to respect free speech and so the mods are the ones to decide if my “right” to not be censored on their board outweight your “right” to not be offended. Most of the time I think they get it right. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2013, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626/120 "2013-05-06T19:20:18Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > But you did describe her attire in sexualized and humorous language: > > “stretch pants so tight that no detail of sub-waistular topography was left uncertain” > > “ribbon that did jack-diggly to conceal the level of erectness of her nipples” > > “a top sheer enough that no one needed X-ray vision to see that freckles were not confined to her face” Sure. But I didn’t say she looked GOOD dressed as she was. Just as, when I mentioned in a thread that my wife & I were throwing a dinner party in part as a set up for a pair of female friends of ours, certain persons automatically assumed I was talking about a part of hot young lesbians, not a pair of middle-aged so-so looking lesbians. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/moderation-of-inappropriate-sexual-commentary/657626.md?page=7)