I try and restrict myself to Miss, Mrs. or Mr. -----. I mean, I don’t know them, so I don’t wanna use their first name only, and the honorific seems mild but respectful (of both the subject and the audience).
I’m in favor of the OP’s proposal, of course.
Similarly, I don’t like using the last name of the current president, so I decided to refer to him exclusively as “the president” when speaking. Ironically, this confuses people, and they often end up asking me who I’m talking about, or if I mean the current president, even when it is obvious from the context.
I really dislike the disparaging nicknames, so I would fully support the OP’s proposal.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to offend. The hijack was about whether he could post in GD or survive as a poster here. Come on back! Your question about “so-called president” was a good one.
What about Barak Hussein Obama? Some people get butthurt over that one, despite it being his literal name. (not talking about anyone here, btw)
Unless you are in the habit of stating the full name of other politicians, I would say that a slur was intended and that it should be treated that way.
You may be unfamiliar with the source:
“For Light is the Left Hand of Darkness, and Darkness the Right Hand of Light.”
In that context, my user name is downright boastful.
I support calling public figures we don’t like by disparaging names in any forum other than GQ. However using a disparaging name for another poster outside of the Pit should earn an immediate never-mind-the-mod-note warning.
I concur.
This appears to be a solution looking for a problem.
I support RitterSport’s proposal, but along the lines of the “Barack Hussein Obama” question, it’s not uncommon to refer to politicians by their initials. Would “AOC” be allowed? If that, and GWB, and DJT (and HRC) are ok, then wouldn’t BHO have to be acceptable too?
Again, if you are in the habit of doing something like that across the board then no slur can be inferred, in my opinion.
Wider context: he loves to see his name in print. I am preventing the possibility of him or any of his supporters getting even the tiniest bit of affirmation from my posts.
Or perhaps you missed the phrase that was included in your quote “if he knew about it.”
I’m happy it doesn’t bother you. It bothers me and derails conversations, so that’s why I posted this here, and there seems to be some consensus that this might be a good idea.
Regarding “Barack Hussein Obama”, I don’t think that’s really disparaging (it seems to imply that he’s a Muslim or something, but I don’t think that’s disparaging), but I think it would be pretty obvious from context whether a poster is using it in a disparaging way. If you’re not sure whether you’re being a jerk (not you, any poster), then rephrase it. Let’s keep the debate forums above petty pseudo-point-scoring bullshit (again, not directed at you, just in general).
Regarding using the initials, I can’t see how that would ever be seen as disparaging. I’ve never seen AOC used in a disparaging way, for example, just as a shortcut. I’m sure the creative minds here can come up with a way to make it jerkish, but normally I would say that’s fine. If I were king, of course.
My initial thought is that it would be cumbersome to moderate. I’m generally of the opinion to have less rules, not more. Consider that we allow disparaging comments about off board figures - it’s inconsistent to allow this while not allowing disparaging nicknames.
Like under this rule, Drumpf is an asshole would be against the rule, but* Trump is an asshole *would be just fine. That seems inconsistent and hair splitty to me. Unless you’re suggesting that disparaging comments of any kind including towards off board people would be prohibited as well - but that seems like it would hamper discussion rather than foster it.
This to me seems like more of a community oriented effort - if people want this to come to pass, they can model the behavior they want to see, and ask others to do the same.
I read GD but do not participate. I read it to learn, to gain information. As soon as I see Barry or Drumph, I skip to the next post. I may be missing out on what is otherwise good information. Yes, it’s my choice to do that, but I think the poster would rather have me read their post.
A serious poster should be aware that these alt-names are a turnoff and perhaps do a little self-policing. I wouldn’t be opposed to a rule such as the OP proposes, but I don’t know that it’s necessary either.
We do - or did - have a poster who would only refer to Obama as “Hussein.” To me, it’s obviously disparaging, but I could see them using it as way to disparage without disparaging.
Agreed. My mother was smug in 2008 about how they call all politicians by their full names, but didn’t know McCain’s when asked.
I think BHO is qualitatively different, because it’s more common to call politicians by their initials.
Certainly calling BHO simply “Hussein” was jerky. I’m more bothered by it than I was by calling Romney “Willard” or “Mittens,” but I don’t know why and I think that may be inconsistency on my part that needs addressing.
Thanks for the feedback! I agree it would be tricky to moderate. If the mods think this would be too much of a pain to moderate, I totally understand. Could I ask you and the other Elections and GD mods to clamp down on inflammatory posts, then? It seems like the tone of those forums has really gone downhill. It’s coming from all sides of the political spectrum.
Regarding your example, I’m more of an Obama fan than a Trump fan. If some poster wrote “Obama is an asshole” it would bother me much less than “Obummer is an asshole.” The first one wouldn’t really bother me at all, in fact, whereas the second one would cause that record scratching sound in my head.
I don’t like it. If someone wants to say something about “the Democrat party”, that’s cool with me. It’s quite informative. It tells me all I need to know in one short phrase. If someone else doesn’t like the way another someone else refers to the so-called President, then that’s the way she goes.
I feel the same way. People tossing around childish nicknames like elementary school kids lowers the discourse. I’ve bowed out of threads I’d have participated in if it hadn’t turned into the immature nickname show. You’re not being clever, you are acting like one of my kids and I feel like putting you in time-out.
That said, it should be fine in the BBQ Pit. That’s the board’s release valve and while I still don’t enjoy seeing it there, at least it has a purpose. And you’re unlikely to lower the discourse there. You might as well worry about a little dirt going into a toilet.