# Protesting the Warning I was given **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [August 29, 2012, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981 "2012-08-29T00:26:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/41 "2012-08-29T17:06:33Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > Given that the topic of the thread is how regional jokes/jabs are moderated, how are those posts junior modding? Isn’t that kind of what ATMB is for, to offer one’s opinions on whether certain types of posts should or shouldn’t be moderated? Stop junior modding. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 5:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/42 "2012-08-29T17:09:41Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > Given that the topic of the thread is how regional jokes/jabs are moderated, how are those posts junior modding? Isn’t that kind of what ATMB is for, to offer one’s opinions on whether certain types of posts should or shouldn’t be moderated? > [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Stop junior modding. 😉 In Giraffe’s case, shouldn’t you say “Stop former modding?” ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/43 "2012-08-29T17:13:36Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > People can move away from West Virginia. People can’t change the color of their skin. So that makes it (talking shit about West Virginians) ok? ---
**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:** [August 29, 2012, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/44 "2012-08-29T17:20:29Z")
I gotta agree with jt. The way I read the warning is that he got an official warning for using the word “nigger” while the others got mere notes because they didn’t use the word nigger. > [@](#): > > Let’s keep the regional slurs out of GQ too, even if intended as a joke. I’m making this a note instead of a warning because the language is not over the top as in jtgain’s. Says it all I think. I think that if the warning were for junior modding, then the warning should have excluded the language issue and focused solely on the modding. If Colibri wanted to touch on jt’s language (and I think given the context it was not appropriate but could be condoned), it should have been mentioned in the notes as a don’t do it again and not as 'Yours was worst than theirs so your punishment is worse". ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/45 "2012-08-29T18:30:12Z")
> [@](#): > > Yes, I should have reported the post, but You were in the wrong, and you know it. You’re a long time enough poster to have known better. And you were in GQ. It’s a warning, not exile to Elba. Suck it up, and move on. Getting all heated up, over slurs to your state, is a little over the top, on any day, in my book. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/46 "2012-08-29T19:23:25Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Getting all heated up, over slurs to your state, is a little over the top, on any day, in my book. No, actually, it’s not. Prejudice against the South and against Southerners (black and white and other, gay and straight and other, liberal and conservative and other) is a significant prejudice in the US, and it can have actual economic effects ([Neil Gaiman](http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2010/02/of-course-in-alabama-tuscaloosa-but.html) talks here briefly about book publisher’s misguided disdain for the South, for example, [this article talks about teachers’ disdain for Southern accents](http://www.news-reporter.com/news/2009-07-02/opinion/022.html), [Lee Smith talks about the prejudice she encountered](http://www.leesmith.com/printer/p_exposure.html), and so on). People who would never dream of inveighing against black folks or Jewish folks or folks from Uzbekistan or gay folks will actually signal their liberal bona fides by making repugnant comments about the South. Look, it’s minor. We Southerners aren’t being lynched (as long as we’re not black), we’re probably not being denied jobs (as long as we’re not atheist), we’re able to get married (as long as we’re straight). Political power is significantly held by (straight white Christian) Southerners. But there’s also a strong classist element to the nasty comments made. The incest comments tend to be made about poor rural people. The comments about illiterate folks are made about the poor. The comments about backwards technologies are mocking poor rural Southerners. Over and over, it’s suburban (occasionally urban) intelligentsia describing how poor rural Southerners are inferior human beings to themselves, through nasty derisive humor. Want to criticize the nasty homophobia in the South? I’m right there with you (as long as we also get to look at the AFA’s headquarters in Colorado). Want to talk about the awful racism in the South? Sign me up (as long as we talk about how the South produces many of the nation’s top civil rights activists). Want to talk about unacceptable poverty in the South? Absolutely (as long as we take a good look at national, and sometimes international, political situations that perpetuate this cycle of poverty). But if you want to show your cleverness through making sweeping generalizations about the South, or by making nasty incest jokes about the people I know and love (there’s your opening right there if you want to be a jerk), then you’re a bigot. Simple simple. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/47 "2012-08-29T19:45:42Z")
Chip on shoulder much? Judging by the length of that, clearly this is your issue. We all got 'em, don’t feel bad! I’m just saying most people have tough enough skins to know that every country has a region it makes fun of, and usually for some pretty silly reasons; accents, hairstyles, hats, etc. ---
**Author:** ![PlainJain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@PlainJain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PlainJain)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/48 "2012-08-29T20:05:12Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > [Moderator Note] > > Did you report the posts? In any case, you’re junior modding, which is also against the rules. I’m honestly confused by this. Is it junior modding to ask a moderator to look at a post within the thread itself as opposed to reporting it? I thought JM was instructing another poster on what to do or not do in a manner of a moderator. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/49 "2012-08-29T20:32:36Z")
> [@Bob Ducca](#): > > People can move away from West Virginia. People can’t change the color of their skin. Michael Jackson did. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/50 "2012-08-29T20:40:26Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Chip on shoulder much? > > Judging by the length of that, clearly this is your issue. We all got 'em, don’t feel bad! > > I’m just saying most people have tough enough skins to know that every country has a region it makes fun of, and usually for some pretty silly reasons; accents, hairstyles, hats, etc. Ok, so which part of Canada is it ok for us to make fun of? ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/51 "2012-08-29T20:41:29Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Ok, so which part of Canada is it ok for us to make fun of? The Maritimes. I’m not even Canadian and I know that. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/52 "2012-08-29T20:53:29Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Ok, so which part of Canada is it ok for us to make fun of? The Maritimes, in general, of course, but I heard LOT of Newfie jokes when I was associating with Canadians in school. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/53 "2012-08-29T21:04:52Z")
> [@Drunky\_Smurf](#): > > Ok, so which part of Canada is it ok for us to make fun of? The part with Canadians in it. That part that only has rocks and ice in it needs to be left the fuck alone. ---
**Author:** ![UltraVires](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecccb3/32.png) [@UltraVires](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UltraVires)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/54 "2012-08-29T21:10:34Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > Chip on shoulder much? > > Judging by the length of that, clearly this is your issue. We all got 'em, don’t feel bad! > > I’m just saying most people have tough enough skins to know that every country has a region it makes fun of, and usually for some pretty silly reasons; accents, hairstyles, hats, etc. A few points: 1. Accents, hairstyles, and hats could be considered good-natured ribbing (although again asking why blacks say the word ask as “aks,” wear their hats sideways, or wear jerry curls would not be taken in that way). Constant jokes about sister fucking are not in that category. 2. It’s tiresome. Every time I meet someone out of state who thinks that we have a small level of friendship feels the need for an incest joke towards WV. It’s not original; it’s not funny. I’ve heard all of them. 3. Why are regional jokes okay, but racial ones not? Sure I could move from WV (and I have in the past) but still the conversation comes up, “So where are you from?” “West Virginia” “Oh that’s where the women are men and the sheep are scared! BWAHAHAHA!” Yes, very funny. 4. I don’t have a thin skin. I can take good natured humor. I don’t know you guys or gals. Therefore I don’t know if it’s malicious or not. 5. The word I got a warning for has been used in this one single thread 8 different times. 6. In this very thread, after a moderator pointed out that he polices regional insults and that regional insults are against board rules, three posters make a “joke” and they all get notes instead of warnings. Not that they necessarily should have gotten warnings, but the goose and gander thing. 7. Then the two posters who say, “Hey, why isn’t that disallowed here?” to the above posts also get moderator notes for junior modding when that isn’t even close to what they did. They posted in a thread About this Message Board on a subject about this message board. And they get mod notes, the same as the posters who post regional jokes in direct violation of board rules and rules that have been reiterated in this thread. 8. I know that this board isn’t a democracy, but if 30 posters came right out and said that I was wrong, then I would have accepted that I was wrong. It didn’t mean that I wanted to put up the warning for a majority vote. The responses confirmed my initial thought that while what I said was over the top and should have been phrased better, it didn’t deserve a warning. As I said, I accept the warning insofar as I don’t want to make a further issue of it, but I still disagree. And as long as posters want to argue it, I’ll still be here to defend my position. ---
**Author:** ![tomndebb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/55 "2012-08-29T21:10:59Z")
> [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](#): > > No, actually, it’s not. Prejudice against the South and against Southerners (black and white and other, gay and straight and other, liberal and conservative and other) is a significant prejudice in the US, and it can have actual economic effects ([Neil Gaiman](http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2010/02/of-course-in-alabama-tuscaloosa-but.html) talks here briefly about book publisher’s misguided disdain for the South, for example, [this article talks about teachers’ disdain for Southern accents](http://www.news-reporter.com/news/2009-07-02/opinion/022.html), [Lee Smith talks about the prejudice she encountered](http://www.leesmith.com/printer/p_exposure.html), and so on). People who would never dream of inveighing against black folks or Jewish folks or folks from Uzbekistan or gay folks will actually signal their liberal bona fides by making repugnant comments about the South. I accept your statements, but I really don’t see a lot of difference between those claims and the ones that I have experienced and had relayed to me by other Northerners in the South. Teachers mocking children for their accents? Noted by Northerners transplanted to the South here on the SDMB–along with Northern kids being punished for being polite in a way that differed from the politeness expected in a particular part of the South. Comments about Northerners “working too hard” or “not being laid back”? Heard them, myself. Along with comments to my BIL that they were happy to see him working hard, but when the season was over they hoped he would take his money and go back home. Stories about people discriminated against for being “wrong” in their religious beliefs tend to be much more prevalent in the South than the North. Imposition of Creationism into science texts? Much more prevalent in the South. I don’t think that we ought to encourage ridicule, but as long as some foks on both sides engage in it, I think a thicker skin is a better response than anger. And, in fairness to both sides, the overwhelming majority of people in all parts of the country are sufficiently polite, informed, and understanding that such events stand out as rude, but the minority who are willing to engage in such nonsense seem to be pretty evenly distributed across the country. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/56 "2012-08-29T21:22:09Z")
You are offended by people making fun of your state? I’m from New Jersey. Get over yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/57 "2012-08-29T21:26:08Z")
Well played. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/58 "2012-08-29T21:43:16Z")
> [@Giraffe](#): > > Given that the topic of the thread is how regional jokes/jabs are moderated, how are those posts junior modding? Isn’t that kind of what ATMB is for, to offer one’s opinions on whether certain types of posts should or shouldn’t be moderated? Seems to me that **Ravenman** was not so much expressing an opinion about the posts themselves but requesting that a moderator take action on them. That should be handled by reporting the posts. > [@PlainJain](#): > > I’m honestly confused by this. Is it junior modding to ask a moderator to look at a post within the thread itself as opposed to reporting it? I thought JM was instructing another poster on what to do or not do in a manner of a moderator. If you want a moderator to take action on a post, the proper thing to do is to report it. You shouldn’t request that a moderator take action in the thread itself. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/59 "2012-08-29T21:48:30Z")
> [@jtgain](#): > > 1. The word I got a warning for has been used in this one single thread 8 different times. That’s because it was germane to the discussion. Your use of it in the other thread was unnecessary and gratuitous and had nothing at all to do with the subject of the thread. You used it merely for shock value. > [@](#): > > 1. In this very thread, after a moderator pointed out that he polices regional insults and that regional insults are against board rules, three posters make a “joke” and they all get notes instead of warnings. Not that they necessarily should have gotten warnings, but the goose and gander thing. You still don’t seem to get it. You got a warning for the gratuitous and inappropriate use of an offensive term. If you had made your remark but used a non-offensive term you would have received a note rather than a warning. The posters in this thread did not use any offensive terms. ---
**Author:** ![Drunky\_Smurf](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drunky_smurf/32/449_2.png) [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2012, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981/60 "2012-08-29T21:50:58Z")
The Maritimes? I would have guessed Quebec. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/protesting-the-warning-i-was-given/632981.md?page=4)