# SDMB policy question for administrators **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [July 18, 2002, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590 "2002-07-18T12:26:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/1 "2002-07-18T12:26:07Z")
With respect to terms, phrases, or statements that can reasonably be construed as pejorative, disrespectful, or vulgar, toward others, which (if any) of the following are officially “fair game”? [ul] [li]Perceived races and ethnicities[/li] [li]Sexual orientations and preferences[/li] [li]Religious beliefs and deities[/li] [li]SDMB staff[/li] [/ul] ---
**Author:** ![minty\_green](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f6c823/32.png) [@minty\_green](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minty_green)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/2 "2002-07-18T13:50:52Z")
Dude that is _so_ **Coldfire**. (Hey! Put that clog down!) Where have you been, Lib? Good to see you again. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/3 "2002-07-18T17:23:19Z")
Libertarian - to which forum do you refer? Could you give an example in each category? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/4 "2002-07-18T18:08:40Z")
Greetings, Minty, and thank you. I’ve been around, but busy working and with posting at the Parlor. * * * Arnold I’d like to know how it might apply in any forum. As I understand it, even the Pit is not a free-for-all anything-goes forum. I dread giving you examples, since each one that I give would personally distress me greatly. But I do understand your need for examples, and therefore I ask anyone who might be offended (and in my opinion, _everyone_ should be offended by _all_ of these), please forgive me. * * * **Perceived races and ethnicities** I was tired of him Jewing me down on the price. **Sexual orientations and preferences** Man, that is so gay — get a life. **Religious beliefs and deities** Jesus Christ on a stick! I couldn’t believe my eyes! **SDMB staff** Do you have to be so Gauderish about my analogy? * * * Thank you, Arnold. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/5 "2002-07-18T18:17:15Z")
Well Libertarian I hope you realize that we have different rules in The BBQ Pit vs. other fora, so “in any forum” is a little too vague. When I read your examples, I don’t think I would tell anyone in Comments on Cecil’s Columns “You are forbidden to use that expression here” until they start abusing the expression. In any case the SDMB is often self-correcting - if someone uses a derogatory term other posters will let that person know about it and from the ensuing discussion a consensus will likely emerge. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/6 "2002-07-18T18:48:24Z")
Arnold Thank you for your response. Now that you have seen my examples, could you please remove them? They make me sick. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/7 "2002-07-18T19:27:42Z")
Liberetarian - I don’t want to remove them because then people will be asking “what are the examples that Libertarian had, that you said were OK?” and the thread will become confusing. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/8 "2002-07-18T19:56:36Z")
That’s a good point, Arnold. Perhaps it is best that such obscenities be on display for our posterity. It is hard to imagine more insulting and disturbing phrases. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2002, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/9 "2002-07-18T22:32:31Z")
So Libertarian, in the interest of knowing the opinion of our posters, if you were a moderator of a forum at the SDMB, or a moderator of a forum at your own private message board, would you forbid the use of the expressions that you mentioned above? And if you did forbid them, would you remove them if someone posted them? ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 8:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/10 "2002-07-19T08:06:21Z")
If I were a moderator of a forum at the SDMB, I would follow the policies and guidelines set forth by the SDMB administration, and leave them alone. If, however, I were a moderator at my own private message board, I would admonish the poster and remind him of our policy that we do not use caricatures of people’s race, sex, sexual orientation, or religion to make points. I and my staff would be fair game. I would replace the offensive remarks with bracketed paraphrases while retaining errors and misjudgments of grammar, in these cases like this: [I was tired of him haggling me down the price.] [Man, that is so weird — get a life.] [Jesus Christ is believed by many to have died on a cross. I couldn’t believe my eyes.] ---
**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:** [July 19, 2002, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/11 "2002-07-19T16:01:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > **SDMB staff** > > Do you have to be so Gauderish about my analogy? Hmmmm… **Tuba** lar **Diva** -ine **Bodoni** aceous **Dexter** ous **Ike** -like **Arnold** oid **Matrix** illated **Buckner** ian **Corrado** ed **Beer** ish **Alphagene** ric . . . this could be fun 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2002, 4:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/12 "2002-07-19T16:34:30Z")
Those are great, Colibri! How would you use them in context? ---
**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:** [July 19, 2002, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/13 "2002-07-19T18:42:49Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Libertarian \* > \*\*Those are great, Colibri! How would you use them in context? \*\* I’ll have to think about that, but really I think this is a job for . . . Fenris! ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/14 "2002-07-20T01:26:45Z")
There goes the nieghborhood.🆒 ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/15 "2002-07-20T01:27:53Z")
(of course I know how to spell it). I chose not to.😉 ---
**Author:** ![Some\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Some\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Some_Guy)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2002, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/16 "2002-07-20T01:48:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Colibri \* > \*\* > > **Ike** -like > > \*\* Oh, come now. Modern language perfers the term “ **Ukelelean** ”. 😃 ---
**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:** [July 20, 2002, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sdmb-policy-question-for-administrators/119590/17 "2002-07-20T02:10:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Some Guy \* > \*\* > > Oh, come now. > > Modern language perfers the term “ **Ukelelean** ”. > > 😃 \*\* I consider that very un **Ike** ly. I think you’re just being **Arnold** oid.