[uday]

I have closed the "For the Woman" thread. While I allow a somewhat greater degree of freedom here than elsewhere in the forums, thrash threads cheapen us all. I will have them removed as I spot them, and close down the Watercooler if we can't manage to walk the very broad path bounded by inanity on the one side and valid but offensive discourse on the other.

Your opinion may be different. Feel free to start a thread on moderation philosophy or quality.



Uday

[jdonn]

Can you elaborate on why you closed down this particular thread Uday? I don't understand, it looked to me like a perfectly innocent poker problem with a funny plot behind it, but maybe I was just missing something.

[uday]

We deal with people of varying cultures and sensibilities and we (BBO) need to service them all.

Things that don't offend some of us offend others. When this happens, we have to judge what degree of offensiveness is survivable.

In this case, just one user complained that the thread was "..offensive and downgrading to women.." This made me review the post. I would guess that a poll of civilians around the world would result in a substantial minority agreeing with the person who complained. What would that be? 10% ? 20% ? Do we care about the 10% ? I'm not sure about any of this.

I judge that the downside of allowing threads that offend to be greater than the upside, and I judged that this thread would offend enough people that the forums would benefit from the removal.


But the bottom line is that it is mostly a guess, and I'd rather err on the side of caution than that "freedom" that people seek in discussion boards.

[pclayton]

Fair enough Uday - I think we are all trying to feel our way around this issue.

[Al_U_Card]

Poor taste comes in many guises, the worst of which is blatant discrimination or stereotyping.

If we had replaced the gender reference with, "you haven't eaten today and the pizza has just arrived. If you go all in and lose, no pizza for you. What do you do? "

No one would have been offended and the sense of the statement would not have been lost. The lack of attention to people's sensibilities is hardly surprising. We are no poorer for the loss of this thread as it was but should the poster care to use this allusion, he is more than welcome to do so should it be appropriate.

[joshs]

I am offended. Pizza should be givenly freely to all, and not as part of a capitalistic reward system.

[jdonn]

I won't criticize your decision to kill the thread even based on just the single complaint, after all you are the one who has to deal with the complaints not me, and I sure wouldn't want to be making these decisions anyway. I'd say you are really good at what you do. But it seems a bit much to refer to a thread that was surely intended as harmless as a "trash thread" that will "cheapen us all". The possibility anyone could be offended by it probably never even entered the poster's mind.

Josh what kind of pizza are you referring to? Some aren't worth paying for anyway. Bacon on the other hand, mmmm.

[Al_U_Card]

Too greasy. We don't want to stereotype pizza now, do we? Besides how did the commie get into this thread? (capitalist reward, INDEED!) lol

[Badmonster]

Look you... people. I grew up in Brookly, OK? Pizza is not about the topping. It's about the crust, the sauce and the cheese. The toppings are just toppings. And frankly, if you haven't had pizza in Brooklyn, you haven't actually had pizza.

[Walddk]

jdonn, on May 5 2006, 10:24 PM, said:

Bacon on the other hand, mmmm.

Now you have offended *me*, because I am Jewish and bacon is not kosher. Will your post be removed now?

Roland

[jdonn]

I'm Jewish too, I seem to have inadvertantly offended myself. 20 lashes with a wet noodle.

[joshs]

jdonn, on May 5 2006, 04:24 PM, said:

I won't criticize your decision to kill the thread even based on just the single complaint, after all you are the one who has to deal with the complaints not me, and I sure wouldn't want to be making these decisions anyway. I'd say you are really good at what you do. But it seems a bit much to refer to a thread that was surely intended as harmless as a "trash thread" that will "cheapen us all". The possibility anyone could be offended by it probably never even entered the poster's mind.

Josh what kind of pizza are you referring to? Some aren't worth paying for anyway. Bacon on the other hand, mmmm.

This summer in chicago, we will go to my favorite pizza place- Pizzeria Due at Wabash and Ontario.

[luke warm]

joshs, on May 5 2006, 04:13 PM, said:

I am offended. Pizza should be givenly freely to all, and not as part of a capitalistic reward system.

easy for you to say... i'd be accused (again) of drinking the beer

uday said:

just one user complained that the thread was "..offensive and downgrading to women.."

i bet i can guess who that one user was (don't worry, i won't - guess, that is)

[mr1303]

If anything, I would have thought that the post might have been more offensive to men. Still, I suppose me offending people is nothing new these days.