Topic

Definition of an offensive name

Hi, I was recently contacted by admins because my name was deemed offensive by several players.  The way the admins contacted me was essentially in the form of a command (albeit polite) to change my name, else they would do it for me.  

I requested an explanation of how my name was offensive, and was told that it was the name of a criminal charged with sexual child abuse.  I had to google this because it was news to me, and based on what I read, the charges post-date my character creation, which proves that at least this character was named without the intention to offend.  Beyond that, it's a handle I've used for years in numerous other games, and I drew it from a book (as a call sign for an experimental fighter plane--inserted for emphasis), which in turn derived it from the name of a town. 

I've since changed the name because 1. I knew the admin was just doing their job and 2. I wanted to go to bed, but the principle of it all still doesn't sit well with me.  I feel maligned, like the bearded man on the street who is judged at a glance for being associated with terrorists, or the stranger with shades and a hoodie on who is given a wide berth because he surely means to mug you.

How would the rest of you feel if you were approached like this?

Posted 13 months ago by Inéo Subscriber! | Permalink

Replies

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  • @Crag - how would that work in any social context? 

    So, hypothetically, you use this API to rename me, (why am I the example? Always Xev. Forever Xev), as "Pumpkin Snugglebutt" because you have a weird crush on me. It's cool, I get that. You aren't alone. 

    But everyone else sees me as Xev. Or stranger still, they have their own nicknames for me. So Eye Wonder knows me as "Zev," just to be difficult. Ya'll wind up in a conversation and I come up, (to be fair, I do come up in conversation a lot), and you both respond to something I say: 

    "Ha, Pumpkin ... you are SO funny! I love you!"
    "Heh, good one Zev. Always Zev. Forever Zev." (Way to be passive aggressive, Eye Wonder. Hypothetically).

    Then someone else comes in, who has no filter on, and goes, "wait, who the heck is Pumpkin? Who is ... Eye Wonder, I think you meant Xev. Typos!"

    And me, well, I'm just baffled by all of it.

    OR, you have this ridiculous overlay of connections. Where not only is the API overwriting offensive names, but it's also translating all of those names and permutations for everyone using the API and NOT using the API. In which case, how does it know which words / names to overwrite? 

    We could have posts that translate to this: 

    "Ha ha, phantom story, broody murderface! I cheeze-it your potato completely. But, if I may whiteboard an soliloquy, marzipan this: Seven bumblebees woozlewazzle into a turkish divan. What then, broody? What then?"

    Which would probably crash the site.
    Posted 13 months ago by Xev Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Crag has a great idea, there. Some sites have a brilliant comments moderation feature where naughty posters are censored. Only they don't know it. See, they still see their comments in all their flamingly offensive glory, and NO ONE REPONDS. Because no one else can see their horrible, horrible comments. This is way more effective than mere finger-waving or banination, because the offending poster conveniently takes themselves out of the equation, believing that NO ONE CAREZZZ. And what does a troll love more than CAREZZZ? 

    Relatedly....allowing users to change an offensive name but only for themselves is a great solution. This allows borderline cases to keep their username without TS being all heavyhanded and draconian, but also allows the offended party not to have to see something that is, for them, icky. And if enough people flag a given username, TS can take a look at the bigger picture and see if this person is, indeed, valorizing a child abuser, or merely really loves a town in Ohio.

    Enthusiastic thumbs up for this idea, with love, 

    Former Comments Moderator for Very Large Internet Company
    Posted 13 months ago by Epilady Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Apologies, but when I got to Pedo Murderface actually posting, I LOL'd so hard, and I normally don't even do that LOL thing, hard or otherwise.

    Also, I'm German. I *still* LOL'd at Hitler's post. More apologies. Apparently, my humour gene isn't quite so dead yet.

    I once had a student with the last name "Fick", meaning "f*ck" in English - the poor girl couldn't even get an email address with any company in Germany because they deemed her last name offensive. Eventually, she married to get rid of it. Which I found rather sad.
    Posted 13 months ago by Alyx Sands Subscriber! | Permalink
  • xev, i do not love you anymore.

    now i have to go put on dry pants.
    Posted 13 months ago by flask Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I understand. Love is a strong word. I'll settle for infatuated with, or powerfully attracted to.
    Posted 13 months ago by Xev Subscriber! | Permalink
  • To answer Xev:

    1) I used you as an example because you are a celebrity whose coat tails I could ride on and also I knew you would take it well.  I didn't want to use the name "Foo" and have it turn out to be a real Glitch name and then end up offending Foo by accident.  Also, I have a huge crush on you.  Who can blame me!

    2) You asked about how much translation would happen beyond the rendering of the names of Glitches.  I propose no further translation. If someone said "Pedo Murderface" out loud in Ur or in a Forum post or whatever, that text would not be translated to the corresponding name preferred by the players who renamed him.  There's no way to know unambiguously what the speaker or writer meant when they typed "Pedo Murderface".  Maybe they were talking about their favorite pizza.  Maybe "Pedo Murderface" is the name of some kind of down-tempo thrash band.  Oh man, I would eat/listen to that.  Yum.

    3) You didn't explicitly ask, but I'm going to answer anyway: "how exactly would players use this?"  This feature would only be used by players who don't want to see "Pedo Murderface" in Ur or all over the message boards (we all know what a spammer PM is!) and would prefer to see "Booooo this Glitch" instead.  I presume it is not likely that the person who is offended by the name "Pedo Murderface" would also be friends with people who hang out with PM, so the confusing scenario you described would be rare and also hilarious when its nature is uncovered.

    The point of my proposal is to make it so that trolls cannot grief people merely by choosing offensive names because the victims will have the ability to choose what they see if they don't like a glitch's name.  If trolls are going to grief people, they have to do it overtly.
    Posted 13 months ago by Crag Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Understood. I still think that has the potential to create a great deal of confusion, and in many respects, defeats the social purposes of glitch.

    If a name is so offensive, why not simply block/ignore that player?
    Posted 13 months ago by Xev Subscriber! | Permalink
  • There is/was one name a player had chosen to use here that made me positively cringe every time I saw him/her, I do my best to avoid him/her and, thankfully, I haven't seen this person lately,and hopefully it is because he/she opted to take on a more "acceptable" name.
    As for this thread, I have no idea,what the name in question here was,and even less of a clue what it was alleged to refer to,but it seems to me an odd thing to find so many upset about TS asking for this name change, when just a few short weeks ago a cooking utensil had to be renamed because there was an outcry of distress over the old name,ie 'the Pugilistic Grill'.
    Ultimately it seems all players should avoid using names that are obviously abrasive,such as references to private anatomical body parts/acts,religious affairs,racial, and,clearly, names of people who have intentionally harmed innocent people.
    I am not knocking people who have innocently acquired a name which by chance ends up being associated with some type of trauma/event/person,but there are those who choose such names because they think they're being clever,or they think they can get away with it,or they intend to cause grief (in my view such people are just plain dumb), and such players should be forced to change their name,here within the game community ~how they choose to present themselves outside the game is of no concern to me,but -rightly or wrongly so- you will very likely end up losing out on many good opportunities,simply because of how you present yourself to other people,be that in attitude, clothes,or deliberately abrasive language and names.
    Posted 13 months ago by ~Scilly~ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • i'm pretty sure that the "outcry" over the famous pugilist came not from the people but rather from the attorneys of the famous pugilist.

    that's a different kettle of trees entirley.
    Posted 13 months ago by flask Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I am intrigued by the idea of being able to rename a Glitch with an offensive-to-you moniker, but it probably should only be available to do if you blocked the person. I don't know if you see the people you chat / IM blocked in Ur (I assume you do if you are both on the same street at the same time), so this would be a rare event indeed...running across the obnoxious or offensive person within the game and ALSO choosing to rename them "Derrière Chapeau" or whatever.
    Posted 13 months ago by ✰ Lorelei ✰ Subscriber! | Permalink
  • That's not the case, flask. Stoot specifically addressed the theory that there were legal matters involved in the grill's name change: www.glitch.com/forum/genera...

    "Many of us never really liked it (for the reasons that you mentioned) and we had a recent complaint from a player which made us think more about it, and so we decided to finally change it. No legal threats were involved :)" -stoot barfield
    Posted 13 months ago by Little Miss Giggles Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "Ha ha, phantom story, broody murderface! I cheeze-it your potato completely. But, if I may whiteboard an soliloquy, marzipan this: Seven bumblebees woozlewazzle into a turkish divan. What then, broody? What then?"

    Okay Xev. You win. This actually parses. You won Glitch!
    (Actually, this reminds me a bit of nadsat.)
    Posted 13 months ago by CrashTestPilot Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Lorelei's proposed amendment (can only rename Glitches you've blocked) makes sense to me.  I endorse it.
    Posted 13 months ago by Crag Subscriber! | Permalink
  • That still leaves an issue with forum conversations. As far as I know, blocked / ignored glitchen aren't affected in the forums, just in-game.

    If the renaming only applies to in-game interaction, that seems like an awful lot of effort for a glitch you've already blocked or ignored. The only occasion you'd encounter them would be if they were walking on the same street as you. If the name isn't SO offensive that it's going to be addressed by TS, this kind of feature shouldn't be necessary.

    If it's a name that offends you personally but isn't considered offensive enough to be changed, be the bigger person and just move on. Don't belabor the point.
    Posted 13 months ago by Xev Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I completely agree, Xev.  It's hard for me to understand taking offense at names to begin with.  If it were up to me, folks could have racist names and when I saw them I would just treat their names as a sign that they are someone I want nothing to do with.  I don't think it would disrupt my enjoyment of Ur in the slightest. 

    I don't want anyone to be discouraged from joining in on the fun.  I don't want to tell anyone "you just have to cope" if it's possible to improve their experience without hurting anyone else's.  That goes equally for folks with blatantly offensive names and folks who are overly sensitive.

    Maybe the simplest (and therefore best) solution is to just make blocking include not seeing names.  I can't think of a likely case in which only a Glitch's name were offensive and nothing else about them.  Perhaps it's also not necessary to propagate the blocking outside of Ur to the message boards and third-party tools, though that could be a more complicated discussion.
    Posted 13 months ago by Crag Subscriber! | Permalink
  • "when I saw them I would just treat their names as a sign that they are someone I want nothing to do with."

    THIS. Instead of treating "offensive" stuff as something that should be hidden and corrected, let it be exactly what it is - a clear warning to you that you're not interested in interacting with this person.

    On the flip side, some people name themselves racier stuff to weed out people they don't want to interact with (people who will be offended easily). It's a two way street, especially in online communities, where the username is used to gauge reaction and interaction.  

    While I agree that an initiative to hide usernames when blocking someone is a simpler solution, for a lot of people that adds an additional layer of difficulty. I ban people for different reasons. Some people just annoy me in the chat, others get a little too intensely involved in my online activities. 

    If those people are rendered anonymous (their usernames stripped) by the blocking functionality, I can't tell if the person I blocked is someone I want to avoid in-game, or if I'm fine interacting with them one-on-one, but not in a chat room. 

    Ultimately, this solution isn't giving people who are offended additional power to control their game experience, it's actually limiting them severely. It would also directly impact everyone else who would use the block feature regardless of whether or not they're offended by usernames at all.

    Everyone then has an extreme choice: Handicap your game experience by blocking people, or don't block anyone at all.
    Posted 13 months ago by Xev Subscriber! | Permalink
  • It's funny how people can find player names offensive yet are completely fine with people running around naming chickens after the recently deceased. As much as I dislike someone, it was pretty tasteless that people were running around naming all the animals Steve Jobs back then.
    Posted 13 months ago by Supermerlion Subscriber! | Permalink
  • Interesting thread....now, I'm off for a wank.
    Posted 13 months ago by Bisquitine Subscriber! | Permalink
  • mmm better
    Posted 13 months ago by Bisquitine Subscriber! | Permalink
  • I don't understand why you people don't just use your perfectly respectable real names like I do. Have some pride!
    Posted 13 months ago by Aleph Zero Subscriber! | Permalink
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