Is slack a private social club and other issues my sorry ass has landed itself in
April 19, 2019 at 8:03 am
(This post was last modified: April 19, 2019 at 8:25 am by Angrboda.)
On Wednesday I was banned from slack. The incident that prompted my banning was that LadyForCamus had registered some concerns about the use of the word nigger on the forum. Losty remarked that she hadn't noticed it to be particularly prevalent, but that might have been because of inactivity in certain areas. Me, in my inimitable style, decided to respond humorously with, "Whassup, nigger?" Upon seeing this, an administrator of slack, steelcurtain, who as many of you know is black, apparently took great offense to my use of the word nigger and my expression and unceremoniously removed my privileges on slack, stating that he was going to put me on "pause." I have some concerns that this is an example of reverse racism on his part, but since he has chosen so far to ignore my request for an explanation, I'm waiting to hear his explanation.
I asked Tiberius about it in PM, and he suggested that I start a thread in the Questions For Staff forum. I have not done so because such threads are private and in my view the administration of slack already suffers from a lack of transparency and specifically request that staff provide their feedback on the matter in this, a public thread, and treat it the same as if it were in the Questions For Staff area. In my experience, slack has been run with a completely different set of standards than the forum at large, making it more of a private social club for specially favored AF members rather than a resource that is available to all so long as they are able to participate without causing problems. I may be mistaken on this, but it has been my impression that in the past, certain people were excluded from slack, not because they had done anything wrong, but simply because one or more of staff didn't like them, or didn't like what they were saying on the forum, and that staff member wanted to exclude that voice from slack. IIRC, that was the situation with Hammy, and possibly Excited Penguin. Regardless, access to slack appears to have very loose criteria which seem to largely correspond to the personal whims of the administrators and owner of the forum, and that behavior is facilitated by the complete lack of transparency of the administration of slack. So I have created a public thread, both so that members of staff can publically comment on the specific situation, and so that the membership at large can chime in on the lack of transparency and any concerns they have as to how slack has been administered. At the very least, I would like Tiberius to explain his standards in administrating slack, and if they differ from how the forum is administered, why it is.
As to the specific incident in question, I did not intend to offend anybody with my humorous comment, and I'm not sure that an impartial observer would find it offensive, but if it was more offensive than I realize, then I have simply made an error in judgement and I apologize for my behavior. I especially want to apologize to LadyForCamus if she was offended by my comment. I did not think it through at the time, but I guess I was just trying to start a conversation and add a little mirth to our proceedings. If that was the wrong thing to do, then I am sorry for having done so, and I apologize. I'm pretty mouthy and have a very sharp tongue, often attempting to accomplish my rhetorical goals through withering sarcasm and snark. Maybe my politically incorrect ass just isn't appropriate for slack. I don't know.
Regardless, immediately following the incident, I PM'd steelcurtain asking for an explanation as to why my account on slack had been deactivated. He for his part has chosen to ignore me and not answer my PM. I think that at minimum when a staff member takes an action such as this, the action itself should at least be communicated to the member, along with the staff position on such behaviors. That steelcurtain hasn't communicated with me on the issue seems to imply that, as already suggested, this may be a personal issue with steelcurtain who has issues with white people using that language, but I'll let him explain himself as he has so far failed to do. At minimum, this is yet another piece of the lack of the transparency of the process and administration of slack that what I have experienced as a rather traumatic event should be responded to with shunning and silence, rather than clear communications. This is how cliques in high school operate, and I personally think it is an embarrassment.
So, in closing I have two questions which have yet to be answered:
1) Why were my priviliges on slack removed?
2) Is the removal of my privileges on slack permanent?
(ETA: It occurs to me that this is not the only questionable behavior of steelcurtain in respect to race and offense. He and jack repeatedly refer to himself as Bujee (sp?) and frisa, both of which I understand are derogatory labels in Spanish. Apparently steelcurtain and jack are allowed to engage in the use of questionable Spanish insults in their humor, but I am not allowed to do likewise. I don't have an issue with jack and steelcurtain using such language, but if an administrator sets an example of such, it seems rather hypocritical and unfair of them to enforce a different standard when the language is from a different context, one which the specific administrator may have personal or political issues with, issues which go beyond any professional or official justifications for his or her attitude about such usage. But again, this type of double standard in the administration of slack appears to be the norm rather than the exception. If slack is being run as just a special privilege for the friends of staff and other favored members, then I think that is inappropriate and slack needs to be dissociated from AF, if not shut down altogether. I welcome any opinions on the issue from the membership at large, all of whom are either directly or indirectly affected by this.)
I asked Tiberius about it in PM, and he suggested that I start a thread in the Questions For Staff forum. I have not done so because such threads are private and in my view the administration of slack already suffers from a lack of transparency and specifically request that staff provide their feedback on the matter in this, a public thread, and treat it the same as if it were in the Questions For Staff area. In my experience, slack has been run with a completely different set of standards than the forum at large, making it more of a private social club for specially favored AF members rather than a resource that is available to all so long as they are able to participate without causing problems. I may be mistaken on this, but it has been my impression that in the past, certain people were excluded from slack, not because they had done anything wrong, but simply because one or more of staff didn't like them, or didn't like what they were saying on the forum, and that staff member wanted to exclude that voice from slack. IIRC, that was the situation with Hammy, and possibly Excited Penguin. Regardless, access to slack appears to have very loose criteria which seem to largely correspond to the personal whims of the administrators and owner of the forum, and that behavior is facilitated by the complete lack of transparency of the administration of slack. So I have created a public thread, both so that members of staff can publically comment on the specific situation, and so that the membership at large can chime in on the lack of transparency and any concerns they have as to how slack has been administered. At the very least, I would like Tiberius to explain his standards in administrating slack, and if they differ from how the forum is administered, why it is.
As to the specific incident in question, I did not intend to offend anybody with my humorous comment, and I'm not sure that an impartial observer would find it offensive, but if it was more offensive than I realize, then I have simply made an error in judgement and I apologize for my behavior. I especially want to apologize to LadyForCamus if she was offended by my comment. I did not think it through at the time, but I guess I was just trying to start a conversation and add a little mirth to our proceedings. If that was the wrong thing to do, then I am sorry for having done so, and I apologize. I'm pretty mouthy and have a very sharp tongue, often attempting to accomplish my rhetorical goals through withering sarcasm and snark. Maybe my politically incorrect ass just isn't appropriate for slack. I don't know.
Regardless, immediately following the incident, I PM'd steelcurtain asking for an explanation as to why my account on slack had been deactivated. He for his part has chosen to ignore me and not answer my PM. I think that at minimum when a staff member takes an action such as this, the action itself should at least be communicated to the member, along with the staff position on such behaviors. That steelcurtain hasn't communicated with me on the issue seems to imply that, as already suggested, this may be a personal issue with steelcurtain who has issues with white people using that language, but I'll let him explain himself as he has so far failed to do. At minimum, this is yet another piece of the lack of the transparency of the process and administration of slack that what I have experienced as a rather traumatic event should be responded to with shunning and silence, rather than clear communications. This is how cliques in high school operate, and I personally think it is an embarrassment.
So, in closing I have two questions which have yet to be answered:
1) Why were my priviliges on slack removed?
2) Is the removal of my privileges on slack permanent?
(ETA: It occurs to me that this is not the only questionable behavior of steelcurtain in respect to race and offense. He and jack repeatedly refer to himself as Bujee (sp?) and frisa, both of which I understand are derogatory labels in Spanish. Apparently steelcurtain and jack are allowed to engage in the use of questionable Spanish insults in their humor, but I am not allowed to do likewise. I don't have an issue with jack and steelcurtain using such language, but if an administrator sets an example of such, it seems rather hypocritical and unfair of them to enforce a different standard when the language is from a different context, one which the specific administrator may have personal or political issues with, issues which go beyond any professional or official justifications for his or her attitude about such usage. But again, this type of double standard in the administration of slack appears to be the norm rather than the exception. If slack is being run as just a special privilege for the friends of staff and other favored members, then I think that is inappropriate and slack needs to be dissociated from AF, if not shut down altogether. I welcome any opinions on the issue from the membership at large, all of whom are either directly or indirectly affected by this.)
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