Somebody started a thread by posting a particularly nasty homophobic comment on these message boards in the last 24 hours. I won't dignify it by specifying it because at this stage I think it is fairly obvious. I realise it was a mistake on my part to reply to it earlier as I did, albeit to express disapproval. But this isn't the first time some vile homophobic remarks have been posted on these message boards, somehow even if it's done under in the guise of a joke it's worse. I wonder if those of us who loathe those kind of comments need a better strategy for dealing with them than just trying to deal with them by replying in the offending thread.
There are a couple of reasons why I doubt homophobic posts can be successfully dealt with in a centralised way. Firstly the Rules don't seem to help for a couple of reasons - the 'no personal attacks' rule only seems to apply when an individual member is personally attacked in an 'unprovoked' way, so homophobic people can make generally offensive remarks out of the blue and remain in the clear as far as any moderator action is concerned. Secondly most of us probably support people's freedom of expression anyway, so would argue in favour of somebody being able to make offensive remarks. The issue is how we respond to them. And I think that simply replying to a deliberately homophobic thread started by a homophobe just dignifies the attack on gay people. It also means the thread keeps getting bumped to the top of whichever selection of the boards you happen to be looking at which encourages more replies.
Although I feel personally attacked, it's not just because I'm gay/bisexual myself that I'm offended, it's also the implications for what happens if the same kind of generalised remarks are made about race, gender, disability or many other aspects of people's identity.
So wouldn't it be a better strategy for anti-homophobic, pro-free speech forum members to just not reply? Let the thread disappear of its own accord. Start a new thread about the homophobic aspects of it and respond to that maybe. I just feel that to keep replying, whatever the content of the reply, is to let the homophobes win far more attention than they deserve. If it's going to get bumped, let the homophobes do it - let them identify themselves, and provide an alternative thread where the rest of us can decide what we want to do about it. This is not to say I'm against the contents of people's replies in that thread. A lot of sensible things have been said. I just think there is a better way of making those statements than to keep replying to a homophobic opening post. I'd be interested in people's replies. It's about what makes a forum an enjoyable yet thought-provoking environment, and how to stop a forum becoming a threatening and unpleasant experience for large sections of its own membership.
There are a couple of reasons why I doubt homophobic posts can be successfully dealt with in a centralised way. Firstly the Rules don't seem to help for a couple of reasons - the 'no personal attacks' rule only seems to apply when an individual member is personally attacked in an 'unprovoked' way, so homophobic people can make generally offensive remarks out of the blue and remain in the clear as far as any moderator action is concerned. Secondly most of us probably support people's freedom of expression anyway, so would argue in favour of somebody being able to make offensive remarks. The issue is how we respond to them. And I think that simply replying to a deliberately homophobic thread started by a homophobe just dignifies the attack on gay people. It also means the thread keeps getting bumped to the top of whichever selection of the boards you happen to be looking at which encourages more replies.
Although I feel personally attacked, it's not just because I'm gay/bisexual myself that I'm offended, it's also the implications for what happens if the same kind of generalised remarks are made about race, gender, disability or many other aspects of people's identity.
So wouldn't it be a better strategy for anti-homophobic, pro-free speech forum members to just not reply? Let the thread disappear of its own accord. Start a new thread about the homophobic aspects of it and respond to that maybe. I just feel that to keep replying, whatever the content of the reply, is to let the homophobes win far more attention than they deserve. If it's going to get bumped, let the homophobes do it - let them identify themselves, and provide an alternative thread where the rest of us can decide what we want to do about it. This is not to say I'm against the contents of people's replies in that thread. A lot of sensible things have been said. I just think there is a better way of making those statements than to keep replying to a homophobic opening post. I'd be interested in people's replies. It's about what makes a forum an enjoyable yet thought-provoking environment, and how to stop a forum becoming a threatening and unpleasant experience for large sections of its own membership.
