"I'm being Repressed, I'm being repressed"

[Depmode]

Welcome to the world of the internet, where information travels at hyper speed and people from all over the world can communicate with each other at any second of the 24 hour day.  

Today, something happened that I was not anticipating. I was informed that two of my posts had been reported as being vulgar/insulting, and were thus edited for content.  At first, a couple things shot to my head right off the bat:

1. Where did I miss the forums rules outlining what could be talked about and what could not be talked about. Where were the forum rules that dictated what was off limits as a topic, the rules that told me where my freedom of speech needed to be contained in the community?

2. Why was one of my post being altered when in my views, it was no more "vulgar" than a previous post I was responding to. The other posts by the other forum members were not altered.

3. Finally, why was what I viewed as a joke, being taken so seriously? I won’t go into great details here, but it's not like I had nudity or "swear" words in my post (the classic easy to go against things).

So these three issues shot right to my head, and made me start thinking about the online community I am participating in. We all come from different areas, and we all have different perceptions on the world we live in. At another forum, I was once posting in a thread that was titled "Sexy Actresses." The thread did not had any nudity in it, but it had pictures from magazines such as Maxim and Entertainment Weekly. There was one female poster that was saying things such as "This thread needs to be deleted right now! Kids come to this sight! This forum MUST be G rated!" This throws up alarms right away. Here I am at a website that is all about collecting, and star wars, and is mainly adults that like to communicate from all over the world. Here is a lady that is demanding that the site become a G rated site. I responded with something to the tune of "The Star Wars movies are not even rated G. The world is not a G world. We live in a reality where there is happiness, death, good, and bad. Not everything happens in carealot, but at the same time, not everything broods from hell." I understood the woman’s conviction that she wanted a safe place for her children to visit... But really, how does she figure she can and wants to make me a G rated person? If she doesn't want her kids to see or read something, then don't let them. Set the limits on them, don't set them on others. This is just one small example of what I am thinking about.

On another note, I was also told by the moderator that because I am a guy, there is a double standard about guys and girls. If guys say anything in a sexual way about women, it can be taken bad, and thus should be kept on the down low. Remember I said double standard? But apparently at this site guys are just supposed to take these comments. Now, I couldn't care if someone said something about a guy or a girl, especially if it's in a joking manner, as that is all I've seen at this particular site. What I'm not down with IS a double standard, and it's not cool.

Welcome to reality? Yeah, right on. I hear ya, and I've been here. I'm in reality, and I'm also connected to the internet, and sharing a part of my life through a new medium of our culture. It's a tricky area, and it's something that everyone is going to have to work on.

Now to my main point at hand. I don't want this to happen to me again, where my posts get altered, and I in turn feel like an ass. I've felt rather comfortable here, and I've enjoyed everyone I've met here. If posts are going to be edited, I think it's not unjust of me to ask for a standard for the editors to base it off of.

I know a couple of you own this site. Its y'alls place and what y'all say goes. What DO y'all say? What one person thinks and says *MIGHT* not be cool and ok with what the next person says. As I've said already many times, we're all different people. Not everyone is going to be happy. I think there needs to be standards set up. Like a rule of conduct or whatever. No double standards. No letting some people slip and others not.  Is this going to be a G site? Is it going to be a XXX site? I mean who knows, really? I came here to talk about star wars, collecting, and to socialize. I'm sure everyone else is here for the same thing.

As a last comment... I mean no ill will to anyone, and I'm not mad. I wasn't even going to say anything until I recieved the double standard comment, and started thinking about how some people need to lighten up a little. I feel that the society I live in today harbors the belief that people can find anything vulgar, be offended, hurt, and have the right to complain about it to anyone. Personally, I feel offended by those people. I feel repressed and limited by their oppressing stance on life, and the inability to take a joke.  And that's my opinion; I can't help but have it.

Post thoughts below, as I'm sure some people will have some. I just typed this out quickly, so don't bother correcting my grammatical errors if any are present  

And once more, I'm not trying to be a jerk, or directing malice towards anyone. I would just like to get an opinion out here and hear some others thoughts, and hopefully issues like this can be aided (but something like this will never be permanently fixed, as it is life: ever changing and evolving.

[Jango Fettish]

Well, when it comes to "Freedom of Speech", that right is thrown out the window in a privately owned website, on the net. I've played that card once before, and to no avail.

Now, since I know the post in question, I think it can go both ways. A little "ham" reference went a little too far, and by little, I mean by the most minscule of proportions.
I understand and respect the editing decision made, as it's said moderators job to keep it "clean".

I'm not playing favorites, but I think the level of sensitivity was "upped" a little, being that it was a thread pertaining to a religious holiday, and it was merited.

I also see what you mean by the "double standards" which were apparent in the post. Thing is, the original pun in question wasn't as blatant as the reply. I would have rated the pun a PG-13, and the reply a PG.

Really, it's up to us to use our own discretion when it comes to posting. Not that I am a staff member of JD, although I'd like that  , I just want to remind everyone that we have 10 x more class then "certain sites" that would let this crap go on.

 Having said that, if you feel the need to post pics of hot chicks, and the outlet isn't available here, I'd say go on over to RS. They are alot more tolerant. I'm not saying start an undying allegiance with them, just because they are lenient, but just go there and do the picture thread, given it doesn't get too bad, with the motley crue of degenerates they have there, it may seem impossible.

I'm pretty sure that Chris B. is trying to establish himself as well as his site as one of the "better" sites/forums out there, and thats only going to be achieved by NOT being so tolerant when it comes to things that have lead to a once powerful forums demise, i.e. politics, post padding, pic threads, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I like women too, but out of respect to the owner, I stay on topic, unless someone of some authority gives me the green light. Well respcted Star Warssites are that because they all about Star Wars, not a mixed bag like "some sites" out there.

So, just use good taste when ya post here, folks. I am sure that it will go a long, long way.  

[JediMAC]

Like I already mentioned to you James, I understand your concern and possible confusion here.  But I thought my PMs would've explained things well enough, but I guess we can discuss it here as well, so that everyone else has a clear understanding of what we're shooting for here at JD.  Perhaps we should work on setting up the Forums Rules so that they're a little less vague regarding what are appropriate words and topics here.  I know we're a pretty "loose" and fun going bunch here, but there are some lines that we probably don't need to cross in the area of "good taste".

First of all, I think we can find more suitable words to play off of in the word association thread than "anus".  Sure, most of us are adults here, and this word (and body part) isn't such a big deal, but there are more enjoyable and suitable words to use for everyone involved than this one.  The word doesn't do much more than make us say "ew".  I'm sure there are other words that would have worked just as well, if not better, in that instance.

As for the second post, putting a picture of a kitty, to insinuate the slang term for a certain female body part, and suggesting someone hopefully gets some of it just isn't appropriate.  We have a number of female members here at JD that I'm sure were/would've been less than pleased to see such a suggestive analogy.  I realize there was a "ham" reference made earlier, and believe it or not, it was originally just about the particular type of meat that many of us eat at Easter time (as do I).  Perhaps there was a reply or two that followed that joked about it, but they were a little more subtle that your particular response...

As for the double standard issue, this is what I said to you via PM:

...folks can talk raunchy about us guys and we never really get offended by it, but when the raunchy talk is directed at, or is about, the ladies, they can often get quite offended.  So for that reason, we need to keep the female body part references a lot more subtle.  Sorry.  Hope you understand...

Perhaps if you and other members find this "double standard" unfair, the Staff here can discuss the eliminating of any and all potentially "racy" words or topics from this forum entirely, though I don't think that would be in our best interest.  Again, I apologize for the inconvenience, and/or any embarrasment that you may have suffered with these two edits, but we just felt that these instances really did nothing to enhance the overall discussion here at JediDefender.  Please feel free to contact any of the Staff if you have further questions on the matter.  In the meantime, we'll work on the Forum Rules to better address such areas of potential concern within the realm of questionable topics and words.  As for the owner of the site, I'm not really even sure he was aware of this issue when it occured...

The "Top 5 Hotties" thread is certainly OK for all (guys and gals) to enjoy though, and available to show off whomever you thing might be absolutely gorgeous out there - be they male or female...  

We're sorry for any confusion to James or any of our other JD forum members!  We appreciate your participation in our forums here at JediDefender, and value your thoughts and opinions, and will do all we can to continue to bring you the very best site and arena for discussion that we possibly can...