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I just got on reddit (I know. oops) to post for some advice about getting back into 40k (I've just been collecting models for painting mostly as of late instead of playing), and to save you peeps from another "40k n00b halp!" post. So to get to the point, the subreddit was having some flame war with another site and decided to insult them as much as possible until they shut down their page. I thought it was hilarious, until I read the insults, most of which were slurs against LGBT people.

I want to say that I don't care much for "political correctness" as I feel it too often prevents people from expressing themselves. Plus, it still accommodates offensive language, it just changes the vocabulary. My problem is that the default verbal attack people tend to have on the internet, across the table, or over headset is to use gay slurs. The second seems to be about sex/gender (which a lot of people think are the same thing)..

I usually don't , but this type of stuff wounds me. You never get used to it. You never get "tougher" or more accustomed to it. It never just plinks off your armor. At least for me. So what can be done about this type of behavior? I know this isn't something that everyone does, but it certainly is something the loudest people do.

Sorry if this should be in OT, I just want to know how you dudes handle this within the gaming community. I certainly exercise the "just don't play them" rule when I hear people saying this stuff but it's still overheard and seems to be getting worse.

There were insults against anyone and everything. The whole point was to be as crass and offensive as possible.

I wouldn't use a campaign aimed to be as offensive as possible to stop other sites from stealing content as any sort of indication about the wargaming community.

D'ya think it could've been done any other way? That whole debacle is only a symptom I feel. I want to know what can actually be done to combat hatespeech within gaming without resorting to "heterosexually challenged" etc.

You can't do anything except for being a better example yourself.

Awww, See? That's just super nice and makes me feel very empowered.

 Sigvatr wrote:
You can't do anything except for being a better example yourself.

This sums up mu feelings on this matter

 melkorthetonedeaf wrote:
D'ya think it could've been done any other way? That whole debacle is only a symptom I feel. I want to know what can actually be done to combat hatespeech within gaming without resorting to "heterosexually challenged" etc.

But there dozens of other incredibly crass, racist, and generally offensive titles.

That was the entire point. A site was stealing content wholesale, so to send a message, they included incredibly offensive things to bring notice to the site's owner. It worked, because in the thread, the site's owner said he was taking it down and would seek permission before using content.

It's not a debacle about hatred of a certain people, it was a way to send a message to a site stealing content. That's it. None of it was serious.

I think the point that the OP is trying to make is that in order to send the message, they used slurs and hate speech typically aimed at the LGBT Community. I believe his question is why do they resort to that instead of say ... racial slurs against blacks, latinos, or asians?

"None of it was serious" ... hate speech in jest is still hate speech.

Exactly. You can't expect it to roll off everyone's back just so, when the words themselves (not just the intent) are inflammatory.

Is everyone then equally offended by all the other comments in the titles?

Because for every homophobic slur I saw, there were a dozen others about supporting ISIS, loving Hitler, and equating MMMOS.com to the illuminati.

My point is that this thread was started in response to a campaign aimed to write down as many offensive things as possible. To that extent, clearly it worked, in that people got offended, and the content is no longer being stolen.

You know, inform yourselves about all this. This entire thread is trying to make an issue using an example that is not indicative of anything other than people deliberately trying to be as offensive as possible.

Thread about sci-fi gamer
Thread about MMMOS.com

no sure why the OP is singling out the gaming community, clearly this is a problem with society as a whole.

I blame religion for propagating the idea that same sex relationships are a sin. if you look at civilisations pre-Christianity/Islam, homosexuality/lesbianism was open and even celebrated. So, if you want to point the blame, organised religion is where you should start, rather than the gaming community.

 tyrannosaurus wrote:
no sure why the OP is singling out the gaming community, clearly this is a problem with society as a whole.

I am in agreement with tyrannosaurus, the hate speech being propagated in the 40k subreddit is systemtic of reddit as a whole- and reddit tends to be a variable microcosm of the overall community. I see this sort of thing in all sorts of different parts of reddit, it has nothing to do with the gaming community and everything to do with society as a whole.

As far as what do to about it- I think Blacksails hit the nail on the head. Don't be a part of it.

Reddit is pretty terrible for most things. Trolls and slimeballs. I've asked for actual advice on what looked like a decent forum and got insulted by 90% of people replying just because they can.

I think it's called the "reality filter".

If they said those things IRL they'd get the crap kicked out of them.

The internet creates a buffer of sorts so people can take out their frustrations on other without consequence.

It's also another way people try to discredit those they don't like publicly with minimal risk to themselves.

 tyrannosaurus wrote:
no sure why the OP is singling out the gaming community, clearly this is a problem with society as a whole.

I blame religion for propagating the idea that same sex relationships are a sin. if you look at civilisations pre-Christianity/Islam, homosexuality/lesbianism was open and even celebrated. So, if you want to point the blame, organised religion is where you should start, rather than the gaming community.

I'm not even going to start on how immensely offensive that is.

Are people still having a hard time understanding that the entire subreddit was trying to be as offensive as possible?

If you're using this type of event to make a claim about wargamers having a problem with homophobia, then you must clearly be equally alarmed with all the ISIS supporters and people who think Hitler was an okay dude within the wargaming community.

Read the threads I linked. You'll notice one of the lines says to make every title as unfit for public consumption as humanly possible.

Being offended by this is exactly what the goal was. They achieved their goal by having the site in question stop stealing their stuff.

Don't make this into an issue its clearly not about.

The extremists at both ends of the spectrum are a minority, but because they make the most noise they seem like a majority.

 Blacksails wrote:
Are people still having a hard time understanding that the entire subreddit was trying to be as offensive as possible?

If you're using this type of event to make a claim about wargamers having a problem with homophobia, then you must clearly be equally alarmed with all the ISIS supporters and people who think Hitler was an okay dude within the wargaming community.

Read the threads I linked. You'll notice one of the lines says to make every title as unfit for public consumption as humanly possible.

Being offended by this is exactly what the goal was. They achieved their goal by having the site in question stop stealing their stuff.

Don't make this into an issue its clearly not about.

No we all get it, still does change the fact it a sad thing and should be pointed out and hopefully in the end less people will going to reddit.

Noir wrote:


No we all get it, still does change the fact it a sad thing and should be pointed out and hopefully in the end less people will going to reddit.

What's sad?

I don't get it. You're offended by something with the express and clear intent to be offensive for a very specific end goal.

I don't understand any of the issues brought up by the OP.

If the OP suspects there's a problem with the community, then I suggest new evidence is brought up, because that specific reddit example is rather poor.

 Blacksails wrote:

Noir wrote:


No we all get it, still does change the fact it a sad thing and should be pointed out and hopefully in the end less people will going to reddit.

What's sad?

I don't get it. You're offended by something with the express and clear intent to be offensive for a very specific end goal.

I don't understand any of the issues brought up by the OP.

If the OP suspects there's a problem with the community, then I suggest new evidence is brought up, because that specific reddit example is rather poor.

There's nothing better than talking about how much you hate communities belittling another group of people by...belittling another group of people.

"Those redditors are such vile trash!"

Hey man, gotta get that hate out against someone.

Especially when the entire point everything was offensive was because they wanted it to be offensive to get content removed on another site.

Reason doesn't matter when you get to participate in a public thrashing. Come on everyone, pile in!

 Blacksails wrote:
Especially when the entire point everything was offensive was because they wanted it to be offensive to get content removed on another site.

Doesn't matter the reason, I view poeple on what the say or in this case type, you don't want to look like a hate filled jerk don't act like one, period.

Noir wrote:


Doesn't matter the reason, I view poeple on what the say or in this case type, you don't want to look like a hate filled jerk don't act like one, period.

They were asked by the mod of the forum to make the titles of the threads as offensive as possible because another site was stealing their content.

You can act all morally superior all you want, but getting offended about this or casting these people in a bad light is a little ridiculous when you consider the context and actually go read most of the titles.

None of those people are hate filled jerks.

 Blacksails wrote:

Noir wrote:


Doesn't matter the reason, I view poeple on what the say or in this case type, you don't want to look like a hate filled jerk don't act like one, period.

They were asked by the mod of the forum to make the titles of the threads as offensive as possible because another site was stealing their content.

You can act all morally superior all you want, but getting offended about this or casting these people in a bad light is a little ridiculous when you consider the context and actually go read most of the titles.

None of those people are hate filled jerks.

So if the mod ask them to go out into the street and same the same things, you be OK with that. Becouse they don't really mean it.

Wait were you one of them and now trying to make yourself feel better becouse you followed the crowd, thinking it was cool to say all that stuff becouse everyone else did. That thinking caused lots of issue over the course of history.

Noir wrote:


So if the mod ask them to go out into the street and same the same things, you be OK with that. Becouse they don't really mean it.

Oh, yeah, cause that's totally the same thing.

That's your argument? Have you read most of the titles? Have you read the mod posts? Did you understand the situation? Did you see how it resolved?

Seriously, context is important here.

You can do better than a slippery slope fallacy.

I'll admit that I did post this after getting fed up with the MMMO/SciFi Gamer stuff, but it's an issue that I experience much more within the gaming community than most other places I go.

Just to be clear, I'm MTF trans, and I live in a very very RED state. I get a lot of gak. And I would say I get more from "gamers" than any other group. I still haven't been back to the gaming store where I was told my face was being raped. I no longer frequent AchievementHunter.com, even though I love most of their content.

I worry that these subtle jokes and jabs ("lololomg get over it, don't be so sensitive") will just keep getting worse. Maybe I shouldn't expect so much from people, but I would hate for our community to be lumped in with other hategroups.

BTW, I'm super glad the sub got those places to shut down, but I think a middle finger watermark would have been more fun.

 Blacksails wrote:

Noir wrote:


So if the mod ask them to go out into the street and same the same things, you be OK with that. Becouse they don't really mean it.

Oh, yeah, cause that's totally the same thing.

That's your argument? Have you read most of the titles? Have you read the mod posts? Did you understand the situation? Did you see how it resolved?

Seriously, context is important here.

You can do better than a slippery slope fallacy.

No I get it you think becouse it is on the internet, it is all good. I think if you aren't willing to do it off the internet you should do it on the internet. The reason people post insults shouldn't matter, what matters is what people do. Either you have respected for others or you don't, someone with a position of power (the mod) sayings go ahead it OK here doesn't change that fact.

Ouch! I've injured myself again rolling my eyes so much...

Really, this whole thread is pretty pointless. It's obvious it wasn't "The Gaming Community" and obvious many more variants of insults were represented. The OP is cherry picking things to support their cause.


Also, Louie CK said it best about a common gay slur:

TOTALLY NOT SAFE FOR WORK OR PEOPLE EASILY OFFENDED BY GAY SLURS WITH A FUNNY CONTEXT

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fcja4WFFzDw

 melkorthetonedeaf wrote:
Awww, See? That's just super nice and makes me feel very empowered.

Not sure if you're being sarcastic or not.