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I see that somebody has is using the Confederate stars and bars as his avatar:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/user/profile/92798.page

It seems in rather poor taste, but is that acceptable?

How about a Nazi German flag? Would that fly?

What's the distinction here?

Shouldn't this probably be a pm?

If he's a historical gamer I can understand it. I use an Ultramarine for my avatar, for example.

I prefer to ask the general question, so I can get mod / admin input on what they consider acceptable, or not.

Stars and Bars are not a sign of racism. Any offense found is based on media and your own personal interpretation, however incorrect it may be. Small amounts of research will help you.

The confederate flag was a flag of rebellion, since that is what the American Civil War was, a rebellion.

The feth that the Stars and Bars aren't. And any small amount of research will show that to you.

All of the fethers flying that flag as part of their identity are racist AF, and you know it.

 redleger wrote:
Stars and Bars are not a sign of racism. Any offense found is based on media and your own personal interpretation, however incorrect it may be. Small amounts of research will help you.

The confederate flag was a flag of rebellion, since that is what the American Civil War was, a rebellion.

A rebellion to keep slavery

as horrible as the cause they were fighting for was, the flag itself was not about slavery. There were many issues that brought on the civil war, top being states rights. Its an issue still in contention today.

Huh, that's not the user I thought you'd be linking to.
I'm pretty sure there's a user just straight up using the flag itself without the tenuous miniature context.

 redleger wrote:
as horrible as the cause they were fighting for was, the flag itself was not about slavery. There were many issues that brought on the civil war, top being states rights. Its an issue still in contention today.

Dude just stop, the number one reason was slavery we have the historical documents to back that up. You are just spewing the talking points the sons of the confederacy put out to make their cause look just when it really wasn't.

Interesting historical side note: That flag wasn't the flag of the confederate government.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ULBCuHIpNgU

But the flag generally known as the 'stars and bars' was preferred by the confederate army, as the official confederate flag looked too much like the US flag, which was a problem in combat.

Why don,t you talk to the person in question?

As above:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
I prefer to ask the general question, so I can get mod / admin input on what they consider acceptable, or not.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
As above:

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
I prefer to ask the general question, so I can get mod / admin input on what they consider acceptable, or not.

and i do believe its fair to give the accused a chance of defense instead of just a prosecution.

WTF? What "prosecution" are you talking about? This isn't a courtroom where some crime has been alleged.

It's simply me asking the board admins whether obviously racist imagery is acceptable for user avatars. And at this point in time, there is no question that the stars and bars are a racist symbol, same as the Nazi flag.


ETA - if you feel strongly about it, go ahead and PM him and let him trot out the debunked bullgak that the other guy already tried.

 JohnHwangDD wrote:
I see that somebody has is using the Confederate stars and bars as his avatar:
http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/user/profile/92798.page

It seems in rather poor taste, but is that acceptable?

How about a Nazi German flag? Would that fly?

What's the distinction here?

I had assumed that he was a historical miniatures player. As posted, I'm not offended by that avatar.

If a poster that plays Germans in a WWII had a miniature carrying a Nazi flag or a tank with a Nazi symbol, I would also not be offended.

If their avatar was just:



then perhaps that would be in poor taste.

Since we are on the subject of poor taste, I would like to point out this username is EXTREMELY poor taste and offensive IMHO.

http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/user/profile/29625.page

And that is why I ask the admins to weigh in over what is and isn't appropriate.

I will just point out that the user in question has a total of three posts about historical games, all of them from the same thread on feudal Japan. So I guess it's possible that he's just showing off his favorite model from his civil war army, but I don't think it's very likely.

Racist Avatars are absolutely not allowed.

The best course of action if you believe one is would be to use the Mod Alert system or PM a Mod so that it can be looked at and a decision can be made.

It will almost certainly be a group decision as to whether or not it will be allowed.

Much thanks, Alpharius. I'll send you a PM, and you can lock this. Thanks again!