/tg/Station 13

Manuel, about 2:45PM EST

Admin: JusticeGoat
Byond Name: Rockcabbage
Round: 184398

Had just spawned back in as a positronic brain, and was placed in a cyborg. My borg name is "N1G-R0", and has been without issue for some hundreds of hours across years of play without incident. I was promptly bwoinked for a Rule 11 violation, which reads as follows:

Intentionally seeking to demean others due to their actual or perceived race, sex, gender, disability, orientation or the like is not tolerated. It is not our goal to create or enforce a list of banned words and instead our goal to eject the expression of bigotry from the community. Enforcement will be less PC based and more common sense based with that goal in mind.

This means rather than warning or banning for quoting a usage such as "Griff McNazi got banned for calling somebody a faggot" or even things like "nigga pls" and "what are you faggots playing" which are generally not statements made to be bigoted, we'll focus more on statements like "you talk like a [insert stereotype]" or "x is a [insert slur]".

I can not understand how my name could be construed as targeted bigotry. It is quite obviously a play on "Negro", but nothing about that word nor any action I took could be reasonably interpreted as demeaning, bigoted, harassment, etc. It is even expressly worded that "things like 'nigga pls'" should not be warned or banned, which could quite directly be offensive as "nigga" is just the southern dialectic pronunciation of the racial slur. Should the word "black" also be banned from use?

Admin expectations of the enforcement of this rule are as follows:

Bigotry - noun

big·​ot·​ry ∣ \ˈbi-gə-trē\

acts or beliefs characteristic of a bigot


Bigot - noun

big·​ot ∣ \ˈbi-gət\

One who regards or treats the members of a group (such as a racial or ethnic group) with hatred and intolerance


When deciding rather or not to enforce this rule on a player, as well as how severe of an enforcement, please consider the following questions:

Are they expressing hatred or intolerance toward a protected group (race, sex, gender, disability, orientation (note: both majorities and minorities count))?
How likely are they to know that their actions/words are expressing hatred or intolerance toward a protected group?
Assuming they read and remember the rules, how likely are they to make the connection that their conduct is not allowed? (Not all of our players come from first world country with a culture that places an emphasis on promoting tolerance and sensitivity)
Have they tried to previously claim instances were accidental references but they just keep accidentally being a bigot?
It's ok to give somebody a warning or a lighter punishment at first and crack down harder if they keep it up.

And finally, remember, the goal is to remove the 'expression' of bigotry from the community, not to establish a thought crime against bigots, they can feel how ever they want as long as they can keep it to themselves.

It does not track that using a play on "negro" as a name expressed hatred or intolerance of a "protected group."
I believe drawing the line in the sand at bigotry, and racial epithets expressed to denote negativity or offense is excellent and a natural clarification of rule 1, which fosters a healthy and welcoming community.
My case is clearly a subversion of admin expectations and not a violation of rule 11 as written above. If there is a private list of words in and of themselves completely banned from statement, that should be stated in the rule and the expectation of Rule 11 enforcement should be updated accordingly.

You don't see what "N1G-R0" could be read as other than "negro"?

N One G Dash R Zero

I didn't realize this was an admin complaint, which means you need to appeal this note first:

Admin's banning conduct can not be the subject of an admin complaint. That is what appeals are for, and the appeal leading to the ban being overturn is the minimum bar required before a complaint can be filed that references the ban conduct.