Signatures on Modified

Moxie · Post by **Moxie** » 29 Oct 2006 14:46

For anyone who is not aware, the only time a signature is visible is if the person browsing the forum in signed in. From what Mike tells me, this also means that if someone is using a search engine such as Google, their first and last name (in their signature) wonâ€™t come up.

Recently there was an upset because a user found another userâ€™s signature image offensive and inappropriate for an all ages forum.

How do we deal with this situation? We (the moderating staff) did not make this a poll because what we want you to give us suggestions and let us know how you feel about this issue.

brinard · Post by **brinard** » 29 Oct 2006 15:17

i feel that any signature would be acceptable, as long as there are no personal attacks.

i enjoy curse words, and i pepper my sentances with them as i feel it necessary. and i LIKE spicy. (i curse constantly. ) i dont want to be treated like a child and be punished for cursing.

i also feel that anyone who is offended by curse words in a signature can go about in there own way. i dont think censorship of an adult using a perfectly legal term is worth the time it took to censor them.

after all, this is the internet. it should not be taken seriously in any situation. who gives a flying fuck about what who says.

i also think that modified needs a wake up. everyone is being a doosh about shit that dosent matter. we cant even talk about drugs or nothing (in detail). i dont think images or posts about drug or drug paraphaneila should be censored.

okay, im ranting now. time to stop.

brian

HighDemonslayer · Post by **HighDemonslayer** » 29 Oct 2006 19:22

If you want this to be an all ages forum, then perhaps signatures have to be regulated.

Then again, if only one person complained, then maybe it's not that important.

You make the call, Moxie, Delete somebody's signature or make them change if you want.

This forum is for footbag, not people's immature attachment to profanity.

Or maybe the user who complained should be banned.

sen · Post by **sen** » 29 Oct 2006 21:31

I'm eighteen years old. I do not like profanity. It makes me uncomfortable. I wish I didn't have to read it in every other post on a forum about the sport I love, but it's there, so I deal with it. Whatever. It's especially bad in a signiture that is seen in every thread the user posts in and not just the particular post they used profanity in.

In the recent case you mentioned, I agree with the complainer. The signiture bothers me. In fact, I find my self looking over my should when it is on the screen to see if my mother can see it. I also get it off the screen as soon as possible.

Switch Kicker · Post by **Switch Kicker** » 30 Oct 2006 10:51

Completely depends on what the signature says...

If there is extreme overuse of certain curse words, or if it's directly offending a single person, or a specific group of people, it should not be allowed.

I think there is a happy medium to swearing.

However, drugs and alcohol have nothing to do with footbag, are illegal, and can get kids in trouble if they read about it while in school, or even in their parent's house. Making it so that those people can't visit the site. Pictures, and detailed conversations about drugs and alcohol should be banned from sigs and footbag related forums.

I might have more input later.

Peace,
Fred.

BenRea · Post by **BenRea** » 30 Oct 2006 11:58

if anyone from my family read/saw the things written in the signatures, you wouldnt be seeing me here anymore.

a.k.a- inapropriate

professor · Post by **professor** » 30 Oct 2006 14:30

BenRea wrote:if anyone from my family read/saw the things written in the signatures, you wouldnt be seeing me here anymore.

a.k.a- inapropriate

BenRea's signature wrote:I had your mom in bed last night, but the sex was really "the".

Tsk. Tsk.

dyalander · Post by **dyalander** » 30 Oct 2006 17:44

or if it's directly offending a single person, or a specific group of people, it should not be allowed.

I don't think this is a feasible approach to the problem at hand. People need a clear rule to be able to follow so everyone knows what they can and can't do, and what they can expect if they break the rule.
With this in mind the descision is between either - swearing is allowed in signatures. OR no swearing in signatures.

Personally, I have no problem with other people swearing - if my mother came past and saw curse words on the screen I wouldn't feel at all embarrased unless they were in one of my own posts (or more to the point of this thread, in my own signature). I also feel that since I'm OK with it in posts, I don't see why I shouldn't be OK with it in signatures. To me its not a matter of amount, either swearing is ok or it isn't, it doesn't matter if its one post or in every post. SUre if it was in every post, I'd probably become less interested, but that's probably got more to do with the fact that excessive swearing tends to coincide with the reduction of interesting content within a post. I don't really care if signatures are interesting or not. SO that's just why I think swearing should be allowed in signatures. Just my opinion, I don't really mind if everyone decides its better to go the other way and will happily enforce either rule.

Switch Kicker · Post by **Switch Kicker** » 31 Oct 2006 06:09

dyalander wrote:
or if it's directly offending a single person, or a specific group of people, it should not be allowed.
I don't think this is a feasible approach to the problem at hand. People need a clear rule to be able to follow so everyone knows what they can and can't do, and what they can expect if they break the rule.
With this in mind the descision is between either - swearing is allowed in signatures. OR no swearing in signatures.

Personally, I have no problem with other people swearing - if my mother came past and saw curse words on the screen I wouldn't feel at all embarrased unless they were in one of my own posts (or more to the point of this thread, in my own signature). I also feel that since I'm OK with it in posts, I don't see why I shouldn't be OK with it in signatures. To me its not a matter of amount, either swearing is ok or it isn't, it doesn't matter if its one post or in every post. SUre if it was in every post, I'd probably become less interested, but that's probably got more to do with the fact that excessive swearing tends to coincide with the reduction of interesting content within a post. I don't really care if signatures are interesting or not. SO that's just why I think swearing should be allowed in signatures. Just my opinion, I don't really mind if everyone decides its better to go the other way and will happily enforce either rule.

You can't put this in black and white. There's people that know how to swear, in a healthy amount, and then there are people that don't.

And out of the the people that don't, there are the people that don't swear at all, and then the people that swear way too much.

And then out of the people that swear too much, there are the people that need to put a swear word in every sentence, and then there are people like Drill SGT. Mozingo... "You put the fuckin' bolt-carrier into the fuckin' chamber of the fuckin' rifle, and then you fuckin' put the fuckin' butt and pins back into place, and the you pull the fuckin' charging handle to the rear, and then you fuckin' push in the fuckin'..." That guy had such incoherant speech... i hate that guy.

Anywho.... This can't be black and white. Not to mention, some words are considered worse than others.

There are no guidlines that you can just fallow, not without making modified "over moderated." It's going to have to be more like a "call it how you see it" deal.

Kinda like how i'm not allowed to wear my "beaver's love wood" tshirt in school. It has a beaver on it, chewing on some bark, but the teachers still know what it meas, so they can legitimately tell me to turn it inside out or what not.

I am by no means suggesting that the rules get THAT cracked down around here... That was just merely an example.

Goin to class now, peace,
Fred.

dyalander · Post by **dyalander** » 31 Oct 2006 16:48

Thats all well and good - but the community needs to decide what is left for mods to do, and what the community can do for itself.
IF the community decides swearing is not OK in signatures and mods should regulate it, then fine we will do it. But if not (whether that means some swearing is ok, but not others, or if it means all swearing is ok) then mods can't be asked to mod this issue and it is up to the community to do it. My point is that we can't simply have it so that any time a single person complains about a word the mods need to go pull it down - that is not feasible. The forums are run on community consensus - so either that consensus is put in black and white and enforced by mods - OR it remains unspoken in which case it needs to be decided by the whole community on a case by case basis.
SO - if you think "no swearing in signatures" should NOT be a rule, but that by same token it shouldn't be free reign, then what we should do is, not make the rule, but if someone is offended they need to post about it in discussion and have the community decide, then the mods can act out the will of the community.

professor · Post by **professor** » 31 Oct 2006 17:14

Wouldn't it be best to put a poll on this topic to find out what the community wants instead of everyone posting what they think should happen? This way we have concrete evidence of what the majority wants.

dyalander · Post by **dyalander** » 05 Nov 2006 16:24

Before putting in a poll I think its important people have time time think and re-think their position and discuss what its all about.

BenRea · Post by **BenRea** » 05 Nov 2006 16:47

professor wrote:
BenRea wrote:if anyone from my family read/saw the things written in the signatures, you wouldnt be seeing me here anymore.

a.k.a- inapropriate

BenRea's signature wrote:I had your mom in bed last night, but the sex was really "the".
Tsk. Tsk.

shredzilla · Post by **shredzilla** » 15 Nov 2006 23:04

Well, now it's time for me to be a mature adult, and give my reasons why I think vulgarity and profanity should not be included in signatures and avatars. I know most people thought my previoius way of handling it was poor, but it was meant to be of 'shock value' the same way I found it shocking that the policy was written to allow such things. In retrospect, it probably wasn't the best way to handle my frustration, but my discontent with the forum Admin's constant hypocracy fueled some of that fire as well.

Anyway, moving on...

I feel the same way as most in the fact that the forum shouldn't be 'over-moderated'. I know it doesn't seem that way, but I do. At the same time, I feel that a compromise should be reached regarding the policy. I don't know how many people find it offensive to see vulgarity and/or profanity broadcasted all over the forum for everyone to read because someone decided it would be cool to put in their sig.

I personally find this to be a form of word pollution, because it doesn't reflect the nature of the sport, and because this is an all-ages forum. Also, I feel that regardless of one's age, a lot of people find that stuff to be offensive. While it's somewhat easy to just skip over someone's post that you know has a habit of being vulgar and profane, it's much harder to do so when the image/word is broadcasted in bold type, or made in a very visible way.

My solution is a compromise. Dylander and the other mods, as well as the two Admins feel that it should be ALL or NOTHING. They feel that if they allow certain language exist in the forum, they should allow it everywhere. People get offended by different things. I think a compromise that allows both types of people to find common ground and feel they aren't being disrespected can be reached.

Posters can feel free to use coarse language as they want, but if we leave it out of the sigs and avatars, at least it'll give those of us who feel offended by these things, a break from the constant bombardment.

It's also just plain respectful to others that may want to join the forum. If someone comes in here and sees every other signature with profanity or vulgarity in it, I think it gives a bad impression.

I didn't want to leave this forum without at least sticking up for those who believed in my cause. And I also wanted to state why I believe in this cause. Thanks.