Thoughts on "degenerate" conversations in #server-chat

[shdwo]

Recently there has been a lot of up stir on the definition of what's allowed and not allowed, as the server has been heading towards cleaning up the chat. I fully support this change and also acknowledge that there are individuals (minors, especially in server chat as it bridges over to minecraft) that we should not be mixing this type of content with. I'm talking sexual remarks / sexual suggestions, borderline nsfw images, the lot.

I feel it is our responsibility as a community to make sure that the children on the server and minors in the discord aren't exposed to said content, as it's not only disgusting but also detrimental to their growing up.

That said, I'm curious as to what everyone else thinks should be acceptable material and not acceptable, as an official rule on the matter has yet to be stated. Maybe we can come to some kind of resolve.

 

[Alco_Rs11]

Overtly sexual remarks and the like shouldn't be allowed in public channels. Period.

 

[shdwo]

Overtly sexual remarks and the like shouldn't be allowed in public channels. Period.

I agree with this fully, however there have been some things said in chat that are borderline both or have just made people uncomfortable. A recent 24 hour timeout occured because one user shipped a man with a clear lesbian and were timed out on the basis that it made said person uncomfortable.

 

[Telesphoreo]

I think we need more active moderation of the discord. And maybe restricting embed permissions again.

 

[shdwo]

I think we need more active moderation of the discord. And maybe restricting embed permissions again.

We do only have 2 discord moderators, only one of which is active throughout the entire day (take a guess as to who). Maybe it's time to reopen applications? I also believe that some of the executives should step up and help moderate as I've not actually seen any of them do so, or give their input yet.

 

[erin]

Yeah my personal take is that we need to put the foot down officially. Lyicx tried but it fell on deaf ears unfortunately, but those at the top continuing to be lax on moderation is only going to make this a less appealing community to be a part of as there's been a general sense that this talk is "allowed".

TotalFreedom means that people should be able to engage with others without being subjected to over sexualised content that makes them uncomfortable.

 

[amaranthluna]

I feel it is our responsibility as a community to make sure that the children on the server and minors in the discord aren't exposed to said content, as it's not only disgusting but also detrimental to their growing up.

No online community is responsible for "the growing up of minors". This is the Internet, not a daycare. Parents should be moderating what children have access to.
I would agree with the idea of banning "disgusting" (this is a puritanical attitude, if you ask me) content if the server had issues with actual grooming. However, there is no such issue in the first place.

As for what is considered "disgusting"...

I'm talking sexual remarks / sexual suggestions, borderline nsfw images, the lot.

Where do you draw the line at? Should we punish everyone for remotely sexual jokes because of a potential hazard to potential minors (who can make sexual jokes as well, newsflash minors aren't oblivious to locker room humor, which is the closest form of humor "sexual jokes on TF" are). Should we ban all discussion of furry-related things because some people consider furries degenerate and lewd? Should we ban discussion of any LGBT topics because Christians consider it "degenerate" and "bad for their children"?
Besides, let us recall to mind the starboard channel on the Discord server. To elaborate, you had to receive five star emoji reactions to have your message be sent on the starboard. The channel ended up being removed because its content (messages sent by members of the community including executives), which was managed by the community (thus representing what most of the community is) was decided to be "degenerate" by a single person (or at least, a team of executives, hopefully). Meanwhile, despite these people existing, we let a few people decide what "degeneracy" is, and take away from what freedom is?

My take on this is: Banning "anything sexual or questionable art" would be a massive reduction of freedom and turn the server into a sanitized, soulless place where people are afraid of saying anything out of line because of the zealous war on "disgusting content". If this server seriously starts banning out "questionable speech", I hope it rebrands to some generic name like TotalCraft and pretend to be a generic creative server with a few more plugins than other generic creative servers; the fact we are even talking about "banning degenerate speech" means TF's essence has been long lost.

 

[videogamesm12]

I agree completely, but we need to be very careful about how far we go before it's considered too far.

 

[Luke]

https://totalfreedom.tf/threads/revamp-of-the-discord-rules.202/ I’ve included some of the issues raised here

 

[Tizz]

I'm curious as to what everyone else thinks should be acceptable material and not acceptable

When I was a moderator in the late TF server my rule of thumb was abiding to the platforms' rules; in other words, game chat should be treated as if it's U rated when you can't verify the players' age and the rest of the Discord's SFW channels as PG-13.

 

[img]

Hi hi, answer amaranthluna's questions

Let's rely more on mutes rather than bans, tell Waiferu to kick rocks, unban MKW (done, thank you Luke and others), and ask players to wonder What Would Steven Do

Rules aren't as effective of a deterrent as social norms. Long-term, a critical mass of new normie players is necessary to avoid being consumed again by degeneracy 2-3 weeks after inevitably excessive enforcement and bullying from admins (à la ZTP, LCC, LCCA, and the U-rated initiative) leads to resistance and the testing of boundaries by folks made to feel as though they walk on eggshells. Until then all the gamers will scare off (filter out) all the neurotypicals. Maybe hormonal chaotic teenagers (and those in spirit) can't stop hormonal chaotic teenagers from hormoneing chaotically and teenagerly

 

[Luke]

Hi hi, answer amaranthluna's questions

Let's rely more on mutes rather than bans, tell Waiferu to kick rocks, unban MKW, and ask players to wonder What Would Steven Do

Rules aren't as effective of a deterrent as social norms. Long-term, a critical mass of new normie players is necessary to avoid being consumed again by degeneracy 2-3 weeks after inevitably excessive enforcement and bullying from admins (à la ZTP, LCC, LCCA, and the U-rated initiative) leads to resistance and the testing of boundaries by folks made to feel as though they walk on eggshells. Until then all the gamers will scare off (filter out) all the neurotypicals. Maybe hormonal chaotic teenagers (and those in spirit) can't stop hormonal chaotic teenagers from hormoneing chaotically and teenagerly

i've taken over handling some discord stuff, i promise you that i'm going to try and stop anything extreme. as in, my new ruleset will has been made with the idea that there is a fine line between people being offended and people being sensitive. things need to be more moderate, atm i've noticed they've become very volatile.

i'm gonna personally look into exactly what you said - timeouts rather than bans, and i'm gonna do a deep dive into the specifics of the situation with MKW. can't say much about Waiferu cuz i dunno them.