After some consideration I decided to get rid of the offensive jokes thread, here’s why.
It was pointed out to me that it represents a significant reputational risk to this site, its members, The Cove, Sydney Fc and even football fans should it be weaponised by bad/malicious actors seeking to make us look bad, recent events have shown that there are plenty of those kind of people still, even within our own ranks,
It’s also very hard to promote an anti-homophobia/racism/sexism/bigotry/hate message with something like that floating around, we still get idiots gleefully undermining our message of tolerance and inclusion using a banner we made 12 years ago.
This is not about taste, or what’s acceptable as humour or complaints about certain jokes, those things are highly subjective and unresolvable, this is the prioritisation of our anti-hate agenda over a rarely used and undeniably contentious single thread.
Happy to see, and would welcome debate on the topic.
One last thing, yes, it’s censorship, but you’ll survive, no it’s not a free speech issue, if you can’t tell the difference, there’s no hope for you.
Not sure if you want opinion on this thread or not but I had stayed away from it for a while, not something I was interested in and it did seem a bit out of place.
I personally was never offended and even had a few chuckles at some of the jokes, but the thread never really sat well with me.
I’ve noticed when someone inadvertently (or intentionally) says something sexist/racist/homophobic in any other thread, the community is quick to call it out and steer the conversation back on track.
Yet we had this whole other thread sitting there, running contrary to that behaviour.
It was a liability not worth the risk, in my opinion.
Agree it’s the right move and open to abuse when you say “just this area has no boundaries”.
I take it we can still have a crap joke thread though, with similar standards to the rest of the forum. I’d start one myself but can’t think of any.
Unfortunately it’s the era we live in and it will only get worse. A light hearted joke on Twitter you made 10 years ago can get you cancelled and ruin your life if public opinion shifts a certain way over that time.
Not sure what that has to do with my post about people getting cancelled due to things they have written on the internet from years ago, which is at the heart of what this thread is about and the exact reason why Jubal deleted the jokes thread.
Personally I thought the poster (forgot who it was) who came in and started whining should never have clicked on the thread, and definitely shouldn’t have gone on his crusade.
If you don’t like it, don’t click. You don’t go watch ISIS beheading videos and then complain someone has posted that type of content on the internet.
The thread survived merrily across forum moves and was a good source of lighthearted fun, for myself at least.
That said, you’ve laid out your reasoning very well and I have to agree that these days a thread like that out in the open does potentially threaten the forum.
Whether that in itself is a crying shame is another discussion.
And just on the topic of offensive jokes, yes, some people who make them are racists/homophobes/misogynists, but after reading this forum for 12 or 13 years it’s clear those people are quickly ostracised - and rightly so.
How does it work one way? Firstly, freedom of speech is an American concept and it’s based on the fact that the American Government can’t arrest someone for voicing dissenting views. Since then, they’ve allowed for the fact that, if someone is being aggressive and swearing, or areas around this, they can arrest as they also need to ensure that people aren’t complete dicks.
The whole “cancel culture” isn’t a freedom of speech issue. If someone says something stupid, then that’s their right. But it’s also someone’s right to turn around and say they should be cancelled. Freedom of speech does NOT mean freedom from repercussions in that speech. It’s worth pointing out that, “cancel culture” is generally something touted by conservatives, yet if a company supports an issue they’re again, like gay pride or something like that, conservatives are the first to complain and boycott the same companies
I personally think it is a good call to get rid of it.
I think, like all social entities, this forum has evolved beyond that thread , probably evidenced by the fact the it largely lay dormant in recent times. Having participated in this forum for a long time, I think that the general discourse and ‘maturity’ of posters has also evolved beyond it - it happens and deciding that it is no longer representative of the type of community that you are curating is a very legit decision. I would argue that an online community will always have a unwritten (and in many instances, a written) code of ethics, it evolves over time and represents the ethos & culture of an online community and cleaning out old threads is probably a part of that.
There is a theory in decision making - if you would be comfortable with something being reported in the news with your picture besides it as the decision maker and you are still happy to go with it, it is probably the right decision - for you; if you are not - then it is probably the wrong decision.