Flags in signatures/avatars

[Dinkeldog]

Hey all. We've had a couple reported posts based on national flags in avatars and sigs. The short discussion we've had so far leaves us tending to not bother with any simple flag that contains no further political content.

To look at a couple concrete (and not criticizing anyone)examples, three flags with a victory "V" isn't so great, but just the US flag or just the Iraq flag is fine. An artistic rendering of the US flag in the shape of a (non-gesturing) hand is also fine, but if it's excessively large in any case, you can expect to be asked to trim the size down.

Just make sure there's no further political content attached.

Thanks.

 

[Krizzel]

I'm one of the people who complained about this.

The coalition flags don't bother me too much, though they do make me a little uncomfortable at times (given the tensions between many nations of the world right now over the current situation).

The other flag, though, greatly angered me when I first saw it. That was the first time I've ever used the 'report a post' button or even wanted to (and I've lurked here since nearly the beginning). I find this extremely offensive and I feel it's disrespectful to any military personnel or their families who might be reading these boards. I think just the flag alone is a huge political statement that begs for response - under current circumstances that temptation is difficult to resist.

I'd like to ask that the flags be removed. Even if it means no coalition flags either, I think that's fair. There are plenty of other options for everyone to air political views.

 

[Dinkeldog]

That was considered. We're happiest censoring the least.

 

[Piratecat]

What Dinkeldog said. I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but we're going to be consistent.

If this is a real sticking point for anyone, they may find it easier to turn off sigs and avatars for a while; you can do this in your personal control panel.

Thanks in advance, folks. Patience isn't always easy to come by when you're worried about other things, but we appreciate it.

 

[KitanaVorr]

I do agree that use of the flags is a political statement when they're put in the shape of something that could be construed as being offensive. Just the flags alone is not too bad, but when they're rendered into political artistic statements might be going to far for the boards non-political rule.

What if it was the US flag burning or with bloody bullet holes in it? etc... (just picking on the US flag for this example, choose your own country's flag and insert)...the only problem is what not to allow? What artistic flag design is more political than another?

I feel it might be safer to just stop the political flag statements (esp right now in this very tense time between countries) before it gets out of hand and a flag picture war starts to see who can get away with the most.

I'm all for freedom of expression, but the artistic flags are definitely a political statement. If we allow them, we should allow other political art as well.

 

[Krizzel]

Could we have an explanation of why this is being allowed, when you get the time? It's inconsistent with the general moratorium on political / religious content, and it's also a very sensitive time for this exception to be made. It's also directly related to just about the most serious issue possible - one where people are being killed.

Turning off signatures is one option, and I might do that, but it's different from knowing that this stuff is gone. Another thing I wonder about is will this be disallowed again after everything is over?

 

[Piratecat]

Kitana, we expect people to use common sense, and we don't expect to have to babysit; if someone posted an image and thought to themselves, "I wonder if this is appropriate?", then it probably isn't.

So where is the line drawn? Anywhere a moderator feels it is. Mods are the sole judge as to whether something is too political or not. In your example, for instance, I'd say that a bullet-ridden flag would be yanked off pretty darn quickly. Lord knows that our tolerance for people trying to be provocative and push the boundaries is wearing a little thin right about now.

Krizzel, thanks for asking. We've never disallowed flags in sigs or avatars; they grew especially common after 9/11. We have no plans to change that now so long as they're not accompanied by additional political imagery or rhetoric. Just allowing American flags is not an option, because it's inherently political; so our choices are all flags or no flags. We've currently chosen the former. We're well aware that not everyone will agree with that decision, but we expect people to abide by it. If you see what looks like someone pushing the boundaries, please report the post and we'll address it.

I'm not sure I understand your last question; will what be disallowed again?

 

[krunchyfrogg]

I hope to God you don't ask people to stop putting flags in their signatures, as long as it isn't offensive, as noted above.

For instance, I think the flag in my sig is ok, but the one I post following this sentence is not, even if it's the way you feel:

Image deleted by moderator - no examples needed, thanks.

 

[Piratecat]

Krunchyfrog, I removed the image. We don't need examples.

 

[Krizzel]

I meant the flags - I hadn't seen any here before today.

Thanks for answering, too. A big part of my problem with this is that it feels like someone is posting something offensive in a way I'm not allowed to respond to. Having a place to address that helps alleviate it a little.

I wish there was a way to limit all the political stuff to a single thread or forum, though I'll admit I don't know any easy way to do that. And yeah, I'll quickly point out anything that's 'out of bounds' if I come across it. I still wish there wouldn't be anything, but in the mean time I might go looking for the flag that expresses my viewpoint, as odd as that might seem.