mythusmage said:
Henry, Piratecat, did it ever occur to you to ask, are these complaints valid? Is there any worth to them? Or are they petty souled complaints empty of meaning? You can't satisfy all who moan and whine, sometimes you must tell them no.
Humor is cruel. All humor worth the name. Humor cuts and cuts deep because it says things of us some would rather not hear. All jest will, perforce, offend some, and some need offending. Do your utmost to offend none, and you'll end up offending all.
Your actions were ill advised. You disappoint me.
Alan, does it ever occur to you to learn from experience? When you post an offensive thread, it will get closed down. It's happened in the past, and hey presto! -here we go again. Granted, I didn't find the thread in question offensive, but I can easily see why some do. Now, I have nothing against you offending people, but try doing it in an appropriate setting.
One of the best things about ENWorld is that I can come here and generally assume that the tone will be friendly. If a thread threatens that atmosphere, it should be closed, regardless of how funny 80% of us think it is- even if I'm part of that 80%! It
just isn't worth poisoning the community spirit here.
Remember that 16K we raised? (Though, honestly, by the time I found out about the need it was all over so I didn't get to chip in in a moment of need, alas.) Would that have happened if everyone was constantly pissing in each others' faces here? Probably not.
Arguing that it's okay to offend people here- in fact, that it's sometimes needed- is ridiculous, imo. Who decides who needs to be offended? As for the validity of the complaints, if someone complains that a thread makes them feel uncomfortable, my first instinctive response is "don't read it!" But if the
title of the thread is offensive- and I'm sure to those offended by the thread in question, just seeing the title on page one was enough to bother them- then there's a problem that needs to be fixed. And it certainly isn't your place to tell other people their feelings aren't valid. After all, that's what calling the complaints "petty souled" and "empty of meaning" is- you're essentially saying, "Well, it may have bothered you, but your feelings don't matter."
Bad form. I think the mods did the right thing (again, even though I laughed all through the thread) and I'd never call it ill-advised. Starting not one, but TWO public threads, in order to debate their decision
when you know better is ill-advised, on the other hand.
They were, after all, trying to be considerate of others, while you're arguing that the right thing to do is ignore the feelings of others.
There, I've said my piece.
