Censoring or looking to tailor people’s speech by force so that it fits in your vision of righteousness is never a good solution and quite the opposite of a “welcoming community”.
When a company has gained so much power and is doing everything it can to keep gaining even more in order to increase its control over people at some point you have to be confrontational because we are talking about real damages being done to our society, not just about some random language element that may or may not seem offensive to someone.
And it’s right that this space is welcoming for everyone,
but I keep saying that the spoken language often evolves with time, and some words evolve and change meaning according to the context where they are used,
and in this case, here but also elsewhere, it seems to me that this word has followed this path
People use that exact argument for the n-word. Oh its meaning has changed, language evolves etc. etc. Just because its meaning has changed for some doesn’t mean it isn’t offensive to a significant amount of others. You don’t get to decide if the n-word is offensive or not, nor gulag. Let’s say you found the practices of the camping brand OzWit oppressive, I’d hope you wouldn’t think it ok to start calling it Auschwitz, no matter how many people did. Such facetiousness is offensive to those who suffered immensely there, their descendants who still feel the effects and the seriousness of the crimes committed there as a whole. Are you entitled to keep using the word? Yes. That is free speech. However just because you’re free to say it doesn’t mean it isn’t insensitive and offensive.
People use that exact argument for the n-word. Oh its meaning has changed, language evolves etc. etc. Just because its meaning has changed for some doesn’t mean it isn’t offensive to a significant amount of others. You don’t get to decide if the n-word is offensive or not, nor gulag. Let’s say you found the practices of the camping brand OzWit oppressive, I’d hope you wouldn’t think it ok to start calling it Auschwitz, no matter how many people did. Such facetiousness is offensive to those who suffered immensely there, their descendants who still feel the effects and the seriousness of the crime as a whole. Are you entitled to keep using the word? Yes. That is free speech. However just because you’re free to say it doesn’t mean it isn’t insensitive and offensive.
Speaking as a (former?) tech-nerd, just because tech-nerds do something doesn’t make it right And behaving like tech-nerds in what is a public forum (even if it’s not very well populated yet) does not help /e/ achieve its mission to be taken seriously by ‘non-tech-nerds’ and to
make technology that respects user privacy accessible to everyone
And no-one is ‘censoring’ anyone else. I think that what @dalas.revo, and others - like me - who agree with him, are doing is asking - quite politely it seems to me - that others don’t use a particular word when referring to Google. Neither we, nor anyone from /e/ are going to ‘enforce’ anything. We’re just ‘asking nicely’. How you choose to respond to that request is entirely up to you
Let’s not get the discussion too heated.
In the end it’s a term that some of us (including me) dislike, because of reasons discussed above.
Others like it, for other reasons, also named above.
IMHO this should not result in any executive decision, be it banning or expressing “official support”.
The topic is just a polite invitation to stop using this term.
Whoever reads it may or may not change their behaviour based on the arguments given. This is their personal freedom.
Congratulations to those who have obscured my comment…
I do not seem to have been offensive to any category.
This is only hypocrisy and false respectability, without any logic
It was not me who flagged your comment, but I guess that it can be seen as a proof that no censorship takes place, although several people obviously dislike the way you treat or talk about other people. Everybody is just one click away from reading about how appreciative you talk about your girlfriends.
Dalas,
I have told these two things from my life, just to make people understand that the context is basic in everything.
And then come on, we are all grown adults, and I didn’t tell anything so embarrassing, nor did I use vulgar terms.
Just two life stories to show that the context has its weight.
And anyway, just for the record, I have never used here the term goolag…think about it !
P.S.: I modified my post, I hope that no one will be offended now, and that it will understandable what I wanted to express anyway, even with personal experiences.
Ciao
All: Pl share your views without being abusive using swear words or words which could be offensive to any particular group or person. Such posts are getting flagged and end up being removed. This forum is for /e/ related technical discussions. As such we do allow a certain degree of off topic discussions.
Expressing your views on a topic even if it is non technical is acceptable as long as it does not start direct attacks on individuals or groups.
Maybe you should read what has been written here before making false statements.
Actually reading the content of the discussion before trying to comment with the moral high ground would save you from intervening in vain.
This is exactly my point about this whole useless fuss about a simple mockery that people are entitled to use anyway, thank you for sharing my view on the subject.
If you don’t agree with people saying goolag then just carry on as usual, there is no need to get so jumpy.
In which of these messages do I demand it? First I ask what the plan is, just to create certainty (because not knowing what the policy is won’t help anyone). Then I express disappointment in the /e/ team apparently considering this appropriate but state that it is their own choice. There is no demanding in there, at most disappointment that the /e/ team has such a laissez-faire approach to moderation as that is how toxic communities often start.
That is nothing less than an indirect demand which is the same thing. At least be honest about it and take responsability for what you are expecting from the /e/ team.
I figured it probably wasn’t worth the effort to ask but I do want to point out the irony in you not taking responsibility for your own incorrect interpretation of my statements while telling me I should take responsibility.
There is nothing incorrect about my interpretation of your indirect demand to /e/ team, I take full responsability for it and yes, I’m asking you to take responsability for your indirect demand because now you are becoming hypocritical.
And behaving like tech-nerds in what is a public forum (even if it’s not very well populated yet) does not help /e/ achieve its mission to be taken seriously by ‘non-tech-nerds’ and to
