Offensive sig?

Endurance Man

Noticed earlier that my sig had been removed and replaced with that message?
Not sure who i would pm to find out about sigs? I cant remember the exact dimensions but im fairly confident that it was within size limits.

Joseph

Mabey, it was offensive, as in, to other people?

Ruu_Old

A few people had reported it, as far as I know it was what you had written regarding the special olympics. Even if you didn't mean it, it was in poor taste.

Gordon

What exactly was your sig Endurance Man?

Hagar

Hey Deaddude your sig has 4 pics is over 65k. Let he who is without sin yadda yadda yadda...

Basq

I reported it to SIGPO anyways.. as i got a few reports from people who said it was offensive. I believe it was something along the lines of:

Arguing over the Internet is like competiting in the Special Olympics - even if you win, you're still retarded!

Maybe it was meant in jest but it's not particularly clever or funny, just offensive.

The_Minister

I remember that, I noticed it a few times....
It's not THAT offensive. Bad taste, but so is Monty Python.

Endurance Man

Good lord...fair enough, i'll find something else, you didnt have to remove my whole damn sig ><.

Nick_oliveri

I take it as being funny tbh. Small bit OTT and could be offensive to some or many.

Boston

Jesus, turning into a bloody nanny forum here.

Stark

I thought it was hillarious though some oversensitive souls take huge offence to it.

Here's a thread on a different forum where people got hugely riled up in response to someone making the joke: http://bb.ucc.ie/viewtopic.php?t=12279

Endurance Man

Tbh i thought it suited soo many people on this forum, thats the reason i used it. Guess they didnt like facing facts ;'o.

Hagar

We friend are but the mirror of your soul.

Boston

The comment had been made hundreds of times on boards and not been questioned, but slap it in a signature and, oh noes, it's offensive. Just because someone complains about it lads doesn't mean you should follow up on those complaints.

Beruthiel

That sig has been there for years with no problem if I recall correctly.

Rabies

Just curious, did anyone send a PM to Endurance Man about his sig? Doesn't seem so. Is the poster not supposed to get notified about it first?

It isn't that bad in my opinion, it is a joke after all.

I think it is the word 'retarded' that offended some people. That might lead some people to believe that it is just mentally disabled people that compete in Special Olympics.

RE*AC*TOR

Utter nonsense. Fairly tame in fairness.

r3nu4l

Rabies wrote:

Just curious, did anyone send a PM to Endurance Man about his sig? Doesn't seem so. Is the poster not supposed to get notified about it first?

Yep, in normal cases, the poster is supposed to be notified and offered the chance to remove the sig themselves. In cases where the sig is considered offensive and has been reported as such a number of times, then no such courtesy is extended. This is normally the case where a sig links to porn or warez etc.

As for this particular sig, I can understand why some people find it offensive. I have a friend who has a brother in a specal needs (psych) hospital and my friend gets very upset when people use the word 'retard'. Perhaps it's oversensitivity on his part but I can't really say because I'm not in that situation.

So far as I know only SMods and Admins have the power to remove sigs so if I'm right wouldn't the decision to remove would have been taken at that level?

Boston

Fair enough if the admins removed it, it's their site and they can do what they want, but if it was some S-Mod applying some un disclosed censorship criteria I think there's a problem, especially if they are removing content based on personal bias.

Endurance Man

Rabies wrote:

Just curious, did anyone send a PM to Endurance Man about his sig? Doesn't seem so. Is the poster not supposed to get notified about it first?

It isn't that bad in my opinion, it is a joke after all.

I think it is the word 'retarded' that offended some people. That might lead some people to believe that it is just mentally disabled people that compete in Special Olympics.

Nope, no pm and why was the entire sig removed to? Im guessing the mod only has the option to remove the whole sig and not sections of it?

pickarooney

Hang on, participation in the Special Olympics is limited to people with intellectual disabilites, in other words mental retardation.

The Paralympics is for physically disabled athletes.

So what are people getting offended about exactly?

Hagar

Show us your medal.:rolleyes:

Boston

Listen, it's not even about the signature or whether or not people find it offensive, it's about not being held to some standard of taste and decency which goes beyond normal boards standards.

muffler

Correct me if Im wrong here but did I not see see a banning or two being handed out in the last year or so for referring to someone else as a retard?

It seems the word only becomes offensive depending in what context it is being used so I can see why the sig was removed as some people obviously found it offensive. But I dont understand why it was done now.

aidan_walsh

muffler wrote:

It seems the word only becomes offensive depending in what context it is being used so I can see why the sig was removed as some people obviously found it offensive. But I dont understand why it was done now.

Presumably because people only reported it as offensive now.

Cuddlesworth

Stark wrote:

I thought it was hillarious though some oversensitive souls take huge offence to it.

Here's a thread on a different forum where people got hugely riled up in response to someone making the joke: http://bb.ucc.ie/viewtopic.php?t=12279

Ahh, nothing like a good laugh in the evening. Poor admin's on that forum.

Stark

pickarooney wrote:

Hang on, participation in the Special Olympics is limited to people with intellectual disabilites, in other words mental retardation.

The Paralympics is for physically disabled athletes.

So what are people getting offended about exactly?

"What's better than winning the Paralympics?"
"Having two good legs".

Boston

muffler wrote:

Correct me if Im wrong here but did I not see see a banning or two being handed out in the last year or so for referring to someone else as a retard?

It seems the word only becomes offensive depending in what context it is being used so I can see why the sig was removed as some people obviously found it offensive. But I don't understand why it was done now.

If an insult is directed at someone, regardless of whether or not they find it offensive, the mods usually hand down a ban. Case in point, I recently was called a prick on this forum, I couldn't give a damn and didn't find it offensive, however the user was banned. So personal bias doesn't come into it.

Rabies

pickarooney wrote:

Hang on, participation in the Special Olympics is limited to people with intellectual disabilites, in other words mental retardation.

The Paralympics is for physically disabled athletes.

So what are people getting offended about exactly?

Sorry, thought physically and mentally disabled people competed in the same Olympics. My bad.

nesf

Boston wrote:

If an insult is directed at someone, regardless of whether or not they find it offensive, the mods usually hand down a ban. Case in point, I recently was called a prick on this forum, I couldn't give a damn and didn't find it offensive, however the user was banned. So personal bias doesn't come into it.

Very true, but you can also earn a ban on some forums for insulting 'groups'. Like calling all Muslims thieving terrorist scum or such.

Though once we go down the road of 'potential to insult/cause offence' then it gets very murky.

raido9

Endurance Man wrote:

Nope, no pm and why was the entire sig removed to? Im guessing the mod only has the option to remove the whole sig and not sections of it?

In fairness, half the people on boards are mods of one kind or another. There are so many of them they dont often get the chance at flexing their modding muscles and putting us lowly posters in our place. So when the opportunity comes to ask someone to edit their sig and remove something offensive, they'll pass that up and use their super modding powers to remove the "offensive" sig without hesitation!!