[Spoon]

But first, an explanation is in order: why the strange choice of username?

I was inspired by this delightful piece of what you might call xenophobic homophobia <http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=63758.msg1256006#msg1256006>, an excerpt of which was the poster's signature for quite a while. But as much as the signature (which is what I originally saw) pissed me off, I thought that, rather than taking it up with the user in question or with a moderator/admin, this would be a more interesting way of handling it.

"xenophobic homophobia"
And it pissed you off... seriously? 

The quote in that signature is funny because the mere idea of the mental image of two male vasudans going at it is more than a little disturbing for most of us normal mortal humans.
Unless of course, you find this incredibly sexy somehow (and that's... 'female').
But eh, to each his own I guess. If looking at naked vasudans is your thing then I won't judge you!

[Snail]

I think we've all seen our fair share of naked Vasudans. Ironic thing is, Mrs. Vasuda 2332 is probably wearing more clothes than your average Zod.

[jg18]

But first, an explanation is in order: why the strange choice of username?

I was inspired by this delightful piece of what you might call xenophobic homophobia <http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=63758.msg1256006#msg1256006>, an excerpt of which was the poster's signature for quite a while. But as much as the signature (which is what I originally saw) pissed me off, I thought that, rather than taking it up with the user in question or with a moderator/admin, this would be a more interesting way of handling it.

"xenophobic homophobia"
And it pissed you off... seriously? 

The quote in that signature is funny because the mere idea of the mental image of two male vasudans going at it is more than a little disturbing for most of us normal mortal humans.

Fair enough. I guess what pissed me off about it was that it sounded one step away from saying that homosexuality is gross, and zero steps away from saying that someone else is a homosexual is an insult. I was concerned that the latter might be acceptable around here (for example, <http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=10927.msg211122#msg211122>, <http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=56746.msg1146515#msg1146515>). But maybe I didn't adequately take into account the Vasudan context. And those selected quotes could be cherry picking, since I saw pro-gay statements in the forums, too. Although not being anti-gay doesn't necessarily imply finding calling someone "gay"/"homosexual" as an insult unacceptable...

And I wouldn't say that I'm normally easily offended... okay well maybe a little bit. I suppose I might have overreacted. It's kind of funny, in that my friends would tell you that I have zero "pride."

Unless of course, you find this incredibly sexy somehow (and that's... 'female').

It is indeed disturbing, although pretty funny, too.

But eh, to each his own I guess. If looking at naked vasudans is your thing then I won't judge you!

Huh. Are other people whose usernames indicate they're Vasudan also into looking at naked Vasudans, then?

In any case, unless this username is likely to cause problems, I'm inclined to keep it.

[Spoon]

Even if it was somehow completely acceptable here to insult gay people for being gay what makes you think you have the right to just barge into a community and demand that they change their behaviour right this instant? Are you on some kind of mission to make the whole internet a politically correct place?

I mean I can appreciate that you join up offering spell/grammar campaigns services. But the rest of your post was completely unnesessary and seems to have no purpose other than to try and create cheap drama or to attention whore.
You get no respect points form me when your first post basically boils down to "Hey guys I'm new, I'm a gay vasudan and I am greatly offended by this and this and this post and I was about to step to the admins to complain about how this community has not been 100% spotlessly politically correct for all this time! Oh and I offer to spell check for you if you want."

Huh. Are other people whose usernames indicate they're Vasudan also into looking at naked Vasudans, then?

Very likely. Considering they don't seem to be wearing a lot of clothing usually.

In any case, unless this username is likely to cause problems, I'm inclined to keep it.

That's your call, but don't expect me to take you serious for it.

[TopAce]

When will you cease being such a big troll, Spoon? I understand that you're interested in posting malicious, painfully selectively negative "reviews" in campaign release threads to make sure bandwagoning will remove all opposition, but why care about this guy?

[jg18]

Even if it was somehow completely acceptable here to insult gay people for being gay what makes you think you have the right to just barge into a community and demand that they change their behaviour right this instant? Are you on some kind of mission to make the whole internet a politically correct place?

I didn't ask anyone to do anything, other than let me know if they were interested in additional proofreading help.

I mean I can appreciate that you join up offering spell/grammar campaigns services. But the rest of your post was completely unnesessary and seems to have no purpose other than to try and create cheap drama or to attention whore.
You get no respect points form me when your first post basically boils down to "Hey guys I'm new, I'm a gay vasudan and I am greatly offended by this and this and this post and I was about to step to the admins to complain about how this community has not been 100% spotlessly politically correct for all this time! Oh and I offer to spell check for you if you want."

What I was trying to say was that I found something on the forums -- only one small thing, out of the hundreds if not thousands of posts I've read on these forums -- offensive, but I really didn't want to make a fuss about it by talking to an admin/moderator, so I decided to express through my username that "sure, why can't there be something weird like homosexual Vasudans?"

Relevant is something from the Registration Agreement that I signed when I created the HLP forums account:

Anyone who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to notify an administrator or moderator of this forum immediately.

In any case, unless this username is likely to cause problems, I'm inclined to keep it.

That's your call, but don't expect me to take you serious for it.

Also from the Registration Agreement:

We advise that you keep the name appropriate.

What I was trying to say was "is this name appropriate?"

Could I get another opinion here? Am I out of line?

[Vertigo 7]

zomg look at me! i r attention whoring!

[Spoon]

When will you cease being such a big troll, Spoon? I understand that you're interested in posting malicious, painfully selectively negative "reviews" in campaign release threads to make sure bandwagoning will remove all opposition, but why care about this guy?

haha lol wut? What's this about all the sudden?

What I was trying to say was that I found something on the forums -- only one small thing, out of the hundreds if not thousands of posts I've read on these forums -- offensive, but I really didn't want to make a fuss about it by talking to an admin/moderator, so I decided to express through my username that "sure, why can't there be something weird like homosexual Vasudans?"

Relevant is something from the Registration Agreement that I signed when I created the HLP forums account:

Anyone who feels that a posted message is objectionable is encouraged to notify an administrator or moderator of this forum immediately.

Ye gods did I facepalm here.
Like, I facepalmed hard.

Out of the thousands of posts you read you nitpicked a few posts that have been posted in 2002, 2008 and 2009 and then did exactly what you said you didn't do. Make a fuss (and trying to make some kind of statement?) out of something insignficant. You dedicated your user name and half your first post to pointing out how offended you are.
Do I really need to point out to you how stupid this is?

[TopAce]

The Spoonian hypocrisy strikes again. He's using the same selective argumentation in his introductory post that you always use in your "reviews." The former is just words, the latter is destructive.

[Spoon]

The Spoonian hypocrisy strikes again. He's using the same selective argumentation in his introductory post that you always use in your "reviews." The former is just words, the latter is destructive.

You really need to ease off the drugs man.

[Herra Tohtori]

My immediate reaction after being pointed to this thread in irc, I quote here verbatim: What the ****.

What I was trying to say was "is this name appropriate?"

Could I get another opinion here? Am I out of line?

Not any more so than Heterosexual Vasudan, assuming "Gay" here refers to sexual orientation and isn't being used as a slur, but I have to wonder why bother to specify it in the first place, unless it's somehow a definitive characteristic of your internet persona. Most of the time, most people don't really spare a thought to what the sexual orientation of someone might be, and those who put some "importance" to it are usually vocal homophobiacs.

Some would see it a bit trollish, some would assign the blame to people who get trolled by it. If you want my opinion, I have no trouble with it, I don't see it as an offensive nickname as such, but don't see much point in it either. Of course, most nicknames are a bit pointless, mine included, so what the hell. Thankfully I'm not an admin so it's not my responsibility to make any final calls on it.


Of course I should point out that we don't even have any comprehensive biological knowledge of Vasudan species and as such we can't really know if "Gay" is a meaningful term in the context of Vasudan sexuality. For all we know they could be monogendered, or they could have more than one sexes, which would result in terminology that would likely be somewhat incompatible with human definitions of sexual orientation.



Also, what the hell TopAce? If you have some antipathies towards Spoon, go resolve them by some appropriate means rather than drive-by trolling. Preferably via PM's.


This thread is someone's self-introduction to the community, and an offer to do spell checking work where required. Though I'm not a moderator on this forum, I think this thread doesn't need to go further into the direction it's headed.

Just saying.

[TopAce]

Intersting. When Spoon trolls anywhere, he gets away with it.

Oh, the oligarchy HLP has become.

[The E]

TopAce: As far as I can remember, Spoon has never been reported for misbehaviour, and he has so far not caused any more controversy than anyone else. If you have issues with him (and it seems you do), work them out in private.


This thread is closed. Further discussion should be done via PM.

[Mongoose]

Yeah...as I was going to say before the thread got split, this was an utterly pathetic way to welcome someone to the community.

[Goober5000]

Thread's already locked, but I figured an admin should address the primary question here:

What I was trying to say was "is this name appropriate?"

Could I get another opinion here? Am I out of line?

The username certainly could be (and demonstrably is, as evidenced by this thread) seen as unnecessarily provocatory.  On the other hand, it's rather funny, just as the source quote was rather funny.

We are a community that discourages flaming and personal attacks.  We are also a community that includes members with various different moral codes.  We don't kick someone out of the community for finding something morally objectionable, just as we don't kick someone out because someone finds them morally objectionable.

Given the potential issues that usernames like Gay Vasudan's could cause, I've added "gay" and "lesbian" to the disallowed terms for usernames.  Gay Vasudan himself is grandfathered in, though he is free to request a username change if he wishes to do so.  Regardless, I've taken the liberty of bestowing on him a custom title.