My idea I notice a lot of reports that seem to be reporting for the sake of reporting. While the n and f words offend some people, most people arent offended by them, and the fact that reporting somebody who uses them leads to a 3 day ban seems to just be a power hit for the reporter who probably wasn't actually offended. In my opinion, spiteful ban appeals are more putrid to the server in a lot of cases than the "bad" words themselves were. I think a lot of others would agree with me. What I wonder is if we could have a word block feature where each user could just block the words that upset them. Perhaps it could also be able to identify common misspellings as well (but creative spellings that get around it could still be a ban). That might help stop some of the spitefulness commonly observed in ban appeals. I completely understand if this gets the thumbs down for being too much work for too little gain, but I thought it was worth suggesting anyway The technical side of it I have thought a bit about the implementation difficulties of this, although I've never worked with maplestory server code so can at best guess. I know that changing the client is not an option. But I know that the server can be changed, and website interfaces are also an option to get user input into the server/ database. What I'm thinking is that users could specify words to put on their black list, on the website. Then any all chat/ smegas/ party chat with those words in it will not show up for them, or will just show up as <blocked> (so that they know something was said, but blocked). The thing I don't know is how the server broadcasts messages to all users they should go to. Would there be a way to (efficiently) ensure the message is only sent to people who do not have any of the words black listed? I'm thinking it is plausible, because messages can be filtered by IGN (block list). I can see potential abuse issues though. Depending on how the server code works, could such a feature bog down the server if lots of people had lots of words blocked?
I'm in no place to speak for the exact reason why we ban people for the use of offensive language, but imo banning people for the arbitrary use of slurs is a good thing. The problem with slurs is that the people using them aren't allowed to use those slurs –– the n word, the f-g-t word, or even ret**d (yes, this is a slur). I think the community would agree with me that we want to make MR as safe a space as possible for anyone playing, and personally I'm not comfortable with people using the f-g-t word if they're hetero, regardless of the context. It's not their place to use it, and it will never be.
I'm not comfortable with ANYONE using that word. It isn't right to say only certain people can say a slur while others can't. If it is a slur that should not be said, it is a slur that should not be said by ANYONE.
Banning people (catching them while they begin to do bad and removing them from the environment) Does not and Will not make MR a safer environment. There must be a way to teach these people about the bad, and teach the general community about the bad. Everyone is capable of bad, if we are doing nothing to fix what is making the bad occur, what's the point of just isolating it and forgetting about it? It will always make its way back and stab you in the back.
I know this isn't entirely on-topic but I feel I need to point out that the reason marginalized groups are allowed to use the slurs associated with them is so that through reclaiming and reappropriating the slur they are able to feel more secure about the themselves. By changing our own attitudes toward these words first in thought then in practice, we refuse to let these words hurt us. When you say that nobody should be allowed to use those words, you are effectively cementing the power imbalance; you are policing what marginalized groups can and cannot say (which is another form of oppression); and you aren't giving us the voice and space we need to overcome the systems of oppression that are in place. That isn't to say we should do a background check on anyone who uses a slur in all-chat, using it in all-chat should be banable because it is impossible to tell the identity of the person behind the in-game character. TLR: Social justice paragraph; don't use slurs in allchat.
Unless you somehow singlehandedly overturn all the systems of oppression that cause people to use slurs in a negative fashion, I suggest we ban them. Just like unless I somehow singlehandedly fix poverty and the eliminate the culture surrounding the impoverished with re drugs and physical abuse, I still think people who break the law should go to jail.
