Hi
Ok -I’m not a prude and I’m not a religious nut. However, I am bothered by trying to use Vassal to play games with my grandkids and having them see module titles like “brainfuck” showing up on the server. Out of respect for the broad specrtrum of ages and beliefs in the Vassal community, couldn’t we agree to get rid of obscenity where it is publicly visible?
Thanks
Thus spake designer1812:
Hi
Ok -I’m not a prude and I’m not a religious nut. However, I am bothered
by trying to use Vassal to play games with my grandkids and having them
see module titles like “brainfuck” showing up on the server. Out of
respect for the broad specrtrum of ages and beliefs in the Vassal
community, couldn’t we agree to get rid of obscenity where it is
publicly visible?
How do you propose we do this?
–
J.
HI
I don’t know if the folks in control of the Vassal server have any way of knowing who is using it, or who is creating rooms, but if they do, perhaps a private message or email to those folks who are using inappropriate language.
If there is no way to know who they are, perhaps some code to block certain character strings in the names of modules or rooms?
Also, I mean to add, thank you, Site Admin, for the prompt response to my orginal post.
As near as I can tell, the offensive module that the OP is referring to has been connected for a very long time–weeks, even. It only seems to ever have 1 player connected.
Yes - that is one of the things I’m referring to, and probably the most pressing. It has been on there forever and only person logged into it.
Thus spake designer1812:
HI
I don’t know if the folks in control of the Vassal server have any way
of knowing who is using it, or who is creating rooms, but if they do,
perhaps a private message or email to those folks who are using
inappropriate language.
No, we don’t have any way to contact people who are connected to the
server—all we have are IP addresses.
If there is no way to know who they are, perhaps some code to block
certain character strings in the names of modules or rooms?
There’s a technical problem here, and a problem of principle. The
technical problem is that (1) if we would block certain strings, then
someone would have to maintain the block list, (2) some strings which
you might consider offensive could be substrings of inoffensive strings,
and (3) some strings you might consider offensive could be inoffensive
in some language other than English, or vice versa.
The problem of principle is that you’ll find quite a lot of variation as
to what people find offensive. Should we block anything which at least
one person finds offensive? Should we block only things which everyone
finds offensive? If so, why? Once we wade into this swamp, we will never
extricate ourselves.
My personal position is that seeing words won’t hurt your grandkids, and
if those words are not appropriate for them to use, you should explain
to them why not.
–
J.
Fair enough. I respect your decision and your reasoning. I just hope the leniency with sexual language does not spill over into leniency with racial slurs, should those begin showing up. It does not seem unreasonable (to me) to expect people to conduct themselves with at least a minimum of respect for the feelings of others.
Thus spake designer1812:
Fair enough. I respect your decision and your reasoning. I just hope the
leniency with sexual language does not spill over into leniency with
racial slurs, should those begin showing up. It does not seem
unreasonable (to me) to expect people to conduct themselves with at
least a minimum of respect for the feelings of others.
Can you point out in what way the arguments I gave above would also not
apply in this case? I don’t see it.
–
J.
I just made a module called ‘Uckelman Is A Dummy’, that change your mind?
Thus spake irishwulf:
“uckelman” wrote:
Thus spake designer1812:
Fair enough. I respect your decision and your reasoning. I just hope
the
leniency with sexual language does not spill over into leniency with
racial slurs, should those begin showing up. It does not seem
unreasonable (to me) to expect people to conduct themselves with at
least a minimum of respect for the feelings of others.Can you point out in what way the arguments I gave above would also
not
apply in this case? I don’t see it.–
J.I just made a module called ‘Uckelman Is A Dummy’, that change your
mind?
No.
–
J.
Well, it is your site, so I assume your values would apply. However, I would hope that you would not hesitate to eliminate racial slurs or gross sexual obscenity, because these things are offensive, I believe, to a majority of the community you are trying to serve. I can be open minded without repeating the free speech of others with which I disagree.
Thus spake designer1812:
Well, it is your site, so I assume your values would apply.
I’m not clear on what you’re objecting to now. Is it what’s shown on
the server status page of our site? Is it what’s shown in the server
status pane of VASSAL? Both? Something else?
–
J.
I also was very annoyed seeing Brainfuck sit on the game list for weeks on end. Didn’t this guy ever shut down his computer, or ever close vassal? It’s obvious he was being an asshole. No I don’t think creating a list of no no’s would work. To many variations can be created. A better idea would be a system that would allow the community to flag offending game in list. Once say 3 people flag something the game gets kicked off list.
Perhaps a more measured approach would be to add a feature allowing users
to “hide” particular games, which would then not be shown on their client.
In addition to solving the issue with offensive names, it would also allow
one to streamline the list by excluding other popular games that one is not
interested in.
That’s an elegant solution.