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Well, I didn't anticipate this, but here we are.
The Situatio
Earlier today Kepekley was banned globally by FANDOM. The ban was because of a statement made by Kep in which he used a racial slur. However the slur was used when he quoted KamiYasha. Yes, he was banned for quoting someone. Antvasima, Matthew, and myself all tried to reason with FANDOM to no avail. They have stonewalled and decided to ignore context entirely, which turns the administration of FANDOM itself into a weapon that can be wielded by any ill-willed user to punish those who have nothing but good intent and are justified in every way.
My Message
This is long, but below is my full transcript of my first message to FANDOM.
"As you may already know, earlier today an Administrator of VS Battles Wiki, Kepekley23, was recently banned for saying a racially offensive slur when quoting a previously banned user, KamiYasha. This banning is utterly unjustified and sets an enormously backwards precedent for all FANDOM controlled sites. This issue stems from ignoring the context of the situation. Kepekley was not being racially insensitive, nor is a racist himself. Quoting a racist remark, especially in a negative light, is not the same as using the term in a derogatory manner; to be clear, it is the opposite.
Without context, every teacher who has read "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" aloud is now on the same level of racism as the characters that use the slur. This is blatantly false and to insinuate as much is to ignore a significant part of human communication through the dismissal of context in an ill-guided attempt to be unbiased and hold everyone to the same standard. This, however, is not how you hold people to a standard. Blanketing absolutely everyone who uses a slur or offensive phrase in any context as wrong is an incredibly naive, dangerous, and outright idiotic policy. In this way, any reporter or jury who quotes an accused defendant in a court is now held guilty of something that he/she very clearly did not say with malice or ill-intent. This is very reminiscent of the mockery case in Scotland involving Mark "Count Dankula" Meechan, in which his video was taken out of context and he was put through a misguided justice system despite his intentions being the opposite of racist. Furthermore, this is perfectly demonstrated when he is interviewed by a reporter. The reporter quotes him and asks him if he said "gas the Jews". He answered that yes, he did, but that the reporter just did as well when asking him that question. This is why context matters.
The banning of Kepekley23 with the reason of "He used a racial slur" while actively ignoring context is an embarrassment not only to the staff member that carried out the ban, but for anyone in FANDOM who condones or supports the aforementioned ban. Consider not only the injustice which you have committed against Kepekley, but also the vile and dangerous precedent this sets regarding context, quoting, and misrepresentation.
Thank you for your time and consideration."
I tried to further reason with them, as did the aforementioned users, but nothing came of it.
The Response
The response I received was crushing and painted a very grim picture.
"Hello,
Thanks for contacting FANDOM.
Our Terms of Use clearly states that users may not "Post or transmit any content that is obscene, pornographic, abusive, offensive, profane, or otherwise violates any law or right of any third party, or content that contains homophobia, ethnic slurs, religious intolerance, or encourages criminal conduct;".
Context often does matter - let me make clear that there was no context that justified this user using this slur word. He was engaged in a dispute and used inflammatory wordings. This is exactly how people have justified using this word in the past in various forms of media - "I was using it as an example"/"I was using it as a joke".
Having a blanket policy, in terms of online community moderation, is in fact a good thing. It makes it clear what is not acceptable on our network rather than adding shades of gray and complexity that do not need to be there. Simply put, our platform does not tolerate Hate Speech. End of story."
Every reply after this was more of the same. "Context does not matter" and "we will not lift the ban".
"Context Does Not Matter"
Despite Kep's quote not being hateful in any way and merely telling what terrible thing KamiYasha said, FANDOM does not care. Kep being permabanned for hate speech despite having no hate for African Americans or any group of people is injustice at its finest with a terrifying precedent set as the cherry on top.
As I have stated above, the idea that context has no meaning on a word or statement is one that is not only idiotic, but also incredibly dangerous and toxic. Context matters. Context always has mattered. Context will always matter. I'd link iDubbbz's Racial Slur rant, but that would probably get this post taken down before people see it so just go look that up for yourself.
As it stands I have nothing against any of you users. The normal users, the staff, all of y'all are great. I consider many of you good friends and this does pain me greatly, but I cannot support a platform in which context doesn't matter. That is a dangerous and horrible sentiment to use as policy and I can't be a part of it. It is deplorable, dangerous, and backwards thinking. No good will come out of it and even by helping make a site better that gains them more views and income I would be indirectly funding this ideology, which I can't abide. It's been a ride, guys. Good luck and well-wishes to all of you.
The Situatio
Earlier today Kepekley was banned globally by FANDOM. The ban was because of a statement made by Kep in which he used a racial slur. However the slur was used when he quoted KamiYasha. Yes, he was banned for quoting someone. Antvasima, Matthew, and myself all tried to reason with FANDOM to no avail. They have stonewalled and decided to ignore context entirely, which turns the administration of FANDOM itself into a weapon that can be wielded by any ill-willed user to punish those who have nothing but good intent and are justified in every way.
My Message
This is long, but below is my full transcript of my first message to FANDOM.
"As you may already know, earlier today an Administrator of VS Battles Wiki, Kepekley23, was recently banned for saying a racially offensive slur when quoting a previously banned user, KamiYasha. This banning is utterly unjustified and sets an enormously backwards precedent for all FANDOM controlled sites. This issue stems from ignoring the context of the situation. Kepekley was not being racially insensitive, nor is a racist himself. Quoting a racist remark, especially in a negative light, is not the same as using the term in a derogatory manner; to be clear, it is the opposite.
Without context, every teacher who has read "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" aloud is now on the same level of racism as the characters that use the slur. This is blatantly false and to insinuate as much is to ignore a significant part of human communication through the dismissal of context in an ill-guided attempt to be unbiased and hold everyone to the same standard. This, however, is not how you hold people to a standard. Blanketing absolutely everyone who uses a slur or offensive phrase in any context as wrong is an incredibly naive, dangerous, and outright idiotic policy. In this way, any reporter or jury who quotes an accused defendant in a court is now held guilty of something that he/she very clearly did not say with malice or ill-intent. This is very reminiscent of the mockery case in Scotland involving Mark "Count Dankula" Meechan, in which his video was taken out of context and he was put through a misguided justice system despite his intentions being the opposite of racist. Furthermore, this is perfectly demonstrated when he is interviewed by a reporter. The reporter quotes him and asks him if he said "gas the Jews". He answered that yes, he did, but that the reporter just did as well when asking him that question. This is why context matters.
The banning of Kepekley23 with the reason of "He used a racial slur" while actively ignoring context is an embarrassment not only to the staff member that carried out the ban, but for anyone in FANDOM who condones or supports the aforementioned ban. Consider not only the injustice which you have committed against Kepekley, but also the vile and dangerous precedent this sets regarding context, quoting, and misrepresentation.
Thank you for your time and consideration."
I tried to further reason with them, as did the aforementioned users, but nothing came of it.
The Response
The response I received was crushing and painted a very grim picture.
"Hello,
Thanks for contacting FANDOM.
Our Terms of Use clearly states that users may not "Post or transmit any content that is obscene, pornographic, abusive, offensive, profane, or otherwise violates any law or right of any third party, or content that contains homophobia, ethnic slurs, religious intolerance, or encourages criminal conduct;".
Context often does matter - let me make clear that there was no context that justified this user using this slur word. He was engaged in a dispute and used inflammatory wordings. This is exactly how people have justified using this word in the past in various forms of media - "I was using it as an example"/"I was using it as a joke".
Having a blanket policy, in terms of online community moderation, is in fact a good thing. It makes it clear what is not acceptable on our network rather than adding shades of gray and complexity that do not need to be there. Simply put, our platform does not tolerate Hate Speech. End of story."
Every reply after this was more of the same. "Context does not matter" and "we will not lift the ban".
"Context Does Not Matter"
Despite Kep's quote not being hateful in any way and merely telling what terrible thing KamiYasha said, FANDOM does not care. Kep being permabanned for hate speech despite having no hate for African Americans or any group of people is injustice at its finest with a terrifying precedent set as the cherry on top.
As I have stated above, the idea that context has no meaning on a word or statement is one that is not only idiotic, but also incredibly dangerous and toxic. Context matters. Context always has mattered. Context will always matter. I'd link iDubbbz's Racial Slur rant, but that would probably get this post taken down before people see it so just go look that up for yourself.
As it stands I have nothing against any of you users. The normal users, the staff, all of y'all are great. I consider many of you good friends and this does pain me greatly, but I cannot support a platform in which context doesn't matter. That is a dangerous and horrible sentiment to use as policy and I can't be a part of it. It is deplorable, dangerous, and backwards thinking. No good will come out of it and even by helping make a site better that gains them more views and income I would be indirectly funding this ideology, which I can't abide. It's been a ride, guys. Good luck and well-wishes to all of you.
