Postby Blackhound » Fri Oct 28, 2016 1:09 pm
Hi everyone,
I would like to open a discussion regarding the staff decision to stifle the use of "the gay kings" when describing Kyanios and Tiro of Meletis in response to some of the feedback and criticism we have received.
When the Kings were first spoiled a few days ago from the front of the C16 packaging, it was unclear what their names were, but it was obvious that they were the kings being depicted on Guardians of Meletis. Without a proper name, 'the gay kings' was quickly used because it was an apt description: they are kings, and they also happen to be gay. MTGS's stance on inappropriate language is that there are certain words which have offensive as well as inoffensive uses, and should be judged based on context. For example, "that man is gay", is acceptable (assuming it is a true statement), but "that deck is gay" would be against the rules. In this case, I acted as I did and ordered the staff to stop the use of this term for three reasons: the first was the context of the posts, or lack thereof. There is no question that it is true that the kings are gay, but by and large the majority of posts were devoid of context and the card was reduced to being just about the characters sexuality. Other posts were capitalizing on this and making jokes based on stereotypical traits of gay men. Secondly, but tied into the first concern I had, was the speed at which posts were being made due to the card having been newly spoiled. I acted fast, and the fastest way to react was to make a blanket request that the term not be used at all. Lastly, I was not trying to stop people from discussing their sexuality. I think it is great that WotC is so aware of the many different people who play this game and want their worlds to be an accurate reflection of the real world. My only intention was that the specific nickname not be used, just as we should not be acceptable of Alesha, Narset, or Teferi to be reduced to one aspect of their character when discussing their cards.
I realize that this comes off as heavy-handed moderation and for that I do apologize. But in the end, I feel that being slightly heavy-handed at times is preferable to being lax. One of the things I pride our site on is that we are (for the most part) more civilized than other sites where the moderation is minimal and users are free to be jerks to each other without repercussion.