this thread is boring. could somebody please say something offensive?

i don't think poop's joke is very funny.

i find it offensive to comedians.

What exactly was said, Orhan?

I'd really like to know.

This is rockandhill. I know some of you would have liked to see me stay gone permanently but I thought I'd chime in anyways.


I didn't even get a warning. I didn't even get banned. I got my account deactivated-- by the way, I still get about 40 e-mails a day from this place.

For what, someone asked about the culture of Berlin and I replied with a quote of Hitlers. It was something he probably said... oh, about 10,000 times. Wasn't completely irrelevant either since you know... most of Berlin was east of the Berlin wall until twenty years ago.



No one asked me or warned me and since archinect doesn't allow you to edit your posts, I couldn't go back and change it.

I email someone once with no avail. But the real reason I was being a flat out ass? That talkitect guy is "illegally" google bombing. He only posts he for the link backs to get more people to notice his crappy blog. He isn't paying this site. He isn't advertising legitimately. Now that he has his links plastered everywhere, he has disappeared.

He sent me some nasty personal emails as well. Did I get to tell my side of the story til now? Nope.

But moderation never works because anyone not part of the clique gets unfair treatment. Sometimes having members outside of the clique makes a messageboard more entertaining.

But you all defended an illegal "advertiser" without an iota of recourse from me. Funny... how can you break any rules if there is no TOS?

You can ban this account too.

But... maybe... you should give someone a chance to apologize or at least explain themselves.

this is interesting, while im not sure what to think about what Orhan did,, im sure he didnt do it out of the blue,,anyway, after almost 4 years of lurking around (almost daily) i decided to post a little over a year ago because of something that pissed me off, it was the thread about the french newspaper article and the woman who was not allowed to become a citizen or something because of what she was wearing, i dont remember what it was exactly,,

my 2 cents

what aspect said is essential for everyone to know and understand

"hillandrock" / "rockandhill" - your comment, translated from german, was "exterminate the jews!". that type of comment will get you banned, with no warning via email. if it was a stupid, regrettable mistake on your end, we would have gladly reviewed an explanation via email and re-activated your account.

as a natural contrarian, i have to disagree with Orhan's editing out of that post. as an individual of some islamic/muslim descent, Orhan probably should have recused himself from making that call in the first place.

bring it to Archinect's attention and let them/us decide. to suggest that that comment was anymore offensive than the "Israelis are Nazis" stuff that was spouted off quite regularly is, well, offensive.

Orhan, you should know that as inappropriate as the comment might have been, taking this particular matter into your own hands was inappropriate as well. your plea alone would have sufficed without deleting the offensive post.

like the cherry picking comment above, if you're going to start policing to maintain threads and discussions from going on tangents, you better make it a full time job, otherwise what's the point? that being said, it's obvious that you're concerned about your actions and thoughtful enough to bring it up in the general forum...and for that i applaud you.

in general, flamethrowing posters get bored or ostracized by the community at large and/or peter out on their own. if they persist in race baiting, weight-bating or gender-bating for example, then the floating green head would be wise to step in and warn and/or delete/ban the user.

i would personally caution the 'nect from treading down the path of righteousness, for it only leads to isolation and self-censorship. defeat racism, bigotry and hatred with education and combative responses, not with individualized censorship.

just my $.02.

-ml™ out.

Apparently since there are poster here on this thread who have the ability to nuke threads, is it too much to ask for an edit button?

FYI: The discussion forum will be getting a major update this year. All suggestions that we see in the forum, and especially those we receive via email, will be taken into consideration. This forum is meant for the Archinect community, so all of your opinions are taken very seriously.

It was a stupid mistake. My explanation stands pretty much above. I'm sure everyone here has their own personal publishing and media projects they want to share. I'm all for that.

But spamdexing does irritate me. And it irritates me even more when linkbackers and trackbackers are self-publicizing, self-promoting machines who want everyone to be 100% on their best behavior-- because god forbid if their fledgling blogs get cross-referenced with anything aversive!

And it should irritate you because it's potential ad revenue you're losing to another site.

Put up a TOS-- so we know which lines to tiptoe and which ones to avoid.

We remove this stuff all the time, often with emails explaining that we don't allow it, as we'd love to have the person involved in the forum without the constant self-promotion. Some gets through the cracks though, and some only gets our attention when other members let us know.

having all that said, remember this site functions at the discretion of the owners, and unless they decide to have some kind of bill of rights established, then they decide, for whatever reason, to let go or remove. it's ultimately their world and if they decide to take it down so be it...then i am sure we'll go over to www.knuckledrgr.org

Its hot and muggy and my sack is sticking to my leg. If I were to take a picture of that and post it would it be deleted?

Are you shaggy or shorn?

nasty mental picture, brah

Well, you know.... we could use EP's balls as the basis of a Project /slash/ Request for Development Proposal.

Make some fancy blobitectural model, orient it correctly, parametrically NURBs a render and forward it over to Zaha Hadid's office.

I'm sure Zaha would appreciate "two prunes in a riparian [sweaty] valley" by Archinect.

i think evilplat should do it. sure it might be gross...but for all we know, he might have the just-the-most-lovely-and-prettiest pair of balls any of us has set our eyes on. why deny us the opportunity to see?

besides, i posted a picture of my bare ass once...i received some nice compliments and i think someone tried to put it in a calendar too

b3tadine is, of course, exactly right about this site being under the authority of its owners. We post at their pleasure, subject to their discretion.

My original complaint above was not about this authority, but to its seemingly arbitrary exercise. The censor's selectivity of an "objectionable" post about one particular religion, when other religions are routinely savaged in particular threads, seemed rather inconsistent, shall we say.

That said, it's your site.

Again: I'm against both ranking and editing capabilities. I'm with jump: totally unperturbed by editing by the higher ups.

rockandhill or viceversa: talkitect's spamming was annoying me too, but not enough to do anything a bout it. Guess I should have. I don't know where your Hitler comment happened, but I hope it was nothing more than a stupid, tasteless joke that was misunderstood. If you can hang around as hillandrock that's fine by me, but keep in mind my opinion doesn't matter: I'm the second highest commenter on this site, but I have no editing abilities! Furthermore, this is exactly the way I like it!

The thing is, and the regular posters here (who may be referred to as a "clique", except if one hangs around awhile they will realize we don't try to keep anyone out and are generally welcoming to new people) know this: a stupid joke via text only can come off as really rude without things like facial expression and tone of voice as guides.

Emoticons or <joke> pseudo-html help a lot.

Also, I advise against any posting of bare bodies (except Brad Pitt shirtless, obviously).

citizen, i hope you know my comment was not directed at you. i am not sure what was offensive about the comment, but i am willing to be educated.

No problem whatsoever, B3ta. You're right that the owners may do as they please. I'm just pointing out that the censorship is arbitrary--which, again, is Archintect's prerogative.

LB, thank you.

It did come off pretty bad. I know this. It was in a thread where he was asking about Berlin and the hiring practices. I agree with yours and other sentiments-- it's about the owners and their profit margin (or lack thereof). However, I do like Archinect because it is a little racy and that raciness does attract good firms with good minds to advertise jobs and participate in the capacity they can.

About the clique comment, I tend to play contrarian like mightylittle because I've never been a fan of 'groupthink' when it becomes rabid to a certain extent. 'Ad Hominem' and all that seems to happen. But mostly, I know I'm goat's head at a beach-- so, I separate myself.

I do have a pretty bitchin' picture of me wearing just a sock. If I get no objection in the next 10 minutes, I'm going to post it since most of you are out of work.

FOREWARNED.

Quick, someone find the original pic of mdler in nothing but an elephant thong to send hillandrock scurrying into the woods in fear....;-)

Since there are no objections....



BOOM SHAKA LAKA LAKA

Seriously? I read these boards in the office, and shit like that is not cool.

Did this "hillandrock" guy just get deleted AGAIN? Now that's getting funny.

after seeing this post;

poster a - I think the important thing is, say I name my new firm the "Swine Flu Architecture Office"... what kind of clients might I then expect?

deleted response - Maybe Muslims.


the person who call himself poop876 was notified by me with an e mail that said;

subject; no racism in archinect!
i deleted your offensive post in regards to swine flu thread. i hope you refrain yourself from such statements in the future.
thanks.
orhan

and reply said;

What is offensive about the fact that muslims do not eat pork? You are muslim you should get it!

this exchange prompted me to start this thread.

now,
i ask you to use senses in this way, what and how would you feel about if you have seen statements or responses like below;

to a black person
* what is offensive about ..........? you are black you should get it!

to a jewish person
* what is so offensive about ........? you are jewish you should get it!

to a mexican person
* what is so offensive about .........? you are mexican you should get it!

to a chinese person, to a white person, to a gay person, to an indian person, pakistani, arab, french, german, blind, and so on.

should we all get the bad taste jokes because we are part of that group? accept them without any emotional response?

are we or should we this desensitized? should i read this in my mail box and say "never mind" ?
are we repeating the grand mistake of "as long as it is not us"? indifference?

you guys are going on and on about my reaction to this humiliating generalization, that's okay.
live and learn.
i am not as desensitized to these type of direct and veiled vulgarity. and never will be. so expect strong standing against any kind of racial overtones and generalizations from me, as long as i care to post here in archinect...

good night!

Ok - I can see the logic of picking the name poop. But what why 876? Is that a coded message? Was poop 0-875 already taken?

Orhan, I agree with you that's vulgarity and that we should still be offended, however often you encounter it, especially in forums like these.
This place continues to be a resource in many ways, but I've grown tired of sifting though pure junk. I just think it's a limit of the medium itself though and I have no solutions to offer.

I too am offended by stupid generalizations OF ANY KIND - they're crass, insulting logic and the root of all stereotypes. But you can't ban them, it would be like banning stupidity. Which I would totally ban if I could! And bad grammar too.

Orhan, I'm with FRaC, what's with you considering republicans to be synonymous with racists?...

before you edited the post to say "democratic and fun forum" it said:

"So please think twice when posting such racially disturbing posts that doesn't belong to an otherwise liberal and democratic forum."

that pretty obviously implies that all republican's are racists. I know you probably changed it when you realized how ridiculous you sounded, but you shouldn't undermine FRaC for pointing out your mistake.

My feeling is that hateful comments will get a comeuppance by the rest of us in the forum. No need to police what people say. This forum has generally upheld the best democratic spirit by maintaining its intelligence and healthy debate.

I've only rarely come across a post that I find deeply offensive, and when I do, I either ignore it (and that poster's subsequent posts) or I engage it.

It's so much better that hateful ideas can be debated down than that they be edited out by an "overseer." If they are truly hateful ideas, they'll be proven as hateful by the rest of us.

I'm of Swedish ancestry, many of my family members are blonde, and yet do I get up in arms and hyperventilate when someone makes a blonde joke, or a Swedish joke?

I'd rather debate the merits of being Swedish than have all anti-Swedist comments be edited off the site by someone who decides for all of us what's right to say about lutefisk, and what's wrong.

Sorry, Orhan, but I don't want you deciding for me what I should think. You're a smart guy, but you don't necessarily share my values. If we take these editing capabilities too far, any thread on Israel and Palestine would turn into a massive series of redacted comments.

Encourage debate, don't stifle it.

Orhan,
First of all I wasn't trying to offend anybody and if I did I really do appologise. Stating "you are muslim, you should get it" wasn't meant in any way to offend you or anybody that is muslim. I was simply implying that you should know more about something that is associated with islam, that other people would not. There are things lets say, jews, african americans, mexicans, germans etc. know more about and understand than somebody that is not, which could be culturally etc. , which other cultures would not get. There was nothing deep about that comment that was meant to hurt you or anybody else. It was misunderstood by you and poorly chosen words by me. How about saying soemthign regarding arranged marriages....and then saying "what is offensive about arranged marriages, you are indian you should get it"??? Would that be offensive to anybody? I'm not sure, but it is a fact that people from India have arranged marriages, which some cultures do not understand. Having said all that, I appologise again and hopefully we can just put this behind us, because hey it is not like I come here and bash people based on their comments, race, religion etc. I just come here to give my opinion and some useful information. Cheers!

evil,
yes it is a coded message.....

86, you have a one track mind. i am not even a democrat...

ckl, i now agree with you.

876, thank you.

that means a lot to me. and i apologize from you for obviously misinterpreting your intentions.

you have to realize i am extra sensetive and alert for obvious reasons...

then what is a swine flu architecture office ?

a medical units for designing architectural defense for viral attack as in this
http://bldgblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/this-diseased-utopia-10-points-on-swine.html


or an architectural office infected with swine flu?


then for a muslim to become the client, how does it becomes a racial statement...

sorry, i'm chinese, i dun get it....

farwest, that is really far out. when did i tell to anybody what to 'think' ?

Orhan, I would credit your sources when you take stuff like from a published email on my blog (long time ago).

I think you do a good job and I enjoy the forum. There needs to be more eating and drinking done outside of the forum (it doesn't work very well inside the forum).

As far as hate speech, draw the line and be consistent.

Same with that dude who had a url in his name. Getting rid of him was a good move.

Keep up the good work.


Cheers!

Well if this post comes through I am still here.

If it doesn't, I have cigarettes and vodka to keep me entertained.



No I took down the racy photo once a legitimate complaint came through. The coffee shop regulars thought it was hilarious. My laptop was dying and I wasn't going to be until... uh... now. So, I censored myself. But I must say I've never seen 50 thread views happen in the 10-minute warning period. (Probably luck?)


I was going to fill in the blanks to comparing the "You should get it (insert race here)" with fried chicken, pennies on the sidewalk and tacos but I thought that was pushing the limits. Oh, oopsss...

As far as the conversation goes... well, I have no comment.

Heck yeah, at least two more weeks of me being around. Good luck y'all!

Cigarettes and vodka are a much better deal!

Interesting. I guess I don't get the fuss. Orhan is, after all, a "Senior Editor" of Archinect. There really aren't too many of those, and he's one of the only ones who still pays attention to the forums, so maybe I'm even surprised that people are offended that he took the time to do his job, when almost everything else goes most of the time.

For the record, I wouldn't mind Thumbs Up/Down buttons. But I agree that an Edit button would be preferable to that.

I am offended that people get offended - does that count?

...and anyway offense is always taken and not given (semantics I know)

I like the pure simplicity of this forum. Not a fan of the edit or the thumbs up / down.

It's enough that we debate the forum on the forum - very democratic discussions that way. Keep up the good work Orhan.

HI hillandrock! i was wondering where you went!!

I dont get the 'joke.' It just doesnt make any sense to me; almost as if they had replied 'blue shoes' as the clientel. The comic above I get.

I'm with citizen. Leave it to the users of the site to feltch out the morons... otherwise I expect if not implore you to delete all of my posts.

no thumbs-up/down please. its needless (and the proposal is totally irrelevant to the incident cited here) and could create a subtle kind of nastiness and scavenging pack mentality. why do you want to run a beauty pageant contest?

PN: "Leave it to the users of the site to feltch out the morons... "

At many levels, I want to agree with this view.

However, in practice what really happens in an unmoderated forum is that threads routinely get hijacked by individuals with a personal agenda, or worse, two or three "morons" get into a heated - and extended - argument that spoils the thread for everybody else. For other users to "feltch out the morons" only seems to extend and exacerbate the destructive or off-topic interaction.

I'm for a moderated forum, provided it's done with a fairly light hand, the moderators operate against a clearly defined set of criteria, and the moderators do their job objectively and in an impartial manner.