So the Slayven thing was mostly being ignored by the admin team in the Constructive thread until, it looks like, the BCT realized people were in there talking about it at which point we get:
https://www.resetera.com/threads/constructive-community-discussion.270630/page-98#post-67372615Y'all know Slayven is Black right?
what is this dumb shit?
did you just get full on TILTED by a minority mentioning racism? you see the word and just get thrown into the threshold?
he didn't call anyone racist, but he did compare the cynicism and insincerity , which in this case is deliberate, with someone who engages in racism and then thinks that irony and direct references are some kind of shield.
what made you uncomfortable, and why? maybe you could open with that. not demanding bans because a black person referencing racism made you nervous?
and then the official B-Dubs response:
The forum is a madhouse to moderate during E3 and we’re behind on a lot of things, but let me address this real quick.
People in this forum have been warned and/or banned in the past for this behavior. It got to the point that the staff had to write a post condemning this kind of behavior.
What you’re talking about is something completely different. Those bans were for platform warriors attempting to co-opt the language of the oppressed and for people comparing literally everything to Trump supporters and/or Nazis. I assume this is the post you’re talking about and it shouldn’t be causing this kind of confusion.
Slayven’s post was commentary on failed satire and failed humor, his point being that instead of critiquing the ideas they were trying to mock, the trailer reinforced them (in his opinion). The criticism might have been sharp, but he in no way compared anyone to a Nazi, a Trump supporter, nor was he engaging in platform wars or co-opting the language of oppressed groups to describe the plight of fans of corporate brands. If any black member had made that exact same post with benign intentions it would not have been banned.
Last sentence being the highpoint, because simultaneously making it clear that only one specific racial minority gets to be careless with racism, but then he left the b lowercase so.
(quotes Akira here)
That kind of post affects other race minorities, too. And I didn't "demand bans". I said there wasn't even an apology for making an unfortunate comparison. Check the thread. I wasn't the only one feeling uncomfortable. And I'd say our feeling was valid.
(B-dubs quote here)
Maybe not a ban. I'm not going to argue if you believe that's not bannable. But why not an apology? The post you linked wasn't the one I was referring to. I can't find it now, but I definitely remember that staff had to be very clear that false equivalences were not okay, especially when the user is comparing something that is harmless to something that absolutely causes harm.
I respect that he didn't like the trailer. But there was nothing in it related to racism or any political topic. It's no wonder many members in the thread expressed discomfort with his comment. It also derailed the thread, and he didn't come back to discuss the situation with members who were uncomfortable.
I hope you understand why so many of us expressed that in the thread, and why an apology would help things without having to extend this discussion more than needed.
The actual and only issue is anyone being uncomfortable with what he said:
this false equivalence accusation seems like a major inflation of a pretty basic statement, because he uses his experiences with racism as a frame for duplicity, cynicism, and casual insincerity being shielded with a wink and an explanation of "oh it's irony". And it still hasn't been explained why it makes someone uncomfortable enough to expect someone to be banned over, or an apology.
Clearly everyone who had a problem with the statement thought he was white because that's the only reason it'd get the side-eye:
There was nothing wrong with the post except Slayven doesn't have "I'm Black" under his user name for all the posters that quoted him thinking they "got another one"/this being a fine example of the problem with assuming everyone is "White" by default.
To me it was pretty obvious that it wasn't meant to imply "this is like, or as bad as racism" and more "this reminds me of this form of failed satire". Slay is a Black man in America and is very outspoken in discussions about racism so I don't really understand why someone would assume he was making light of racism, being a victim of racism himself.
It would be helpful if Era could just post the standards and guidelines, by race, for what's allowed and not.
