In the interest of both stirring shit up AND working out where to place my floating votes, I would like to ask all of those standing for mod how they feel they would - or, if they were a mod at the time, should, if at all - have dealt with this incident in question?
@big ron @VoR @RJN @GinAg (39) @ButterTart @jivafox
I don't want to ignore this and I have been re-reading the relevant threads and thinking about what I would do, and the honest answer is that I don't necessarily have a great answer, but I will try my best. There are two components that I'll address. Firstly my own involvement (or lack thereof) in the incident and what I would do differently in the future, be it as a mod or as a poster.
1. Looking at my own contributions: I started the thread where the incident occurred but did not try to help the situation. I am white and have many of the same racial blindspots that others do. Instead of making jokes about the situation, which is my natural inclination in many cases, I should have thought more critically about what was happening. I overlooked HSF's original post and I wish I had not.
2. This brings me to the second part, what I would try to do differently. The concept of "active listening" might be a bit cliche, but I would want to do some more "active reading." I don't expect a person who is a minority group (especially one who is one of only a few on Moopy to belong to it) to always be the arbiter of what to do around situations, but when someone does speak up (as is what happened in that thread), I will attempt to notice and give it the attention that it is due. The more people doing this the better, but as a moderator, it would be important.
3. In a situation where nobody in the impacted group says anything, but it is reported or I notice it, I will do some research about the severity of what was said. Within reason, I would ask people I trust who are more aware of a topic than me, both on Moopy and elsewhere in my life, for their opinions. For instance, I might ask
@GinAg (39) for his opinion on something potentially ablest,
@Beverley on his opinion on something potentially racist, or my sister (real, I promise) her opinion on something potentially sexist. Not saying they are going to want to answer or have an answer, but getting an opinion from someone knowledgeable can help cover up my own blind spots. I would bring this to the rest of the team.
4. None of this would fundamentally change what happened, but someone saying "the use of this word is hurtful for xyz reason; and this is why we can't use it or imply it in the future" quickly may have helped. One thing I love about the members of this community is that we (in general) value kindness and respect, but not that expense of humor. Getting called out can be hard, especially if you don't have harmful intentions, but an explanation of WHY something is an issue can help. I would want to find a balance between giving someone the benefit of the doubt that they are not being intentionally harmful, while still noticing the impact of their words. It is a small enough community that "punishment" would likely be less effective than trying to find ways to make things better in the future, while apologizing for any harm caused.
I was obviously not a moderator at the time of the incident, and I am sure there are complexities to it that I don't know, but this is what I think I would do to handle something like that in the future.