I only said that using /trade for things other than the buying or selling of goods or services is not, in and of itself, a violation.
If someone is slinging racial slurs in /trade, then they should be reported.
If you feel someone is “spamming”, report them.
I would ask what you consider to be “SPAM”, though.
Is it simply holding a conversation in /trade? Is it using a macro to advertise your goods or services every 30 seconds? Is it using a macro to advertise that you are looking for a group every 3 minutes?
ok, let me give you an actual example of a banning I personally received on the /r/classicwow subreddit.
In the course of a conversation, someone called me a na-zi. An obvious joke. I laughed it off with “sig heil!”. Another obvious joke.
I got banned. The guy who called me a na-zi did not get banned.
Do you understand? Calling someone a na-zi is not a bannable offense, but apparently not being offended at it is a bannable offense.
That kind of ridiculous BS is why I do not trust individuals to be arbiters of what constitutes an offensive statement and what does not. Unless something is egregiously obvious, there needs to be a pattern of behavior before bans start getting handed out.
The knee-jerk reaction to being offended is precisely why RCR is bad and why people should be expected to expend some effort if they want to report someone for something that could lead to a ban.
In my experience, most people who deserve to be called things like that are completely un-self-aware, and have no idea how horribly wrong the things they are doing are.
This is why, for example, you can go onto the Player Behavior forums for League of Legends and see all these people who absolutely unquestionably deserved their bans arguing that they did nothing wrong.
Now, I’m not saying that this is true of you - I don’t know you. But it is true very frequently, and as a result, when people respond the way you did, it doesn’t make people think that you’re joking - it makes them think that you are one of these people.
It may have been a misunderstanding, but it was a very predictable one.
PS - I think part of the issue is that you don’t think “use of racial slur” qualifies as “egregiously obvious” banworthy chat. Because I do. Maybe not a permanent ban for the first offense - I’m open to letting people learn and make mistakes. But you’re the one who brought up permanent bans, I just said banned. A temporary ban is sufficient to teach the lesson for a first-time offender, followed by a permanent ban if they continue.
Listen to yourself. There’s no way you are qualified to determine what is offensive and what is not when you are so willing to imply that maybe I really am an actual na-zi in order to discredit a true story of a ridiculous ban that undermines your point.
If you use the N-word in a public chat, especially as part of a racist statement, YOU DESERVE YOUR BAN.
There is no grey area here. You deserve to be banned. That’s it. Maybe not a permanent ban, as I mentioned in my edit - but punishment is required for egregious offenses.
And if you’re trying to argue that maybe you should be able to say it without getting banned?
Isn’t there a mature language filter in game that filters things like curse words and slurs? Not to say that using a slur is ok it isn’t but isn’t that what the filter is there for. So people who get offended won’t have to see it?
I see both sides. RCR is an issue because there are people who do abuse it. To say otherwise is blind ignorance. On the other hand, using slurs is something commonly accepted by most and really shouldn’t be. So I get that having to go through extra steps is a pain and unwelcome there but really is it worth the trade off?
With the extra steps the ban will still happen, it will just prevent the people who are unfairly censored (which happens a lot) cause people won’t go through the extra steps for nothing.
Physical harm and assault isn’t close to equal to something that has a built in filter in the game for. This isn’t like someone is standing next to you on the bus shouting obscenities in your ear. This is a virtual world where people type things and with the filter it censors it.
If you play without the filter prepare for some mature language.
We are talking about words. It’s called an analogy, where you use things that are different but share a similar relationship to the things being discussed in order to help people understand what the relationship between the things being discussed is.
To wit, the knife is to racial slurs as body armor is to the profanity filter.
Of course common decency and all but unless you report everyone who uses profane or vulgar language you should get off your high horse use the filter and ignore the asshats.
Listen to yourself again. In the real world, despite what you say there absolutely is a gray area on using even the N-word!
I’m not even remotely suggesting that it is acceptable to use the N-word in-game, but just pointing out that you seem to have a certitude about what is offensive that makes me never want to give you the ability to hand out bans.
Yes, it doesn’t seem to take very long for someone who disagrees with you to become “the problem” and presumably also worthy of a ban.
People like you are why we have the 1st amendment as one of our founding principles.