New Rule: Replace the Word "Lynch" in Games

[Nero Cain]

I'm curious, who here is actually offended by the word "lynch"?

[Alisae]

You were just pissed off because you rolled scum at the same time as that thread and thought I as ignoring you there because you're fucking needy

I randed scum at the same time I wrote that post?
You remember more then I do.

also im sorry i can't help it

[Tatsuya Kaname]

I'm curious, who here is actually offended by the word "lynch"?

Not me, but I can see the reason of this rule change and I gladly appreciate it.

[Lycanfire]

You were just pissed off because you rolled scum at the same time as that thread and thought I as ignoring you there because you're fucking needy

I randed scum at the same time I wrote that post?
You remember more then I do.

also im sorry i can't help it

Yea it was dynamic duo and you cross repped for Plotinus. Proceeded to go nuclear and claim everyone was ignoring you when I was legit the only person not ignoring you.

[chamber]

I'm curious, who here is actually offended by the word "lynch"?

People highly offended by the word would have self-selected not being here already.

[Alisae]

You were just pissed off because you rolled scum at the same time as that thread and thought I as ignoring you there because you're fucking needy

I randed scum at the same time I wrote that post?
You remember more then I do.

also im sorry i can't help it

Yea it was dynamic duo and you cross repped for Plotinus. Proceeded to go nuclear and claim everyone was ignoring you when I was legit the only person not ignoring you.

oh yeah that was pretty stressful. Didn't I also take a massive break after that as well? I think I did. I know that game was stressful and I needed some time away from the game since it didn't seem like I was enjoying it.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[scotmany12]

Let's be real here.
If we actually cared about this, people would have persued asking site administration to make this change a long time ago.
In fact, Lycan did that and I just remembered that that thread even existed.

If people cared, they would have said something.

Holy shit this is such a dumb post. Yes..this change probably should have happened a long time ago. For the record, I'm guilty of this. I didn't realize how uncomfortable that word can be for some people. But now I do. And if there is even one person who is on this site or who might join this site that is repulsed by our use of that word (ftr, looking back, its disgusting that we used it in the first place) then that's enough to have people stop using it.

If you're enjoyment of mafia is so entrenched is the usage of the word "lynch," then honestly just leave this website. At best you are willfully ignorant even after people are trying to explain things to you.

[Aristophanes]

I'm curious, who here is actually offended by the word "lynch"?

I'm curious, does this actually matter?

The term has highly racist undertones. Whether it directly offends me or not, it surely has that effect for some, and may even drive people away from the site. We are better off to leave it as a part of our history and walk away than to display it proudly.

Does a confederate flag hurt people? Technically no. If you were in a bar with a confederate flag up and asked if it offended anyone, you'd probably get a resounding "no" because those it offended would likely have left, or never come in the first place, as it is unwelcoming and potentially threatening.

If you remove the words and symbols which are active reminders of oppression, people will generally feel more invited.

So why are people fighting this?

[Aristophanes]

I'm curious, who here is actually offended by the word "lynch"?

People highly offended by the word would have self-selected not being here already.

^^^

So much this!
Thank you chamber

[Umlaut]

The only reasonable replacement here is

yeeted

yote

[Aristophanes]

The only reasonable replacement here is

yeeted

yote

Okay this I might legit adopt!

Fantastic contribution!

[MariaR]

This is not a thread to attack people or their stances on the matter. If you have such strong grievances with a post or a user please use the report function. This thread is open for explanation and tame discussion. Let's keep it that way.

[Ythan]

Halfway down page 25 might not be the best place for that.

Intended as constructive.

[Aristophanes]

Sorry.

I'll play nice.

[scotmany12]

This is not a thread to attack people or their stances on the matter. If you have such strong grievances with a post or a user please use the report function. This thread is open for explanation and tame discussion. Let's keep it that way.

Calling people out for their racist beliefs is not attacking people.

[HoldenGolden]

The only reasonable replacement here is

yeeted

yote

Okay this I might legit adopt!

Fantastic contribution!

Nthed. Though I may have to pull out the middle english to make it proper (as 'holden wast/hath been yote out of town' is better).

[Zachrulez]

Main thing I'm worried about is copying my ruleset into a game in the far future forgetting to change out the old references.

As for the change itself you can call it 100 different things and honestly be a lot more creative in game writing by coming up with one of those hundred different things to call it... so...

[Alisae]

This is not a thread to attack people or their stances on the matter. If you have such strong grievances with a post or a user please use the report function. This thread is open for explanation and tame discussion. Let's keep it that way.

Calling people out for their racist beliefs is not attacking people.

whats the difference?

[MariaR]

This is not a thread to attack people or their stances on the matter. If you have such strong grievances with a post or a user please use the report function. This thread is open for explanation and tame discussion. Let's keep it that way.

Calling people out for their racist beliefs is not attacking people.

If you believe someone has racist beliefs or is showing them please use the report function. Do not handle the issue here.

[Psyche]

Yknow i'm a black guy and i don't personally associate the word "lynch" with blackness at all and i'm unaware of any black user on this forum who feels differently. every time this has come up on this forum, i haven't felt a stake in this debate one way or another - i called it earlier an "internal squabble". I'm absolutely certain that this change does more to soothe white consciences than it does to actually fight racism. however this debate goes, while some posters are being pretty edgy, i definitely don't feel any impetus to presume racism in people solely on the basis of use of the term, which really is pretty apt for what it refers to in our games - something i think even a lot of people who support ditching the term will agree about.

Lately I do wonder if there's a reason I don't personally associate the word "lynch" with blackness, though, and I think what I'm realizing might apply to a lot of people posting here. Thinking back to my schooling (I used to be a very serious student), the Salem Witch trials and other stuff more isolated to Europe occurred

way

more often in my english and history courses than any accounts of racialized lynchings, even though they were way more recent and arguably way more pertinent to current social conditions in the US. My family - even though some of the oldest among them have witnessed lynchings - discuss racism often but only brought up this aspect of history sparingly, maybe because of trauma or maybe because it was too gruesome a phenomenon to discuss around children. I heard of Billie Holliday's infamous Strange Fruit only after Kanye released Yeezus, and most of what I've learned otherwise has come from independent reading on the web.

People and our media are getting more woke now, but what I'm hypothesizing is that over the past several decades there's been a pattern of deliberate or inadvertent erasure of some of the worst shit from our history and more specifically our schema of how racism unfolded in the 20th century. The result of that seems to include the fact that when i hear "lynch", I

still

don't immediately think about the racial terrorism that dominated the post-Reconstruction South. It's just not the first thing that comes to mind, and maybe that's by design. Is that a good thing?



I don't know how that relates to what's being discussed here and I didn't start typing this as a way of adding my two cents to the thing though maybe it's getting there. In some way I'm almost arguing in a backhand way that "lynching" doesn't have the connotations that seem to have motivated this rule change, right?

But on the other hand, I'm also arguing that "lynch" and even neutral reactions to the word are inherently

political

. And that I think it's kind of shortsighted to believe progressives made it that way. The people behind what Billie sang about made "lynch" political. The people putting together nooses or otherwise publicly executing black people

today

are making "lynch" political. If you're wary of politics interfering with your mafia, you're always going to have mixed luck doing that by keeping your head in the sand and ignoring that this stuff is happening - other people simply aren't so incurious and they have good reasons not to be. A much safer approach for the political quietists out there is just to ditch the word so the conversation is over and you can get back to playing. It's what most of the people supporting this change want to happen, too, in the end.

There's definitely a way more strident argument for doing more than just assenting to these changes. The "I'm not interested in politics" schtick for instance fucks you (and a lot of other people) over in the long run. And it makes you look kind of silly when you wade in a political discussion like this thread having little prior background. (I'm just saying.) But even if you just want to go back to your games and keep your mafia safe from the scary world outside, ditching "lynch" is an easy way to fortify your game for good. Besides, you get to say you did an anti-racist thing without giving up

anything

. The next time someone calls you terrible for that guy you voted for or that insult you threw in the heat of passion you can point to your next game OP proudly. What's not to like?

Either way I'm appalled I wrote this much about a policy change I still give soo few fucks about. It's almost midnight what's wrong with me.

[scotmany12]

This is not a thread to attack people or their stances on the matter. If you have such strong grievances with a post or a user please use the report function. This thread is open for explanation and tame discussion. Let's keep it that way.

Calling people out for their racist beliefs is not attacking people.

If you believe someone has racist beliefs or is showing them please use the report function. Do not handle the issue here.

Why can we, as a community, not publicly call out racists? Do we actually want them to be in this community?

[Nero Cain]

I'm curious, does this actually matter?

kinda? like its "our" site for "us". In my mind, it would make

A LOT

more sense if the reason for the rule change is that the majority of the players actually didn't want the word lynch to be used. I also think that most players know that when we say "we want to lynch you" or "X has been lynched d1" our intent isn't racist. And I was just curious so eh?

So who are people fighting this?

no one is? And if anyone was it's not gonna have any (or very little effect) I mean, I guess you could argue that Alysaa and ABR are fighting it but mods are gonna do what mods are gonna want.

[Dunnstral]

I don't like this. I get what you guys are trying to do with this, but it is misguided

To lynch is for a mob to kill someone, especially by hanging, for an alleged offense, with or without a legal trial. It has never had any racial connotations.

Reck, you're a social mod, and I barely see you playing mafia. You shouldn't be in this thread fanning the flames harder - You're implying that certain people are being racist.

I understand that things are getting heated here, but just because somebody has a different opinion, it does not make them a racist.

[Alisae]

A much safer approach for the political quietists out there is just to ditch the word so the conversation is over and you can get back to playing. It's what most of the people supporting this change want to happen, too, in the end.

politics is stupid

[Psyche]

scary, too