I think the ‘threat’ was a misguided attempt at sarcasm/dark humor. The poster probably (IMO) wanted to make fun of the partly over-the-top negative reactions of some users and that spectacularly misfired.
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This “threat” is literally just a meme. It doesn’t mean anything. You can search up “I will find you and I will kill you meme” and you will get tons of results like this.
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It was a customized version of a meme that I, for example, didn’t know prior to this incident. But as I said, it’s probably a case of miscommunication and, even worse, was probably meant to make light of overly critical users who dramatize the upgrade to a new forum software.
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I don’t understand why folks find it hard to understand the situation. It doesn’t matter if it probably wasn’t a real threat, or “just a meme” this is a private forum. The moderators have the right to set the tone of the forum. If they feel allowing this type of “joke” will cause more misunderstandings then they have the right to forbid them here.
It has nothing to do with having thicker skin, or understanding net culture. It has everything to do with keeping the atmosphere here from devolving into just another webforum like 4chan or something.
That is a no sense, my mother with 62 years uses memes, and she is nota 4chan forum clone in the real world. Grow up and accept the technologies and ways to communicate of the people.
It’s really easy to understand, is a joke.
And yes, a lot of people here have a really thin skin and try to impose their conservative vision of the world to all people, with no sense comparatives like only 4chan uses meme. Wtf, go out of your house, all peole uses memes. I had memes printed in the wall of my old work. Memes are proverbs of this moment of the humankind.
I think zanzio’s point might not be that it is a meme or that memes only exist on 4chan, but rather that most people would think twice to send a meme like that to someone they’ve never had a drink with, let alone a stranger.
Unless you’re telling me your mum does such a thing too.
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But you can’t expect that everybody knows every meme. And most of them are pretty stupid. Also, too, using a picture backdrop and a certain font is in no way a magic bullet against misinterpretation or legal consequences.
she and a lot of people…yeah, send memes is only a problem for some guys here…
I don’t think your argument here really makes sense. Are you actually suggesting that everyone in the world uses memes? Most of my immediate family doesn’t even use facebook much less send memes to each other, but even if that were the case thats not really my point.
Its about controlling the tone of the forum. There are going to be people like Bart on this forum that don’t get this type of joke and take it seriously. Thats a good enough reason to ban that type of humor. It makes it less likely for flamewars to start, and we all know that happens easily enough here without this type of humor.
Its like if there were a rule that banned religious topics. Religion as a subject can lead to toxic discussions when people can’t agree with each other. I understood it was a meme and probably not a real threat, but I don’t think you stopped to look a it from bart’s point of view.
Its important to set rules which prevent misunderstanding from leading to outright fights in the forum. Making a rule like “no death threats even as jokes” is just proactive moderation that saves them from a lot of future problems. It doesn’t matter if this particular meme wasn’t a real threat, making that rule is just good house keeping.
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Failure to realize it was a meme isn’t the problem—we all make mistakes. It’s how you respond to it once you know the truth that matters. You can either double down and continue to accuse someone of something they did not do; which is dishonest. Or, you can admit you just missed the movie reference, and due to the charged emotions lately, you overreacted.
That isn’t to defend the image—it was a dumb thing to post. But it is not a death threat, and therefore it’s irresponsible to treat it as if it were. It damages the reputation of the accused, and it makes people question your own integrity in the process.
Besides, artists should know more than most that someone’s interpretation does not imply author’s intentions. You can’t even draw a character these days without some unscrupulous lunatic on Twitter accusing you of doing something nefarious.
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The way i see it, being muted for 30 days, or permanently banned is probably a bit too strict as a punishment. I do still think it should be enforced as a rule, but maybe getting muted for a week if you violate it would be more fair.
Bart has probably gotten a lot of hateful PMs concerning the site change. He may have subconsciously expected things to escalate to threats. That combined with not having seen the meme or movie probably made him take it as a more serious threat than it was.
Facebook have today 2200 millions of users Worldwide, 240 millions in usa, with 300 millions of habitants, so, yes,use facebook or other social network is normal.
You can repeat the same other 30 messages, you will never have reason, is a joke, is not bad, and admins cannot ban people by jokes because admins must not to ban people because they have a different sense of humor. Yeah is easy reply “but is bart forum and he made with it what he want”, but also it is childish.
Yes, maybe banning folks for doing this would be too extreme, but i still don’t feel its wrong to tell folks that a joke that involves a death threat isn’t allowed. Maybe muting the people who violate the rule for 7 days would be more fair as a punishment.
We cant really force people to understand references or have a better sense of humor. A person who takes that sort of joke the wrong way could post a reply that is a real insult or threat, which leads to the original poster posting actual insults or threats. This sort of thing can easily snowball into a real fight inside a forum. It is a good idea to make a rule that keeps people from starting those types of conflicts.
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The person was not accused of wanting to harm anyone, but of a behavior that has the potential to seriously shock and frighten people.
This might not have been their intention, but, as said in the first post, this kind of behavior is unacceptable, even as a joke. The accused person now has 30 days to find out exactly why this behavior is perceived as hostile and potentially dangerous. If you don’t understand why this is necessary, maybe you should think about that for some time, too, including different people’s views and a broader society.
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He’s accused of sending a death threat and he did not send a death threat.
If you guys want to set a precedence for being accused and punished for things you didn’t do, it’s on you I guess. It seems like a poor way to run an online community to me.
Actually, he sent a death threat even thought he probably thought it is just a funny meme. But it was not funny.
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They are silenced for their behavior, not the danger they’re posing. Reread the first post, please.
Also, a death threat is still a death threat, when quoted from a movie, even if it’s not with the intention to kill.
Now imagine there’s a group of people you don’t get along with and they start sending you screenshots of movie scenes where people are being beaten up. Maybe with the sentence “Change your job/school” written on it. Where do you draw the line?
I think you know that’s not the goal, but please be assured that it’s meant to be a precedence for protecting people targeted by inappropriate behavior and I’m sure it gives the correct person an opportunity to think about their online behavior.
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I draw the line at intent. I try to be aware of my own faults in judgement. Especially in cases where I hold a position of power over that person. I’ve made a few mistakes in that regard over my life, and still cringe when I think back on them.
Sending death threats is bad, but falsely accusing someone of sending death threats isn’t a good idea either. I don’t fault anyone for not understanding a poorly timed meme. I only expect people to show some integrity and back down when the truth is revealed to them.
Besides, I don’t even know the context of the original post. He just as easily could have been making fun of all the people being upset about the forum change.
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This is truly pathetic…
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That’s a nice trait. I also tend to make decisions assuming the best intents people could have, and most likely, Bart does too, considering that the punishment is very mild compared to what’s possible in “real life”. He’s not an evil person with too much power. But consequences for their actions are still important. And this is the responsibility as head of this community.
We don’t know the truth in this case. There’s a slight chance it’s serious and a big chance it’s not. I think everyone sees that.
The danger here lies in normalizing violent language and phrases. It’s better to avoid providing a free ticket to threatening people hidden in a joke.
The best case scenario I’m wishing for is that after or during their time out, the accused person will assure that there was no intent to harm anyone, apologize to Bart and learn to never use that kind of joke in the wrong situation again.
They have made a mistake, can learn from it and just go on afterwards.
I don’t see abuse of power here and no need for Bart to apologize or change his decision.
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