Are you kidding me?

[pedaling squares]

Ok, a mod creates a thread just to say that "UNIBALLER" is an offensive term. This theory is supported by a claim that people with one testicle and their families are insulted. There must have been a poll that I missed because we know CN moderators like corroboration when facts are stated. And the matter is not up for debate because the thread is instantly closed. Now that's not even a term I choose to use but I sure disagree with the way this was handled. Only one person is called the uniballer on this forum. A person who has accepted the term as a nickname among friends. A person who's email handle was "Juan Pelota". So who is offended? Sure some Lance Armstrong fans have suggested that this is rude, but they have also suggested that many other comments and terms are rude without them being banned. And... I haven't seen anyone complain who wasn't already deeply invested in a mud-slinging flame war. I've seen homophobic slurs on this site, and I'm certain the gay cycling population is numerically far superior than the one-balled peloton. This is moderation simply for the point of having something to moderate. I hope similar issues are handled far better. Yes I'm being critical of a moderator. And I'm being polite while doing it so don't bother with a one week vacation.

 

[Anonymous]

Ok Martin318is,

I'll reply here as you locked the other thread. The Uni***** term that can no longer be used seems to me to be quite an over-reaction.

LA has named his coffee line Juan Pelota for crying out loud. This is nothing more than political correctness run amok. I realize that I don't own the site and I'm a guest here... but c'mon.

I'm not normally one to complain but this is over the top. I'd imagine most of the testicular cancer survivors frequenting this forum would understand.

 

[pedaling squares]

Ok Martin318is,

I'll reply here as you locked the other thread. The Uni***** term that can no longer be used seems to me to be quite an over-reaction.

LA has named his coffee line Juan Pelota for crying out loud. This is nothing more than political correctness run amok. I realize that I don't own the site and I'm a guest here... but c'mon.

I'm not normally one to complain but this is over the top. I'd imagine most of the testicular cancer survivors frequenting this forum would understand.

+1 and I started a thread on this very topic, maybe it would have been better here.

 

[Ferminal]

Ok Martin318is,

I'll reply here as you locked the other thread. The Uni***** term that can no longer be used seems to me to be quite an over-reaction.

LA has named his coffee line Juan Pelota for crying out loud. This is nothing more than political correctness run amok. I realize that I don't own the site and I'm a guest here... but c'mon.

I'm not normally one to complain but this is over the top. I'd imagine most of the testicular cancer survivors frequenting this forum would understand.

I assume that it's no longer allowed to refer to Cadel's *** chin, as that might be offensive to people with an *** chin.

Also no mentions please of riders carrying excessive weight, it could be highly offensive to viewers of the forum who are the same.

If it's offensive, why don't you just add Uniballer to the word filter... Although it might not be as offensive as Pa-kistan so maybe it shouldn't be.

 

[Martin318is]

The fact is that there have been numerous complaints about the term both in reporting of posts to moderators and in direct PMs.

Ignore for the moment that the term is used here about Lance and just think about your comments for a moment...

Exactly what is so bad about the term being avoided on this site? Does it hurt someone that I am not aware of?

 

[Martin318is]

Many apologies, for the incredible offense I appear to have caused.

I answered the comments in the topic that was raised and have moved the posts from the moderators thread here


For the record, and you may discuss this there as well, I only locked it because I (quite wrongly apparently) assumed that the concept was entirely understandable. In other forums I have moderated, locking a notification like that is standard practise

 

[Ferminal]

It's called slippery slope Martin.

It's the internet, there are offensive terms everywhere, this is why our government is trying to protect us!

Each person will find different statements "offensive", each person will have a varying degree of "thick skin" which determines whether or not they laugh offensive statements off or let it ruin their day. I'm not denying that Uniballer may be offensive to some people, but anyone can pull terms out of a hat and say "this offends me".

What makes Uniballer any more offensive than other statements? Nothing, it's simply the degree to which a person takes offense. If you start branding terms offensive due to complaints from a very small portion of the user base you will find yourself with a lot more work to do as you are made aware of more and more offensive terminology.

Now that might not bother you, but it makes the place extremely sterile.

 

[Martin318is]

oh, one other thing. My father in law DOES take offense to the implication that he is somehow inferior due to the effects of his cancer.

He isn't a cyclist, doesn't care who Lance is, but he has had testicular cancer.

 

[pedaling squares]

The fact is that there have been numerous complaints about the term both in reporting of posts to moderators and in direct PMs.

Ignore for the moment that the term is used here about Lance and just think about your comments for a moment...

Exactly what is so bad about the term being avoided on this site? Does it hurt someone that I am not aware of?

Thanks for replying to our concerns Martin. That is exactly why I believe the thread should have stayed open.

I cannot ignore that it is about Lance, because that is the only context in which this word is used. And in that context it is a nickname accepted and even championed by the person who has lost the testicle.

I am not against some words being banned. Some of them are obvious, not mere curse words but words that reflect racism, genocide, etc. Those are not words that anyone is likely to embrace as a nickname; they incite hatred. But banning this word, used in this context, opens the door to sterilizing the entire forum so that any mention of a peculiarity or, God forbid, a weakness is mentioned.

We all need to be careful of others' feelings but we cannot walk every step on our tiptoes. Life just isn't like that. Life needs humour, dark humour included, even in the form of silly nicknames.

 

[Hugh Januss]

I find it offensive that despite the 1999 retested samples that clearly showed the presence of EPO some people will still post the lie that Lance has never tested positive. I plan on reporting all such posts in the future.

 

[Martin318is]

I find it offensive that despite the 1999 retested samples that clearly showed the presence of EPO some people will still post the lie that Lance has never tested positive. I plan on reporting all such posts in the future.

My father in law (and his support group) deals daily with issues such as severe depression due to the implications of the effects of cancer as it applies to their sense of man-hood and self worth. This centralizes on the loss of prostrate and/or one or both testicles.

They don't have millions of dollars to console them (as in Lances case).

As I said earlier, if I have caused offense with my action attempting to restrict the use of one word as a method of attack, then I most humbly apologise.

 

[Ferminal]

Martin - I'm not sure how the actions of moderators are supposed to be offensive.

I don't no whether or not you're just being silly by saying that, or whether the only way it's possible to question anything on the forums is if it is "offensive".

 

[Martin318is]

Ferminal,
Its a separate line of conversation but the simple answer is that a moderator is capable of offending people just as much or more than the average user. After all, we have abilities that you don't and therefore can end up in a tricky situation of wielding power to protect a personal postion rather than applying a "moderate" view. We have all seen web forums where an admin/mod will ban users or delete threads at will if they disagree.

I made the apology quite seriously. People were clearly outraged that I raised the topic in the manner I did (which as I indicated has been standard practise for me elsewhere for about 10 years). As such, I apologised for causing that offense /outrage.

As to your either/or that you present, you have omitted a massive number of other possibilities I think... see the Moderators thread. Also, please note that nobody has edited any comment in this thread other than to move them together from a couple of other locations. These are not the actions of a forum that discourages discussion.

 

[Ferminal]

The either/or is because you don't seem willing to acknowledge the counter arguments mentioned in this thread. Now of course the moderators have made their decision and that's the bottom line etc. but there's no point in this thread (which is no doubt why the original thread was closed) if there's no exchange of views.

I don't think I've ever used the term, certainly on limited occasions if I have. Not being able to use "Uniballer" doesn't bother me at all.

BUT

1) If "Uniballer" is forbidden, please add it to the word filter to save everyone (posters and moderators) the hassle of a ****storm everytime it's mentioned.

2) Is it now the policy of the moderators to ban any term which a member finds offensive.

 

[ergmonkey]

Gentlemen, the correct, clinical term I believe we are missing here is "monorchid".

Beyond that, I'm all for tearing down the absurd media facade that is Lance Armstrong, but I hardly find it necessary to resort to cracking wise about his cancer treatment in order to argue that he's a total scumbag and borderline sub-human.

 

[krebs303]

Will all forms of unib--ller be banned?
can he be called "one egg eddy" or "one walnut wally"
how far reaching is the ban?
he has on this forum been accused of doping,fraud,incest,infidelity,racketeering, to ban a name that he calls himself just seems odd.

 

[forty four]

there should be no word filter of any kind what are we 12 this is the only site i visit where words are censored i really dont like it. words are just that words if they offend you go hide somewhere.

 

[Big GMaC]

Juan Pelota

I am twelve and what is this?

 

[Anonymous]

why dont they just add uniballer to the banned words list and make it a banable offence to deliberately dodge the censor (unless you want to mention d1ck van dyke or dick pound, or use the world bastardised)