well jew isnt a racist term though

Did he really say that? That's kind of embarassing.

"So how about you jew over to italy" wtf is that supposed to mean!

Well the racism, rudeness and what sounds like metagaming will probably get him banned. You should email a mod detailing it.

Is it "Wehrmacht"? His name would be interestly apt then.

yeah i ignored that bit as i couldnt figure out what he meant

Yeah it is "Wehrmacht" and i figured that "Jew Italy over" shit was offensive, i didnt' know what it meant but just seemed offensive

not jew italy over its jew over to italy, KI think he meanth it as jews have often migrated from place to place, so you should migrate over to italy.

he must be a palestinian

...

Clearly its racist, I hope you guys are joking

It's aight i get this sort of thing alot

This is something else to add to the FAQ... "Racist, sexist, and otherwise hateful or bigoted talk or threats will not be tolerated and will result in banning.", or something like that. I think that it should be an official policy - and as far as I can tell the site is silent in regards to civil behavior (other than Diplomacy-specific things like meta-gaming). If I was playing a FTF game I would kick the person out of my house for saying something like that (or I would object loudly and leave if it was some else's place). There is no reason that anyone should have to be subjected to such treatment here.

...and I'm sorry, lazysummer, I don't know if you were "joking", but to say that "he must be a palestinian" is also bigoted. Nationality or ethnic background does not determine what kind of person someone is. Everyone deserves to be treated appropriately for who they are - and not based on what group they belong to by birth.

I think he means "jew over" as synonymous with "screw over" as a popular anti-Semitist idea is that Jews are unscrupulous and will scam you or screw you over.

Anyway, that aside, I will consider banning him, but it would set an important precedent. Obviously I believe the OP, but I'm hesitant to set such a precedent without the ability to see message logs to confirm.

Does the accused bigot have anything to say?

He's obviously in the wrong here, but is being racist enough to ban?

Isn't the taboo on racist words there because they might incite violent action, the real thing people should worry about? He can't hurt anyone over the internet.

This is just the price we pay for freedom of speech.

It's offensive and annoying, but that's part of the game. Quote him to other players and get them to turn on him.

Invictus, beyond the right of someone to have ugly thoughts and to express them, realize that this site is either: 1) a private club run by Kestas - in which he can do what ever he wants - including banning people based on any criteria including the quite reasonable criteria of being rude, 2) a public venue - which in many jurisdictions (and I realize that this is the intertubes and not subject to such things) a certain amount of civility is expected. ...not just to avoid violence - but simply because as people we deserve to be left in peace. Besides - the internet is still a place that is connected to the real world... people can figure out who you are with an email address or an IP address and other clues. The threat of violence is less severe than someone standing at your door, but it is still there.

Freedom of speech does not extend to racism or inappropriate comments. People have a right to not be forced to hear things they don't want to, do you agree? He was forced to hear/see it, since he could not have avoided such a thing. That's not precisely fair, is it?

It does extend to racism and inappropriate comments.

In America at least, the only restrictions to freedom of speech are obscenity, fighting words, inciting imminent lawlessness, and stuff like slander and advertising. He can say what he wants, even if it pisses everyone else off.

But Kestas owns the site so of course he can kick this moron off and do whatever else he wants with phpDiplomacy.

Well I could definitely justify either decision and I know figle and I discussed this at length. It's a difficult precedent to set, though I certainly have very little personal tolerance for bigots.

Doesn't racism qualify as fighting words, though?

I mean, in the way that it's provocative.

I doubt it's that simple. At any rate, he can't fight anyone through a computer.

Don't ban him. Mock him, belittle him, show how that's not a way to act, but don't ban. It wasn't even really so offensive. There are must worse things to say.

Let the hick be.

True there are alot of worse things to say but still a poor choice of vocabulary

As a Jew, I can tell you that I have met people that have used jew as a verb like this and not even considered the fact that its rascist, using jew as a synonym for haggle.. Dont get me wrong, Ive heard it used knowing full well its rascist too.

Hmm. Well, I suppose there's no point taking offense if the people to whom it's directed to as a whole don't care.

I never said it wasn't offensive SirBayer. I just said without knowing the context or the person saying it, its hard to tell. It may just be stupid ignorance.

As a Jew, I think its offensive but he shouldn't be banned.