Allowing Racism in a forum?

[Katrina]

At the Christian forum I run, we have a guy who is clearly racist. He keeps trying to push that whites are better than other races and I keep telling him it's not allowed. He's been banned a few times for various things and if he keeps pushing racism, I'll probably ban him for good.

Do you allow people to post racist beliefs on your forum?

 

[Cedric]

No, never. There is absolutely no reason why you should ever allow racists on your forum.

 

[zappaDPJ]

It's a dilemma I've had to deal with on many occasions and I agree with Cedric, if someone posts overtly racist content I'll remove it and the member will take a holiday.

I feel there's another element to this though. I took over a forum populated with middle aged white men who posted a lot of mild 'isms'. While there was no intention to cause harm, the content was not acceptable.

Rather than delete the content and ban the members I spent literally years explaining that times change and things they had taken for granted were no longer acceptable. Roll on twenty years and the same set of members never post anything even mildly racist and without wishing to blow my own trumpet, it's something I'm quite proud of.

 

[MrDawn]

Racism is unacceptable. It should never be allowed. It's the kind of thing that runs people off.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Racism and discrimination are definitely something I don't allow - for anyone.

No white on black, black on white, and everything else. No hate period.

If you keep the negative out and be firm about it, you'll have a great community at the end of the day.

 

[Bluezone777]

First, I would wonder what I am doing to attract such people in the first place as I never had such a person on any forum I ever owned.

If you think being racist and racism itself is a bad idea and want to see it end then discussion is the way forward as bad ideas don't stand in the face of honest discourse which is something you find bad ideas never want to actually have.

The only thing a ban is going to do is push it to someone else to deal with which is likely what someone else did when they banned said person on their board and said person moved over to your board to continue where they left off as a ban will only strengthen their resolve not convince them to think differently. Do you wish to foist your problem onto someone else to deal with or do you wish to deal with it here and now? I suppose the choice is up to you.

 

[Katrina]

First, I would wonder what I am doing to attract such people in the first place as I never had such a person on any forum I ever owned.

If you think being racist and racism itself is a bad idea and want to see it end then discussion is the way forward as bad ideas don't stand in the face of honest discourse which is something you find bad ideas never want to actually have.

The only thing a ban is going to do is push it to someone else to deal with which is likely what someone else did when they banned said person on their board and said person moved over to your board to continue where they left off as a ban will only strengthen their resolve not convince them to think differently. Do you wish to foist your problem onto someone else to deal with or do you wish to deal with it here and now? I suppose the choice is up to you.

I've been trying to work with the particular member in the OP for over a year now. He doesn't seem to be improving in the racism area, even though his flaming has lessened.

 

[Cedric]

I've been trying to work with the particular member in the OP for over a year now. He doesn't seem to be improving in the racism area, even though his flaming has lessened.

I admire your patience. I would've quit bothering a long time ago.

 

[Yoda]

I've been trying to work with the particular member in the OP for over a year now. He doesn't seem to be improving in the racism area, even though his flaming has lessened.

I think I’d have given up a while ago! If you’ve explained very clearly what is and isn’t acceptable and they are still choosing to ignore your forum rules and yourself then they should be gone. I think it’s a fine line between letting someone make amends/improve on a forum and then just setting the precedent for everyone else to behave like the rude member? It might also look to the community like you are ‘accepting’ what that member is posting?

 

[Katrina]

I admire your patience. I would've quit bothering a long time ago.

I'm known for my patience as staff 🙂

I think I’d have given up a while ago! If you’ve explained very clearly what is and isn’t acceptable and they are still choosing to ignore your forum rules and yourself then they should be gone. I think it’s a fine line between letting someone make amends/improve on a forum and then just setting the precedent for everyone else to behave like the rude member? It might also look to the community like you are ‘accepting’ what that member is posting?

I actually either remove his remarks, or close his threads with statements as to why it's not allowed.

 

[Ravenfreak]

I don't allow any type of hate for any group of people on my forums. It's already terrible that this person has been pushing their harmful ideologies on other people, especially after a staff member has told him over and over again to stop. It looks bad for a community if this type of behavior is ignored IMO. It also has to be stressful for staff to have to deal with this member's posts constantly and also stressful for members too.

 

[Lavender.]

No racism at all. do you have rules or Guidelines on your forum? If you have warned him then just ban him permanently.

 

[Jason76]

At the Christian forum I run, we have a guy who is clearly racist. He keeps trying to push that whites are better than other races and I keep telling him it's not allowed. He's been banned a few times for various things and if he keeps pushing racism, I'll probably ban him for good.

Do you allow people to post racist beliefs on your forum?

Well, there's a difference in kidding around and/or being objective and a person who is just an obnoxious racist. In that case, you made the correct decision.