[Edit] Suggestion: BGA to increase penalties for hate and racism

[NeshyDee]

Received some racist messages from a player in one of my games earlier today. (Partial screenshot attached)

Reported the incident and the response is a slap on the wrist (10 day chat ban and warning). Why is this considered acceptable and not an immediate ban from play?

Suggestion: increase the penalties for this kind of disgusting behaviour.

Thank you

[KongKing123]

A 10 day chat ban and last warning before a complete ban is not trivial. Suggesting that BGA deems this behaviour "acceptable" because you disagree with the punishment is dishonest.

To be honest, you also added fuel to the fire instead of just ignoring him.

[NeshyDee]

A 10 day chat ban and last warning before a complete ban is not trivial. Suggesting that BGA deems this behaviour "acceptable" because you disagree with the punishment is dishonest.

To be honest, you also added fuel to the fire instead of just ignoring him.

If the penalty for racially abusing players on BGA is that you can still use BGA, that is not a penalty. I'm sure many people would agree with this. Chat function is not essential at all to play the majority of games.

You also misunderstood what I said. I'm saying that the punishment is unacceptable, not that BGA finds racism acceptable. And BGA tolerates this behaviour to some degree by allowing racists to continue to use the platform after being found guilty.

Other online games institute temporary bans (X number of days) and I believe that is warranted in these situations.

I'm going to go ahead and ignore your last comment which is blaming me for provoking a racist attack, which is absolutely absurd.

[fafa-fr]

the response is a slap on the wrist (10 day chat ban and warning).

Even if the penalty is not only a chat ban and a warning (there was a karma limit), and I wouldn't call it a slap on the wrist, I think that these insults are extremely aggressive, openly racist, and that they would deserve a much stronger penalty, at least a several-weeks total ban.

[Wonderful Plays]

A 10 day chat ban and last warning before a complete ban is not trivial. Suggesting that BGA deems this behaviour "acceptable" because you disagree with the punishment is dishonest.

To be honest, you also added fuel to the fire instead of just ignoring him.

That is just so unfair for you to say that.
"Just ignore" is a simple advice to give, but much harder to apply when you are on the receiving end of the racist insults.
According to the screenshot there is only one person whose behavior should be punished.

Chat ban is nothing - you just can't chat, it doesn't take away your ability to play. If it was a 10 day ban for playing, that sounds much more like it.

[KongKing123]

If the penalty for racially abusing players on BGA is that you can still use BGA, that is not a penalty. I'm sure many people would agree with this. Chat function is not essential at all to play the majority of games.

[...]

Other online games institute temporary bans (X number of days) and I believe that is warranted in these situations.

The player misbehaved in the chat feature and was banned from using the chat feature, so he can't misbehave anymore. Seems like an effective punishment to me, though the chat ban should have been longer than 10 days.

Perhaps a shorter temporary ban (+- a week) and longer chat ban (+- a month) would be a good middle ground in this instance, assuming it was his first offense.

Regardless, if it happens again, he should be (permanently) banned: http://en.doc.boardgamearena.com/Modera ... nalty_Grid

You also misunderstood what I said. I'm saying that the punishment is unacceptable, not that BGA finds racism acceptable. And BGA tolerates this behaviour to some degree by allowing racists to continue to use the platform after being found guilty.

You said "why is this considered acceptable?" and "Suggestion: BGA to stop tolerating racism", clearly insinuating that it is condoned. You could have written "why is this punishment considered sufficient?" with no ambiguity. Your changing the title of the topic tacitly acknowledges this.

I'm going to go ahead and ignore your last comment which is blaming me for provoking a racist attack, which is absolutely absurd.

At no point did I blame you for provoking the initial racist attack. However, after it happened you undeniably made inflammatory statements: "get help, you have serious issues" and "keep it going, let's hear it" are obviously going to provoke a response.

That is just so unfair for you to say that.
"Just ignore" is a simple advice to give, but much harder to apply when you are on the receiving end of the racist insults.
According to the screenshot there is only one person whose behavior should be punished.

It may not be easy, but it's still the best way of dealing with trolls. If they see you get offended, they got what they wanted and double down. This has even been researched: https://theconversation.com/dont-feed-t ... ence-63657

This means that while antisocial personality traits do play a role, what really influences trolling behaviour is the social pleasure derived from knowing that others are annoyed by it. The more negative social impact the troll has, the more their behaviour is reinforced.

Happily, this discovery suggests an easy way to deal with trolls: ignore them, rather than giving them the satisfaction of an angry reaction.

It is also the stance taken by BGA. Here's a direct quote from the moderation warning:

BGA has a zero-tolerance policy for insults and aggressive attitudes, whatever the reason. If another player reports you, you will be banned from BGA.

If someone is provoking you, DO NOT RESPOND, block (red thumb) and report them to the moderators. (red thumb and report link are on their profile).

Insults on both sides = Moderation of both sides.

[genji]

At no point did I blame you for provoking the initial racist attack. However, after it happened you undeniably made inflammatory statements: "get help, you have serious issues" and "keep it going, let's hear it" are obviously going to provoke a response.

That is just so unfair for you to say that.
"Just ignore" is a simple advice to give, but much harder to apply when you are on the receiving end of the racist insults.
According to the screenshot there is only one person whose behavior should be punished.

It may not be easy, but it's still the best way of dealing with trolls. If they see you get offended, they got what they wanted and double down. This has even been researched: https://theconversation.com/dont-feed-t ... ence-63657

Are you really lecturing someone on how to appropriately deal with racist remarks? And, after they told you why your advice was unhelpful, you double down?

I don't know what your experience of racism is but you might want to think why a victim of racism decided to act the way they did rather than conform to what you think is the best response.

Also, I agree that a 10-day chat ban is a slap on the wrist and, from experience, racist behaviour is only curtailed when far stronger measures are put in place (see BGG for a drastic reduction in the toxicity of the messages since banning became more common).

[KongKing123]

Are you really lecturing someone on how to appropriately deal with racist remarks? And, after they told you why your advice was unhelpful, you double down?

Call it what you will. All I said was:

1. Feeding the troll will not produce the desired result. The player in question literally dared the person that was insulting him to continue. You don't need to be a psychologist to see that will probably not work out.

2. You risk being moderated for insults yourself, as per the moderation policy.

Those are pretty objective statements, regardless of how you feel about them.

[Just Keep Climbing]

Call it what you will. All I said was:

1. Feeding the troll will not produce the desired result. The player in question literally dared the person that was insulting him to continue. You don't need to be a psychologist to see that will probably not work out.

2. You risk being moderated for insults yourself, as per the moderation policy.

Those are pretty objective statements, regardless of how you feel about them.

All you did was double down. Most people would react similar to that if they were on the receiving end of that abuse.

[D_D48]

If not banning, the least thing that should be done to the player is to limit their karma for at least a month, adding a warning that this person have had hateful behavior.