I had a post removed today for using the word “spook” in reference to government agents, a common usage that I see around the site, because it is a racial slur, although ive never seen it used with that intent (not that it matters), and it only gets removed maybe 10% of the time. In order to be consistent and not offend any comrades I would propose adding it to the word filter so its removal will be uniform and not open to mod interpretation.

  • Awoo [she/her]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    I have never heard either spook or glowie used with any racial intent, literally ever. I know that’s totally anecdotal so can anyone help me with examples of where it gets used that way?

    I will need to be able to explain it to libs at some point and if I can’t understand it myself I can’t explain it to libs.

  • axont [she/her, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    I wanna second this but the word is also a verb. As in “I’ll spook ya” and that’s a very innocent use of the word. The adjective “spooked” is also innocent.

    The slur for a person I heard all the time growing up in the south. My parents would use it and so I do feel a particular animosity towards it. The filter would have to know when the word is being used as a noun for a person.

  • Moonworm [any]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    I kinda just wonder what this actually accomplishes. Like no one here ever uses it as a slur, it’s incredibly antiquated, and whenever people use it to refer to feds, it gets admonished regardless of anything else. Plus spooky and spook as adjective and verb are pretty common and I really don’t think we need to excise those expressions.

    • Assian_Candor [comrade/them]@hexbear.netOP
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      2 months ago

      This is exactly the point in my making this post, if I had a post removed for it that means it bothered at least one person enough to report it or remove it, so we should err on the side of caution and just add it to the word filter so we won’t have to have debates over which racial slurs are ok to use and in which context. Spook as a verb can be replaced by scared and spooky can be replaced by scary. It will be annoying for all of a week until people get used to it.

  • Skeleton_Erisma [they/them, any]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    I personally don’t mind as an endeavor to be inclusive to any comrades

    But man oh man is Stirner gonna cry when he awakens from his deep sleep and finds out that word is a slur now.

    stirner-shocked

  • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    I recently learned that “glowie” is also really closely associated with a racial slur so I think that should be added too, if it isn’t already.

  • Angel [any]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    As a black person, I approve of this. It’s better to not have any cracks to slip through, period.

  • AlicePraxis [any]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    the odds of anyone using that word in that context on hexbear dot net are slim-to-none. the odds of someone using it to talk about spooky skellingtons is pretty high. don’t infringe on my right to talk about spooky skellingtons!

        • ReadFanon [any, any]@hexbear.net
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          2 months ago

          I have tried to write the name of the dish pasta e fāgioli here and it took me forever to figure out why it was getting caught in the filter lol

          I guess it’s nice to be so far removed from that slur that it didn’t even register for me without spending way too long pondering it.

          Btw this phenomenon is known as the Sremovedhorpe Problem.

          Lol the link got got. It’s the Scūnthorpe Problem and Wikipedia has an entry on it. Super interesting if you like nerding out over this stuff.

  • CloutAtlas [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    I always thought it was more like “celestial”, a term so antiquated it’s easier to ban people who do use it the bad way rather than to filter it.

  • SpiderFarmer [he/him]@hexbear.net
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    2 months ago

    I remember using that term and people from more Southerly parts were given a start. I was referring to the President coming to town and the this small area I was in suddenly teeming with agents. It does seem a regional slur, but a slur nonetheless.