Horizons Offensive content of Newsletter #184

[Uvelius Sång]

Keeping up a civil tone is all important, and just something one should expect from others. Vulgarity is no achievement and has never been.

Yet there is a fine line between the subjective "I feel offended by" and random censorship. There will always be someone who feels offended by anything. There is always a way to read something as offensive. Even the letter b, 6, or especially 69. In Germany it is even 44 or 14.
Americans seem to be quite fond of using the f-word regularly, for example, only to cover it in *beep*s afterwards as if that would magically make anything better. It is pathetic.

And it becomes grossly absurd when the said-to-be "protecting" word-filters asterisk out names like Bruce inson or Assassin. We really, really should cool down on such things. They are definitely not important, compared with the overwhelming mass of really important stuff that is lacking.

 

[Edward Lewis]

I am extremely disappointed at the cartoon element at the bottom of newsletter 184 under the heading "PRIORITIES. THIS DAD KNOWS THEM".
Here on the forum and Frontier Developments in general come down hard on commanders' use of foul or offensive language, when they are guilty of such crass double standards.
I allowed a young and I might say impressionable lad to open my copy of newsletter 184 and to be fair it was the cartoon element he was naturally drawn to.
It was my fault for allowing him unfettered access to the newsletter while my attention was distracted, but I trusted Frontier Developments and their supposed stance on offensive language and behaviour in general.
You can guess my feeling when he turned to me and pointed at the newsletter and said "That's naughty isn't it uncle?" ...pointing at the "F" word in all it's blatant glory.
Lets just say his mother was not best pleased with me when little lad regaled her of what he'd seen on my computer while we were "playing Elite". OK there are worse things happening in the world but some families still do try to take a stance.
THANKS FRONTIER![mad]

Hey there,

Sorry about this. It was a little slip up on our part when double-checking the content that was submitted for Comms Chatter.
Our newsletters are subject to the same rules that we have here on the forums - no swearing or offensive language.

Sorry for dropping the ball on this one, we'll do our absolute best to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Thanks for bringing our attention to it - we apologise for any upset caused.

Ed

 

[iFred]

I am extremely disappointed at the cartoon element at the bottom of newsletter 184 under the heading "PRIORITIES. THIS DAD KNOWS THEM".
Here on the forum and Frontier Developments in general come down hard on commanders' use of foul or offensive language, when they are guilty of such crass double standards.
I allowed a young and I might say impressionable lad to open my copy of newsletter 184 and to be fair it was the cartoon element he was naturally drawn to.
It was my fault for allowing him unfettered access to the newsletter while my attention was distracted, but I trusted Frontier Developments and their supposed stance on offensive language and behaviour in general.
You can guess my feeling when he turned to me and pointed at the newsletter and said "That's naughty isn't it uncle?" ...pointing at the "F" word in all it's blatant glory.
Lets just say his mother was not best pleased with me when little lad regaled her of what he'd seen on my computer while we were "playing Elite". OK there are worse things happening in the world but some families still do try to take a stance.
THANKS FRONTIER![mad]

Lol. Sorry, I can´t take this serious. Really. Even if a 5 year old is reading that - he will not become a Djihad-Spreading-Shooter just because of a dialougue used in a comic.

 

[CMDR RaoulDuke]

Is everyone really naive? Are you telling me children don't learn to swear or learn swear-words on the playground? It's where I learnt those words

 

[Jaiotu]

Is everyone really naive? Are you telling me children don't learn to swear or learn swear-words on the playground? It's where I learnt those words

When I was 5 (mid 1970's) I learned a particular poem that would make a sailor blush with shame. Not that I would have ever repeated it around an adult of course. I think children are much more familiar with colorful language and metaphors then most people are willing to give them credit for.

 

[StiTch]

I am all for freedom of speech, but surely the cartoon should have been funny in the first place to be featured?

 

[Heater]

I can understand the OP's point, However, the F word has become so common place in today's world I am sure the lad,has heard it and seen it daily. Sad but true.

 

[edgar]

Show me on the doll where the bad word hurt you.

 

[[VR] Mad Mike]

storm in a teacup.

obviously it was a mistake.
obviously FD have to apologise for it
and obviously no one will be mentally scarred from it.

I am with other posters who comment that the biggest issue is it is rather unfunny to begin with.... of course humour is entirely subjective.....

the game is a 7 rated and the forums are meant to be family friendly...... so imo what needed to be done is done, and that is that.

 

[rootsrat]

While I agree that kids hear and learn the bad words from all over these days, at the same time ask yourselves - do you really want to be yet another source of that? I fully support FDEV in their family friendly policy. Just because everyone does it, doesn't mean that FDEV has to sink to that low as well.

 

[popuptoaster]

Is everyone really naive? Are you telling me children don't learn to swear or learn swear-words on the playground? It's where I learnt those words

My daughter learned swear words from hanging around me and my mates when we were fixing cars or whatever, she also learned they were words for grown ups to use and that there were appropriate times and places to use them, this, I dare say, is common to most children but seeing swearing in a cartoon (which in a childs mind are often "for" children) is a different matter.

 

[Vandaahl]

storm in a teacup.

obviously it was a mistake.
obviously FD have to apologise for it
and obviously no one will be mentally scarred from it.

I am with other posters who comment that the biggest issue is it is rather unfunny to begin with.... of course humour is entirely subjective.....

the game is a 7 rated and the forums are meant to be family friendly...... so imo what needed to be done is done, and that is that.

Well, it was an internal joke that was never meant to go public in the first place (or at least thats what I think). I've seen this happen before in a couple of companies I've worked for, and they can do a lot of damage. People has lost their jobs over this, companies lost important customers etc.

In this instance it'll be alright, but the mistake is always the same, plain stupid and unprofessional.

 

[Lightspeed]

My life will not be the same again, and I received a whiplash injury in shock after reading the newsletter. [money]

In be4 people who need a reality check call for someone to resign...

People mess up, it happens. It's right this was taken out, it's right that an apology is made but lets get over it and be glad this was actioned within 24hrs on a weekend.
I would hope the checks and balances are increased and it doesn't occur again, human error is a major factor but with appropriate control methods it's manageable, trying to do that is basically my entire job which leads me to the famous phrase "never call something foolproof because life will design a better fool"

If it happens again that is the point we should be waving pitchforks etc because they have missed the learning from the error.




Lightspeed I suspect Jenner has posted because either Jenner (or the mod team as a whole) were in contact with FD about it, there may be an FD post later when they start work on this Monday morning. Although personally I don't see the value in a copy/paste of the same words with an orange text box instead, I doubt the mod team would post something to that effect without it coming from a Dev anyway.

Yes, you made a good point there +1 .... actually several

 

[Chrystoph]

Is everyone really naive? Are you telling me children don't learn to swear or learn swear-words on the playground? It's where I learnt those words

I can understand the OP's point, However, the F word has become so common place in today's world I am sure the lad,has heard it and seen it daily. Sad but true.

Show me on the doll where the bad word hurt you.

The point is not whether you are exposed to a specific stimulus (the "F bomb") at any given point, but, rather the slippery slope of accepting this sort of thing in the first place.

I was in the Navy and, yes, it was not uncommon to be vulgar. At one point, I couldn't talk without swearing and most of my friends just accepted it. It didn't bother me right up until the point that I met my future in-laws and literally had to stop and think about EVERYTHING I was saying to make sure I didn't put profanity into my statements without meaning to.

Sure, the boy knows the word and its meanings, but it is still not appropriate for it to be used casually in a civil society.

P.S. Thank you to Frontier for the apology!

 

[Barking_Mad]

Whilst the swearing was unneeded I find the hypocrisy of posters a bit much. You're playing a game that lets you (and in OP's case his child) murder, treat humans as slaves and transport illegal goods including drugs etc. etc..

Yet a cartoon with a swear word and the poo hits the fan.

 

[Morbad]

I wouldn't think it can be considered offensive, since it's clearly not targetting anyone with offense.

Everything is offensive to someone.

Whilst the swearing was unneeded I find the hypocrisy of posters a bit much. You're playing a game that lets you (and in OP's case his child) murder, treat humans as slaves and transport illegal goods including drugs etc. etc..

Yet a cartoon with a swear word and the poo hits the fan.

There isn't anything that offends everyone.

 

[shadragon]

I've seen and heard worse on Qi, 8 out of 10 Cats and Big Fat Quiz. Nothing to see here.

 

[Dubber]

Everything is offensive to someone.



There isn't anything that offends everyone.

Nuclear bomb

 

[znôrt]

Whilst the swearing was unneeded I find the hypocrisy of posters a bit much. You're playing a game that lets you (and in OP's case his child) murder, treat humans as slaves and transport illegal goods including drugs etc. etc..

i don't think this anglo american sick obsession with swear words is really about hypocrisy (which is quite pervasive in our global society anyways). it's just too bizarre to be taken seriously. i guess it's more of a cultural leftover from puritanism. for an outsider, threads like this can actually be very amusing (once you overcome the shock, which i did decades ago).

the slightly worrying bit is that having the usa been largely a model for the global business world and being the internets mostly english this has been trickling into other cultures. well, not that any culture hasn't oddities of its own ... just wait for china!

so now explain, what's your problem with drugs? [big grin]

Yet a cartoon with a swear word and the poo hits the fan.

well, frontier did break their own policy. it's just a fun anecdote. to be honest the level of inane spam the newsletter has descended into should be more of an issue ... that this boutade is the most noteworthy about it is quite telling.

 

[Patrick_68000]

Is everyone really naive? Are you telling me children don't learn to swear or learn swear-words on the playground? It's where I learnt those words

Yes too much puritanism is really excessive here