Thanks, Laura. It is indeed interesting.
While different terms do have different levels of offensiveness to different
groups, I find it curious though that their use persists. As an Australian
and thus possessing a fairly rich vocabulary of swear words in my everyday
speech, nonetheless I seem to be capable of not using them when
communicating with wider audiences. I generally know quite well what words
may be seen as offensive and simply don't use them. I think the only one
that really took me by surprise was "darned" with which I once offended
someone from the USA southern states, who told me it was a variant of
"damned" (which didn't really inform me as I didn't see the problem
with
"damned" either). But nonetheless being an intelligent person capable of
learning, I now avoid both of those words too.
So, while I fully understand that a new user might use an offensive term
without intending or realising it, I find it hard to understand why that
user would continue to do so after it has been pointed out. It would seem
anyone who persists does so deliberately knowing it causes offence and is
probably delighted that it does so. Do we need such people on Wikipedia?
It's difficult to imagine that such lack of respect for others could make
you an effective collaborator on content.
Of course, sometimes words are not written with a cool head but in the heat
of anger. This is where Wikipedia must take a portion of blame. A
communications medium that allows these words to be visible to all and
retained for all time is very different to angry words exchanged between two
people verbally. I think it is much easier for people to forgive and forget
the verbal lashout than it is to forgive and forget the User Talk
equivalent, in part because there is an audience. Not only has the person
been insulted, they've been insulted in front of others. I note that some
forums have a "rude word" filter and either warn or prevent the user from
posting the message. If nothing else, it ensures that any use of such words
is deliberate and therefore the user is liable of censure if used
inappropriately (noting that many of these words can have a literal and
appropriate use). Perhaps we need this on Talk pages?!
Kerry
_____
From: wiki-research-l-bounces(a)lists.wikimedia.org
[mailto:wiki-research-l-bounces@lists.wikimedia.org] On Behalf Of Laura Hale
Sent: Friday, 21 November 2014 2:28 AM
To: Research into Wikimedia content and communities
Subject: [Wiki-research-l] Communicating on Wikipedia while female
Hey,
I posted some new research to meta at
https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Research:Communicating_on_Wikipedia_while_fe
male . It is titled: Communicating on Wikipedia while female A discursive
analysis of the use of the word cunt on English Wikipedia user talk pages.
Thought it might be of some interest to people on this list.
Sincerely,
Laura Hale
--
twitter: purplepopple