I think my main issue is that as much as I would rather we are harder on people who are being inappropriately uncomfortable, but I also would rather know to what degree people even acknowledge to what degree this problem treads. A lot of issue is that we are a fairly diverse group, and it is pretty evident that some people may see creepy where other people see no problem at all and others may want to avoid this topic altogether for fear we are becoming the so-called horrifying SJW tumblr. For example I personally find slurs to be completely inappropriate, which I include "retarded", "faggot" etc. But we have established in other threads that some people see no problem using them as long as they aren't directly insulting someone, it doesn't matter if it makes the environment uncomfortable for other people of certain groups.
I don't believe this kind of discussion can go anywhere in terms of what we can do, if we are so varied that we cannot come to an agreement to what degree we have such a problem, which I suppose is the reason for this thread.
So I'll just spit out a few things I think should be the case:
1. If someone is contributing to an environment that can make groups of people uncomfortable, and doesn't cut it out when called out on it, they are warned and then if they do it again, banned. This counts towards racism, sexism, trans* people, sexuality, etc. This includes casual slurs, racist jokes, etc. If people think that's too far, please say so so we can actually discuss this.
2. Concerning cases of someone being creepy to a female or whatever, I feel that we cannot be everywhere as staff. If there is private creeping going on, it is not the fault of the staff for not being there for example. Creepiness needs to be brought up to staff members when it happens in private. In public, expressing stuff stated above, if they're making people uncomfortable they should be told their behavior and how their behavior is making people uncomfortable and then told off.
3. Despite there being a difference between malicious offense and unintentional inappropriateness, we as the staff do not have the responsibility to educate people on how not to be offensive. If they do not understand that what they are doing is inappropriate, the staff aren't obligated to teach people how to not be appropriate. If staff choose to, that is up to individual staff, but it isn't our responsibility. If people are willing to learn, they can educate themselves if other staff do not have the time or resources to do so. There are plenty of articles and resources online about these kinds of things.
4. There is a difference between being willing to learn and be wrong and outright refusal to acknowledge when someone is making other people uncomfortable. Like,a huge valley of difference.The latter may often masquerade as the former to be defensive and try to justify their own views. A person who really doesn't know and wants to learn should be given moderate amounts of leeway, depending on the case. e.g. Sexual harassment is definitely never ok and should be b& or at least severely warned, but someone who idly makes a racist joke and is told "yo, that is the opposite of ok, cut that shit out" and genuinely wants to learn (as well as cease that behavior in the meantime while they get a handle on things) there shouldn't be perma'd on the spot. e.g. If someone makes a joke about homosexuals and is told to cut it out with a warning/tempban/etc, the person can either stop making homosexual jokes while they either learn on their own or staff help them learn why it is inappropriate and how to fix it (to which they can get off on a warning)or the person can refuse to acknowledge they are being inappropriate and continue to make uncomfortable jokes to which I have 0 problems with banning them immediately after they flip their shit, since it shows a clear indication they have no desire to not be offensive.
