"Oh my god" without the "my" rule. Religion enforcement issues and insinuations.

[cinder obsidian]

This is regarding the “oh my god”(WITHOUT THE "MY") rule within the Discord. I was redirected here to submit this as a suggestion.

My concern is that the rule implies, intentionally or not, that if someone who is not Christian says “oh my god,”(without the "my") it automatically refers to their religious figurehead. That implication suggests their own DOG(backwards) is false and that Christianity is the only valid religion. This can easily lead to conflict between beliefs and comes across as enforcing one religion’s standards on everyone else. Inconsistent or overly strict rules also cause anxiety and distrust among players because they cannot predict what will get them muted.

A slur is defined as “making damaging or insulting insinuations or allegations.” Saying “oh my god”(without the "my") does not meet that definition. It is not damaging or insulting, even if someone finds it unkind. It is also a widely used cultural expression, including by many Christians. Moderating it as religious speech is unreasonable. If religious language is moderated, equal treatment should apply across all religions, not just one. Punishing such an everyday phrase makes the moderation look like overreach or power-abuse and risks harming the game’s reputation. I would like to avoid that outcome.

I suggest a full policy review so all rules can be evaluated by the entire moderation team or leadership to prevent further conflict. If this rule has already been reviewed, the reaction from the player base shows that it is not working out. Please reconsider this rule, as it is negatively affecting the community.

HoozaBooza answered my report on the matter and said , and I quote: "Hello! I'm messaging you regarding your day of dragons report. To elaborate on your infraction; We allow "oh MY god" instead of the phrase without the my because saying "oh my god" is referring to your own personal god and not directly the lord. Where as saying it without the 'my' directly implies the lord and therefore using the name in vain. This is to clarify the rule. Have a good rest of your day!"

[tepid elbow]

Isnt it just a figure of speech? Never though anyone could be insulted by that.
Gonna be really careful if thats considered a slor i guess

[cinder obsidian]

Normally it wouldn’t be an issue with other topics, however I’ve considered others perspectives and come to see that this tends to affect them negatively by making their religion feel lesser than + enforcing it unto others. I hope that what has taken place wasn’t intentional, but that doesn’t make it any less offensive or inappropriate to the playerbase.^^ Yeah, it sucks to have to be careful with what you say, even a common expression that’s used by Christians and other religious or non-religious peoples all around.

[lavish patio]

Agreed. While I am usually more concerned about the game itself, the moderation has some standards that would go under a lot of fire if this game were any bigger, the religious push being one of them. Different people have different interpretations of what it even means to “take the lord’s name in vain” such as using it to directly manipulate people into certain behaviors, rather than just saying it out loud. This shouldnt even be a concern that moderators have to deal with, its pretty much harmless and a waste of their time.

[cursive sonnet]

Micromanaging to that level is insane. As yes it is a common phrase and no not everyone is religious. That means we shouldn't cater so hard to one religion, in this example, Christianity.
It's simply unfair entirely, specially with such an overused phrase as "oh my god" without the my
I use it all the time, so imagine being muted for that is just...ridiculous.
If they don't change their Micromanaging ways then they soon wont have a player base to manage :3
Because honestly why play something when you can't express even the most basic of expressions.

[cinder obsidian]

100%, I respect religion as long as it isn't hurting themselves, others, property, or enforcing their beliefs. This, however, I cannot respect. If you find it offensive, you can kindly ask someone to consider not saying it, but you cannae force such.

[chilly tangle]

all of you make great points ^^ it just feels a bit like forcing a specific belief at this point

[nimble pine]

I agree here, not that my response will carry any weight. -- Freedom of speech is a thing in this country. We should not be micromanaged to the point where we can't say the most simple things.

A slur would be (for example purposes only) "God is a waste of time." (That, my friends, is a slur against your religious god).

Saying 'Oh god' could be me referring to my own religion, and I feel that if people continue to be muted, or in the worst possible case, banned for saying 'oh god' is going a little bit too far. No one wants to feel that one religion is better than the other.

Freedom of speech should not be tampered with, even if it is on a chatroom made for dragons. I understand wanting to moderate things to make the chat more friendly to children; that I will agree with but when people are muted or banned for this, it makes me feel that I've got to step on egg shells to cater to the religious people on the server when that should not be the case. Everyone should be treated equally, and if we have to cater to their religion, I feel they should at least show respect towards those that don't have their god as a religion themselves.

I understand moderation and administrations will do as they see fit, but as everyone else has said, micromanaging anyone for saying such a silly phrase as this is going too far, and I'm sure that as Beedledog has said; they won't have much of a server to manage if this is not fixed, or at least talked about to reach a compromise for the good of everyone.

[golden shell]

Hello
This is a reminder that posts that can be summarized as "I agree", "I agree with above comment", "I agree strongly", etc without contributing additional feedback https://discord.com/channels/576933363672285186/1216491835866742976 is considered bumping or conversation, both of which are removed as standard in feedback threads, as they are against the feedback thread guidelines and can hurt the thread's ability to fufill its purpose.

We are aware that this thread's topic matters stongly to our members. The overall rules of the discord, and the feedback threads do still apply, and we thank you for maintaining decorum

[gaunt ember]

The banning thing is way too loosely used, id agree on that. Maybe have something implemented that just puts stars around it if that person chooses like a setting in the menu.

[tepid elbow]

yeah, a chatfilter beeing optional in the settings would be great.
Often the filter is just confusing so id rather turn it off on my side.
With a filter option, that maybe even could be expanded by adding words to it in the settings, it could help with that maybe.
so there would still be a filter for insults but if chosen, it could be turned off in the settings

[golden shell]

[Informational]
To clarify, as the origional poster refences both in-discord and in-game policy, and commentary refrences both teams/platforms and uses some terms interchangably.

In-game staff are Admins, and they provide mutes (not bans) for most chat-based infractions ||there are specific strong situations, such as telling someone to self unalive, or threatening irl harm, which do result in a one-week ban on first infraction, and a perminant ban if repeated, this is specified in #official-server-rules and i have attached below||. (Pardon my evasions, i too am not imune to the chat filter) in-game, the g-word is not autofiltered, as the autofilter is indiscriminate and will also obscure words if a filtered word is inside another word. In-game infractions do not fall off over time, as they also include larger offenses such as intentionally exploiting, hacking, manipulating game files, etc, alongside lesser infractions.

Discord staff are Moderators, and we do not currently infract for uses of the g-word. All uses of the g-word (and some figureheads) are auto-filtered if it does not have "oh my" in front of it. Moderators are watching the chat for filter evasions where Admins typically are watching for gameplay infractions. Discord is a chat based platform, not a gameplay one, Moderators do not mute, we ban, and Discord infractions fall off after 2 months where in-game infractions do not. The response to chat-based infractions in Discord is harsher, but harder to achieve, and that is due in part to the mixed nature of infractions and the tools available on each platform.
The religious terms and political figurehead rules (as well as the controversial subject rule) are not christianity specific ( #readme and attached) however terms relating to christianity are the most common filter-bumpers.

[cinder obsidian]

I understand, but they are still forcing others to respect their religion by disrespecting everyone else's freedom of speech using a common, everyday phrase that everyone uses. I agree with the chatfilter thing, adding your own words you want to be filtered or having the freedom to turn it off if it doesn't bother you, I also think it should automatically be turned on for someone who hasn't fiddled with their settings.

[chrome wind]

This is a silly ruling. Also, capitalization is very important here. The word "dog" in English refers to a deity from any religion - heck, even Zeus and Thor are dogs. Only when the G is capitalized does it specifically refer to the deity associated with Christianity. Also, as others have mentioned, the phrase in question, especially with a lowercase G, is a common and inoffensive expression in English meant to convey shock or surprise, particularly in informal situations such as talking with friends. For example, when playing a silly dragon game.

It's important to moderate offensive religions slurs and speech, of course, but this is excessive