Today I decided to close the “Funny Thread”
Recently members have found it o.k. to post about “Niggar sandwiches” and jets flying into buildings full of people …
I should not have to monitor this thread daily … no one, on staff or moderation, should.
Is there any true value of this thread to this community, because, frankly, I just don’t see it.
Any long-standing and trusted member of this community wishing to express their opinion on this is invited to do so.
Sincerely, I haven’t seen the necessity of it for years. It is easy to end up with jokes that are not compatible with the spirit of this forum. I don’t have a personal problem with that humour, but if it does go against the forum rules, shouldn’t be there. Anyway, People still putting memes everywhere so not having that thread won’t mean anything will be different.
Thank you for closing down a thread that served absolutely no purpose on the website.
And for those people that laughed at the N word sandwiches and the 9/11 jokes, you’re not any better than a racist eldery person in the US. Grow up and get a life.
I never looked at the Funny Thread prior to this seeing this topic in the Plaza, so shrug I don’t know how relevant my answers will be here.
It sounds like the jokes got inappropriate - as those types of jokes are in most public settings (both online and offline) - and the thread got rightly closed for that.
Mara brings up a good point and I’m echoing her sentiment here. People will still post - hopefully more appropriate - memes in other threads, so the loss of the funny thread won’t be that big of a deal.
I have the thread muted so didn’t see the gross stuff, but honestly it sounds like the best decision to get rid. I’m sure people will still be able to joke around in other threads in ways more in keeping with the forum’s ethos.
I created it, so I’m probably biased, but I like the Funny Thread. I check it everyday, and more often than not, it makes me laugh and cheer up a bit. Hopefully it does the same for others. That’s the value imo - it’s just a friendly place where people can tell silly jokes and post funny, random stuff. I guess you could do that anywhere on the forum, but a place called the Funny Thread feels most appropriate.
I haven’t seen those inappropriate posts, but the thread’s been around for years, and it’s not a toxic or useless place in my opinion.
I check it every now and then, and it seemed to be trending downhill the last few weeks. I think one or two people posted something “edgy” and didn’t get called out on it, so others felt like it was a safe place to be racist or sexist or other kinds of shocking. Not everyone, but a couple of people a week.
Inherently, I don’t think having a funny thread is a bad idea. It’s just the fact that people have different opinions on what is funny which is what can invite trouble.
As Brian points out, some people thought that their brand of humor was funny, didn’t get called out on it, and then it spiraled from there.
It’s like when people complain that no one has “a sense of humor” anymore when in reality it’s just that people have agreed that racism, bigotry, and “humor” in similar veins isn’t funny. It’s just being an asshole.
I’m neutral about this thread closing down, but I’m also neutral on having a new thread open up with the caveat that people who browse that forum thread need to keep an eye out for shitty humor and report it/call them out accordingly.
I have an extremely dark sense of humor. I have come to realize those sort of jokes will always get you some dirty glances your way. I don’t particularly care making jokes about dead people or the like, even if people find it tasteless they can tell I’m trying to be funny. I avoid any race or sexuality jokes though. Those will always make you sound like a racist/discriminatory asshole.
Point in question, the thread has been mostly harmless, I don’t see why a few faults by a minority should be punished so extremely. It’d just be repost under a different name eventually.
I would wander in occasionally and see if there was something to make me smile in the last couple of posts on the thread when I needed it, or post something if I found it amusing. It was nice to have something that should be a mood lifter for the forum and hopefully funnelled memes away from the main game threads.
I didn’t see the posts that got it shut down and don’t know who posted them, but if they were about those topics they shouldn’t have been there. Shame we can’t have nice things because stuff was being posted that sounds like it was in poor taste, controversial or against the spirit of this forum by a few. Maybe I’ve missed them (I haven’t read the entire thread by a long shot so it’s possible), but up until now this thread seems to have kept relatively clean overall on those fronts I think?
In saying that, this is a meant to be a writing and CS game discussion forum and I find many off topic and general threads tend to derail by causing drama rather than help that anyway. Your right that threads shouldn’t need constant moderation by staff/mods to stay appropriate.
I personally don’t think the thread as unnecessary, the jokes and memes there often brightened my days, though the contents admittedly hadn’t be that good lately.
I hadn’t be able to saw those taken down post, but closing down the thread permanently just because of it seems a bit too harsh, IMHO.
I found myself constantly checking the Funny Thread everyday and I watched it slowly derail, and I wished it was given a warning before it was shut down.
Memes and jokes are scattered around the forum and they are usually to support authors. I find this and similar situations to be supportive, encouraging and motivating. This is why I wished it received a warning.
At the rate the thread was going however, I do believe closing the thread was justified and I won’t mind whichever way the situation may go.
That’s my opinion on the matter.
Honestly I think this was a big overreaction for posts which I never personally saw before the closure and honestly should have just been deleted and leave the thread open. 99% of what I saw on there was perfectly fine.
People do of course have different opinions these days as to what is acceptable as funny - and of course it has been said that a joke will always need something or someone to be the butt of the joke. 
So I guess there’s that.
The problem with this is that policing the thread and deleting any offending posts takes time, and I’m not sure that it’s worthwhile for the mods to spend such time on a thread that at the end of the day has nothing to do with Choice of Games, Choicescript or IF. So I would agree that if things were getting out of hand there it’s fine to just close the thread and forget about it.
I know that for some people the thread was valuable in that they enjoyed the jokes or it cheered them up, and I respect that, but there are plenty of places on the Internet already that can host that kind of content. Even if part of the fun is sharing with forum friends, people could still take the meme posting to Discord or wherever.
To the people who say is an overreaction the question still. Would you step out and take the time and effort yourself to police and control the thread?
Because the number of mods is small for the forum size. And they are volunteers demand from them, controlling 24hrs a joke thread that has zero to do with the theme of the forum is directly in my opinion entitled.
I don’t know what jokes were and I normally don’t have problems with dark humour. Still, If this place has rules people has to respect them, If people are going to not respect them and the fans of thread don’t want to step up and running the show. Of course, it will be closed
Closing the thread though still basically doesn’t solve the problem or make those few people responsible learn anything. Like every situation in the same vein it simply encourages further fear of reprisal, empathising difference in the wrong way and annoyance over education.
I can respect the idea though that mods don’t wanna police such threads that don’t suit the themes of the site, because that encourages the same feelings of fear and irritation for everyone. Just my opinion. I do honestly think this forum is a lot nicer and more tolerant than some places I have known. 
The thing is thread could be reopened If someone wants to police it from the community as mods are in shortage and the forum is growing. I am not particularly talking to you as this is plaza stuff so many others, can’t participate.
If you love the funny thread just you whoever you are a present volunteer to police that thread you want open, I am sure that if responsible people step up it will be re opened.
So to people reading, if you want it back step up be responsible and offer your help to moderation staff
If there were discriminatory jokes, then yes, closing the thread was the most appropriate action.
The entire thread, though, effectively punishing everyone who likes the thread for the sake of one person, rather than simply deleting the offending content? I would call that harsh myself. But it’s not up to me I guess. 
Based on Eiwynn’s post, multiple people were making these offensive jokes, which warrants a shutdown. Besides, the thread was growing in size tremendously and there aren’t enough moderators with enough time to fully moderate it to prevent people from posting these offensive jokes.