Absolutely not. And, in turn, I'm really surprised that you don't understand the difference between insulting a group and insulting (attacking) a person? Either that, or I woke up in la-la-land this morning... People everywhere say bad things about groups of which we are members.

^^

On a slightly different tack, I thought a thread about a specific FTer was supposed to be a no-no. Is it against TOS to single out one specific board participant for ridicule?

"The moderators are unfair."

FewMiles..

Unfortunately, unlike accusations of libel and slander, just because the statement is true, it doesn't absolve you of your TOS violiation.

Jewish people may be considered a race. Judaism is a religion. A "race" is not just about colour. It's about culture, religion and shared values.

See:

racist
adj 1: based on racial intolerance; "racist remarks"
2: discriminatory especially on the basis of race or religion [syn: antiblack, anti-Semitic, anti-Semite(a)]
n : a person with a prejudiced belief that one race is superior to others [syn: racialist]

and

race
n 1: A local geographic or global human population distinguished as a more or less distinct group by genetically transmitted physical characteristics.
2: A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution: the German race.
3: A genealogical line; a lineage.
4: Humans considered as a group.


About a religion? Ignorance. About the followers of a religion? Racism.

Few Miles is absolutely right. This statement would be a personal attack. It would stand in opposition to "some moderators are unfair" or "while most moderators do their jobs very well, there are some who do not."

Yes, but surely only because the set of moderators is restricted to members of FT...

Okay, so let's say we agree that attacking a group of people is personally attacking each individual member (FTR, we don't agree, but for the sake of argument...). What is the usefulness of this fact?? You then have to time out people who say, "people suck" or "Europeans smell bad." Where are you drawing lines and is that arbitrary or based on common sense? I mean, on a board as big and diverse as this one, few members are going to be Stepford Wives. People make generalizations about all sorts of people.

I would suggest we take one of two very different paths:

1. Allow all personal attacks, especially those based on prejudiced against any group. As I have said elsewhere, people who reveal themselves as bigots hurt their own reputations much more than they hurt those they have offended.

OR

2. Draw the line anywhere that a F/Ter has expressed an objection to an attack on a group of which he is a member.

Let's take Few Miles' example of "The moderators are unfair."

If I were to make that statement, lumping all moderators together and attributing the worst attributes of a few to the group as a whole, almost every FlyerTalker would not only object but would consider me to be a fool. Most of us have had very good experiences with various moderators and quite a few of us count a number of moderators among our personal friends.

Hence, making this attack would draw a lot of fire and almost no support. (Again, as opposed to objecting to the actions of a few moderators whose actions reflect badly on all of them.)

If we decide to go to the second possibility I mentioned, the first such statement would be allowable but once any moderator objected, saying "I consider an attack upon all moderators as an attack on me, individually" then it would no longer be allowed.

Here is a variation on the theme - - a tactic used repeatedly by a few select posters: Skirt the "no personal attacks" rule by making a (sometimes) veiled but disparaging remark about a larger group of people. See the following exchange at posts 31 & 32 of this thread:

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=373876

'You lost me on that one."

"Why is it that the far right always gets confused by simple facts?"

If it isn't an ad hominem or personal attack, then it most certainly is flame baiting.

O.K., pete, gotta ask the question and forgive me if it's obtuse, but are there different rules for OMNI versus the rest of the FT world? I will admit to never having set foot in OMNI and that's why I ask.

Aha... see, that's where we get tricky. AFAIK, flame baiting is not a TOS violation; neither is trolling.

Of course, any of those could be captured under the "disruptive behavior" clause. But, anything (such as posting that "Delta Sucks" in the Delta Forum) could be considered "disruptive" if a moderator were so inclined as to define it as "disruptive".

Pete - with all due respect... Isn't it you that refers to a "larger group of people" as followers of the ROP (religion of peace)?

I could be wrong about that, and if so, I apologize & will edit. But I don't think I am.

In this case, what's good for the goose is good for the gander. Sorry.

Mary

Oops. Actually not.

Responding to a personal attack is an equal violation of the TOS to actually making a personal attack in the first place.

Responding? How about starting topics with ROP in the Title?