Love the Enthusiasm, Not Sure About the Implementation

Day 648, 07:54 • Published in Ireland Ireland • by Edana Savage

I've been hearing this breathed amonst my brethern of late. In light of all that has happened with the departure of Grainne and Digits, I think it isn't a bad idea.

Donnovan has proposed an "Anti Bullying, Sexism, and Racial Discrimination Proposal". You can read more.

http://www.erepublik.com/en/article/the-anti-bullying-sexism-and-racial-discrimination-proposal-915679/1/20

I love the spirit in which this has been brought forth. As I understand there is already something like this in the works and a lively discussion is happening in the forum.

http://ieforums.hobbittown.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=310

After reading through all the comments, the conclusion is that making this (in its present form, anyway) into law would be a nightmare to enforce. There are mechanisms in place to report abuse, and the administration has the power to enforce punishments.

I think the first step is to define what bullying, sexism, and racial discrimination is. What constitutes free speech, freedom of expression? And what would be considered discriimination and harassment?

Personally, I think harassment is the bigger issue. If the offending person is going to be an ass enough to say inflamatory things then so be it. I don't have to listen to them. But if the same person constantly harasses me in such a way that it damages my character or causes so much distress that I am forced to leave, then THAT is the real issue. And that is what we need to prevent.

Freedom of speech is a fine thing, but to slander and defame another citizen in such a vicious way, is not acceptable in any circumstance. So what do we do?

As I understand, we do have a judicial branch. If the case meets the criteria set forth by the law as it is written by the Congress, then they go before the justices. The Plantiff will present their case and the Defendent will present their side. Then a ruling will be given out and an appropriate punishment will be rendered.

Now as far as punishment goes, this is where we are limitied. The Administrator is the one that can enforce certain kinds of punishment such as restricted gameplay, monetary punishments, etc. The only punishment we can offer is through societal means. We can bann them from participating in forums. We can keep a registry of offenders that can be updated as needed. One time offenders have the opportunity to redeem themselves through appropriate restitution to the victim. But if they are convicted a second time, they are permanently flagged.

We can't prevent people from associating with such individuals, but we can limit their access to our forums and we can inform any who come to our shores who these individuals are and why they are on this list.

This punishment should be reserved for the most heinous of offenses. I will leave that to our elected officials to hash out the details.

Most of what I have written above was pieced together through what I have read on the forum and from Donnovan's article, with a few bits that I added. I like to give credit where credit is due. 😉 Please, go visit, get engaged, participate. Let your Congressperson know what your views are on the subject.

It is clear that something needs to be put in place. How it will end up, is yet to be determined.