General talk:Made Up Word Round Up

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Content Concerns[edit]

Is there any way we could censor the word "tr***y" in this article? I feel like the usage of the word in this article is inappropriate. The term has been and is still used to harm transgender people, and I think that just because we're archiving this interview doesn't mean that we should subject people to the word. We have many lgbt+ individuals in the tes community, and I think they should be able to peruse content like this without being harmed. It was entirely unnecessary for MK to use that word, and this isn't a lorebook, so I feel comfortable asking if we could censor it. MolagBallet (talk) 00:14, 4 July 2019 (UTC)

I think a banner to warn users may be the better option. --AKB Talk Cont Mail 01:10, 4 July 2019 (UTC)
Got an edit conflict with AKB, but I was going to say the same thing: I think the most we should do is add some note like {{explicit}} at the top. I wouldn't support any sort of modification of the text since this is an archive and could be sourced with UOL too. See The Real Barenziah for the only real example. We could use that template directly and modify the text slightly to say "This article contains mature or sensitive subject matter..." —Dillonn241 (talk) 01:15, 4 July 2019 (UTC)
Censorship is a terrible thing, especially when done by the uninformed. Tranny is not always offensive, and has not always been offensive. When the word was used in this interview it did not have the serious objections many have to it now. Over at wikipedia we can see that the "movement" to ban the word only really emerged around 2010. There are plenty of examples of the word being used in a positive manner before then. When people read old articles they cannot expect everything to fit their "safe-space" ideology, and labeling the whole article for the sake of one word isn't right, especially considering that the only warning provided on the site is for a rather graphic depiction of consensual sex, while all the articles mentioning or describing rape are left alone. I'm turning the warning into a note about the language being outdated, because that's all it is. Silence is GoldenBreak the Silence 02:48, 4 July 2019 (UTC)
Just to add time-specific evidence for Silencer's point about how the word was used around the mid-2000s, which is the time of the original article, I found this blog, which according to the author's notes, was written in 2013 and talks about how the word was being used, at least in her experience, up until around 2005. (And she goes on to state that her reasons for moving away from it were personal, not due to any controversy with the term at the time.) Echoing what was said in that blog post, though, how the word was used historically has no bearing on how it's used (or, for many, preferably not used) today, so I think the banner at the top is entirely appropriate. I think it should probably be more specific about the problem, though, like maybe using the phrase "outdated wording for transgendered people" or something like that? I don't want to make any further changes to the article unless/until we're all agreed. Robin Hood  (talk) 14:53, 4 July 2019 (UTC)
"Outdated language" sounds like it doth useth ye olde aenglish, whicheth it doth naught doe [sp]. Censoring the word to "tr***y" will confuse people like me, I had no idea what this discussion was even about until I read Silencer's post. If you do think a banner at the top is necessary (which I cannot really comment on because I'm not really immersed in that matter), I suggest rewording it to include the subject of the warning. -- SarthesArai Talk 17:47, 4 July 2019 (UTC)
(edit conflict) Involving specifics gets into another problem of telling people who should be offended, or why they should be offended. It also draws unnecessary attention to one comment. There is another word in the article that could offend if someone were to be overly sensitive or persnickety, so the general nature of the notice, in my admittedly biased opinion, is more suitable. "Outdated Language" is commonly used before repeats of old TV shows and films in the UK; most of the main offenders are from the 60's and 70's. It avoids falsely mislabeling people who can no longer defend themselves as racist or bigoted, while informing viewers about words that are now unacceptable. Silence is GoldenBreak the Silence 18:34, 4 July 2019 (UTC)