All posts by Dr. Satl, M.D.

I'm forced to ask.  Why are the words "retard," and "retarded" not allowed on chat?  First of all, they have multiple defined meanings.

Example: "My progress was retarded by an obstacle."

Even the alternative definition as defined by Dictionary.com says that it is used to refer to people who are "stupid," or "foolish."  If we are going to keep a word banned because it could be used in an insulting way, then we should go ahead and ban "moron," "stupid," "idiot," and others that could be used to hurt someone's feelings.  These words are unblocked because they can be used without ridiculing others, and if they are used in that context, we have common sense policy that applies.

This is my last point.  If we are going to worry about potentially offending a small minority of people who likely don't even use the wiki, then why aren't the words "autistic," "crippled," "hunchback," "midget," "psycho," and others blocked?  It simply doesn't make sense to block one specific word that has multiple meanings, yet consider these words perfectly acceptable.  Anyway, these are simply my thoughts.

With the growth of a new type of painful messages in chat, I would like to propose a way to counter these.  I have become aware that mentioning a certain dance move known as the "dab" is widely unpopular amongst individuals on chat, myself included.

With this recognization, I would like to see if banning any mention of the word "dab" would be a popular proposition.

Under this proposition, the word "dab" would become a yellow x and would warrant an immediate kick.  I find this to be a rational and worthy idea, but feel free to discuss below.