Last name of "Suicide" - The Poll

I agree with Selador, and I think he has explained this view well.

coco

Lost both my parents to cancer .... doesn't offend me in the slightest and I think it takes a jackass to be offended by such things.

Tackiness, while tacky, should not neccessarily be banned.

I don't think tacky is a consideration atm. It may have been a while back when dildo was pulled from the pool of acceptable names. Dildo is tacky; nothing more, really. If it ever was a priority, the ship most likely sailed into the sunset with Wells Fargo.

Well I could be wrong, but the way I remember it, the idea originated at an American University in the late 70's or early 80's and the original reasoning behind it was to "correct" common English language terms like "Mailman" and "Longshoreman" etc. to more politically correct and less gender biased terms like "Postal Worker" and "Dock Worker" etc., which was actually a *good* thing.

Predictably, the reaction was angry and the unenlightened people of that time (with the media jumping on the bandwagon almost immediately), instantly derided the "PC" language and swore up and down that they would not use it. The average Joe or Jane in the street was suitably outraged, and you would see headlines sometimes like "Middle America Fights Back Against PC Language!" etc.

Because the debate was originally framed as changing the language so as not to offend the female workers, other people (not the original University people), took up the torch and started to argue for those other kinds of words like "differently enabled" and "height challenged" and all that other nonsense. So instead of the original idea of making the language more specific and accurate, PC language developed into a program of eliminating any kind of language that "might offend." This actually makes the language less accurate, less specific and harder to use. In the end it also doesn't stop anyone getting offended either. This is a very *bad* thing.

At least that's the way I remember it, your milage may vary.

I guess it still bugs me that something that was originally a good idea by a bunch of smart people has developed into the lame thing it is today and that those people never got any credit for it even though their ideas eventually caught on like wildfire.

Ironically the original terms like "Postal Worker" etc. that the original proponents of correcting the language were fighting for are now in common use by Joe and Jane average American who likely would not have it otherwise.

I'd be unhappy about someone choosing the name Breast Cancer. As a survivor of this illness I'd assume they are either intending to upset me or are stupid enough to think it's funny in itself. Either way it's not a good start for them. The same could go for anyone else with the same experience.

I'm a bit uneasy about Suicide as a name. Although I've never had that inclination I do meet people who have. The fact that it's linked with a tacky website is nothing in its favour.

I find any combination of the words, lick, lollipop, harry, pussycat offensive. OMGBANNPLZ!

ktnxbye
/end sarcasm

The word itself is just what it is: a word. For me, it's in the context. Still, I wouldn't take any tacky-joke names derived from Suicide personally. Why let someone's tactlessness get under my skin.

Selador I wish more men were like you You rock my world.

Hugz

Cat

I think that if there is any question about a surname being offensive, than that surname shouldn't be available. Most people think that the name isn't offensive in this poll but there are a lot of people who would be offended. Why take the chance of hurting people? I agree with Selador, it's too touchy of a subject for many people.

That's only my opinion.

I think we should absolutely allow offensive names. It's the best way for me to immediately gauge the kind of person with whom I'm dealing.

There is a difference between setting limits on the names that folks can choose on their own, the first name, and selecting which last names to offer.

I am not sure what the consequences of this difference are, and I don't care too much anyway, but they aren't quite the same thing.

I am confused about your comment about Wells Fargo. What does that have to do with tacky names?

My family died on a concord.

Personally, I feel that not allowing the name 'Suiside' will only further the problem of full grown adults being sheltered.

I think the 'I don't give a fuck' s have it by a nose!

Regarding the difference, I disagree. LL didn't want the word dildo floating above an avatar head. Not a simulation of someone using a dildo. Not even calling someone a dildo. Just the word, in an of itself was unacceptable. Are you saying you can see them not objecting to it as a last name? I read that the last names came from LL employees. Do you put it past Bub to offer up dildo as a last name? (How long before URA Dildo would be "snatch"ed up?) I don't see the difference except if dildo were a last name, there would be many more of them floating around.

Dildo is not an obsenity. I checked the ratings system. It is just a tacky name.

Imo, the failure of the Wells Fargo project was pivotal in relation to SL's transition from game to platform. Not yet ready for prime time players. Step back into the comfort zone of the online gaming and chat communities for its market. Had the Suicide Girls approached LL, I would've expected them to be welcomed by LL, most certainly. But LL pursuing a porn site strikes me as a change in focus It stand in contrast to the usual image LL puts out: the university classes conducted in SL, the money to be earned, the cutting-edge techies, and Wells Fargo. It's just my impression, but I sense that losing Wells Fargo to that old has been, Active Worlds, took its toll. Hence, tacky names floating above avatar heads and their potential to offend drop a notch or two in importance.

"Suicide" doesn't offend me. Other words or names that don't offend me:

Nazi

Pol Pot

Fuck

Coitus

Felch

Hitler

Bush

Snatch

Mortis

Groin

Plague

Drunk Driver

Filth

None of these would be my first choice of names. I tried to think of what words would offend me, all I could come up with was "Kiddy Porn" and a few racial epitaphs. I'm sure there are others.

This is worth repeating. I'd be grateful if I could see someone named Teehee Titties and get an instant idea of their mindset, rather than finding out after wasting valuable chat that that's all they're thinking anyway.

I don't get it. Obviously, Siggy would grab that name before anyone else and you already know him so what's it tell you?

Siggy doesn't get worked up over pixelated breasts, but I appreciate you taking yet another opportunity to try and insult him.

Lighten up Jonquille. It was a joke.

And it was as funny as all the other little jabs. What a hoot.

Doesn't mean she talks to me!

I'd go for something better than 'teehee titties' though - something a little browner..

'Painfullrectal Itch' perhaps...

I still see a big difference between what one offers up as a choice and what one accepts from the choices made by users.

Supposing that the last names users could pick from suddenly changed from a mixture of somewhat normal names, silly things, pseudo-intellectual things, etc, like they are now, to being only terms like BigBreasts, TightNWet, and such. That would be a major shift in market segment focus, wouldn't it? A lot more to that than the abuse staff responding to numerous complaints from users about the name dildo and changing it?

Ok, so the Wells Fargo tie-in is that SL failed as a platform and thus they are exploring taking money however they can get it, be it tacky names or whatever. Not specifically about Well Fargo having tacky customer names or being a tacky bank or such.

I supect that LL would be able to get a lot more business if it did offer names like LovesSex or other obvious names the rules forbid me to use.

They sure aren't gonna get much business on the basis of technical prowess when you see gray textures with white outlines all the time, have black boxes appear while using the rulers in building because they got the opacity of the grid extent backward., etc.

What about land sales? Maybe if they laid off the uppity Moth species names and switched to more *ahem* catchy names they could get a few more premium memberships, eh?

I hear ya on the textures. The SL version of the Blues is the Grays.

Chip,

It's unlike you to use a reductio ad absurdam. No, the word Car or Automobile would be quite acceptable DeathByCarCrash would not, IMV.

*shakes head*. A cellar door is not the description of a kind of death, it is the means by which it happened.

I was thinking about this, Suzanne, and it's close but it doesn't quite represent my perception. I think it's more like narrowing their vision from being all things for everyone to securing a niche. This is in light of rumors of a serious competitor on the horizon. I don't think it's set in stone but that scope of the vision is an on again off again thing. A fluid process which is hinted at with Andrew's recent description of the on again, off again deployment of Havoc 2.

(Just noticed that the havoc thread with Andrew's statement has been conveniently bumped up again.)

...and cancer is still an astrological sign and the name of a tropic so your own argument is reductio ad absurdam. People can find a way to be offended by just about anything. It's always better for them to deal with that themselves than to kneecap the language or limit the self expression of everyone else in my humble opinion. Maybe LL can add the last name of Eggshells so I can make an alt named ForcedToWalkOn.