to think censorship is alive and well on MN then!

[MysteryThing]

No explanation from MN as to why the thread was deleted. Because one person got completely the wrong end of the stick?

Hmmm, I see your reasoning there.

Do not delete me :)... I was entitled to my opinion lol... My mum (god rest her soul) taught me to speak up... anyway.... look how stunning I am, even though I was spawned by the devil.... "take that in the humour it is intended for gods sake" :)

Really birds? There's almost always a sex offender on the loose somewhere or other, that's a totally different issue - it was seeing the use of the term on the BBC website that grated on me, not the context! Are we not allowed to talk about anything else then, whilst there are sex offenders at large?

I thought you made a valid contribution to the thread which explained why it's an offensive term.

Anyway, over and done with now and I'm off to bed. I'll go back to the lurking MN status I've held for the last while.

Lord said Oh and there is worrying about being anti disabled and then there is not allowing all views. Any offensive comments should be deleted, but not the ones that aren't offensive.

I agree.

Night night.

Oh, I don't remember a disabilist post.

I think they're referring to yours Birds - but it wasn't disablist, that would be taking it completely out of context.

They've changed it!
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-dorset-19232580

I'm glad I complained then.

Hello. Just to be clear: as OliviaMN posted last night, the thread was deleted for two reasons.

It contained several disablist posts - and it is our policy not to tolerate disablist language on MN.

It also contained a lot of personal attacks.

Bearing both in mind - and the Emmenthal-like state the thread would have been in, if we'd merely deleted the posts that broke our guidelines - we thought it best to delete the whole thing.

Olivia I was referring to complaining to the BBC about their use of the word, not about complaining to MN.

I disagree though - I don't think there were any disablist posts on the thread. The context of birds' post was correctly interpreted by every single person on the thead apart from wanna, who became abusive (but not disablist). Birds was quoting the historical associations of the word to explain why the term is offensive. Most people who posted at the beginning of the thread didn't see a problem with using the word, so if the thread educated people into considering the terminology then I think that's a good thing, personally.

How do offensive terms fall out of use if people don't consider the meaning of what they're saying and look for more appropriate ways of speaking?

Anyway thanks for explaining the rationale behind the decision to delete. All over and done with now.

MN can't win though. if they leave things to stand then people accuse them of letting people post disablist stuff.
if they delete they get accused of censorship.

I appreciate that this, but I don't feel that there was anything disablist on that thread!

Just received this email from the BBC

"Dear Ms ***,

Many thanks for your email.

We have now made adjustments to this story. Apologies for any offence caused. This was the description we got from the police but we appreciate we should have challenged the description before publication.

Best wishes, and many thanks for your feedback.

Laura Ellis, BBC News website"

I feel that not challenging the use of the term is disablist; discussing why the term is offensive is not disablist!

"My house, my rules"

It seems to me that if you visit MN's house you have to accept their rules, whether you agree with them or not.

I had a post deleted yesterday. Still managed to sleep last night.

Thanks tiggy

sallying I prefer to challenge rules if I think they're unfair or inappropriate. However MNHQ has explained their rationale and I completely accept that even if I don't agree with it. I slept fine last night thanks.