The problem is that what one person finds objectionable, another person doesn't. What I find vulgar, or sexually offensive, for example, someone else considers fine and I'm "too sensitive" because of 'my beliefs'!! We also have the issues created by living in many different countries with many differing cultures. What is acceptable in one country may not be in another. This makes absolute moderation a challenge.
I agree that the term "objectionable" is very open to interpretation, and problematic. I think the way that GoDaddy descibe it in their terms of service is best, because the "reasonable person test" is what a court would apply.
"material that, to a reasonable person may be grossly offensive, vulgar or malicious"
However, the other section of the RPGWatch rules is already quite specific:
"you will not post any messages that are obscene, vulgar, sexually-oriented, hateful, threatening, or otherwise violative of any laws."
The most crystal clear of those is "or otherwise violative of any laws", because the laws are very clearly written, and I guarantee you they are being broken at the moment.
Finally, the P&R forum was established as a place for debate and disagreement with the knowledge that it could become confrontational and upset some people. The answer there is STAY AWAY!!
This is the part that I strongly disagree with. It is a peculiar convention on many (but by no means all) forums that the answer to people who are being abused is that it is up to them to ignore it. This is not reflected in the norms, or laws, of almost any society - the responsibilty is on the relevant authority to stop it and deal with the abuser.
This way, we only clutter up one place while leaving OT free from much of the rubbish. The other alternative would be stricter moderation, but the boss is opposed to that and I do my best within his guidelines.
