Is "Grand Wizard" an appropriate user title?

[pdurrant]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

No matter what it gets changed to someone will complain.

How about Grand Poobah

Just so long as it's not "Grand Mouse".

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by pdurrant

Just so long as it's not "Grand Mouse".

Then we'll just change yours to Supreme Poobah Mouse

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by paulsalter

Been changed from Grand Wizard to Grand Sorcerer

Grand Wizard was much better (IMO)

If I didn't live in the Southern United States I might agree, but the term has very different connotations in my part of the world. Here, when someone utters the words, "Grand Wizard", it immediately puts us in mind of the Ku Klux Klan; an organization still active in our part of the world.

General Nathan Bedford Forrest founded the Klan and served as its first Grand Wizard, and his legacy is alive and well. Just last year the Mississippi chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans wanted to honor him on the state's automobile license plates. (We have that group in Virginia. The slogan of the Virginia chapter that you see on a lot of bumper stickers next to a picture of the Confederate battle flag says, "Heritage, not hate.") And just over a month ago in Selma, Alabama, where Dr. Martin Luther King fought many battles for civil rights, the city council decided it would be a good idea to erect a monument honoring the first Grand Wizard of the KKK. Evidently both efforts are to commentate the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War.

I'm glad the change was made. For most folks here at MobileRead it's a small thing; but for many of us, especially those of us living in a place where many have still not accepted General Lee's surrender at Appomattox in April of 1865, it unburdens us of a lot of discomfort.

I have no desire to be known as a Grand Wizard.

[paulsalter]

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

If I didn't live in the Southern United States I might agree, but the term has very different connotations in my part of the world. Here, when someone utters the words, "Grand Wizard", it immediately puts us in mind of the Ku Klux Klan; an organization still active in our part of the world.

So because people in southern america (or perhaps all) get offended by the term it cannot be used, there is a world outside the US

Anyway, Thanks for explaining, I understand what you mean, I just feel the change was unnecessary

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by paulsalter

So because people in southern america (or perhaps all) get offended by the term it cannot be used, there is a world outside the US

Anyway, Thanks for explaining, I understand what you mean, I just feel the change was unnecessary

I'm just saying that I'm grateful that there are people here who are considerate enough to respect our feelings. I haven't said, nor would I say, that people elsewhere in the world should tiptoe around us. But just as I make allowances for the feelings of other people in the global community whose history I don't share, so also am I glad that there are people elsewhere in the world who don't wish to cause us unnecessary pain and discomfort when it can be so easily avoided. It is kind and caring people like that who make life worth living.

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by paulsalter

So because people in southern america (or perhaps all) get offended by the term it cannot be used, there is a world outside the US

No, because a large and politically active group of people who promote hate speech, bigotry, discrimination and oppression use the term, Mobileread has decided to eschew it.

And yes, this would be something of an annoyance to those who prefer the term "Grand Wizard" to "Grand Sorcerer." However, at Mobileread, the goal of politeness and public welcome trumps personal aesthetics; it's less important that the labels be pleasing to the people they don't offend than that they actively offend as few people as possible.

The believe, I expect, is that those who dislike "Grand Sorcerer" are welcome to change it to something they enjoy, and that they are not overly-burdened by seeing the label on other people's profiles. The same is not true in the other direction; those who dislike "Grand Wizard" are often not drawing on personal preferences, but a cultural history involving hate-filled oppression that was often expressed through murder.

Insisting that, because that cultural history doesn't span the globe, the mods should ignore it, implies a feeling of "bigotry and racism are just fine as long as they're not in my back yard."

[nonobjective]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Um, you do realize that "Grand Wizard" can have many meanings, don't you??

If you choose to focus on one particular aspect of that phrase, thats your problem.

There is always someone who will be offended at something........

Don't roll your eyes at me, you haven't lived long enough!

So by that standard how about Der Führer? It can have many meanings as well, as I understand it's just German for "leader." This is an international forum and we can't be concerned with regionally specific terms that someone will be offended by.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by nonobjective

This is an international forum and we can't be concerned with regionally specific terms that someone will be offended by.

Yes... We can. We most certainly can.


Stitchawl

[AZImmortal]

This thread has certainly taken on a life of its own since I last visited. I'm glad that at least some others share my thoughts even though my critics are apparently suffering from immeasurable pain. As I had mentioned before, I wasn't personally offended by the user title. However, I like to believe that someone's character isn't measured by how much they care when they're personally affected by something negative, but rather by how much they care even when they're not personally affected. I'd like to thank everyone that has shown me support (or that at least has not attacked me), and to all my critics, feel free to change your title to Grand Wizard to show just how much you support having that title.

[Prestidigitweeze]

To say that, because any phrase might be offensive, no phrase should be changed is a very book-unfriendly stance. Writers and editors make the decision to avoid misleading connotations all the time. The point isn't that one is being pushed around by the bastions of political correctness. It's that a thought should be expressed without distractions. An idea shouldn't find itself in some inescapable box of associations.

I, too, thought of the KKK when I read the words Grand Wizard, partly because I've dealt with real-life racists and anti-Semites all my life. Why should Mobile Read be put in the position of seeming to condone or ignore racism when the issue can be made to vanish with the use of a synonym?

Now that you've dealt with Wizardgate, WT, perhaps you can have a look at the syntax and usage of the Mobile Read password prompt that begins, "Hello you there!" It isn't offensive, but it could be edited to make more sense.

And thanks, WT, for choosing to defend the humane position in your early days in the South. It's always easier to say nothing, which is why it's commendable to make a point of speaking up.

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

...Now that you've dealt with Wizardgate, WT, perhaps you can have a look at the syntax and usage of the Mobile Read password prompt that begins, "Hello you there!" It isn't offensive, but it could be edited to make more sense....

I'll suggest it be replaced with, "Hey, y'all!"

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Now that you've dealt with Wizardgate, WT, perhaps you can have a look at the syntax and usage of the Mobile Read password prompt that begins, "Hello you there!" It isn't offensive, but it could be edited to make more sense.

Originally Posted by WT Sharpe

I'll suggest it be replaced with, "Hey, y'all!"

I'm in favor of the one I hear every time I walk past a bar in Thailand... "Hello hansum man!"


Stitchawl

[pdurrant]

Or "Ullo, mi dearios"

[Prestidigitweeze]

Here's the full MR prompt, which I sometimes hear in the voice of Steve Martin due to the peculiar syntax and once-familiar phrases that seem to have metamorphosed into something odd:

Hello you there!

Were you trying to post to MobileRead? This is wonderful, since we love to hear your voice! However, either you forgot to log in, or you are still not registered in our community. Don't be shy - to register here takes less than 30 seconds and then you are a full and respected member!

If you weren't trying to post, in general access to this page could've been denied due to one of several reasons. . . .

[DoctorOhh]

Originally Posted by Prestidigitweeze

Here's the full MR prompt, which I sometimes hear in the voice of Steve Martin due to the peculiar usage:

So a comma after Hello makes it sound correct. Instead of Steve Martin, maybe Ebenezer Scrooge.