!!! Gay Ghost Online Censorship Rages On !!!
chiefthracian
(Note: You may enjoy more, my blogged version of this
article, as all links are embedded, and therefore don't mess
with the flow of your reading...AND you'll be treated to a
lot of cute monster pics accompanying their quotes:
Currently the last blog on that page, all the way at the
end...dated Tuesday 06.01.04.)
==
You may recall my disappointment
http://www.tblog.com/templates/index.php?bid=ezekielk&static=186546
when I discovered that one of my favorite escape-fantasy
sites of all time, "Castle of Spirits",
http://www.castleofspirits.com/
censors the word "gay". Their site hosts a large and
ever-growing collection of true ghost tales. I debuted my
first blog ever, by featuring that site...
http://www.tblog.com/templates/index.php?bid=ezekielk&godate=05/01/2004
'cause that's how much I enjoy spooky tales (and if true,
all the more thrilling). A couple of days after I praised
their site, I logged on to their guestbook, with the intent
to invite Castle of Spirits' owner to read my angelic
review. But when I posted my entry, it showed up with word
"gay" censored! So that my website URL came out
"http://www.***-bible.org", and my self-description as
"free-lance *** activist".
So I posted my grave disappointment to my web log,
http://www.tblog.com/templates/index.php?bid=ezekielk&static=186546
to various LGBT newsgroups,
ba.motss
soc.motss
alt.homosexual
gay-net.general
alt.politics.homosexuality
gay-net.heteros
and to the Gaynet mailing list:
http://groups.queernet.org/cgi-bin/mj_wwwusr?user=&passw=&func=lists-long-full&extra=gaynet
Obviously, I have a bone to pick! Shortly after that, Castle
of Spirits shut down their guestbook signing for several
days...making me wonder if others posted criticism to their
guestbook, after having read my haunting critique. Well, I
believe that is precisely what happened (so thanks to all
you good LGBT faeries), as their guestbook signing is now
back up, with this caveat:
--begin Castle of Spirits caveat:
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT ABUSE
Unfortunately we have had to filter out some words from
their use in the ghostbook, I have had some comment about
this with people taking offense to it as they cannot use
these words in the PROPER CONTEXT that they are meant to be
used.
The problem is the MISUSE of these words and the usual thing
of people spoiling it for everyone else due to their
childish behavior and selfishness.
There is a constant problem with what appears to be a
certain uneducated age group of young people, who do not
have the maturity to understand how offensive they are being
and continue to overuse and be extremely offensive on
purpose by continuously misusing these words and targeting
our ghostbook with it. We hope they will grow up one day :o)
.......but so far it's not looking good.
Of course, we do not wish for this sort of thing in our
ghostbook and try to deflect this by taking the option to
leave those words out at this time.
Castle of Spirits does not discriminate against anyone of
different race or choices in their lifestyles and we do feel
a certain responsibility to try to stop the offensive use of
certain words. We welcome genuine visitors to our ghostbook
for genuine comments and apologize for any inconvenience or
offense that may be taken.
Thanks for understanding! :o) .
--end of Castle of Spirits caveat
Now, doesn't this strike you as disingenuous at best, and
sinister at worst? Wait, before you show them any kind of
empathy, please realize they do not ban words "homosexual"
and "lesbian"...which I just tested. By censoring "gay"
under grounds that some immature posters use that to insult
and disrupt their guestbook...then, by default, all good gay
folk are condemned along with the guilty parties. Once more,
we are scapegoated for the sins of others, and relegated to
the same ghoulish status as our own homophobic enemies.
I really don't understand why an innocuous word like "gay"
is targeted; for I sincerely doubt homophobes would use that
particular "expletive" when a choicer one is more obvious
don't know of any homophobic spamming where "gay" is the
word of choice...most of the time it's "homosexual" and
"lesbian", and usually something much worse (such as "fudge
packer", "pervert", "faggot", "jizz guzzler", and so on).
Castle of Spirits: I think you need to show us some proof
that your claim is true...I for one, find it hard to
believe. But even if true: your particular retaliation only
gives the enemy victory, not loss...for they succeeded in
getting you to censor any gay presence on your site. You've
played right into their hands (and I suspect, even
willingly). Your apology rings hollow.
Surely, if Castle of Spirits is truly gay friendly, they'd
have long ago come up with a more evenhanded way to
discourage spammers (using word "gay" as part of their
arsenal) from sabotaging their guestbook. As it stands,
Castle of Spirits is a willing accomplice to these spammers,
by using them as a handy ploy to ban "gay" from their site,
while putting on a queer-friendly face to the public.
To add insult to injury, their newly posted guestbook policy
does not stop with the above caveat, but continues with a
further warning:
--begin Castle of Spirits Privacy Policy:
Castle of Spirits.com will record any IP address of anyone
signing or posting any material in our ghostbook or any
other online form where information is submitted (including
submitting stories and discussion group). Your details will
never be used EXCEPT FOR:*1. if you choose to purposefully
place any type of unwanted abuse/spam or other offensive
material, including any type of terrorist threat or
information, through any of our online forms, including the
ghostbook (guestbook).
*2. Under current Australian law (Spam Act 2003 which came
into effect 10th April, 2004) it is now illegal to place any
spam through or target any spam at any visitors of castle of
spirits.com causing them to receive unwanted e-mails, or
unwanted spam links/information placed in the ghostbook
(guestbook). Castle of Spirits.com has the right under
Australian law to take full action upon any spamming
information placed in any of our forms, including the
Guestbook and also therefore records all IP addresses for
this specific purpose.
Your IP information and any other form of communication you
placed through castleofspirits.com may then be passed on to
Federal Authorities who may choose to use this information
to track and or monitor your use of the Internet and action
may possibly be taken against both you and your ISP.
This is currently a serious matter and we hope that you will
take another thought about placing anything unwanted and or
irrelevant in any of our forms.
Thank you
--end of Castle of Spirits Privacy Policy
Makes you wonder if they're chastising pro-gays who posted
complaints about censorship, to their guestbook...rather
than to the original miscreants...miscreants who--AFAICT--
http://www.svetlozar.com/learningcenter/glossaries/ag/cag.html
were conjured up by Castle of Spirits in the first place.
Now, if some pro-gay elements spammed their guestbook to
invoke a DoS attack,
http://www.webopedia.com/TERM/D/DoS_attack.html
I'd have to deem it a successful act of civil disobedience.
Their bloated corpus of a privacy policy does not at all
seem a complaint against these ghostly miscreants, but aimed
at those who criticize their censorship of "gay". And for
this reason, I judge their response to my criticism (and
consequent rallying outrage by others) as heavy-handed and
two-faced. There is some level of homophobia going on here,
by Castle of Spirits' host; typical of liberal heterosexuals
who think being familiar with some aspects of queer rights,
gives them the Goddess-given right to have the last word on
this matter, as well. "So we have to censor the word 'gay'
to stop these scoundrels. Okay, no big dealie" is their
heterocentric answer. Doesn't matter to them, how this
abruptly silences any gay voice.
So the battle rages on. Please convey to them your feelings,
by either sending them a message,
http://www.castleofspirits.com/contactus.html
or posting to their guestbook.
http://www.castleofspirits.com/sign.htm
Help put an end to Castle of Spirits' spooky hypocrisy. Then
treat yourself to a frappucino, you armchair quacktivist!
http://www.gay-bible.org/share/quacktivist_slogan.wav
BONUS:
(Best enjoyed by going to my ZekeBlog page,
http://www.tblog.com/templates/index.php?bid=ezekielk&static=191468
which includes a picture for each monster celebrity.)
Hear what other underworld celebrities have to say about
Castle of Spirits' gay censorship
(note, some had to be resurrected for a post post-mortem
interview):
"I signed their guestbook with someone else's blood."
- Dracula [
http://www.heatlicensing.com/html/bela_lugosi.html ]
"I'd give my left nut, if it'd make a difference. Wait: just
kidding, give it back!"
- Frankenstein's Monster [
http://members.aon.at/frankenstein/ ]
"I'm not queer; stop saying that! I'm with Tom Cruise on
this one!"
- Casper the Friendly(?) Ghost [
http://www.toonopedia.com/casper.htm ]
"Gay rights go hand in hand with succubus rights."
- Morticia Adams [
http://www.morticiasmorgue.com/addams.html ]
"Mother, I have something to tell you."
- Norman Bates [
http://www.ugcs.caltech.edu/~villains/bates.htm ]
"Some of my best fiends are homosexual."
- Teenage Werewolf [
http://www.classic-horror.com/reviews/iwasteenwerewolf.html
]
"Rarrr#@!!jhphbt87rrrLGBTQaaauu7ggh"
- Tasmanian Devil [ http://www.nconnect.net/~chuck/ ]
"I look like a penis. Does that make me gay?"
- The Alien [
http://www.scifidimensions.com/Apr01/alien.htm ]
"This is too much to absorb all at once."
- The Blob [ http://www.theblob.info/ ]
"Some of my best feasts are homosexual. Especially with fava
beans. And arugula."
- Hannibal Lecter [
http://www.fortunecity.com/lavender/hawkslane/711/ ]
"It's wrong to leave anyone out in the cold."
- The Thing [
http://homepage.powerup.com.au/~vampire/thing/thing.htm ]
"Here, have a slice of homophobe meat pizza with scream
sauce!"
- Freddie Kruger [ http://www.nightmareonelmstreet.com/
]
"We don't discriminate against anyone. We don't know how."
- Tribbles [ http://www.kylyria.net/tribbles.htm ]
"Homophobes are playing with fire."
- Mothra [
http://www.queenghid.bnetmd.net/mothrapage.html ]
"That Zeke has big balls."
- King Kong [
http://members.tripod.com/~plopmomma/balls.html ]
"Censor gays? They have a heart of stone."
- Pet Rock [ http://www.virtualpetrock.nl/ ]
"Hot scaly monster with severe eczema, seeks...oh, this
isn't a dating service? Never mind!"
- Megalon [
http://www.stomptokyo.com/godzillatemple/movie13.htm ]
"This is not a good thing."
- K-Mart bag lady [
http://talkshows.about.com/od/prisonchic/ ]
"Ghostbook sensoryship vylates nucular fambly valyooz."
- Dubya [ http://www.dubyaspeak.com/ ]
Do you have a quote from a favorite monster celebrity?
Please share by adding a comment to my ZekeBlog:
http://www.tblog.com/templates/index.php?bid=ezekielk&static=191468
Scroll down to page end, then click on "comments (view/add)"
link.
(UPDATE: I just checked their guestbook again, and once
more, it's down, down, down! It couldn't have been up more
than several hours.)
SinQueerly,
ZekeBlog - 1 June 2004
http://ezekielk.tblog.com/
--
Zeke Krahlin, chiefthracian -ICQ#: 277447464
Lavender-Velvet Revolution
http://www.gay-bible.org