Ok, I'd hoped this might reach some form of resolution but the thread is locked.
Some observations:
Questions of taste and decency are always going to occur on any forum. What to one person is a subject for a joke is to someone else deeply offensive and beyond humour. The only way we can navigate this dilemma and preserve an open forum that allows us to both discuss and enjoy ourselves is to show mutual respect and understanding.
This board is new and the dividing lines between it and the boozer are as yet somewhat blurred. We'll address this in more detail as time permits. Rawk has always been irreverant and humour plays an important part in allowing us to come to terms with the world. Where to draw the line is never easy and we've all traversed it at some point.
To me this thread is just like many that have occurred in the off topic section before now that may be deemed in bad taste. Perhaps the difference is the strength of feeling aroused in those offended, those feelings should be respected, but that doesn't mean that the topic is off limits to those who don't have the same viewpoint.
Threats of violence to other users or indeed to others, however distanced or prefaced are unacceptable. If one is to accept that the notion of a woman boiling a cat is repulsive then what should one make of the threat of kicking a woman to death? Likewise the remark about launching at someone if you heard the same comments in a pub, or the hope that other prisoners 'cut her good.'
On the one hand you want someones freedom to make a joke out of this curtailed, on the other you want to indulge in pointless bragging about what you would do to this person. She remains a woman despite the dehumanising language in use here, which many will have found just as distasteful as the original joke that kicked this off.
Although I understood Maggie's strength of feeling I wished she hadn't brought the Hillsborough analogy into play, it's not helpful.
It's Friday, I hope we can all calm down.
