User talk:Gaypriests1984

May 2008

I hope not to seem unfriendly or make you feel unwelcome, but I noticed your username, and I am concerned that it might not meet Wikipedia's username policy. After you look over that policy, could we discuss that concern here?

I'd appreciate learning your own views, for instance your reasons for wanting this particular name, and what alternative username you might accept that avoids raising this concern.

You have several options freely available to you:

If you can relieve my concern through discussing it here, I can stop worrying about it.
If the two of us can't agree here, we can ask for help through Wikipedia's dispute resolution process, such as requesting comments from other Wikipedians. Wikipedia administrators usually abide by agreements reached through this process.
You can keep your contributions history under a new username. Visit Wikipedia:Changing username and follow the guidelines there.

Thank you. —Ashanda (talk) 15:19, 4 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Hi Ashanda,

Thanks for your concern. No offence is intended at all regarding my name. I am not sure if you understand the meaning of the word Gay? To clarify, here are the first 3 definitions offered on www.dictionary.com and certainly historically the most common interpretation of the word:

GAY [gey] Pronunciation) noun, adverb, adjective.

1. having or showing a merry, lively mood: gay spirits; gay music. 2. bright or showy: gay colors; gay ornaments. 3. given to or abounding in social or other pleasures: a gay social season.

In my opinion having a username using any of the above adjectives is hardly something that should cause any offence. Please can you explain to me why it causes offence?

Thanks. Gaypriests1984

Actually, I never said that your username might cause offense, I only said it may be a violation of Wikipedia's username policy. The policy has other criteria besides being offensive, so I could just as well ask you why you jumped to the conclusion that I thought it might be offensive rather than promotional, misleading, disruptive, or confusing. Your assumption is correct, however; I believe that your chosen username may be offensive to Roman Catholics because of a likely association with the Roman Catholic sex abuse cases. The word gay has a complicated meaning in modern times and that is why I decided to discuss it with you instead of simply reporting it. It's taking somewhat more time and effort for me to do it this way, so I'm hoping you'll reciprocate and be upfront with me. We're here to here to build an encyclopedia and give the knowledge away for free to the world. Things that might make people leave, like someone being allowed to edit from a username that they find offensive, is contrary to our goal. We have a very large base of editors working here, and some may very well have been victims of such abuse; I'm also concerned that your username may cause them very real pain. I'm sure that you wouldn't want to do that either. Mechanisms exist for WP:changing usernames and I hope you will avail yourself of them. Thank you for time and understanding. —Ashanda (talk) 17:11, 5 May 2008 (UTC)[reply]