ANSWERS: 9
  • For me it pretty much depends on that person's history or tendency to do it. If it's a recurring thing I guess I have earned the right to judge those people on the basis of their questions, specially when they have no other purpose than to harm (Quite a few ugly examples were present not so long ago here on AB) In some cases what some might consider offensive others might not, maybe it was all in the "style" of the question. "User discretion is avised".
  • If a person is sincere then it would be difficult to term the question as offensive. Maybe they could word the question a little differently but some people will always be offended. Of course some questions on rare occasions are intentionally meant to offend. In the main I would not find questions offensive if a person is seeking knowledge or help. Since I have never flagged for offensive I suppose that goes pretty much with what I am trying (not very well) to say.
  • I feel those questions are intentional and the person knows , the results will be negative , so with that I say yes + 5
  • I always think that the questions themselves aren't offensive, but rather the content of the meaning of the question. The problem is, on the internet, you can't really judge that kind of thing like in real life. So, it's up to the person that asks the question to leave no doubt. Otherwise, I just assume that the question means exactly what I think it means.
  • I do, actually. I have read a lot of obviously intentional offensive statements couched as "questions" about skin colour, LGBT,women, underwear, "religion", atheism. I was ashamed to be human after reading a lot of them.
  • I consider offensive questions an indication of someone who is easily offended or takes offense at being challenged about the question's topic. To use myself as an example, I am deeply offended by two very common themes here on AB: hatred of President Bush as a person and those who think that turning tail and bugging out of Iraq would be a good thing. It is not something I take lightly, and have voiced my opinion quite voiciferously on these two subjects. Recently, I posted a question giving people the choice of keeping troops in Iraq and seeing one's own family die in the certain wave of terrorist attacks that would follow a bug out. The question was designed to show these people who are saying "out now and damn the consequences" that the consequences could very well be extremely personal and to think before advocating the dishonor of every American who has ever worn the uniform. Unfortunately, the vast majority of respondants actually went contrary to basic human nature and put pulling troops out ahead of their own families. Such blind passivism is more offensive to me than anything.
  • I believe that a question is only offensive if the answerer chooses to take offense. That 'choice' is usually related to whether the question is interpreted as disrespectful to the answerer's values. The power to make that choice is generally related to the answerer's ability to reflect on their own values (i.e. a considered response as opposed to a knee-jerk reaction). ...there's a lot of wisdom in the saying 'Offense is not given, it is taken'.
  • There are certain things that are offensive all the time to me, no matter where the location. Things that just scream bigotry, hate, with not much of a question but more of a in your face statement will always be offensive and yes, I have to admit, it makes me feel like the person is one who is the same in real life, someone who refuses to try and deal with people in a manner that shows respect and honesty. One question like that and I might think they were acquiring information for themselves in an honest attempt, maybe! But more than one , after seeing the reaction they get out of people? Nope, they are all set ups and manipulative attempts to push people's buttons deliberately, not just needing to speak their mind. Sure, some things are offensive to me that are more personal or related to 'place', like the vulgar or too sexual in nature questions here that fully belong in another location. And once in their proper location cease being offensive to me, as I don't visit that place. And I don't think those questions affect my feelings about the user, except those deliberately misplaced questions by some users over and over again, just for shock value. Again, I think it's the intent that makes something offensive. Anytime someone wants to 'shove' something in a person's face, no matter what it is, even an important issue, it's OFFensive. There are better ways to get your message across than that, ways that enable people to listen to you, not raise their own DEFensives so high they can't hear the good in your message.
  • I think that there are offensive questions. You can tell them. They pretend to be asking something reasonable, but they are simply there to poke fun at things that are very important to other people. These are usually questions about religion or race.

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