This example isn't actually that great, as the Nazi swastika is VERY particular. The orientation of the points is reversed in comparison to most uses of it in other cultures. Hitler was also very particular about its size, thickness, and that it be paired with the white circle against a red field. Beyond that, I think this comment is rather ignorant of the evils of anonymous internet trolls. Nasty people love to band together to write mass reports "for the lulz" these days.
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SONY banned someone based on his real name
- Thread starter L.O.R.D
- Start date
This example isn't actually that great, as the Nazi swastika is VERY particular. The orientation of the points is reversed in comparison to most uses of it in other cultures. Hitler was also very particular about its size, thickness, and that it be paired with the white circle against a red field. Beyond that, I think this comment is rather ignorant of the evils of anonymous internet trolls. Nasty people love to band together to write mass reports "for the lulz" these days.
I'ts horrible to see accusations like this in here. I'm pretty sure many people would be offended by seeing usertag like Kike for example. Even though it's a name and not just a racial slur. There's also employment services in Finland that's called Kike. Would we call someone ignorant racist for not knowing that.
stargateheaven
Member
clearly this was based on people reporting him rather than sony suddenly out of the blue banning him.
Did you even read his post? He's defending someone banning another person simply because they had the name Jihad, on account that all people called Jihad are supposed terrorists. How is that not racist?
The name has a negative connotation in the West, I think that's what he meant. I'm pretty sure he doesn't think people who are named Jihad are terrorists. Chill out.
Where did he say people named Jihad are terrorists?
I took it as rationalizing the confusion. He stated that other meanings of the word might not be known. But that might be a mistake on my part.
I posted this picture earlier, what would you think when seeing a ring like this?
I also found a topic on wargamings forums earlier where someone said that he posted pictures about Finnish warplanes with swastikas on them. And those were removed because they allegedly contained nazi symbolism.
It was implied when he said he can't blame the Sony rep for banning someone for having the name Jihad.
test_account
XP-39C²
It doesnt seem like the ban had anything to do with the name itself, but rather that the word is often assosiated with something else, and his name is simply the same word, and the person who did the ban didnt know about this. Hopefully the situation will be resolved in the best way possible.
He said that its understandable that someone didnt know that it is an actual name and didnt know the other meaning of the word Jihad.
ScriptedReality
Member
I love threads like this.. The veil gets thinner. People start showing their asses, trying to hide how they really feel lol.
But Sony needs to fix this, and come down on that rep that decided he gets to change things like that. I hope they can change usernames. Tbh I wanna change mine, I'm not a fan of it. 10 years man lol.
But Sony needs to fix this, and come down on that rep that decided he gets to change things like that. I hope they can change usernames. Tbh I wanna change mine, I'm not a fan of it. 10 years man lol.
stargateheaven
Member
it sucks though. it's not his fault.
it's like when coca cola did the "share a coke to a friend" thing with the names on.
There was a bottle that said ISIS. It's a real name. People complained and they took it away.
Not really fair on you being called ISIS if something happened in the world after you're born.
test_account
XP-39C²
I completely agree, it definitelly sucks. Just saying that many people dont know the other meaning of the word. Personally, i didnt know it before this thread. That is also why i hope that things will be resolved in the best way possible. I will be surprised if he doesnt get his account back to be honest. Shouldnt be hard to prove that it is simply his name.
Yes, I agree. Just saying the username is something that raises eyebrows. Not that weird they banned the name, but they should at least have given him a new name or something, and let him keep his stuff of course.
Yeah, I don't understand why they didn't transfer all his stuff to a new ID. I am actually pissed about that. How can someone just lose everything based on simple ID with back up plan?
The Elite
BOSS
I didn't see that in the post you quoted. He simply said he can understand why a person from one culture wouldn't know that a word from another culture may have more than one meaning or even be a name. That's understandable. Especially in the West were you basically have 24 hours news services blasting Jihad as only having one meaning.
Surely you can't claim to know the meaning of every word, term or name from every language. It's based on your understanding and your world view. You will probably get shit wrong from time to time. From time-to-time we all show ignorance and understanding of another culture, it's how we adapt and learn once we are educated that defines us.
I think people don't realize that the entire weight of Sony was probably not behind this decision. It's a single person making a judgement call. An incorrect judgement call to ban this username based on an assumption of meaning and probable reporting from other PSN users. However, the response from Sony now that information is out there is key. They should absolutely allow this username to continue.
MastaKilla
Member
The discussion here reminds me of the uproar in American media about Obama attending a "madrassa" when he was younger.
Madrassa is the Arabic word for school. Jihad is the Arabic word for personal struggle.
Are we going to start banning English words that could be manipulated to mean bad things? No more using killa or own or anything that could be distorted to mean anything negative? Lmao.
Madrassa is the Arabic word for school. Jihad is the Arabic word for personal struggle.
Are we going to start banning English words that could be manipulated to mean bad things? No more using killa or own or anything that could be distorted to mean anything negative? Lmao.
Stone Ocean
Member
"Going to start"? It already happens.
Mobius and pet octopus
Member
So you're saying he was in fact a victim of anonymous internet trolls, or you're saying Sony should ignore all reports because they could be from trolls.
As for the swastika example, I was just using another example of the meaning of a symbol/word changing over time. Your pointing out particular differences is pretty much ignorant towards that point.
Tumle
Member
Do you even know your self what the literal translation of jihad means?
Do a google search and you'll find out it's not just about some crazy deranged extremist notion of holy war..
But it's really a good example of how some idiots can ruin the meaning of a word..
wesleyshark
Banned
Lol wow. Sony fucked up here.
DJ Lushious
Member
They did that? Seriously?! WTF! Isis is an ancient name, and, in my opinion, a beautiful one at that. Ugh, American culture is becoming lame.
The Elite
BOSS
My hopes for a "The Secret of ISIS" revival on Netflix went down the shitter. I was disappointed.
He edited his Reddit OP a short while ago with a response from the UK support department:
It's utterly indefensible that he has no options. Forget the name; all of his purchased content is gone because an account he created 10 years ago is now inappropriate. If Sony is going to retroactively ban people, it needs to have a system in place that's more reasonable than "Sorry, better luck next time."
But the person who banned him did know that he'd been a valued customer for 10 years, and was in the process of accepting an offer to change his tag... He also knew it was this persons real name. He still chose to he pull the carpet from under him.
Ignorance of the cultural differences between middle eastern and western interpretations of the word Jihad are understandable. Making this decision to ban, in light of all the facts, is inexcusable.
Really this story needs to be published in major news sites m so that this gentleman can get the digital items back that Sony has stolen. And so that Sony can realize that they have an admin in need of training.
Wickerbasket
Member
Yeah, I think we can all agree that, despite what your views may be in regards to the offensiveness of his real name, the response is utter bullshit.
They should offer him a name change, not ban his account.
Edit: You're best bet is phoning up and hoping you get someone with a bit of common sense talking to you.
blastprocessor
The Amiga Brotherhood
I thought they were going to offer a name change. I mean it's scandalous Sony can't change his ID.
DeviantBoi
Member
People might not have had the same reaction to the word "jihad" 30 years ago when he was born, but when he created his PSN account, he must have been aware of how society feels towards it. The PS3 launched in 2006... that's just five years after 9/11. it was even fresher in everyone's mind than it is today.
It's a shitty situation, but he should have thought a little bit more before using that word in his username.
It's a shitty situation, but he should have thought a little bit more before using that word in his username.
This is straight up a human rights issue. This doesn't violate their TOS, because the level of inapporpriate-ness (not a word) is subjective. To the user who created the account, he is using it innocently, as it's his actual name. If this guy goes public with this... I mean really public, like news outlets, Sony is going to be in an uncomfortable position trying to explain why their reps flip-flopped.
Oh please I thought we were past these kind of answers!
test_account
XP-39C²
Of course, i didnt say that the ban is warranted when concidering the facts afterwards that it is his actual name and that is also has another meaning. All i said was that i dont think it being a name had much to do with it because the person doing the ban probably didnt even know that it was a name. Hopefully it works out in the end. In worse case senario, he should be able to at least get an account name change. I refuse to believe that its not possible to go in manually and change an PSN user ID without fucking the whole system up.
mckmas8808
Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
This is the important part.
I'm sorry, but if he's from the Middle East, where Jihad is a common name, HOW THE FUCK would he know that the western world is so sensitive to it, 10 years after the fact?
its crazy that we would expect a middle easterner to be well versed in our culture, when the very heart of this issue stems from the fact that we don't know shit about theirs.
Sorry for getting riled up, but I just find this sort of victim blaming to be really ignorant, even if that isn't your intention. Sony has stolen his Digital goods after allowing him to use the tag for 10 years... All while never implimenting an adequate method of changing user IDs. The fault lies solely with Sony.
I wonder if names like "holywarrior" or "crusader" or "templar knight" would result in The loss of account? Of course not, because double standards.
wow - utterly indefensible.
From the moment they accepted that username ten years ago, Sony are responsible for it. It's not the user's fault anymore and he shouldn't be punished for that. It's as simple as that.
I literally know a female coworker (USA) whose name is Isis.
LambdaTeos
Member
mm... i'm kinda surprised, usually to ban a username or account there must be an investigation
when a case is escalated, it is submitted for review, I would like to think a name is subject of reviewsince gamertags/NNID's/PSN must be of certain nature to be accepted but..
it's weird... if it was indeed banned by a human revision then..well it was a mistake, then again, an automated system for banning gamertghas with certain words would mean a lot of banned accounts, not just this one..
either way, i'm pretty sure this can be reversed
when a case is escalated, it is submitted for review, I would like to think a name is subject of reviewsince gamertags/NNID's/PSN must be of certain nature to be accepted but..
it's weird... if it was indeed banned by a human revision then..well it was a mistake, then again, an automated system for banning gamertghas with certain words would mean a lot of banned accounts, not just this one..
either way, i'm pretty sure this can be reversed
Isis is absolutely a real name... I know several people with that name, none of whom are if Arabic descent. I think people just wanted to name their daughters after a deity.
Nuno Pinto
Member
This is completely unacceptable, I seriously can't believe this can actually happen after he already explained the situation to Sony. Incompetence has its limits... I really hope he can get his account back.
Just the fact that a random employee (I presume) can f*ck you up like this is crazy. One more reason for thinking twice before going digital.
Just the fact that a random employee (I presume) can f*ck you up like this is crazy. One more reason for thinking twice before going digital.
The person who did the banning DID know it was his name. Then they took a second look at the situation, affirming that they understand it's his name, and kept the ban in place rather than letting him change it.
It's ignorant and inexcusable That it hasn't already been fixed.
Where did they get that information from? And dont say from the billing adress, according to the one on my US-Account (not my main account...), I live in the white house.
Wow... this is infuriating. It can't end like this. He needs to take legal action to get his money back and then some for Sony's incompetence.
The fact that PSN was designed without the ability to change usernames is truly a disaster. They should have separated the immutable internal unique ID of an account from the mutable unique display name. Instead, they apparently conflated both. And now it's nearly impossible to change all the APIs and databases that are build upon this assumption.
Wow... So they really can't just change his name. Why not just make him a new account and transfer all his crap to it. im sure they can at least pull that off.
ArtHands
Thinks buying more servers can fix a bad patch
Yet Sony allowed him to register the name back then instead of blocking it. And then block him out of the blue with no warning after many years.
Maybe he just got reported a couple of days ago?
Spindoc alright. JFC, everything is censorship.
Oh, wow.
Yeah, they should give him a full refund.
I live in the white house too!
But from the OP
Or do I get something wrong in the time line?
Yeah, then they really fucked up.
But I can understand the guidline. You cant handpick the guys who use Jihad Usernames to promote jihad and differ from the guys who are named Jihad. Thats impossible. The same reason why in german the ns-swastikas (who are not that particular like it was claimed here...) are treated the same like the buddhism-swastikas. You cant handpick that. Its impossible.
Still, when the guy scanned his passport, they should have unlocked his account again.