[AceOfHeart]

I watched some of the vugraph and found that sometimes the commetary is relatively inappropriate and sometimes offcolor and rude jokes are made there too.

For example, during the PABF singapore vs china match, a reference was made to one of the chinese girl player's name to a panda in some zoo in USA. This sounds quite rude and demeaning to the player itslef.

I understand the joke/references are harmless and is not meant to be racist(i hope), but commentators need to be aware that people from vastly differen cultures and regions are watching the vugraph and some comments may be interpreted as racist/offensive to other people.

[lalislol]

Pandas are cute to all people, I think...be difficult to take offence at this.

You'll get used to our commentators' humor. They're never intentionally offensive {except maybe to each other at times :-)) }, but can make human errors...easy to do considering the wide cultural diversity of the VG audience, eh? And I think most will make allowance for that.

[Rain]

A few people messaged me to tell me they thought that comment was offensive, but it was also clear to me that commentator was trying to crack a joke.

Some things are important to different cultures. Chinese Taipei doesn't get to use their Taiwan flag. Chinese humans also don't like being likened to zoo animals. Throw in people who may not be fluent enough in naunces of different languages to understand when things are meant as jokes and problems may arise.

Agree that commentators need to try to be a little more culturally sensitive.

[Walddk]

Although it is and should be a privilege to be a vugraph commentator, it is also fair if you give them some leeway. We are there day in and day out, hour after hour, also at ungodly hours, and occasionally we say things that we shouldn't have.

For goodness sake, don't be overly sensitive. No-one among our 226 commentators will ever hurt any other person intentionally. I was there when the "panda issue" was raised (no, it wasn't me), and I didn't find it offensive at all.

One user mesaged me about it, and I sent this message back. "It was meant to be a joke, perhaps not a good joke as you see it. No offence intended I can assure you".

Blame it on me or fred or uday if you think one or more of our commentators overstep the line. We are responsible and we will obviously take the appropriate action if we think that the complaint is a reasonable one. If a commentator finds it amusing to belittle a player or fellow commentator publicly, one of us will likely be there to prevent this from happening again.

It has happened once or twice in the past. The persons in question are not vugraph commentators any more.

Yes, we should perhaps be more careful, but we are only humans, and we do make mistakes, just like everyone else does.

Roland

[the saint]

The man who runs the England U20 squad has a very good word of advice that he gives to all budding players who come under his banner:

'The International language of Bridge is BROKEN English'.

Commentators should be aware of this. Humour doesn't necessarily translate at the best of times even (especially?) between countries that share the same language. As an example, in Britain, it is normal to be incredibly rude and insulting to your friends all the time as this is a sign of familarity and acceptance into the group. Many other cultures find any kind of demeaning comment, however it is delivered, to be unacceptable in any way.

As usual though - compromise is the name of the game. Commentators should be aware that comments may offend, but others shouldn't automatically take offence - they should assume that none is intended. Its all about understanding each other.