It seems like the Controversial Topic notice could be worded a little better. I know I'm not the first person to question whether the word "controversial" was the best choice, and I'm pretty sure I won't be the last.
When the notice is applied to some questions it may give the OP and future readers the somewhat unpleasant impression that the subject matter is inherently, well... "controversial" and it's kinda easy to be offended by that implication.
In my case it was applied to a question asking about communicating with family about my sexuality, and correcting their language missteps when they talk about LGBT+ issues. Of course people who are generally unsettled by the topic felt the need to chime in, and eventually the notice was added to keep things civil and on topic. I have no problem with the post notice in this case apart from the wording. People were doing what they usually do with these sorts of questions, and the post notice slowed them down a little.
What bothers me about the wording of the post notice is that it seems to imply that being queer and talking about it openly is somehow controversial. Or that being queer and asking to be treated with the same respect and kindness that you would extend to any other culture or group is somehow controversial. Or that just being queer is somehow controversial.
I hate to have to put it like this, but none of the things above should be controversial. The issue isn't that the topic is controversial, the issue is that some people feel it's ok to break the be nice policy and say some pretty unpleasant things to people and/or use a comment or answer as a soapbox to preach their personal point of view.
Now I'm sure some will say that the topic is controversial simply because someone wants to argue about it... That's not a great argument. There are still people that argue that the Earth is flat, but most of us probably wouldn't say that the issue is somehow controversial or even up for serious debate.
So, could we please try to think up a better word than "controversial" for the shiny new post notice?
For those that are interested I decided to take this up the chain and posted this question on Meta Stack Exchange: Could we please rename the Controversial Topic Post Notice?
