Rhoades Less Traveled:

Honestly, we didn’t mean to offend anyone.

If only you could have been in the Daily Pilot newsroom that day. There was a debate over which term to use to describe the male organ (more about the story later). For headline purposes, we settled on “member,” though we used “penis” in the subhead and article. And my last words to the copy editors before leaving the office were be tactful, which I think they were.

A quick refresher on the story: A gentleman apparently inserted his thing — that’s my choice of words — into a steel, ring-like device that serves as bookends for barbells, firmly keeping them in place. Was he trying to make it bigger? Did he have dreams of becoming a porn star? What else could he have been thinking? He walked, or hobbled, around that way for three days before admitting himself to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian, swollen and black in the most tender of places.

“I’ve got the greatest story ever,” reporter Joseph Serna told me over the phone.

Call it Membergate.

Organgate.

Penisgate.

At any rate, he told me the story and I nearly spat out the water I was drinking. That’s right, your classic sitcom spit take. It’s highly unusual, it’s funny, it’s a lot of things, including tragic.

This poor fellow must have had a serious inferiority complex to take such extreme measures. It must have been humiliating to check himself into the hospital. Let’s hope he doesn’t suffer permanent injury, to his body or his psyche.

I’ve got to believe that members of the Costa Mesa Fire Department’s Urban Search and Rescue Squad dreamed as little boys of saving kittens from trees, or children from burning homes, not sawing through a metal ring — sparks flying — to rescue a man’s penis from a premature demise.

Now, for the aftermath. Were we right to play it prominently on A1? A handful of readers thought not, saying we took the low road and that there was no place for this kind of sleaziness in a family newspaper.

On the other hand, judging by the Web hits (upward of 25,000), it’s one of the most popular articles we’ve ran in my two years at the Pilot.

Tough call, indeed.

Here’s the deal: First and foremost, we’re storytellers, and this story had all the elements of surprise, conflict, humor, mystery, etc.

Here’s the other thing: If you’re offended, you can choose not to read it.

But with all due apologies, I’ve been in this business for going on 25 years and have never seen a story like this one.

I asked about 5,000 questions, starting with “He did what?”

And while not a strict populist, I knew it was a fascinating story that went to the core of human vulnerability, and that it would play big.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, did we invade this man’s privacy?

We reasoned that this story had to be made public because taxpayer dollars were spent in sending firefighters to this man’s rescue. At taxpayers’ expense, they spent at least two hours dealing with his injury when they could have been putting out fires in the middle of the night.

At any rate, take pity on me. I couldn’t help myself.

BRADY RHOADES is the Daily Pilot’s editor. He may be reached at brady.rhoades@latimes.com or at (714) 966-4607.