Profanity and Censor Circumvention on the Rise

hmm, why?
We're all grown ups, now thats not to say that filling a post full of non sense profanity is okay.
But i mean, radio hosts of political stations even get to drop a word when the situation requires it, sometimes people are an [SNIP]. Theres just no way around it.
Sometimes you have to tell it as it is.


Mod Edit - Mod Edit: Profanity/Circumvention Of Censors – Please Review This Link.

[edit on 24-5-2010 by elevatedone]

reply to post by TrueBrit


If I could star you I would, although I expect that would be irrelevant really, .

Seemslike you and I are the only two who see it that way.

Swearing is part and parcel of everyday life, nearly every single person I know swears to one degree or another.

Having carte blanche 'no swearing' policy is censorship, it is ignoring the reality of everyday life and is imposing a set of morals and values on people.

However, I also don't want to come on a site and be insulted and told to 'go forth and multiply' everytime someone disagrees with me.

That's why to me the vital thing is the context in which the swear word has been written.

However, I too will attempt to adhere to T&C at all times, as I always do.

reply to post by TrueBrit

I will abide by them, but all you do by censoring how people feel and speak in thier every day lives, is watering down the reality of the lives lived, and the expriences of the membership.

When you are an infant, or a toddler, it is acceptable to assume that your reality is the only one that counts. And your responses to stimuli are necessarily very limited and usually of a very loud and selfish nature.

As you approach maturity, you learn that your reality is only one of a billion in existence. Your responses must expand, to be able to interact satisfactorily with others.

You don't speak the same way to the judge as you do to your homeys.

I can remember standing in line in a dept. store with my 18 yr old daughter. The group of punks in front of us were loud and full of profanity, innuendo, and cuss words. Did they think they were impressing anyone with their pottymouths?

Explanation: Just seeking clarification OK.... [Not trying to be funny either OK as this is very serious and I want to know EXACTLY where the limit is to the number of vowels ect as I like to stand right up against that envelopes event horizon WITHOUT BREACHING IT as to do any less would be me being GUTLESS in my debating skills!]

So I can't just say any old expletive, but can I FOR EXAMPLE legally [i.e within the T&C's] do the following?... [Mods please feel free to edit OK as I'm testing the limits out here. ]

Can I say that a post [not the post'er] appears to be the product of a nescient acerebral throwback???

Can I say that a post is full of soft smelly stool samples, especially if I can provide proof to that effect???

Can I say that a post equates to the product of an unhappy genetic union between two distinct and incompatible species?

Can I imply that a post is clearly a biohazardous waste explosively expelled by a rearward facing sphincter?

Personal Disclosure: I don't have to swear at all to post a very CRASS message! You'd have to ban the entire english language!

Originally posted by bigfatfurrytexan

Originally posted by Whine Flu
I don't even get what's so bad about profanity anyway.

To be brutally honest, a lot of the threads here have content that is far more offensive than coarse language, and I think that censor circumvention isn't all that bad. Sometimes you just really need to swear.

It isn't about "offensive". It is about ignorance, and sounding as such.

You can say some really nasty stuff without ever swearing. It is frowned on just the same.

Base discussion is the playground of the ignorant, and has no place here.

Someone that swears isn't ignorant.

If, hypothetically, someone ended up coming out with actual REAL information and proof of ETs would you dismiss their claims just because they actually chose to include coarse language while presenting their discoveies?

I know some who would on this forum. Now who are the ignorant people? It's saddening that even the most awake among us can be completely ignorant.

reply to post by Whine Flu


There are some in this world who live above perception. Who see reality for what it really is. Perhaps you are such a person, perhaps not. But I can tell you that the average person is not.

To the average person, perception is reality. If you have a message to spread, you should create a perception that you are well read, deep thinking, moral, and reputable. You do not want to come off like that ranting old guy from Brooklyn ("the Kid From Brooklyn"?).

This is about responsibility to a community. The community here espouses a specific set of values. The site ownership is kind enough to help us maintain this set of values. Some people do not share these values, and i do not judge those people harshly. Just as i would not join a porn forum, i wouldn't expect such a person to find a comfortable home here.

Coarse language is something that, perceptively, indicates ignorance and small mindedness. I am not the person who creates the rules in that regard.. That is just the way it is seen by society. Your complaint is with humanity, not me.

But if we are to create a positive perception within society, we cannot do so by appealing to the basest nature of humanity. We are intelligent people. We can find intelligent ways to express ourselves, without resorting to the pedantic.

There is a time and place for everything. Around my wife, my friends, etc, i may use some pretty foul language (of course i do....out here in the oilpatch the roughnecks don't have much culture).

but this is not the place for that.

Time and place.

It isn't about taking away rights and freedom. It is about respecting the hard work of the serious people here who are trying to accomplish something.

I don't know if this will help at all but perhaps we can all remember that this is nothing new. Profanity has been prohibited on ATS for as long as I can remember and it's all laid out for us when we first registered and agreed to the terms and conditions.

This thread is simply a reminder to keep it clean after we had been experiencing an outbreak of censor circumvention and profanity around the site.

That's all. A 'reminder' more than it is a 'new rule.'

reply to post by OmegaLogos


Uh, no. For the simple reason that every single example you've listed could be construed as a personal attack against a fellow member. There's no reason why you, or any other member for that matter, shouldn't be able to make your point in a discussion in a civil manner.

In short, no profanity and no personal attacks against fellow ATSers.

I'm pretty sure this thread was pretty much just designed to lure in people to use offensive language just so they could remove ATS points from people.

I mean, really, what is the purpose of even making this thread when they're made every 6 months?

reply to post by Whine Flu


i have seen it more and more lately. in just about every thread. friendly reminders such as this are issued before the all out crackdown.

for what its worth, they can take all my points. it doesn't matter. a point deduction is not a penalty to me. knowing that i let down my community by acting inappropriately brings me far more guilt.

Can you please explain to me then exactly what will happen the next time SO uses a swear word in one of his posts, as he has done before quite legitamately and to great effect in my opinion.

No one is advocating bar room behaviour and language but at times swearing can be used to great effect when trying express the strength of one's emotion or opinion.

And of course it is important to maintain ATS standards and that all debate remains respectful and without personal attacks.

I am also confused as to why some words are automatically censored out and some aren't.
Is it ok to use the words that aren't?

Some people seem amzingly hyper-sensitive to what are only words.
In the grand scheme of things, possible wars all over the globe, economic meltdown, 2012, religous extremists, terrorism, NWO....and we worry ourselves about words?

Surely it is the context and the intention in which they are used that is important rather than their usage.

Senkin pyryharakka!

What about profanity in other languages?

How would you even recognize such (btw that's not a profanity)

reply to post by masqua


I want to thank-you for bringing attention to
this problem.I am a christian lady and two
members took God's name in vain on one of
my threads.One apologised for it and replaced
the cuss word.I knew the other wouldn't,so,I
put him in my troll storage(ignore list).

reply to post by Freeborn


I definitely agree. I got a warning and lost 500 ATS points because I used the word "penishead". Well, it wasn't "penis", but still, SO uses "pissed" and it's ok.

I would call double standards, but that's not the case because that was done a while back.

I think enforcing this is still a waste of time, though. Most of the uncivilised users here aren't even the ones that use swear words.

reply to post by Freeborn


I agree with you. Sometimes a swear just fits. I had a poem censored and edited. It seemed unfair as "it" was not directed at anyone or used to annoy or troll.. it was part of the creative process.

As you said no need for bar room brawls or swearing but placed correctly and not used to troll, they can be very affective at getting ones point across.

I have seen threads topics that bothered me more or were more shocking than a few well placed profane words.

Since the rule is in place and we do have to follow the TandC at the moment I see no choice but to "obey". But rules have been changed before.

Personally children have no place on this site imo. The google bots must get confused at some of the topics anyway a few swears shouldn't matter. I don't see how ATS could ever be considered a full fledged family site anyway.

If opinions were wanted the OP could have posted his thoughts and closed the thread

Oh wonderful...now i see..
what ever.

reply to post by AccessDenied


Wow.

You got a warn for that.

What is happening AD?

Originally posted by Hellmutt

"lmao" and "wtf" is not profanity nor censor circumvention. "FU" is, and won't be tolerated.

I do not use either of these terms on these forums (nor anything else along those lines) - but isn't this a double standard of sorts? Both use the same swear-word and both circumvent the censor in the same way.

I think ATS would benefit from banning acronyms like LMAO too as posts that are littered with these are often hard to follow and offer little in intellectual content or points worth considering. However, I would say they are perfectly acceptable for BTS.

reply to post by Whine Flu


Yes, I did a few months back, first one in nearly 3 years of being a member here, it wasfor calling some one exactly the same word.

The thing is, the person who Icalled it was insulting and being out and out bigoted about a complete nation and it's people yet he went absolutely unpunished?

I have seen people advocate genocide, paedophilia, outright racism and various other illegal and immoral activities all go unpunished.

Sat the wrong word at the wrong time and the red warn stamp comes down upon you?

As I have said previously, it is imposing a set of moral values upon people.

No-one here wants to be able to use swear words as frequently as is done on some sites I could mention. There is a standard we all want to maintain.
But I think the context used and the emotion of the topic etc should be considered.
I would also expect consistency.

But as I have said before, I am perfectly willing to obey T&C, I enjoy ATS too much not to.

So in the interests of all, is it only the swear words that are #'d out by the auto-censor that are not allowed.
If not, what other words can't be used and is this to be enforced by all on all?

I know I may seem to be dragging this on but no-one seems to be offering any clarification and common sense, not that it's ever that common, just seems to be non-existant here!