Swearing

[Sailor Steve]

A new sub-topic has sprung up in another thread, and I thought it best to move it here.

Originally Posted by Nippelspanner

Because this abbreviation could mean a lot. Of course it means something specific - but if a person knows that anyways, like the always mentioned children (what child browses this board!?), I wonder why it is still a problem when a kid knows these words anyways (and kids today do... except maybe home-schooled and living in isolation... sooooo... home-schooled).

From my understanding Neal came up with that rule when his daughters were indeed that age, and read the forums all the time.

What if I say "N-Word"? Is that infraction-worthy as well because I 'masked' a bad word? Well then how could one ever talk about this? One could never post in the GT section stuff like "Wow, today at the gas station that lady went apes.... (see?) and threw lots of n-words around just because bla bla... story ends..."

*infraction!*

That very question came up a couple of years ago. A member used a proscribed word and gave him a warning. Neal overturned it because the guy was quoting an article from a newspaper. I disagreed at the time but I can see where that's a problem of its own.

Also, from the other point of view, I've been asked more that once why some people seem to get away with using disguised letters for words like "b*st*rd". I have to point out that self-censoring has nothing to do with the rules, especially when "bastard" is not a proscribed word.

I also have to ask where you personally would draw the line? Allow asterisks? Allow funny "comic-book swearing"? You know, stuff like &$(*@!)? Remove the rules altogether and allow anything to pass? If you would allow asterisks but not real swearing, why not?

I don't have answers for most of those questions, but I'm curious to see what others think.