Excellent idea, micahjn. That seems to me a far more practical solution to Clothahump’s problem than trying to get a large number of foul-mouthed bastards* to unanimously agree to only using PG-rated thread titles in this most foul-mouthed of fora.
Not to shatter your false dichotomy, G, but there’s at least one more option, considering the solution you suggest doesn’t do anything about the “Last Post” feature on the title page: the mod’s could enforce some minimal, title-page civility.
See, this is pretty rude too; my boss can see this across the room. I’m allowed to be on the net at work, but childishness like this means I can’t read the Dope at work. So I gotta skip the 99.99999% useful, SFW content of the Dope because of the occasional .00001% jerk-bombs.
Whatever. Pretty pathetic perversion of the concept of “free speech,” as if it can’t exist along with manners; the simple manners that would make the Dope more available to people who are allowed to surf SFW sites at work. THe lack of which manners allows this .00001% kind of childish crap to render the entire site NSFW by default.
Kids these days.
Nah, fuck that.
It sounded like Clothahump’s company’s software was scanning HTML title tags, not scanning for swear words within the text. (Otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to open Pit threads even if all the titles were sanitized and his request would be pointless.) Anyone browsing from a workplace so restrictive that they don’t allow web pages which contain swear words in the main text shouldn’t be browsing here from work.
Or you could read every other forum, and save the Pit for when you’re at home.
I’d agree with that too.
I totally agree with the Two-Click rule, (or, at the very least, a WARNING: NOT SAFE FOR WORK clearly displayed before the link), as pictures of Naked People are, well, pretty damn obvious if someone (say, your boss) happens to walk past your workstation/cubicle at an inoppurtune moment (say, when you’ve clicked on a link that turns out to be a phtoshopped Alyssa Milano/Rose McGowan lesbian tryst instead of just a publicity photo of the cast of Charmed).
Also, this being the Pit, there are times when swearing is a necessity in the title- unless you’re going for the whole “Ironic Understatement” thing, which doesn’t always work- especially if you simply want to let off steam…
Again, your math’s not coming out right. I DO stay out of the pit at work, but that doesn’t help when the most Recent Post on the front page is “Fuck you you fucking fuck.”
Hence the simple request for consideration in titles–titles ONLY, not thread content.
–and my “problem” with supersized swearwords is ONLY when they appear in non pit threads. Which, as I pointed out, is rare, but does happen. I just, personally, think that when it does happen–rare as it is–it should be subject to Mod notice. Not my board though.
Bottom line? if the only way you can feel “free” is to shit in the sandbox just to show that you can, well then you go 'head on, be “free.” Even if it renders the board unusable at work for many people, you go 'head on, Patrick Henry. Fight the good fight.
Even if the most recent post is from the thread “Fuck you you fucking fuck”, that’s simply a few swear words in the main body of a web page. It’s not in the html title, so it’s not in your history, and it’s in a small font. If your workplace is so restrictive that this might still cause a problem, it’s still possible to browse the other forums: don’t use the front page. Simply bookmark GQ or MPSIMS instead of the front page and use the pull down menu to change forums.
Asking people to all agree to sanitize the titles of Pit threads is not a plea for simple consideration, it’s stupid.
I have honestly never seen that outside of the Pit. Next time you see it, report the post. I can’t promise it’s always against the rules in all other fora, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was considered over the top in many cases.
That’s certainly worth a try, but my guess is it won’t help Clothahump. The blocking is probably done at the http server or gateway level, whereas this plugin is likely just preventing the title from being displayed at the client. There’s probably no harm in giving it a shot though, especially if he’s already running Firefox.
One way around this (and all workplace filtering) is to use www.logmein.com . They have a free service to allow remote access to your PC via a browser. You simply take remote control of your home PC, and browse with your home net connection.
You have to trust this company though, and also there’s slow response plus other “kludginess”. It’s not a perfect solution.
Apparently you think I’m retarded.
The reason I raised this point in the first place, a couple years ago, was as follows: I was working at an architecture firm. Liberal environment, free beer every afternoon, young “hip” people, etc.; not an environment oversensitive to such things as swearwords: we played Outkast over the PA for chrissakes. One day one of the partners asked me a complicated question. I told him about the Dope as a place to ask such questions, and went to the site to show him. One or more of the thread titles on the title page was some variation on “fuckity fuck fuck fuck,” and so he raised an eyebrow. Now, I didn’t get in trouble or anything; that’s not what this is about. But the credibility of the Dope as a serious source of information, first-impression-wise, was shot. His first experience of the dope was me defending it, going, “No really, it’s a great source for information, no really.”
In the second place, re:you thinking I’m retarded, the job I have now I move from computer to computer, and I can’t bookmark stuff. But thanks for assuming that this would never have occurred to me.
Third place, I, for one, am not asking for consensus. I’m actually asking for a new rule. But thanks for thinking I’m retarded enough to assume that a request for consensus would solve the problem.
This whole thing is pretty closely analogous to the smoking issue. There’s no question that you have a constitutional right to smoke. But you don’t have a constitutional right to put smoke into MY air, that I am breathing. So a law saying you can’t smoke here or there is not unconstitutional. Exactly similarly, you have every right to swear here. But when your indiscriminate swearing in the “public space” of the title page actually impinges on MY use of the “facilities,” a rule defining where you can or can’t blow your smoke is perfectly reasonable.
It’s really just that simple.
You have to breath air. You don’t have to read these message boards. It’s that simple.
No offense, but I would imagine that some of those interesting threads would also be blocked even if they didn’t have swearing in the title, because of the content?
I bet if you tried hard enough you could find your own software that might slip in before your company’s filter and change the words.
Or you can ask your company to switch to or develop this kind of system. I’m sure you can figure out a way to make it look like a productivity-related request.
Or you can save the listings page, view it offline (in MS Word if you have to), and then copy and paste the URL of the thread you want to see.
Or you can write down the URLs of the thread listings for the non-swearing fora, so that you don’t have to go through the forum index.
Or if it’s title-related, and the Firefox addon works too late in the process, you could probably find a site that goes out and fetches a page for you and changes its title. I used to use a site like this, but I haven’t in a long time and I don’t feel any compulsion to find it for you.
And if that’s too much effort, you can try unemployment or doing your job*. Until then, I relegate you to the same circle of hell as the people who want to cut down on the videogames I can play and the TV I can watch because they can’t be arsed to teach their kids that it’s not real.
There’s a difference between porn and swearing. They operate on two completely different levels of worksafeness.
lissener, maybe you can’t bookmark GQ, but you can write down the URL on a little folded-up piece of paper and stick it in your pocket.
Well, lissener, in that case, your colleague needs to take into account that yeah, the Dope can be a great place for information, but it’s still a fucking internet message board. It’s not an official research institution website.
Who gives a shit if he didn’t think it was a credible source? Jesus Christ, it’s not the only place around.
Apparently you think he’s retarded. He already thought of that! He doesn’t have pockets! And his workplace doesn’t allow little pieces of paper! 
lissener, I don’t think you’re retarded, but it’s clear we’ve reached an impasse. I think a “no swearing in Pit thread titles” rule is a terrible idea. I don’t think the need for one has been even remotely demonstrated. The fact that it raised your boss’ eyebrows doesn’t really convince me – the thread titles are right next to the forum descriptions. If the credibility of this message board hinges on our not having a forum which allows flaming and swearing, well, then we never really had a chance anyway.
Just in case Clothahump is viewing this thread at work…
WELCOME TO THE HOTTEST SHE-MALE PORN SITE ON THE INTERNET!!!
With respect, lissener, the issue is not remotely ‘that simple’. Any such rule would substantially alter the nature of the Pit. What you suggest would sanitize the Dope, and the Pit, out of all recognition. It can’t be tailored to suit the limitations of every single poster’s work circumstances. The board would end up a pale ghost of itself. The most restrictive work situations can’t drive the entire board.
Unfortunately, some posters–including me–have to limit some of their SDMB time to off-work hours. I’m not in love with it either but hey, fact of life: their time, their system, their money—their rules. It’s inconvenient but really very minor compared to most hurdles in life. It’s certainly not worth gutting the vitality outta the Pit, IMO. Not dictating how you should regard this, btw, just presenting a counter perspective.
I humbly ask that no one use the word “pit” in their pit thread titles. Sometimes I like to read the Dope at some guy’s house, and he just hates the word “pit”. It reminds him of armpits and sweat.
So please, everyone, edit yourself so I can read your thoughts wherever I wish.* No, of course I don’t mean your every thought! Just the basic encompassing Title thought that everyone will see first.
Thanks!
*But not “pit” thoughts please.
Hmm. Well then it’s a good thing that’s not remotely related to anything I’ve suggested. (Do you have too many windows open or something?)