Ah me, the more things change the more they stay the same. Years ago we used other euphemisms for profanity along the lines of Ken Starr, Bob Barr, et al. We used to lift the middle finger and cry “Get Agnewed!” Or “Kiss my Nixon.”
And back in the 1950’s (yes, children, I was alive waaaaaay back then, even thouugh I look so young still), I took part in a hoax whereby sound alike words were substituted for critical words in a school play. This trick required two rehersals - one with the faculty advisor and one on the sly. Never uttered a naughty word but it became a blue play. We got in trouble, too. The high point of my high school career.
Using four letter words, in the end, is the sign of an improverished vocabulary. It is so much more satisfying and fulfilling to scream invective at people, or to flame in this forum, without the use of vulgarity and profanity. Over use has killed the impact of the F word, I think. Doesn’t even annoy anymore. We need new filth.
That’s a pretty good idea, leaving it up to an actual human to decide when it gets out of hand. Anyway, here’s a tip in case you are on any other boards with the RoboCensor: Just slightly misspell the words (fukk, $hit, a$$hole) and they’ll usually get through.
And for you AOLers who are worried about the TOS police, just don’t display your email in your profile. Believe me, you have reason to worry. There are people on AOL with nothing better to do than get people TOSsed, whether or not they have gotten into a flame war with you or not. Personally, I think it’s none of AOL’s business what you do on boards like this, and anyway, just because you registered under an AOL account doesn’t mean you are posting under an AOL account does it?
Speaking as a board moderator for both this board and AOL, yeah, it IS AOL’s business. If someone is making a persistent nuisance of himself/herself, it does reflect on AOL. The staff here have discussed banning whole domains from posting here, simply because some of them are spammers’ havens. We’ve decided not to go that route yet, we’re going to see what happens. Basically, as a moderator, I probably won’t report anyone for using foul language here…unless it’s used to harass someone. I WILL report those “Make Money Fast” pyramid schemes if I see them, or if I see any commercial posts.
I’d also like to point out that not putting your address in your profile will foil TOS police who are members here…but the administrators DO have access to the address that you listed.
Basically, don’t post anything unless you are willing to take the consequences.
You could just get a hotmail or usa.net or a Yahoo address and put that in the profile and no one will know if the person is on AOL or not. Unless the board posts the IP number of the person posting.
I thought this was going to be about some kind of bizarre new torture where interrogatees are dunked in a tank of boy scouts, to simulate, um… I don’t know, but it’s terrifying.