# Language filter? Is the word "\*\*\*\*" allowed? **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [September 26, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845 "2012-09-26T02:01:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/41 "2012-09-26T20:05:02Z")
The language filter was brutal. On a thread in their relationship forum someone started a poll about which video game they should play/rent for a first date. The options were all more recent games, i.e. Grand Theft Auto, WoW, etc. Instead of picking from their choices, I suggested Asteroids and \*\*\*\*\*\*\*. Anyone care to guess the name of the second game? ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/42 "2012-09-26T20:17:09Z")
**saucywench** , notwithstanding all the above, you _do_ need to read the rules here, and there are some limitations on what you can write. Curse words, _per se_ are permitted. It’s how you use them that matters, and you could get mod warnings. This site is basically oriented towards mature adult conversations – meaning intelligent (well, hopefully) conversation without any need for kiddie filters. Excessive or gratuitous potty talk is permitted but typically rather frowned upon. You can use any language you want, pretty much, if it actually furthers some point your are making. What you very strictly CANNOT do, is insult other posters (except in the Pit, and even there, there are some restrictions.) You can’t call another user any bad names – even if they aren’t dirty-word names, you can’t. We had one poster criticize another a while back, and the first got kinda butthurt and called the other a “demon” – and got a mod note for that. I myself posted a brief parody of a paragraph from _Alice’s Restaurant_, changing some words. It included the sentence “They may think they’re both faggots and they won’t take either one of them.” (That sentence was in the original, as sung by Arlo Guthrie.) – And I got a mod note for using the word faggot. There is no explicit word list of forbidden words. The mods play it by ear, but they are strict about the no-insults rule. There was a lengthy thread here in ATMB not long ago, about whether it’s okay to call someone a cunt. (Conclusion: It’s not okay. Apparently, not even in the Pit?) There are rules that if you don’t like what another poster has posted, you must criticize what was posted, not the person who posted. No name-calling. All the rules are aimed towards keeping the discussions on a mature adult level – meaning, as in “civilized”, not as in “dirty”. ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/43 "2012-09-26T20:50:28Z")
> [@VinylTurnip](#): > > My God! They were full of stars? We are stardust We are golden We are billion year old carbon… Yes, we are all full of stars…and \*\*\*\*. Unfortunately, at that internet hell the mods and posters were composed of more of the latter. ---
**Author:** ![Krav\_Manga](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/krav_manga/32/3153_2.png) [@Krav\_Manga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Krav_Manga)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/44 "2012-09-26T21:21:46Z")
> [@saucywench](#): > > The language filter was brutal. > On a thread in their relationship forum someone started a poll about which video game they should play/rent for a first date. The options were all more recent games, i.e. Grand Theft Auto, WoW, etc. > Instead of picking from their choices, I suggested Asteroids and \*\*\*\*\*\*\*. > Anyone care to guess the name of the second game? - Where the fuck is that cunt Carmen Sandiego?\* ---
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/45 "2012-09-26T21:37:35Z")
Bangin’ Waldo. ---
**Author:** ![kayT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayt/32/3633_2.png) [@kayT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayT)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/46 "2012-09-26T21:44:14Z")
Oh, **saucywench** ,I think you will fit right in here. (By the way I am jealous of your user name.) ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [September 26, 2012, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/47 "2012-09-26T21:45:48Z")
> [@saucywench](#): > > Bangin’ Waldo. aka _Where’s Waldo, Because The Test Came back Positive_ ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/48 "2012-09-27T01:23:54Z")
> [@saucywench](#): > > Hi Soylent Juicy- > Am I allowed to say the name of the other board here? > > On the other board, the mere mention of another site would be grounds for flogging. Yeah, we threw her off the Giraffe Boards for like cussin’ and shit. We don’t hold with that sort of thing, y’know. ✊ It’s a high class kind of place. ---
**Author:** ![Diamonds02](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Diamonds02](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diamonds02)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/49 "2012-09-27T01:28:23Z")
We got a troll! LOL! I dig the username too. a/s/l? ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 3:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/50 "2012-09-27T03:01:17Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > What you very strictly CANNOT do, is insult other posters (except in the Pit, and even there, there are some restrictions.) You can’t call another user any bad names – even if they aren’t dirty-word names, you can’t. We had one poster criticize another a while back, and the first got kinda butthurt and called the other a “demon” – and got a mod note for that. I myself posted a brief parody of a paragraph from _Alice’s Restaurant_, changing some words. It included the sentence “They may think they’re both faggots and they won’t take either one of them.” (That sentence was in the original, as sung by Arlo Guthrie.) – And I got a mod note for using the word faggot. Can you provide links to those mod notes? ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/51 "2012-09-27T03:35:35Z")
> [@Diamonds02](#): > > We got a troll! > > LOL! > > I dig the username too. > > a/s/l? We don’t allow accusations of trolling outside the Pit. Take it there, please. **twickster** , for the SDMB ---
**Author:** ![PatriotGrrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9dc877/32.png) [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 3:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/52 "2012-09-27T03:36:23Z")
We have recently discovered that you can chant “BULLSHIT” on prime time broadcast TV. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/53 "2012-09-27T04:00:25Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Can you provide links to those mod notes? I’m sure I could, if you give me a bit of time to dredge them up. They’re out there. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/54 "2012-09-27T04:08:29Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > I’m sure I could, if you give me a bit of time to dredge them up. They’re out there. Well, if the “demon” insult was outside the pit that’s just everyday modding. I was really curious about parodying Alice’s Restaurant and quoting the line with “faggot” in it. It seems absurd that would draw a mod note. ETA: I did a search of your username and the term “faggot” and only found this thread. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/55 "2012-09-27T04:30:14Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > Can you provide links to those mod notes? Here they are: The “demon” reference: **mister nyx** wrote [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14862393#post14862393), flaming at **Yakuza** (both since banned). **Yakuza** wrote [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14862610#post14862610), calling **mister nyx** a demon. **Idle Thoughts** warned **mister nyx** [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=14864407#post14864407), and in the next several posts after that, he issued a mod note against **Yakuza** for calling him a demon, and engaged in some discussion of that with other who questioned what’s wrong with “demon”. The “faggots” reference: I posted a paragraph in parody of _Alice’s Restaurant_ [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15296095#post15296095), where “faggots” was a word (in fact, that whole phrase) was in Guthrie’s original, and got mod noted by **Colibri** [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15297438#post15297438). This was brought up and discussed again, rather tangentially, in a recent ATMB thread [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15435977#post15435977) and [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15436174#post15436174). ETA: In a more recent unrelated thread, someone else quoted (or parodied) that very same _Alice’s Restaurant_ paragraph, and I don’t recall seeing any mod note on that one… I’ll see if I can dredge that up next. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/56 "2012-09-27T04:31:05Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > I was really curious about parodying Alice’s Restaurant and quoting the line with “faggot” in it. It seems absurd that would draw a mod note. I issued the Mod Note. **Senegoid** did not give any indication in the thread that the post was intended as a parody of Alice’s Restaurant, and although I recognized it, it can’t be assumed that everyone will instantly call to mind a line from a song that was popular 40 years ago. “Faggot” is a derogatory term and should not be tossed around lightly. (This was in a thread about why Mexican men often walk around with their t-shirts pulled up in hot weather; the post had no real connection to the subject at all.) The restrictions on language are not because we’re prudes, but because using excessive profanity or offensive words in the wrong context is likely to derail threads when other posters take exception to them or remark on them. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/57 "2012-09-27T04:42:37Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > I issued the Mod Note. **Senegoid** did not give any indication in the thread that the post was intended as a parody of Alice’s Restaurant, and although I recognized it, it can’t be assumed that everyone will instantly call to mind a line from a song that was popular 40 years ago. **Colibri** , your mod note and the subsequent discussion in ATMB (which I linked just above) simply told me not to use the word “faggot(s)” like that, even though it was a quote from a literary source (well, a parody thereof), and you cited a board rule to that effect. But was the real problem simply that I didn’t acknowledge the source? If I had appended a line like “-- Parodied from _Alice’s Restaurant_ by Arlo Guthrie” would that have made it okay? See, this was the kind of thing (as well as that “demon” mod note) that led me to suggest a few days ago that the mods are a bit, uh, – capricious was the word I used – and that makes me a feel little paranoid on this board. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 4:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/58 "2012-09-27T04:46:28Z")
Anyway, **saucywench** (are you still reading this thread?), maybe you can see the point here. No, there’s no automated black-listed word filter on this board, and nobody stops you from writing whatever you want – the first time, anyway. But there are standards of conduct, and those standards do require you to be careful with the words you choose. But generally, you can use cuss words or whatever you like if it’s appropriate for whatever point you are making in your thread. Be warned: The mods have the final say here, and although you are allowed to argue with them (within limits), they _hardly ever change their minds_. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/59 "2012-09-27T05:04:16Z")
@ **Blank Slate** : Here are two additional cases where someone quoted or parodied that same section of _Alice’s Restaurant_, including the “faggots” word, without any mod attention that I was aware of. One of them was in the Pit. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15143107#post15143107](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15143107#post15143107) Discussion of going “underground” to avoid the draft, with additional discussion of how it would play, back in those days, if one simply openly told your draft board: I’m gay. A few posts after that, someone else questioned the use of “faggots” there. There was an earlier instance here: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12089385#post12089385](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=12089385#post12089385) (from a few years ago) in which the board flamed an admitted pedophile (or possibly a troll) in the Pit. I don’t think there were any warnings for that, since it was in the Pit. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2012, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845/60 "2012-09-27T05:19:21Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > ETA: I did a search of your username and the term “faggot” and only found this thread. BTW, **Blank Slate** , how are you doing those searches? Are you using the SDMB search feature? That’s kind of a PITA. I get much better search results with Google. Just start your search terms with site:boards.straightdope.com to limit the search to this board. I always get good results with that. And no 5-minute wait before doing your next search either. That’s how I found all the links I cited above. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/language-filter-is-the-word-allowed/635845.md?page=4)