The decision of the Moderators:
As a practical matter, the word “fuck” does not show up often on the main SDMB page. It appears pretty frequently in the Pit “last post” listing, but that’s at the bottom of the list. On most screens, the Pit listing isn’t visible unless you scroll down.
The word does appear often on the main Pit page, but not in other forums. Anybody who calls up the Pit page at work, where “fuck” or worse appears frequently, deserves what he/she gets.
We are willing to protect people from links to pages that are not workplace safe, but that’s a different animal. Such links involve pictures and graphic displays that are quite noticable, even for a boss wandering by at a distance, rather than just text which is not readable from across the room.
We do find random profanity irritating, and we might change our approach if it were to start appearing frequently and everywhere, that is, in all forums. However, barring something like that, we don’t see any reason for change. Those who are viewing the SDMB in a place where the word “fuck” itself is potentially awkward should not go to the Pit until they’re in a less restrictive environment.