Something I’ve been wondering about. Why is “Fuck off” allowed in the pit, but not the other forms as listed in the pinned thread about restricted language? Or why is “Go fuck a cactus” allowed but “Go fuck yourself” isn’t?
From a previous thread:
Well, the question is more of “why are only THOSE language constructs in the language sticky” not why do the moderators follow the language sticky. What’s so special about “Go fuck yourself” that makes it off limits when “Go fuck a cactus” isn’t?
Ed Zotti didn’t think to add “go fuck a cactus” to his list of banned words. I assume he foolishly thought his “and variants” would cover the bases and he either isn’t aware of, doesn’t care about or has given up the battle on the enforcement of the banned words lists.
Well, I was sort of maybe hoping you could, you know, ASK him why?
Well, in that thread, this is mentioned:
- No abusive remarks directed at other posters. Basically this means you can’t tell another poster to fuck off (or similar). Creative insults on the other hand are welcome as always.
Seems to cover the phrase “fuck off” pretty closely.
That was updated a week later with a more specific list. Yes, Miller chooses to ignore the “e.g.” in the list, but he enforces the rules so I guess he gets to interpret them as he wants.
If you want to rationalize it, “fuck off” is just an insult and therefore OK. “Fuck you” is effectively telling you to rape yourself, and wishing rape on a poster is obviously out of bounds. Likewise, “fuck off and die” wishes death on a poster. “Go fuck a cactus” might seem like it wishes harm on the poster, but presumably it doesn’t have to be a painful experience (plenty of foreplay, perhaps?) and is therefore OK.
I somehow doubt this was Ed’s intent, but it lets me sleep at night.
Well, it depends on whether you do it human style, or cactus style, doesn’t it? Because fucking a cactus could also entail jacking off, then letting a hummingbird carry your semen to the cactus’ flowers, which wouldn’t be painful at all to the cactus-fucker.
That post implies a worrying amount of thought put into the phrase “fuck a cactus” :eek:
How can someone rape themselves? What about “Masturbate you!”? 
I’m not losing sleep over it, I was just curious what the thought process was between allowing “Fuck off” and “Go fuck a cactus” but not “Fuck you” or “Go fuck yourself”
You have two options. Don’t think about it too much, or follow Chronos’ approach and think about it way too much. (By the way, I think his scenario is how unicorns are created).
I think there might be a 3rd option. Ask a question about the SDMB in the forum titled “About This Message Board” and then check back occasionally during breaks at work to see if there are any more posts and/or answers
As it stops short of wishing death on anyone (i.e.: “fuck off and die”) it is allowed.
Says you. Do you REALLY want a hummingbird pecker messing with your sperm? :eek:
Not as much fun as a swallow
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Technically, what you describe is “inseminating” or “pollenating” a cactus. We don’t generally say “The be fucks the flower and that’s where flower babies come from”. “Fuck” implies the physical act of intercourse, as in “McGreggor said fuck ewe!”, which means the sheep should be really scared.
[sub]Pedantry, that’s what my doctorate is in :)[/sub]
“Fuck off” is allowed in the Pit but not other forums because insults are restricted to the Pit.
As for the specific list of what’s banned in the Pit, that came about as an attempt to tame some of the strongest, most visible aspects of board language as an attempt to appease the corporate overlords. Something to the effect of not having threads titled “Go Fuck Yourself and Die, You Motherfucking Piece of Shit!”, showing up on the forum thread list.
As for why the list of prohibited variants is strictly interpreted, there was a lot of unhappiness by some of the board membership about curtailing freedom of expression, and the moderators were made enforcers of a rule they didn’t necessarily want. So they choose to interpret the list as strictly add possible.
As for why nobody wants to ask Ed about it now, we’d rather not have Ed expand the list. Better to just let things lie.
Thanks, but that’s not what I asked. I said “forms” No worries though
Fair enough.
My theory is that Miller doesn’t really like having to mod “Fuck you” posts. He does so begrudgingly because that’s his job.
The other “Fuck you” variants, not so much.