# Revenue Proposal: The Swear Jar **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [April 4, 2010, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951 "2010-04-04T22:00:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![ivn1188](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e480ec/32.png) [@ivn1188](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivn1188)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/21 "2010-04-05T00:44:01Z")
This idea is either 3 days late, or just utterly fucking ridiculous (Do I have to pay a dollar now?) There are plenty of places in the forums to discuss things without insults and “harsh language”. Feel free to use them. The pit doesn’t force you to read it, nor do threads magically move from there to, say, GQ, and expose everyone to the horrors of mild profanity and even milder insults. I just don’t understand this drive to make everyone nice and friendly, _especially when you have the quite easy option of avoiding almost all uncivil behavior_. Plenty of people seem to like the pit fine, and a lot of them tend to be the most interesting posters. And when I say I don’t understand your motivation, I am serious – it’s the same sort of failure to comprehend that I get when faced by people who think the Earth is 4000 years old or that the moon landing was fake. What possible rational justification would adding yet another layer of rules and encouraging tattling serve? It’s a pipe dream to think that if everyone were just nicer, we’d get more done (like there is some sort of “goal” here). Personally, I’d prefer to see a tax on contentless posts and people complaining to the moderators to make Billy play nice, which would hopefully drive out all of the posters who want to sing happy songs and hold hands as they all agree with each other, and consequently lower the quality of discussion. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/22 "2010-04-05T01:10:01Z")
Isn’t cussing currently allowed for everyone in the Pit? Isn’t that kind of the whole idea in the first place? And I’m another person who isn’t a big fan of the Pit, which makes me very happy that we have it. People are going to flame and complain anyway, and by putting it all in one place, it’s really easy for those of us who don’t like it to avoid it. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/23 "2010-04-05T01:38:44Z")
I thought this was going to be a proposition to allow the use of the words in the Pit that are currently forbidden. It would be a nice way to point out the absurdity of banning certain words, to the point where they now have a lot more power. I don’t know why we’ve gotten into a removal of the Pit hijack. I thought this thread was totally about making more money, not how to make the board more polite. If the powers that be wanted a polite board, they’d be handing out warnings a whole lot more often, as a lot of uncivil behavior does not require calling someone a name. I’ve done it quite a few times. I marvel every day that I don’t have a bunch of warnings for my ATMB posts alone. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/24 "2010-04-05T02:29:40Z")
> [@ivn1188](#): > > There are plenty of places in the forums to discuss things without insults and “harsh language”. Feel free to use them. The pit doesn’t force you to read it, nor do threads magically move from there to, say, GQ, and expose everyone to the horrors of mild profanity and even milder insults. You’re missing my point: I don’t want to see cussing banned any more than lawmakers want to see smoking banned; it’s just too lucrative a revenue stream, and at present that revenue is going untapped. Any increased civility would merely be a harmless byproduct. ---
**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:** [April 5, 2010, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/25 "2010-04-05T02:51:08Z")
> [@Scissorjack](#): > > You’re missing my point: I don’t want to see cussing banned any more than lawmakers want to see smoking banned; it’s just too lucrative a revenue stream, and at present that revenue is going untapped. Any increased civility would merely be a harmless byproduct. It might help if you could show us an example of something like this working on another message board. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/26 "2010-04-05T02:52:20Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > I have a counter suggestion: how about we have an adult board where people can use adult language and not have to bother with this bullshit? Because that would “lower the integrity of the board”, or something like that. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/27 "2010-04-05T03:40:17Z")
People get worked up enough already over some of the board rules. Can you imagine how much more crazy it would be if there was money involved? ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/28 "2010-04-05T16:16:15Z")
Oh, I get it. Your original complaint was that TPTB are greedy bastards, so you’re trying to come up with more ways for them to demonstrate their greedy bastardness by having more things for people to pay for. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 5:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/29 "2010-04-05T17:38:37Z")
Uh… cursing is already allowed in every forum. Outside of the Pit we might ask people to tone it down if they go crazy with it, but there’s no blanket prohibition on it. As far as I know that’s always been the case. You can’t curse out another poster, but that’s covered under our rules against insults and I think that’s widely understood. ---
**Author:** ![Sapo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Sapo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sapo)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/30 "2010-04-05T18:03:47Z")
I thought this was in jest and found it hilarious. I now realize it was meant seriously and I am a little bit scared. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/31 "2010-04-05T20:00:43Z")
I don’t think for a second it was meant seriously. It’s just some more poking at the board and The Powers That Be. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/32 "2010-04-05T20:03:55Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > I stand corrected. While most had little trouble adapting to the new BBQ Pit rules, as evidenced by the great number of people that haven’t broken the new rules, it seems that a small minority have had a bit of trouble adjusting to them. > Would this be more correct? I forgot I wanted to address this - I thought the new rules in the Pit were stupid, and I still think that. It seemed very much a case of, “It ain’t broke, but we’re fixing it anyway” to me. I’ve decided I can live with them, but I don’t think I’ll ever like them or agree with them. ---
**Author:** ![Trepa\_Mayfield](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@Trepa\_Mayfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trepa_Mayfield)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/33 "2010-04-05T20:50:15Z")
> [@Sapo](#): > > I thought this was in jest and found it hilarious. I now realize it was meant seriously and I am a little bit scared. …no, I’m fairly certain this was all in jest. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/34 "2010-04-05T22:06:56Z")
Hey, think about all those single guys out there on a fixed budget. Who needs c\*\*\*\* or f\*\*\*\* costing anymore than they already do!? ---
**Author:** ![DocCathode](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doccathode/32/18773_2.png) [@DocCathode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DocCathode)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2010, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/35 "2010-04-05T22:58:20Z")
I like how you say it’s voluntary, then mention that there will be some kind of penalty for not paying. ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/36 "2010-04-06T02:22:26Z")
> [@DocCathode](#): > > I like how you say it’s voluntary, then mention that there will be some kind of penalty for not paying. Just general opprobrium, not a real penalty. ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/37 "2010-04-06T02:27:11Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > So those who could afford it would have more rights than those who couldn’t? Sounds a little “Animal Farmish” to me, and it still turn the Pit into something we really don’t want it to be. Sirrah, (because I saw Henry V yesterday) The Supreme Court just upheld exactly that for elections. Do you think you are better than the United States? ---
**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:** [April 6, 2010, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/38 "2010-04-06T02:39:35Z")
> [@brownie55](#): > > Sirrah, (because I saw Henry V yesterday) > > The Supreme Court just upheld exactly that for elections. Do you think you are better than the United States? Better than half of it, at least. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![brownie55](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f14d63/32.png) [@brownie55](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brownie55)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2010, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951/39 "2010-04-06T02:48:30Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Better than half of it, at least. 😉 An honest, if ultimately unresponsive reply. You could, on the other hand, answer as to why folks can buy elections but those of us who post in animated states cannot by some forgiveness. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/revenue-proposal-the-swear-jar/534951.md?page=1)