The merits of a filter to eliminate bad ****ing words

Great Debates
1

Since it was decided that we become a kinder, gentler message board, it has been told by moderators to the Teeming Millions that bad words were now… well, bad.

UBB (the software that is our message board) does have a filtering option which will take bad words right out of the picture! Over at LBMB, they use it to take out words such as “lesbian,” “suck” and “porno.”

This debate is milti-faceted:

First of all, should we even put a filter on here? If we’re not allowed to use the words, then I see no reason why we shouldn’t have the filter here. It makes the moderators jobs easier, and there’s less “what do you mean that’s against the rules” from the constituants.

However, isn’t it unfair that we are not allowing posters to use the exact same vernacular that Cecil himself is (was) prone to use in his own columns?

Second of all, what words would we delete? We could use as a guide the seven dirty words expounded upon by George Carlin:
[ul][li]Shit[/li][li]Piss[/li][li]Fuck[/li][li]Cunt[/li][li]Cocksucker[/li][li]Motherfucker[/li][li]Tits[/ul][/li]This also leaves some words which might be bad, or might not. For example, is “asshole” offensive? Maybe, but what if, instead of saying, say, “Boy, that moderator is sure an asshole,” it was used in a thread about hemmorhoids, and a poster talks of how it feels like “your asshole is on fire.” This makes a difference, does it not?

Finally, we must ask: If we are to stamp out ignorance, which seems to be our mission, which statement makes the most sense:

“Profanity is a crutch for the ignorant, therefore we should not allow the usage of profanity in a forum devoted to stamping out ignorance.”

-or-

“Censorship allows ignorance to be perpetuated, sice by not allowing a thought to come to the light of day, other people will remain ignorant of that thought.”

I see equal merits for both schools of thought; I wonder, what do you folks feel?

I anxiously await to hear what you ****ers say about this… :smiley:

Oh, and yes, this does belong in this forum, since it can equally be applied in real life as on this board. I like the fact that we can apply a real life situation that effects us and see how it applies to similar situations in the world at large.

I debated (har, har) putting it in “About This Message Board,” but really, the question is a lot more broad than that, and also, I feel it deserves more than a forum where five people are practicing their UBB coding at any given moment.

Yer pal,
Satan

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2

piss is a dirty word? Good god!

3

I suggest a filter called the “human brain.” It has to do with the ability of people to know what’s appropriate and what’s not.

Are there areas of grey? Sure, but there’s also black and white. It’s not the use of a word per se, it’s the context. Your asshole example, Satan, is on target there.

I think it’s more the general understand that in some forums, the tone and style is expected to be that of gentle discussion and debate.

4

Well, see, that’s just the thing. If I said “Shut up, meara, you’re pissing me off,” that’s bad, unless I’m in the Pit. If I say “Christians who are hypocritical piss me off,” that’s still bad, but it’s borderline as to whether it should be in the Pit or GD. I’d imagine if it was the only profanity in an otherwise well-reasoned post, the GD mods would probably let it slide. If it was the only thing I said, then it’s probably Pit-worthy. But if I said something like (and I have no idea why I’d feel the need to say this, but bear with me) “I have to piss like a racehorse,” well, that’s okay, if a bit MPSIMSish. Thing is, where is the line drawn?

Oh, and this is probably a question for Tuba, but can the filter be used on specific forums (fora, whatever), or does it have to be universally applied?

5

I really don’t see the point of these filters. If they’re on and somebody calls somebody "a f*ing ct " the insult is still there for all to see . People would still be offended or not care as the case may be.

6

I’m all for it. It will weed out the posters who are unable to express their disdain outside of the confines of mindless profanity.

Yer pal,
Boomer

7

Well sir here is the way I feel about it.

I think it all has to do with the relative anonomity attached to a message board.

I can express myself on this message board better sometimes than I can at work or at home…simply because I am not under the audible and verbal social constraints of being around co-workers at work and small children and family at home.

If language is the issue then the most anyone could hope to do, barring a unilateral decisions by the moderators to delete what they think may be too offensive, would be to contain it in the proper forum.

I have actually seen signs in courthouses that say "No Spittin or *cussin * while court is in session. Although an archaic example it still makes my point. The courtroom being the forum at the time.

Not sure who would make the actual decision as to who is more profane than who on this here MB… just glad it ain’t me that has to make it.

I forget which judge said this, but one of them did in the 70s…

“I don’t know what obcenity is, but I’ll know it when I see it”.

One of the few to be personally welcomed to this board by Ed Zotti.

Yours truly,
aha

8

In the movie THE EDGE Anthony Hopkins plays a ver civil and sedate millionaire. He and Alec Baldwin (who curses all the time) get in a plane crash in Alaska and are stalked by a Grizzly bear.

After a couple of days being chased and having their friends eaten by the bear Anthony Hopkins decides he isn’t going to run anymore (it was a pretty bad movie.)

"What are you going to do " whimpers Alec Baldwin.

“I’m going to build a trap and then I’m going to kill the Motherfucker.” says Anthony Hopkins nonchalantly.

It was the only time he cursed in the whole movie, and it absolutely fit.

The occasional curse adds spice and emphasis to a well-designed argument.

Similarly I saw Dr. Fidelius curse out the insidious Gloworm when he pulled his HTML trick. I think it’s the only time he’s used profanity on the board.

I myself would like the privilege to post the occasional vulgar exclamation when I feel the circumstances call for it.

I think cursing is a valid tool, but like any good blade will it becomes dull with overuse.

But what the **** do I know?

9

Why not just rate the SDMB “PG-13”. :wink:
No, no filter. The dopers here do a pretty good job of letting someone know if he/she is getting out of hand, so it isn’t neccessary.
Peace,
mangeorge

Teach your kids to bungee jump.
One them might have to cross a bridge someday.

10

This message board is a forum with an adult readership dedicated to the entire breadth of human knowledge. My understanding of the way language should be used here is that profanity should not be used gratuiously, but rather should be kept within reasonable bounds. I really think that we don’t have a problem with inappropriate use of profanity here.

I think that most of the time when it is used here it is to spice up our posts or for its humor value (like the great sig line “Profanity is the crutch of the inarticulate mother-fucker”). Indeed the Yiddish vulgarism “putz” has become a favorite expression here. And if you think that it’s just an innocuous term, recall the trouble Senator Al D’Amato got in the in his 98 senate campaign for calling someone a “putzhead”, one of the defining episodes of D’Amato’s losing campaign (and a true moment of political absurdity).

When we want to insult someone, we usually get much more creative than just calling them a shithead or the like. Every once in a while (a rare while considering the volume of posts here) someone will get out of line, but we mostly censor ourselves quite appropriately.

I think that on this board, in our quest to fight ignorance, we should not, indeed cannot, be fettered in our use of the language. Where profanity is being used inappropriately, the moderators are doing a fine job at calling the offenders to task.

Or, in the words of our head adminstrator, Ed Zotti: “Oh eat shit.”

(It should be noted that later in the quoted thread Ed mentions that after posting he was striken with the fear that the poster he was responding to would think he was suggesting an actual act of coprophilia).

11

I’m against the filter. I don’t use profanity as a rule, myself, either in real life or online. However, it is in the * choosing * of how one expresses their ideas is what delineates between the adults around here and the occasional child wandering in from some other message board.

I * choose * NOT to use profanity, but I don’t think it says anything about me personally, but if it did, and we had a filter that kept me more sanitary than what I am in real life, how does that help anyone get a grasp on where I am going with the idea at hand?

I think in general, profanity is over used as a tool to shock and stop people in their tracks, as Scylla has already pointed out.

I found it distracting when I went to the ABC News forum when the SDMB was down, they don’t allow cursing there. I was forever mentally stopped by the inventiveness but SLOWNESS of reading " f&*^ing stupid a%^", and was just put off and confounded by the post itself after awhile! It was very tiring to read.

“I never saw so many words compressed into so small an idea.” Abraham Lincoln

12

Regarding

I think the word you want is coprophagia.

No charge.

13

Filters suck. Who decides what words get censored and what words don’t? At what level are the filters set? Is it really that much worse to read the word “shit” or “fuck” than it is to read “sht" or "fck”? Or will the filters be set to pick up letter patterns, in which case “shut” and “shot” are going to be banned as well?

Filters tend to discriminate. I’ve heard too many stories of gay and lesbian youth desperate for information being unable to access it because some filter had been set up to screen out words like “gay” and “lesbian.” I realize we’re not talking, at least not yet, about that level of filtration, but why start off down that road at all?

Remember a few years back when AOL banned the word “breast”? And long-standing boob cancer survivor chat rooms and message boards started disappearing? That example if no other demonstrates the ludicrousness of trying to micromanage language use. We don’t need it here. If someone is only able to express him/herself by the use of profanity, then mark them “troll” and don’t bother with them. They’ll either get bored and leave, or they won’t but everyone will be ignoring them anyway so who cares?

14

It applies everywhere, it’s a single list.

your humble TubaDiva
Administrator
The Straight Dope

15

Hmm. Not much debate here.

Anyone want to play the devil’s advocate? I would volunteer, but I have no idea what the pro-censor position might be.

I use profanity quite often ITscRW, but rarely here. Why do people make such a big deal over it?

-curtis

16

Oh, I forgot. Where can I find the STOP swearing now you ******* thread? I never saw any mention of this before.

17

I suggest that we filter the word “gry.” :smiley:

Cessandra

I would’ve gotten away with it, too, if it weren’t for those meddling kids!

18

“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”

If the mods want to chase around after me and tidy up my language, that’s no skin off MY nose. (Although now I’m starting to feel guilty 'cause I used the word “pissed” over in MPSIMS yesterday, as in “pissed off”. Did anybody slap my wrist for it? I haven’t been over there yet this morning. :D)

I would also like to point out that there are degrees of cussing–in George Carlin’s list, I don’t personally consider “tits”, “piss”, “fuck”, and “shit” to be profanity as such; they are merely the good old Anglo-Saxon euphemisms for bodily functions. They are rude, yes, but not profane.

“Cocksucker”, “motherfucker”, and “cunt” are slightly different, in that their intent is to hurt, to slam.

What I personally call “profanity” is the “profane”, i.e. “Jesus H. Christ,” “go to hell”, “God damn it”, etc. If THOSE words and phrases start turning up in a Great Debate, it means that the discussion is basically over and the thread ought to go to the Pit. Trying to continue the discussion while filtering out the profanities seems totally pointless.

And I thought the whole point of the Pit was that that was a place where you could take a deep breath and really let fly.

“Why, sometimes I’ve believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast!” - the White Queen

19

A profanity filter? Fuck that.

20

I went to a message board(religious) and tried to type in Dick Gregory which came out **** Gregory. It took me a minute to figure it out. Obviously, theres lots of euphemisms. I don’t see how things can be censored without someone constantly reading and figuring out the meaning of the word in a sentence.