I don’t understand the reasoning that people use when they post in this forum using crude language but they censor themselves with asterisks and pound symbols.
First, why use the language in the first place if it’s something one considers offensive enough to censor?
Secondly that kind of language is used throughout the boards, in a casual way unless the topic calls for it, so there really isn’t any fear of being moderated for an instance or two of “fuck”.
Is this just an AOL thing (since it seems there are a lot of AOL users on this board) where AOL won’t let you use naughty words so there has to be some sort of bypass? I think people should just use the language or seek suitable alternatives which won’t be considered offensive.
This question belongs in another forum.
Get the fuc% out of here with your fuc&! humble opinions.
Go see a dumb a$$ moderator with this issue.
The moderators try to keep profanity to a minimum, mainly because some people just do not want to read that sort of language. The Pit is the place for profanity, and there is no practical reason to use profanity in any of the other forums. I have no problem with the occasional curse word, but some people are sensitive, and since we are trying to create a welcome environment for debate and reasonable discourse, we should limit the degree of profanity used, or perhaps use a subtler approach to profanity.
As to your first question, I don’t understand the asterixes either. If you’re going to go ahead and swear, then swear. It’s not like someone who is offended at the use of profanity is not going to be affected by easily identified representations of these words. Comic book swearing, i.e. $&*#@!, seems less offensive than keeping the first and last letters of the word, and filling the middle with *'s. Yes, this is a workaround for programs which automatically censor profanity. But there’s no such censor here, unless you go completely overboard in GQ or GD.
That being said, I have a feeling that this thread will be rife with the asterisks and pound symbols that you’re complaining about. Ah, on preview I see it’s already begun. Well, s#*$!
Philster: I know you’re talking tongue-in-cheek here, but I still think ‘rather you than me’
Off to IMHO.
Oh, Philster, we don’t have any dumb a$$ moderators around here; we’re smart a$$es. 
DrMatrix - General Questions Moderator