Brainstorming

[Regulus]

[quote="Arani"]Yes it may be more common these days in your group of friends and your way of life, but apparently you guys don't get out much because there is a world out there and there are millions and millions of people who don't swear/swear very little. [/quote]

I could say the exact opposite thing. Have you ever been to a public school? Kids swear all the time. My parents swear all the time. Even some of my teachers swear. Even in PG movies, there's some swearing. I can't think of a PG-13 or R movie without swearing. It's a commonly accepted fact that everyone has cursed at least once at some point in their life. Even if that isn't true, I'm pretty sure everyone at least wants to swear when something bad happens, whether they say anything or not.

Do you really think that anyone who has made it far enough around the internet to join an online community like this one has never seen the F-word in text before? You needn't look farther than picking a random Youtube video and reading the comments; you're bound to come across some profanity after 2 or 3 minutes. I'd bet that most kids who are here at least visit other, far worse, online communities.

If children shouldn't know what a word means, then they shouldn't be allowed near computers; it's as simple as that. But I don't believe that. I don't believe in hiding knowledge from the young, just because they're young.

[DGFone]

Also another thing about why a "no swearing rule" is just asking for trouble:

Everyone have a slightly different list of what is and what is not considered a swear word. So you have a member who posted what they see as a perfectly innocent post. Another reader sees it and goes "OMG, A SWEAR WORD!!11!!!1!". Soon you have two angry members shouting at each other about whether or not the post actually had swearing in it, and then a mod has to step in and now you have the member's day ruined.

We can ban a few words, but then there will have to be an official list of words that are banned, not a generic "you can't swear". So if there are words that a vast majority think MLK can be better off without, fine. But those specific words will have to be made clear that it is them and only them that are banned.

[Arani]

^ I actually think this may work better, but we have to make sure that words like the F word and all are banned for sure. Maybe only slight swears can be used?

[DGFone]

That can work.

The official rules will need to be updated to show which exact words are banned. This way, it's easy to deal with. Is it on the list? Then it's swearing. Is it not on the list? Then it's fine.

It is much better to turn a vague idea with lots of grey area into a simple algorithm. People aren't machines, but we can learn a thing or two from the computers we make and use. XD

[Misiziri]

[quote="Arani"]^ I actually think this may work better, but we have to make sure that words like the F word and all are banned for sure. Maybe only slight swears can be used?[/quote]

Yep, I like that idea Extremely harsh words like the C or F word shouldn't be allowed. That's the best idea, in my opinion.

[Arani]

Simple, works for everybody, and at any time if a new word comes up that is deemed to harsh it can always be removed and added to the list. Yes, Ima liking this idea and I'm sticking with this one.

Actually, I think there would have to be a separate link so that those people who swear and are ok with swearing can click on the link and read the words, and those who don't don't have to read the page because they wont swear anyway?

[FlipMode]

[quote="Arani"]Oh. My. God. You people are crazy. Just because young kids don't post regularly around here does not mean there aren't any! They're always around surfing the forum, joining up but then deciding against it, it's just a part of the forum life. We can't go around swearing everywhere because we don't need any more reason to have parents forbidding activity or kids getting bad internet influences. My god, you people just can't handle the fact that you can't swear, it's like you can't go through life without it. If you want to swear everywhere and all of that stuff then go do it somewhere else, but in a forum like this it can't be allowed. Just because you can't handle no swearing does not mean it should be allowed just like that. Yes it may be more common these days in your group of friends and your way of life, but apparently you guys don't get out much because there is a world out there and there are millions and millions of people who don't swear/swear very little. I'm not saying no swearing is something that should be a rule on every forum or anything, but the fact of the matter is there are young children here every single day and we can't be offending them with the f-bombs and what not. It simply can't be done. And if you can't handle that then you need to just get over it and move on.[/quote]

I found that wall of text more insulting than someone calling a ****.
And some times swearing IS funny, I mean what if I wanted to tell people about a new comedy film of post a picture in the funny pics thread that just so happens to have swearing on it?
I am not saying I am going to run around the forum calling you names, but I was banned for implied swearing ... As in I censored it and still got banned.

You're calling me stupid yet you failed to read my post, if you did you would have known I said that the rules need to be enforced less strictly but I am okay with them generally.

[Arani]

^ Who says I was talking to you at all FM. It just upsets me that people don't understand the concept that there are young children here and we need to keep the swearing to a minimal and respect them. That's what caused that rage post. I normally don't post like that but when something like this upsets me it all goes down hill from there unfortunately... Sorry that I offended you, in no way shape or form did I mean to.

[Noah]

What about some sort of modification that censors bad words automatically? And it could only be turned off once you made an account?

[Arani]

^ That would work. Maybe instead, because even after registering there are people who don't want to swear, when you first register you have the option to keep words censored or not, and when you're offline/haven't registered they're always censored? Or is that already an option on here?