Well this site allows swearing, I’ve reported posts with swearing in and the moderators declared no action was needed, so the rules do seem to be made up as you go along.
Cock wanker **** for instance are freely allowed..
The second word above is only known as an insulting swear word in the English Oxford Dictionary yet its freely allowed on this site?
It does seem to come across as though unless your filter blocks it then it’s not swearing..
Well you need to remember MacRumors you are an international website, some find swear words are different to and including the ones used in American culture.
Seems to me the whole system needs an overhaul and moderators retrained perhaps.
There are a few claims in your post that need to be addressed. No, the rules are not made up as we go along. There is a thorougly-discussed set of rules in place, and those rules evolve (albeit slowly, so as not to be constantly moving the goal posts) based on user feedback and our experience over time. A lot of staff time goes to discussing the rules.
No, the words you list are not "freely allowed." If our attention is brought to a post with excessive vulgarity or with profanity, we will view and discuss it based on context and in light of the rules, and moderate if we feel it's necessary. To state otherwise is simply untrue.
I can also point out that we are an American website, though that's not necessarily an issue in this particular discussion.
Profanity can span anything from irreverence for or the misuse of anything that is held to be sacred, to vulgarity. For many words, you have to look at context and whether or not the words are in common use in ways that are not considered profane today. Since different communities will naturally view profanity differently, it will always be a judgement call to a certain extent.
Looking at another aspect of profanity, namely vulgarity: some people will tolerate no vulgarity whatsoever, some seem to have no limits at all to what they
will tolerate. What one person views as vulgar may be accepted in some or even many contexts. The rules are in place to attempt to keep discourse civil without putting unnecessary restraints on personal expression. Not an easy balance. Certainly, not everyone will agree with the balance that exists, but complete agreement is not possible on a site with over one million registered users.
As for cock, it has a non-profane definition and therefore doesn't belong on the filter. As for wanker, we've had at least one extensive discussion about it among the staff, and will likely have more. As for ****, I'm hard pressed to think of a use that would be allowed. But remember: just because a word might not be on the filter doesn't mean it wouldn't be moderated, depending on context. The absence of a particular word on the filter is not proof that "swearing is allowed on MacRumors." If you see something you think is over the line, report it. If you report something and nothing is done, and you want to discuss it or argue your case for why something should have been done, send us your views in a Contact Us message, and we'll review our decision.
We have chosen to put certain words on the filter because they either 1) have only profane meanings, and/or 2) have caused a disproportionate amount of work for us because of inappropriate use. That doesn't mean we've managed to put
all such words on the filter, it's only an explanation of why the words on the filter are there.
It's not a perfect system, but given the level of care put into it thus far and the level of discussion that occurs along the way, I disagree that the "whole system needs an overhaul" or that moderators need to be "retrained."
