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Profanity Rules

F

Fahrwahr

macrumors member
Original poster
May 23, 2007
91
0
Southeastern U.S.
According to the forum rules, this is one of the "Things not to do":

Profanity. The profanity filter is there for a reason. Do not circumvent it by using the language we intend to exclude or disguising those words. If a word is replaced by asterisks when you Preview or Submit a post, you know it's on the list.
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Yet I find several examples of such disguised profanity (adding an underscore to throw off the filter) in the iPhone subsidy thread, and Arn actually QUOTED this profanity in his reply, and nothing has been done about it! One of the reasons I enjoy MacRumors is because it handles rumors in a mature way, and most of the time my reports about unnecessary profanity / vulgarity have been dealt with promptly. Has something about the rules changed?
 
I hate it when the profanity filter filters out words that are in common use with no attached inappropriate connotations.

Such as:

**** *******
**** licking with a ***** up your ****
******* a midget twice with hot ***** and lots of ***

The list goes on...
 
Your becoming a troll if this bothers you that much.

The rules have not changed and they are not about to let curse words fly free across the forums.

Its just one of those rare exceptions that just happens.

no code is absolute and nor are its users.

case in point
**** **** **** ****
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ert3 said:
Your becoming a troll if this bothers you that much.

The rules have not changed and they are not about to let curse words fly free across the forums.

Its just one of those rare exceptions that just happens.

no code is absolute and nor are its users.

case in point
Click to expand...
I'm not trying to be a troll -- I'm just trying to find out if the rules on profanity have changed, or if they're not going to be applied as strictly in the future. It just struck me as odd that Arn would reply to the post and not do anything to mask the profanity in the quote. Maybe that's not under his jurisdiction.

I checked, and I didn't see any moderators replying to that thread as of yet, so it's possible that there hasn't been a moderator on that thread to catch the profanity, nor to pick up my reports. I'll give MR the benefit of the doubt, but I do want to know what the standards are. It's just a personal preference -- that's all.
 
maybe since mods and admins have full control over the message board the rules don't apply to them (acording the automatic systems)
 
Getting around the profanity filter when speaking to or about another member is a lot worse than somebody that is pissed off about life or something else.

Saying "you're a ********" (or something worse) likely will get you slapped quicker than "This thread reminds me that I have to go take a ****"
 
Yes, we do still enforce the rules on profanity. The profanity filter helps in a good number of cases, but people are ever more creative in finding ways to circumvent it. But the mods aren't reading every post, so we rely on other users to report posts that violate any forum rules, including the rule on profanity. A moderator may not be able to respond to your report immediately, but one of us will see it and take care of it when we can.

As for arn's quoting of a post containing profanity, I don't want to speak for him, but I'd imagine he's busy enough handling other aspects of the site that it's difficult for him to take the time to handle relatively minor issues like this. And who knows...maybe he didn't even consciously notice the profanity.
 
WildCowboy said:
As for arn's quoting of a post containing profanity, I don't want to speak for him, but I'd imagine he's busy enough handling other aspects of the site that it's difficult for him to take the time to handle relatively minor issues like this. And who knows...maybe he didn't even consciously notice the profanity.
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Can I just sign this? I agree.

arn
 
Fahrwahr said:
According to the forum rules, this is one of the "Things not to do":



Yet I find several examples of such disguised profanity (adding an underscore to throw off the filter) in the iPhone subsidy thread, and Arn actually QUOTED this profanity in his reply, and nothing has been done about it! One of the reasons I enjoy MacRumors is because it handles rumors in a mature way, and most of the time my reports about unnecessary profanity / vulgarity have been dealt with promptly. Has something about the rules changed?
Click to expand...

Out of interest, what's your take on words that are used as blatant substitute for swear words, like I don't know, saying;

'GWB is clearly a dumb cluck in handling matters since 9/11.'

I mean if I say dumb cluck, I clearly mean dumb Fword, does it matter if I disguise Fword with the use of _or * or 'cluck'?

The intent is there and that's what matters ultimately?

Also, some words are swear words to some people or are in different countries and not in others, like;

'Terry dangled his bollocks as he pissed over someone's *****, what a wanker!'

I think that the word ***** has less of a impact than the word less the 'e' - in the UK it seems. Is the variant with the 'e' used in the U.S? (pronounced as sh - 'ight' rather than 'it').

The others words should be well-ish know words in the UK, piss is a swear word, but appears to fly under the offensive radar more in the US it seems.



If this post offends anyone or is likely to get me banned could a Mod kindly delete the post rather than ban me, I fear that my post made in good faith will get me nuked. :(
 
WildCowboy said:
Yes, we do still enforce the rules on profanity. The profanity filter helps in a good number of cases, but people are ever more creative in finding ways to circumvent it. But the mods aren't reading every post, so we rely on other users to report posts that violate any forum rules, including the rule on profanity. A moderator may not be able to respond to your report immediately, but one of us will see it and take care of it when we can.

As for arn's quoting of a post containing profanity, I don't want to speak for him, but I'd imagine he's busy enough handling other aspects of the site that it's difficult for him to take the time to handle relatively minor issues like this. And who knows...maybe he didn't even consciously notice the profanity.
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Thanks for responding. I know that people have different personal standards regarding profanity, and the computer-enthusiast community tends to be the most lax in that vein, so it's always appreciated to have a site that I can come to where things will be kept PG-13 at worst.
 
Of all the words that rhyme "cluck" was the best you could come up with.:p
 
Counterfit said:
Meh, I just let it fly and have the filter do its job. :p
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I keep doing that, and they add words to the profanity filter -- probably happened a double digit number of times by now. :p

Though I do remember when arn added **** to the profanity filter, and all hell broke loose as it bleeped out that four letter combination in the middle of words.
 
wanker
bollocks
piss
arse
bugger
...

All words I wouldn't insult my English mother by using in front of her. Obviously the software placing the asterisks is a virtual defender of sensitive American eyes with no regard to the rest of the world.

Oh, yes. That's because the rest of the world doesn't give a feck.
 
MrSmith said:
wanker
bollocks
piss
arse
bugger
...

All words I wouldn't insult my English mother by using in front of her. Obviously the software placing the asterisks is a virtual defender of sensitive American eyes with no regard to the rest of the world.

Oh, yes. That's because the rest of the world doesn't give a feck.
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Honestly, neither do most of us.
 
See arn did not even mean it.

Lets be completely honest we are not going to get many little kids through here anyway.

Most of us are adults or atleast in the final stages of being a teen. (16-19)

As long as those kinds of words don't appear on a news post or on the first page of comments at the most I don't see why anyone cares.
 
Annndy! said:
Honestly, neither do most of us.
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Yeah, I'm sure that's the case. But with all that can and is going on in the real world it irks me when some anglo-saxon derivative gets arrogantly deemed inappropriate for my ears without me having any goddamned say in it. :(
 
ert3 said:
See arn did not even mean it.

Lets be completely honest we are not going to get many little kids through here anyway.

Most of us are adults or atleast in the final stages of being a teen. (16-19)

As long as those kinds of words don't appear on a news post or on the first page of comments at the most I don't see why anyone cares.
Click to expand...

It's a question of standards really, MR has a reputation as a serious (yeah not always) and mature forum for Mac users, profanity leads to flame wars and they quickly derail a forum.

We don't allow direct insults and we don't allow stronger profanity, some might say the words listed above are profane, but my mother uses all of them...!

I'm pretty sure the Queen does too.
 
Your mother says "wanker"? Not to you, I hope! :D

But seriously, the words I listed are not the kind that would be banded about at the vicar's cucumber tea. Not words of high standard at all, for those who care. Why are they not asterisked? Who deemed (presumably) Americans needed their reading material censored for them? I'm guessing not Americans. I'm interested, is all.
 
Oh yeah, my mum regularly directs some choice language at idiots on the road or golf course, she's not averse to the odd F word, but doesn't use that in mixed company. She's a farmers daughter, not a debutant!!

The mods have discussed this on occasion and the profanity list is active and can be amended if people think it needs the work.
 
Yeah, mine too, but only to her offspring... As the title says, Profanity Rules! :D
 
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