What's considered "offensive" language?


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Got a real good question, got a warning for this and need clarification on allowed language

 

In some random post I made a comment along the lines that XX didn't kow what the F they were doing

 

Didn't spell it out, I understand some "adults" are offended by language, but not sure why that would be offensive, and if wrong, will not use something harmeless like it again

 

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If your "didn't know what the F they were doing" message was directed at whoever you were addressing your message, then it may be that it came across as a personal attack, and it's not the language itself at all.

 

But, what do I know...I'm not the type who will ever find any particular arrangement of letters to be offensive.

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You're doing it wrong.  Instead of saying "XX didn't know what the F he was doing" you need to say "everyone but XX sure knew what the F they were doing".

:laugh:

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Ultimately, we are a PG13 site.

When dealing with posts, personally, I ask myself whether I would want somebody saying that in front of a 13 year old.

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I swore like a trooper when I was 13. Nothing much has changed. :whistle:

 

I'd like to defend the use of 'colourful' language, but I know I'd be wasting my time.

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Ultimately, we are a PG13 site.When dealing with posts, personally, I ask myself whether I would want somebody saying that in front of a 13 year old.

13 year old swear better than us anyway...

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13 year old swear better than us anyway...

QFT. I know several 13ish year olds that have way too much profanity in their vernacular. They'd make a sailor blush. That's just how it is these days. Gotta roll with the tide, else be stuck on the beach. ;)

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Ultimately, we are a PG13 site.

When dealing with posts, personally, I ask myself whether I would want somebody saying that in front of a 13 year old.

In other words, swearing is perfectly fine.

 

Seriously though, to say the site is PG13 means some content may be inappropriate for children under the age of 13.....look up movies with that rating and you will find a plethora of them with plenty of swearing.

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from wikipedia regarding ratings - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motion_Picture_Association_of_America_film_rating_system

 

"PG rated films may have mild profanity (i.e. damn, ass, hell and, uncommonly, ######). PG-13 rated films may contain stronger language (bitch, ######, ######, etc.) and, depending on the target audience (rather than a film's actual age rating), one of the harsher sexually-derived words (such as ######), provided that the word is not used with a sexual meaning."

"Rated PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned ? some material may be inappropriate for children under 13"

 

Also be careful about the PG13 term (and the other rating terms) it may be trademarked by the MPAA.

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'Offensive' has changed over the years.

 

The F-word posted with *** would be bypassing the swear filter years ago, then I saw people blatantly posting the F-word in pictures.

 

Bastard, god d***, jesus c*****, are all offensive to me, but for some reason get a pass on here.

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In other words, swearing is perfectly fine.

 

Seriously though, to say the site is PG13 means some content may be inappropriate for children under the age of 13.....look up movies with that rating and you will find a plethora of them with plenty of swearing.

No. The rule is no swearing or offensive language. The community rules sum it up pretty clearly:

No Cursing or Swear Words

We encourage you to use our communities as a forum to debate topics, but please use proper adjectives to express yourself. We do not tolerate circumvention of our word filter or abuse upon another member. As stated above, we are a forum for all ages and expect posts to be family / work friendly.

Let's not get this into a debate about labelling. The rule is set out in our community rules.

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No. The rule is no swearing or offensive language. The community rules sum it up pretty clearly:

Let's not get this into a debate about labelling. The rule is set out in our community rules.

 

But that goes back to the OP's question, what IS considered offensive? I don't find many word offensive, unless they're aimed directly at me. I may find someone calling me a chutney ferret offensive, but most others would not.

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The rule is no swearing or offensive language.

 

And how about imagery?

 

A cartoon of the prophet Mohammed caused riots and death threats not too long ago.  While other people simply didn't care.  Taking offense is the choice of the 2nd party, not the 1st, as such it's never going to be clearly defined.

 

I guess a rule of thumb could be argued as "Are the majority LIKELY to take offense to this?".  Seems fair.  But remember, it was once "offensive" to suggest that the world was anything other than flat, and the sun was in our orbit ;)

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A good rule of thumb is to put yourself in the shoes of a middle school teacher, would you say such things around 13-year old kids? If the answer is yes, you wouldn't be employed for very long. ;)

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13 year old swear better than us anyway...

Yeah, have you ever played any version of COD or Battlefield? They'll get on the mic and their voice pitch tells the tale. 

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The problem here is that even though there is a filter, they will still dock you for it depending on which mod reviews it as a personal attack normally.

 

There is no reason to even have that rule on the books, as the filter should cover it less circumvention.

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Ultimately, we are a PG13 site.

When dealing with posts, personally, I ask myself whether I would want somebody saying that in front of a 13 year old.

 

And the reason for the language/profanity filter is because the admins don't understand COPPA, unfortunately. 

No. The rule is no swearing or offensive language. The community rules sum it up pretty clearly:

 

Right, but what is 'swearing'? Is it english language only? Is it words that can't be said on TV? If so, what countries? In the UK, you can say #### on TV all you want.

 

And offensive is up to an individual.

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Got a real good question, got a warning for this and need clarification on allowed language

 

In some random post I made a comment along the lines that XX didn't kow what the F they were doing

 

Didn't spell it out, I understand some "adults" are offended by language, but not sure why that would be offensive, and if wrong, will not use something harmeless like it again

 

If you really dont know why some may consider that offensive, you should really not talk to anyone.  Regardless if you just say F or spell it out, means the same thing and everyone knows the F word.  And you are pretty much insulting the person you are talking about.

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Yeah, have you ever played any version of COD or Battlefield? They'll get on the mic and their voice pitch tells the tale. 

 

We aren't cod. We're a respectful website, and thus we don't allow swearing here. Not everybody on the internet wants to be exposed to swearing.

 

The problem here is that even though there is a filter, they will still dock you for it depending on which mod reviews it as a personal attack normally.

 

There is no reason to even have that rule on the books, as the filter should cover it less circumvention.

 

We cannot filter out every possible swear word imaginable. If it's something our swear filter doesn't catch, we will remove it. If you try to get around the swear filter, then we'll most likely send you a warning (which if it's your first won't have any effect on your site usage).

 

And the reason for the language/profanity filter is because the admins don't understand COPPA, unfortunately. 

 

Right, but what is 'swearing'? Is it english language only? Is it words that can't be said on TV? If so, what countries? In the UK, you can say #### on TV all you want.

 

And offensive is up to an individual.

 

No, we have several reasons for implementing the swear filter. We aren't a TV channel. The rule is no swearing. That's no swearing. Whether English, French, or any other language (we are an English site anyway, so non-English content will probably be removed anyway).

 

Regardless if you just say F or spell it out, means the same thing and everyone knows the F word.  

 

This relates to my above point about swear filter evasion. If you "selectively" filter a word which would have otherwise been caught by the swear filter, we'll remove it.

 

--

 

The end point is that swearing, in any form, isn't allowed. It's a rule, just like any other that we have, and that we require members to stick to. It's not hard to post without swearing, and the result is a cleaner, friendlier community, which you can visit from school/college/work without having to worry if your boss is looking over your shoulder looking at the bunch of expletives on the screen. 

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