Censorship

[Dobs]

The staff has been in a grueling debate for quite some time over the censors on the forum. We can't seem to come to a decision without killing each other, so we're turning to the members for help. I'm going to attempt to outline the three separate options without bias or revealing which I prefer; and only AFTER reading all three arguments, you will vote in the above poll. You can retract your vote if you change your minds.

1) Leave Censors: On the grounds that many of our members are younger, cursing should not be allowed on the forums. It is easy to use curse words to flame other members, and many people are simply offended by them, and would prefer not to see them on the forum.

2) Lift Some Censors: We have an actual list of censored and uncensored words in the staff board, but I'm not going to post it here. On the grounds that this is a forum for brawl, which is a T rated game, we decided to create a list of words that roughly followed which words can be used in a PG-13 film. Basically everything can be said but the F word, and a select few sexually elicit terms.

EDIT: This is an example of the Lift Some list.

3) Lift All Censors: Anything can be said. Most censors can be avoided easily using asterisks or alternative spellings. People are going to flame each other regardless of which words they can use, and using curse words to flame another member will still be punishable by the rules. The censors sometimes make posts difficult to read because a lot of them don't make sense.

We'll take everyone's votes into consideration, thanks for the help!

[Rorschach]

lift all censors, we should be mature enough to know when to use censors properly....and thats also why mods are here. To warn us for flaming.

[SLE]

This is the "list" of censors we would change it to if the second choice is chosen and remember, this is only for the forum. The cbox will have it's own censoring.

[Jesus]

FAWK THE SYSTEM NO CENSORS (votes)

[Sharpay]

I say keep them as they are. The reason why is that we do have young members here and I know at least 1 member left this forum because their parents did not approve of the language that was used here. I would like to see this forum kid-friendly.

[Angel]

Jul 20, 2009 0:03:25 GMT -5 Sharpay said:

I say keep them as they are. The reason why is that we do have young members here and I know at least 1 member left this forum because their parents did not approve of the language that was used here. I would like to see this forum kid-friendly.

I agree, but we are the minority girl.

[NBAplaya8484]

Jul 20, 2009 0:05:06 GMT -5 Angel said:

Jul 20, 2009 0:03:25 GMT -5 Sharpay said:

I say keep them as they are. The reason why is that we do have young members here and I know at least 1 member left this forum because their parents did not approve of the language that was used here. I would like to see this forum kid-friendly.

I agree, but we are the minority girl.

lol this makes me relize how different Male and Female minds are. anyway I say get rid of all censors excpet for the " F" Bomb.

[Ghost]

Jul 20, 2009 0:05:06 GMT -5 Angel said:

Jul 20, 2009 0:03:25 GMT -5 Sharpay said:

I say keep them as they are. The reason why is that we do have young members here and I know at least 1 member left this forum because their parents did not approve of the language that was used here. I would like to see this forum kid-friendly.

I agree, but we are the minority girl.

stop being such girls.... oh wait...wut?

[SLE]

I agree with them, yet I'm counted as male... I must be breaking the cycle or something >.>

anyways, my view on this was that the current censors have some silly ones in there. Such as I disagree(-my ass), very *friendly* person(-slut),not a very nice person(-asshole). Ghost's list lets sheet go down, how many T-Rated games let them say that? Not to mention some words that can only be used as insults, because why else would someone be talking about a cigarette or a female dog? Not to mention some words are never used, most of the time, if they call someone a thingy, they'll be called a dick

[Tony Redgrave]

I would say keep them as they are but no weird silly censors lol

[Ghost]

well i'll be honest with you.... i did create that sample list... but after i created the sample list i became a believer that we should get rid of them all.

Here is why -
Let's use Sour as an example. If sour wants to drop the f-bomb in a thread...he's going to drop it in any way possible. It's very simple to get around the censors i do say so myself. all you have to do is add an asterisk, or an underscore or anything that changes it from the core word and bingo you have your curse word for everyone to see. If people want to use these words there is little to no reason why they still can't in an alternate way of spelling/presenting it. Let's use our famous "i disagree".....there are many ways (once again using him as an example) that Sour could still say his favorite catchphrase
my_ass, my @$$, my @ss, myass, my *ss.....the list goes on and on...and each time i presented it... you know what i said. The site censor list is very limited and we cannot censor all these variations of the same phrase as we can on the c-box.

Some may want to say... BUT GHOST if we use these words, flaming will start happening more and more. well....not really. Flaming can happen without using swear words. Words are words. It only matters in how you use them. Let's use sh*t for an example.
Sentance 1. "I just stepped in a big pile of dog sh*t
Sentance 2. "You suck and are nothing but a pathetic piece of sh*t

now... same word is used both times... one is in a humorous sentance of woe...the other is flaming. now let's use the same example without cursing

Sentance 1. "I saw a woman carrying a baby today."
Sentance 2. "Shut your mouth, you're just a big baby go cry to momma and come back when you are man enough to handle this."

see? flaming without swear words


another may say... but..Ghost... does this mean that people will be free to cuss up as much as they want?? NOOOOOO if you chose to have all of the censors lifted, then there WILL BE A RULE CREATED so that people don't use them excessively. We haven't figured out this rule exactly but basically it is going to be there to keep cursing to a minimum... now with all these boards you are prob wondering how we will keep track....well that's where the members come in handy. Angel installed the "Report this" feature, so all you have to do if you see someone breaking a rule or using cursing too much and we will be notified of the exact post.

I'm only posting my opinion, and to say that if all of them are lifted.. it's NOT like it's just going to be free reign for swearing up storms!! rules will still be in place to discourage diarrhea of the mouth in the form of swearing.

Vote however you choose and have a wonderful day.

[Sharpay]

I actually see your point Ghost, but I am still keeping my vote the same. I am on your side for that, but part of me says that censors are better than nothing.

[Angel]

Just dropping a quick opinion and leaving. I feel that censors still serve a purpose. They show that these words are NOT allowed, and despite the fact that they are easy to get around, certain words like the "n" word and such have no other usage than to be adult and offensive and I think censoring it and showing that it's not allowed to be said is the mature thing to do given the age level on the forum

There, said my piece.

[Rorschach]

obviously me as the example Im obviously expected to be dropping f bombs around here

[kunekune]

I voted to keep the censors, as I feel them necessary to keep order of the forum despite the ability of members to bypass them successfully. At least they won't have the pleasure of writing the word out completely.