There's too much cursing on this forum....

ya lets stifle the free exchange of ideas by being puritanical with forum moderation. You all should be  ashamed for using accepted words of the english language.. that some people insist, without any logical base for their claims, are somehow less moral or wrong to use. Cause you know when comparing 2 words with the exact same meaning it makes perfect sense to label one as taboo and one as acceptable.

I think it's fine the way it is.

Fuck that shit. Don't need a thought police.

Quote edited for illustration.

Yes.. using the non taboo words is MUCH better....

You misunderstand the nature of what you discuss. People do not generally use profanity because they are angry or find it amusing - most of the people on this forum are merely from a generation that uses the words in casual conversation. Personally, it hadn't even occurred to me that someone would be offended by this or perceive it as angry behavior; I mostly consider such things as only inherently undesirable around small children, and even then, that's due to parent reactions rather than that of the kids. That said, since you have enlightened me to the fact that there apparently are indeed some people who are offended by this, I will attempt to keep my language "clean" for your benefit; I do already modify the dialect I use on the internet for the clarity and familiarity of the general public compared to the dialect I speak in real life, which is rife with slang and extremely casual.

I strongly disagree. I disagree to the extent that I would use profanity to express the strength of my disagreement, had I not just resolved to avoid doing so. Some people may be uncomfortable with the common dialect of the internet, and we as a community should endeavor to accommodate that, but we should not enforce censorship, that only ends poorly, and stifles discussion. If we enforce a certain dialect, then we at once unnecessarily alienate people who don't speak that way, and we reduce discussion (though of course, how much we do so depends on the zealotry of the moderation).

Also, even were this to be done, hiring a new mod would be pointless. Stardock employees are on here all the time, and have mod powers.

While I agree with this sentiment, there is no need to be so discourteous as to use profanity in a thread about limiting profanity; OP is clearly uncomfortable with it.

I agree.

I think that Stardock should broaden the scope of their hiring to China. Call it "insourcing", if you would like. They could easily extend their strategy of hiring industry vets to a market in which there are many, very experienced individuals with this specific skill set.

Also, I hear that Dale is available.

One could substitute other words for the curse words. Such as this:

 

The NobleJms with this NobleJms.

or

That is a load of NobleJms.

or

I don't give a NobleJms.

I sometimes agree with the OP when I come here.

 

I am also a realist and understand that while Stardock allow the language on the forum then it will be used by somebody, even if to just annoy those don't like it. Neither do I think Stardock should police language, but sometimes I think that I wouldn't like children on these forums, reading what some people post. Sometimes.

 

Ah yes.. we should censor people so that lazy parents don't have to pay attention to what their kids are reading. Not like there are millions of porn sites, vulgar videos on you tube, cursing on television, etc etc etc(seriously one could go on all day with things that parents might not like their kids to see, hear or experience that kids can easily access if parents aren't actually.. you know parenting) that are easily accessed by kids..the language used by the people at stardock forums is the issue.

 

My point is.. its up to the parents to monitor and deem whats acceptable or unacceptable for their kids.. not society to censor its content to what someone thinks is acceptable for their children. Every parent is different..and if parents actually care then they should check something out before they allow their children to use it.

 

I would actually take this topic much more seriously if people were going on continual rants just for giggles.. but from what i've seen this really isn't much of an issue in the overall scheme of the forums. When i tend to see what the OP labels as "curse" words they tend to be used in the context society has deemed acceptable. That is to denote extreme emotion or reaction to something. As such the language is used much more judiciously than in any public  school hallway or playground.

 

Not that I agree with the concept of taboo words.. but ya it's amazing how often a small post of mine on a rather obscure subject in the context of these forums turns into what resembles a short essay on the subject.

I strongly suspect that he is of the opinion that the Elemental forums are not something which should be in such a state that parents would want to keep their kids off of it. It's a fairly legitimate point, though I don't think Stardock's target market is young enough that this is a huge concern.

You missed my point though.. whats acceptable to one parent is unacceptable to another. Which parents do we censor for and which ones do we ignore? There are no hard and fast rules of what parents find acceptable for their children and attempting to alter our entire community to please all only means a drastic limit in not only the words used in discussion but the content matter as well. I hate to go as cliche as the slippery slope argument but it applies well here.

 

Further more it offends me that some people find it acceptable to censor me based on either ancient superstitious beliefs or some kind of silly modern day taboo. Both of which belie any logic or knowledge of semantics. If you don't want your kids reading/seeing "curse" words based on your particular belief structure thats fine. Your welcome to believe and practice whatever you want.. but don't expect society(or me) to conform to your belief structure.

 

Lastly yes.. stardock is a business.. this is their forums they can apply any rules they want. But it doesn't mean I have to agree or be happy about it.

I curse too much period.   Not just on this forum.

 

I like that. I was on a hockey forum that did that. It had an auto censor that filtered out the swear words.

For example:

cock = jeffery

fuck = indoor sporting event

shit = folder

 

It was actually quite amusing to see Alfred Hitchcock come out as Alfred Hitchjeffery or fucking shit coming out as indoor sporting eventing folder.

 

You could still swear and get your point across but it was still safe for a child to glance at the computer screen. Forum members with children should be considered here in my opinion.

 

Personally, I like the Paradox Forums or Civ Fanatics forums because they don't tolerate swearing. It allows people to be more articulate.

While I agree that parents should monitor what their children are reading and experiencing on the internet, and it's not societies "job" so to speak to censor themselves...

The flipside to this is that Stardock is in the business of having people buy and use their products. They are trying to appeal to an audience to get them to spend money on the products they make. As such, they will want to foster an environment that brings money.

That being said, I'm not sure how many children will be playing this game, or use most of the products that Stardock makes. If they were in the business of making Dora the Explorer stuff, then they might want to keep their forums in a G rating. But with games that are primarily about killing, expansion and political themes, or operating system modifications, it's pretty clear their target audience is likely not in the tweens.

As a final note, Elemental has a "Teen" rating for "Blood and Fantasy Violence", and specifically warns that "online interactions are not rated". Parents have been quite forewarned, and most people these days.

 

I think it's quite possible to foster a forum environment where one can have proper discourse without needing to censor the occasional swearing. If someone is extremely excessive with their cursing, to the point of limiting discourse, they are likely breaking some other rules on online behavior that will either end with their behavior changing or end their access to the forum quick enough.

 I am in the middle with this. I agree that it is not neccessary to use vulgar language to convey ideas. My girlfriend tells me all the time what a vulgar neanderthal I am when I get nonhappy. She is correct. It takes more thought to use creative adjectives rather than slang.

I personally could care less if people communicated like Bushmen with clicks and pops or curse or fart or whatever when they banter. Then again, I hate television because I find most of it mindless and social engineering, rife with oversexualized youngsters and mean spiritedness.

Since I don't want to offend anyone I will choose to speak The Plutocrat's Engish. Ya'll can kiss my ...hindquarters!

 

^This

 

Besides if the OP can't handle the occasional "swear words" on this forum then I have no idea how the OP handles real life as I hear 100 times more swear words every day than I would ever read on this forum.

 

So don't censor out words. It's annoying and only leads to people bypassing the filters with creative ways and stifles how people express themselves.

 

 

If you think the cursing is bad on a forum talking about a game, you should see some of us actually playing it on a high difficulty setting.  

 

I wouldn't use the word articulate for a lot of what I read at CivFan.

Aye, wordfilters can be fun. I recall a pirate-oriented thingamajig that wordfiltered towards piratey stuff.

Dick/cock => Mast
Ass => Booty
Fuck => Pillage

Quite amusing, and kept everything within the somewhat campy roleplay feel of that game.

There's a pretty significant fallacy here. Profanity does not reduce articulation. In fact, as it is a point of vocabulary that is otherwise not present, it represents additional articulation that would otherwise be impossible. It is probable that you are misascribing symptoms of a different situation. Curse words are commonly known, and thus may still be used by people who have difficulty with articulation, which is likely to contribute to your perception. They also tend to be used by angry people, who tend very strongly to be less articulate than those of calmer demeanor.

Regardless, I do not feel that posters on the Stardock forums fail to be adequately articulate.

Cursing is rude.

Always impressed by someone who can articulately swear.

When it's just f-this and that and doesn't convey any meaning, it's stupid - like being on the 5th grade playground again.

I used to feel the same way as the OP. However I think years of exposure to the variety of styles of discourse people employ, both online and off, and exposure of a variety of limitations on swearing, I've come to the conclusion that forbidding swearing makes absolutely no difference whatsoever to the quality of the discourse.

I think swearing is completely unnecessary, though I understand that for many people it's just a natural part of the way they speak (and type). But it's also unnecessary to allow oneself to be bothered by others' swearing. The fact is that people will swear, and in many cases there is nothing we can do about it. Ultimately I think it's far better to allow it, but to encourage more articulate speech (which, as gmot and Cruxador suggested, can sometimes include swearing).

Bottom line, some people need to swear less, and other people need to chill out.

 My personal view is treat people as you would like to be treated. And frankly, in RL, if some a-hole is swearing ABUSE in my face I'm going to slap him like a B**** & make him look like the rabid poodle he is. Then laugh hysterically if that angered him enough to actually throw a real punch. On forums I can't do that.. mores the pity. LOL. 

 But for the msot part generalized swearing shouldn't really be punished, it's just someone trying to articulate themselves without knowing a better way to do it.

 One night my better half barged into the computer room I ahve set up and threw a rather unpleasant pointy object at me to shut me up... hurt like hhell. (that was back in the 1.09e days when it crashed so often...)