Apology

Posted by omicron1 on Feb. 3, 2007, 2:24 p.m.

Disclaimer: I am highly offended by foul language. Please refrain from its use, or, if you must use it, please censor it.

I am afraid I have offended one of the site admins - I deleted a post of his from my previous blog due to the foul language it contained. Therefore, I am formally apologizing here for stepping out of line. However, an important question was brought up by this incident - what is the limit on bad language?

Children do visit this site - people from 13 to 16 should not be exposed to R-rated language - but the general rule is worded "Do not swear excessively." This also goes for blog comments. But what is "excessive" swearing?

The blog in question had already had two different people posting swear words in comments. The first one, I warned; the second, I removed. Two of certain swear words is enough to earn a movie an R rating here in the states - so are blogs allowed to go into R-rated territory?

And what amount of control does a blogger have over the language others post in his blog? If a blogger (such as myself) objects strongly to foul language, should he not have some control over what language is found in his blogs? Can he not at least request that any foul language posted in his blog be censored? And what should be done about comments that contain such language?

I've been working on and off on Lions of the Atlantic - correcting game bugs and fixing issues. Look for a release in a couple of weeks.

Comments

Firebee 17 years, 10 months ago

I think that using profanity just makes people look stupid, they're usually too dumb to think up real words to put in their place.

SleepinJohnnyFish 17 years, 10 months ago

You failed to give me a reason why my comment was deleted. Luckily, I saved it assuming you would delete it.

If you had read the comment, you would know that there is no reason to be offended by what I have written.

omicron1 17 years, 10 months ago

"So if I were to say a word that is generally thought of as a curse word, but I did not use it in a derogatory way, and no one around was offended, would it be a curse word? Absolutely not." - I'm offended. Bye-bye bad-word comment.

SleepinJohnnyFish 17 years, 10 months ago

Yes, I wanted to go further into that. Since I was not using it in a derogatory way, I didn't make it a curse word. You did.

SleepinJohnnyFish 17 years, 10 months ago

Personally I do not understand why people are so offended by swearing. In general, it comes from the Christian belief that it is a sin, and since our country is based highly on Christian ideas, it became a national standard.

Ephesians 4:29 - "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen."

1 Peter 3:10 - "For, Whoever would love life and see good days must keep his tongue from evil and his lips from deceitful speech."

James 3:9-12 - "With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh water and salt water flow from the same spring? My brothers, can a fig tree bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Neither can a salt spring produce fresh water."

Now, the problem that I see with this is that NEVER in the bible do they ever speak about any words that we consider curse words… which indicates that certain words were only deemed curse words by humans, which in turn makes it certain that if you speak one of these words, it is only the thought process of the person that speaks the word and in turn the people around that person that makes it a curse word.

So if I were to say a word that is generally thought of as a curse word, but I did not use it in a derogatory way, and no one around was offended, would it be a curse word? Absolutely not. Curse words are fully controlled by the minds of men.

Using God's name in vain is just about the only thing that truly counts as a sin when not used as a curse word, because it is used in vain and that is clearly listed as a sin…. all others are free to be used in non-derogatory ways (another note: anything that is derogatory is a sin, so calling someone a dumbass and calling them dumb is the exact same sin.)

As such, if I were to say "What the fuck?", would it be cursing? No, I don't believe it would. There is no derogatory in there, and I don't believe anything in the bible refers to that as an unclean word, so who is to say that I am cursing? Only the human mindset.

So in closing…

fuck shit crap ass bitch

omicron1 17 years, 10 months ago

Let me borrow the words of a recent judge about how to distinguish obscene material: "I know it when I see it."

You have been Reported for continued use of extensive bad language after I told you to stop.

SleepinJohnnyFish 17 years, 10 months ago

lol

SleepinJohnnyFish 17 years, 10 months ago

As melee-master already mentioned, cursing is allowed on this site.

omicron1 17 years, 10 months ago

…Extensive bad language, however, is not. Six bad words in one post, plus repeatedly posting after I asked you to stop, is probably enough to count as an infringement of the rules.

Polystyrene Man 17 years, 10 months ago

Personally, I'm not offended by bad language, but if this is your blog then by all means delete anything that offends you. I don't see a big deal in leaving it at that. Just understand that in other peoples' blogs, swearing is acceptable.