My views towards swear words

Forum & Website Forum
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I know that some time ago, two guys basically made sh*tposts regarding this, but I want to actually provide my views towards the subject and, if anything, encourage discourse related to this and better learn myself why the staff blocks swear words (because I honestly didn’t really read those threads).

I understand why this rule exists. This place is publicly available and I doubt any of the staff members here, at any level of power, want to be associated with a place that encourages swearing and general naughty behavior. I don’t want that either. However, I am of the believe such words allow one to express oneself in a better way than not using such words in specific situations. Specific terms like the swear-slang term I’ve used above to describe posts of really poor quality, with often a really ironic tone, are easier to understand at a first glance than what I literally just explained in this sentence to explain what "shtposts are. I get it, the word itself is strong, unpleasant and untactful, but at the same time, it’s the best way, in my opinion, to describe what those two people did with their threads. “Trashposting” exists too, as an alternative, but it is less strong and sometimes, there isn’t an alternative available, known more broadly to the public. Plus, sometimes, strong words is what one needs. Not every time, of course.

I can 100% see that the first counter argument to this that will be made by the staff team is “If we allow swearing, this will become a slippery slope”. You’ve somewhat of a point, but that’s why the moderation team exists. They are here to clean up the absolute disgusting filth some have said. I also have more faith in this community than in most online communities. People here are more civilized, at least I feel like so. As such, only new people, who aren’t accustomed to the place yet, will probably swear more than they need do. They will learn to be civil or they will be “ostracized” and leave early. I believe such a slippery slope wouldn’t really exist in the first place.

I think a quota of how many swear words and their severity could be applied, so certain swear words wouldn’t put you in much trouble than others. Overusing them in a reply/new thread should result in a removal of the post and/or something more severe, no matter the severity of the words used.

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The problem is twofold.

First, the audience here is broad and spans all ages and geographic locations. Saying a certain word is acceptable or not acceptable depends on the audience it is being shared with.

Second, how offensive a word is depends very much on the local culture. Because we are geographically diverse, even if a certain word seems OK to you, doesn’t mean it is OK to everyone.

This forum, is first and foremost a forum for people to discuss EndeavourOS. While we allow the community to go off topic quite broadly and discuss a reasonable variety of things, we should always remember our core purpose. Realistically, there is no reason to allow such content here. We very much want to provide a friendly environment and as a result there are certain things we don’t allow.

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This is Freedom of Speech. A provision of the First Amendment to the US Constitution.

However

The forums are not subject to the US Constitution. Dealing with the World as @dalto points out its not easy to maintain what is allowed where. Best if the forums stay as “kid” friendly as far as language goes. This goes beyond just what you feel you should be able to say. There are consequences for breaking the rules in places and the forums are subject to those rules and consequences. So while I fully get where you are coming from we have to remember The world does not share our view on Freedom of Speech.

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My opinion on this is there is no need for them on here. As mentioned many people from many walks of life and age ranges view this forum. In my day to day life I quite often swear but at the same time I don’t go into a shopping centre and swear as I don’t know who it may offend. There are plenty of other words that can be used instead a lot of the time.

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Solution: self-police. Why involve (why would you want to involve) others in your online business? Like mods?

I rattle off a couple ‘hells’ and ‘damns’ once in a while but as hyperbolic as I am, no one needs to push boundaries talking about Linux.

As far as other swear words I usually do the cartoon stuff: ‘holy sh&*’ or abbreviate.

Vile for the sake of vile is not self-expression, it’s something else altogether. two cents. Self-policing best swear words policy imo.

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Is that when you are drunken Vicar? :wink:

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It feels to me it somewhat misses the issue. I don’t think anybody will get banned because they type a magic combination of letters once.

The moderators made a judgement call, implemented one of the mildest form of technical hurdle possible, but the reaction was: I will not only disagree with you but make it a game to not comply and create unnecessary work.

If someone works for free you’re not entitled to waste their time with silly games. Attitude and intention were the real problem, the fact that it was over swearwords is of secondary order.

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Common decency, and acting like a grown-up, goes a long way.

For example, don’t use every opportunity to call users and developers of something you don’t like, forexample Wayland, idiots and of persons of lesser intelligence.

Reserve sarcasm and such for people you know and who actually appreciate it, not every random member on a forum.

Should take care of all problems.

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“I’m not a drunk, that’s just a vicious rumor started by people I’ve tripped over” – hawkeye pierce

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Perhaps I wasn’t clear that I don’t want this either, but there are times when I feel like I can’t really express myself because of the swear word ban.

Same thing here. I don’t want swear words to be allowed to throw BM on developers and maintainers.

Perhaps I should give an example to better illustrate my point:

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Below is a reply I have made on this forum. I honestly don’t know what word I could have used besides the F word. I can’t lie when I say that I personally felt, and still feel, really irritated over the situation (certain PCs just lock up during the update process due to a Nvidia driver bug, as far as my knowledge goes, meaning I have a risk updating my computer right now higher than usual) and this was the best word I could come up with to express my true feelings towards it. Is this too much swearing or just enough to be passable? I guess I made this thread more to ask this question than anything…

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Screwing, messing
or rephrase
“Okay. Cool. Nvidia issues again …”

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I think that would be very hard to answer. Personally, I don’t mind swearing but I try not to use it on public forums.

What I would mind though, is, say, if I had a Wayland question but I wouldn’t bother to ask it because I knew the thread would be taken over by some very vocal member or other, who would mansplain and go on and on how every developer and user of Wayland are cognitively challenged and retarded idiots.

I don’t mind sarcasm or some rough language beteween persons who actually appreciate it, and where both parties play that game. It can be fun and entertaining. Just keep it where it belongs, and be civil to people you don’t know.

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I generally swear a lot. In real life and in PM’s because that’s just how I am. People who swear are statistically more honest than folks who don’t.

Flip side, myself and my co-conversationalists have found a far far far funnier and more terrible word we can use that covers all swearing and is perfectly acceptable to use on the forum still. So, that’s a win.

It is disapointing to be moderated in a closed PM setting though. I’m not sure what else to say other than “oh well.”

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Although I swear a fair amount and am a free speech advocate, free for all forums usually devolve into trolling and dengeneracy

An idea could be a mostly uncensored sub forum which only members can see and post in

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Don’t care either way yo!
But dem dangerous criminals who feel like cussin’ ~ will swear whether you like it or not lol
:fist:t6:

Knock yourself out bro! :handshake:t6:

That’ll become one of the most legendary Arch based forumz lore 4 sure! :call_me_hand:t6:

Watching dem clown & frog regulars on different forumz for yearz i say ~ only complete loony can take all dem D:eggplant:ckens’n’sheee*t lolz 4 real!

~ PEACE YO :v:t6: ~

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My priority is usually making my messages as understandable as possible, knowing that people on forums like these don’t always speak English perfectly. Swearing and “slang” doesn’t usually help with that.

In private I swear like a sailor, I just don’t usually feel the need to do that in public. People have such a wide variety of views on the matter. I just find it unnecessary most of the time.

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There have been multiple occasions on which moderators over the course of this community’s lifetime have expressed the family-friendly character of this forum. You might feel you can express your feelings better by using a swear word here and there, but that is a “you” problem that goes against a principle of this forum.

A decision has been made to implement an automated moderation tool that bans certain words. This tool allows for less hands-on swear-word policing and more time for other moderating tasks. Is that tool perfect? No. Does it free up moderators’ time? Yes.

Antrergos close up shop because it turned up to be too time-consuming for the team of volunteers driving the effort. Endeavours OS has been born out of the ashes of Antergos and the team has decided from the get go, they want to go lean, to prevent the same fate as Antergos. Anti spam tools, automatic moderation tools are here to help with exactly that. It is what it is. Instead of making a big fuss over very minor inconveniences, people could focus on the big benefits this community offers.

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Oh there’s a no-swearing policy…? I didn’t know. Apologies in retrospect if I’ve let one out in the past… :laughing:

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It s my belief that one never really knows anyone else. A close approximation to what the other lets you know about them maybe. But in reality one never knows absolutely; is it honesty or manipulation? The use of swear words may be an honest release of vitriol, or it could be a manipulative tactic to bring you to their side of an issue…

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To be honest, few of us here in the USA share “our view” of freedom of speech. Tolerance wears thin when we don’t care to hear it. Frankly, that’s just human nature. :roll_eyes:

But to put a finer point on it, the 1st Amendment of the US Constitution simply states that “Congress shall make no law … abridging the freedom of speech.”

It doesn’t say anything about whether I need to tolerate your speech, nor whether you must suffer through mine.

And admins here on this forum don’t have to put up with any of us. We have no right to claim otherwise since they are not the US Congress.

Although Congress is barred from passing laws to stifle us, private parties (unless funded by the US federal government) - whether located within or outside the US - face no such limitations.

Squelch away! :vulcan_salute:

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