what's up with the use of profanity?

[Mark Latimour]

Originally Posted by Ray Salamon

I think people should just use common sense.

Thats fine in theory but time and time again it is consistently demonstrated that many people do not possess or are incapable of exercising common sense.

The easiest rules to abide by and enforce are those which are clear and prescriptive.

Besides, I know people who let their kids say words I wouldn't use around sailors.....so it just becomes subjective once again.

Its sort of like having a law that says don't speed on public roads, but then not defining exactly what constitutes speeding, instead saying "don't go any faster than you would feel comfortable driving with your kids in the back of the car". Clearly thats not going to work because everyone is going to have a different opinion of what speed is "safe" depending on a lot of subjective things, not the least of which is culture.

[Selta]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

Thats fine in theory but time and time again it is consistently demonstrated that many people do not possess common sense. The easiest rules to abide by and enforce are those which are clear and prescriptive.

Besides, I know people who let their kids say words I wouldn't use around sailors.....so it just becomes subjective once again.

Good points sir, but also by doing the blanket your allllllmost imposing on speech a little bit (no! I'm NOT turning this into a rights thing, bear with me). Just by blocking certain words, such as the mentioned "sucks" "blows" etc, what would you say when "My amp blew up" versus "You blew ..." follow my drift? It's obviously a touchy subject, I would hope that we were above the uncanny swearing, but then I woke up. It's just hard to deal with, and I think, though the current system is flawed, it's as good as it can be, and that changing it would only cause headache (by either adding the blanket or whatever). Man, I'm getting tired, I'm not really being coherent, but I think you get the jist of my statements.

Ray

[Mark Latimour]

I'm thinking more laong the lines of a list of words that are "definatively" out (I think we can all basically work out whats on that list) and then anything else is up to the moderators discretion based on context. What would be useful though would be knowning whether words like "ass" are in or out, what about "god damn" or "christ" (in context) that are perfectly acceptable in many cultures, but not in others. By having set rules that you can point to, you basically get no argument.

(I also thing getting rid of sucks and blows would be kinda silly unless they were used in a profane way ie other than "my vacuum clean sucks really hard")

[Zirc]

Does anyone see how ironically hilarious this is? Did it just slip by EVERYONE?! No one got it?! Well, here it is....

If Talkbass is supposed to be so child friendly, then why do the members flame all of the children that come on here.

Just look at a post where a kid 13 years old or younger posts a question. Come on, I've never seen such comedy. Not only are the members using profane language, but they are directing it toward the kid. I LOVE the irony.

So lets get back to the root of the problem, which is Talkbass being child friendly... oh wait... it's not child friendly.

This thread REALLY made my day, I love the hypocrisy.

[Selta]

Originally Posted by Zirc

Does anyone see how ironically hilarious this is? Did it just slip by EVERYONE?! No one got it?! Well, here it is....

If Talkbass is supposed to be so child friendly, then why do the members flame all of the children that come on here.

Just look at a post where a kid 13 years old or younger posts a question. Come on, I've never seen such comedy. Not only are the members using profane language, but they are directing it toward the kid. I LOVE the irony.

So lets get back to the root of the problem, which is Talkbass being child friendly... oh wait... it's not child friendly.

Er, care to show me examples? The *only* ones I think that can even come close to this are the ones where the kid deserved it (i.e. troll or some such).

Ray

[Zirc]

Originally Posted by Ray Salamon

Er, care to show me examples? The *only* ones I think that can even come close to this are the ones where the kid deserved it (i.e. troll or some such).

Ray

Exactly my point. All of the children that ever posted questions were trolls. If there are any that were not, then they would obviously be intelligent enough to have all the profane words we're using in their vocabularly bank.

[Selta]

Originally Posted by Zirc

Exactly my point. All of the children that ever posted questions were trolls. If there are any that were not, then they would obviously be intelligent enough to have all the profane words we're using in their vocabularly bank.

In any case, if someone is outright directing crude language or anythign towards any member of ANY age, it should be reported no matter what - that's disrespect. I think for the day-to-day members though, we always extend a helping hand though, and usually keep things in check. Of course there are expections, but those should be dealt with case-by-case. My $0.02

Ray

[Mark Latimour]

Originally Posted by Zirc

If Talkbass is supposed to be so child friendly, then why do the members flame all of the children that come on here.

I would take you more seriously if you didnt use a massive over generalisation and pointed out some examples.

This thread REALLY made my day, I love the hypocrisy.

It would only be hypocritical if you could demonstrate that those complaining about the language were also the ones using profane language directed at children. Can you demonstrate that?

Didnt think so....the exit's that way

[Selta]

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

I would take you more seriously if you didnt use a massive over generalisation and pointed out some examples.



It would only be hypocritical if you could demonstrate that those complaining about the language were also the ones using profane language directed at children. Can you demonstrate that?

Didnt think so....the exit's that way

Mark: 1
Zirc: 0

[Zirc]

Is there a option to search for only locked threads?

I will not believe that you guys don't remember all those threads where kids were flamed. I'm sure it's a ploy to make me spend extra effort to prove you wrong, which I shouldn't have to do.

[MJ5150]

Originally Posted by Zirc

Does anyone see how ironically hilarious this is? Did it just slip by EVERYONE?! No one got it?! Well, here it is....

If Talkbass is supposed to be so child friendly, then why do the members flame all of the children that come on here.

Just look at a post where a kid 13 years old or younger posts a question. Come on, I've never seen such comedy. Not only are the members using profane language, but they are directing it toward the kid. I LOVE the irony.

So lets get back to the root of the problem, which is Talkbass being child friendly... oh wait... it's not child friendly.

This thread REALLY made my day, I love the hypocrisy.

Come on man. As Mark said, these conversations are easier to have when you stick to facts. I have seen people get flamed for acting stupid on TB, and every other forum I have ever visited.

Does every kid who posts at TB get cussed out, flamed, and insulted? Nope, and you know that. Has it happened? Yes, it has. Is it acceptable to treat people that way? Nope, and you know that too.

I have allowed my now 16 year old son to visit this website for the last three years that I have been. I am comfortable that he will not be exposed to some of the nastiness I see other places. I thank the mods, and Paul for that.

-Mike

[Joe Nerve]

I haven't even ever seen it happen. Sure it probably has, but I've seen kids get lots of respect here. I guess if that's what you're focused in on that's what yer gonna find. Glad you got a laugh out of it all. Glad you consider this thread hypocritical and therefore probably me the same. Uhh... I've never talked down to a kid here though.

[wulf]

Don't put on an autofilter! For a while, one site I'm on had me down as "B***ist for ....". There was another one that tried to convert crude terms into more neutral, anatomical equivalents. I was highly confused when someone started talking about finding the stopcock in their garden, with the translation in place!

BTW, I'm not keen on masking of profanities either. If anything, it draws attentions to them. If I type "So I told them to **** off", I'm sure 98%+ of readers have filled in the same word (regardless of whether they're tender minors or grizzled veterans); even if it's not word for word accurate, I'd rather see that edited down to "So I told them to go away".

What? You mean you don't re-read and edit before you post?! Try it out sometime - the second draft is invariably better than the first!



Wulf

[embellisher]

Originally Posted by Zirc

Is there a option to search for only locked threads?

I will not believe that you guys don't remember all those threads where kids were flamed. I'm sure it's a ploy to make me spend extra effort to prove you wrong, which I shouldn't have to do.

Locked threads are included in the search. Only deleted threads are filtered.

[tplyons]

I'm one of the younger mods here and at a ripe 18 years of age, even I find some of the language unnecessary. If I catch it, do a double take or anything of the sort, I'll censor it. (As an admin on another site I often tend to get a lot of flack for censorship, but I don't think TB has the same subject matter and is more family friendly)

While I don't have the cleanest mouth around (gimme a frickin' break, I work in a hardware store ) I do find that I have some pretty clean fingers. There are a lot of words out there, why use the short ones?

[Freaky Fender]

While I also don't have the cleanest mouth in the world (I watch a lot of Kevin Smith movies), I have to put up with the rules and enforce them. Please people, if you feel like the report button is a little too slow, send a report, and even try to contact us with messenger clients if you can!

[Ken FenderJazz]

Originally Posted by Joe Nerve

i think that thread with scumbag in the title just kinda threw me a bit because where and when i grew up that was real big no-no. saying scumbag was equivalent to saying the high and mighty 4 letter words. it's interesting to me that many people haven't even a clue what is means or where it came from and that some even think the meaning of "lowlife" was attached to it before it's original meaning.

I had no idea about scumbag, and I'm pretty danged old. Danged is OK, isn't it?

OK, now you're all reminding me of one of the ways I can be made to feel old - when a word that was a no-no when I was a kid becomes general usage. I remember when I was a kid, my mom and dad sitting me down and telling me that I shouldn't call people 'weirdos', because when they were kids that meant calling someone gay. By the time I was a kid, it had been in general usage enough to be diluted into a general pejorative.

Also, when I was a kid, sucks and blows were big no-nos. Of course, we knew exactly what they meant, and that at least kept us from saying it in most public situations. Now, it just rolls off peoples' tongues like it just means 'bad' or something!

And, of course, from the third grade - kid comes to school with a new joke: Q: what begins with f, and ends with - well you can imagine. A: fire truck! Ha ha! Me, I had no idea that it was spelling a profanity, I had never heard that word, I thought it was a play on letters/words. Yeah, I was a nerd even in third grade. So I repeat the joke 5 or 6 times throughout the day. Teacher became very upset, and had to explain to class that 'apparently this is a very bad word'.

I'm guessing that even some - but certainly not most - of the people posting don't even know what the original meaning of busting one's balls is.

So you see, sometimes things that are profane to some are just innocence on the part of others who don't know - and would be shocked to know - the original meaning.

Unfortunately, it will have to be a judgment call on the part of the moderators. But, Embellisher, since you say it helps, I will also make the "!" button my friend. Then it's up to the judgment of you guys. Considering all the time you guys put in, we should all abide by your judgment, even if we disagree with it ocassionally
[/rant]

ken

PS Oh yeah, when we were teeenagers we laughed at the Doobie Brothers album 'What Once Were Vices are Now Habits". Now us old fogies have lived/seen it.

[Whafrodamus]

I think that if words are used in correct context and not used towards any members, we're set. I agree that the words you listed were profain, Joe, but balls has its place.. like, when not talking about your own or someone elses "Basement". Also, I think damn should be ignored. As far as kids go, I don't think it's the actual exposure, they will be exposed to it. It's how they react and look at what they see. But, I don't have kids :-p.