Kami, I understand that you are trying to do your best for Battle Forums but I dont agree with you on the swearing issue.
If you define swearing as what you will not say to your grandparents you automatically raise two questions:
a. Must Chit-Chat look like your grandparents living-room?
b. Many people's grandparents don't have a problem with most of the words that are cencored in BF.
The b. brings us to the issue of real world. Swearing is not *practically extinct* in the real world. Swearing is a reality in real word. Everybody does it. The difference is that the definition of swearing is not the same for all of us.
You can say that the general rule is the asterisks-system we use in BF. And there is a reason why we use it. Because we realize that no matter how much we wish to change the way other people behave according to what we think is right, people will always be what they are.
You have the right to believe that your age and your maturity put you in a position to say what is right and more enjoyable for people younger and less experienced than you. Or to decide whether someone is using his/her mind to it’s full potential. Everybody does it. It is called patronizing. But you dont have the right to force your opinion on others.
Personally I dont think Chit-Chat will be more enjoyable without the minor swearing, my grandparents never had a problem with words like a** and even though I am a couple (j/k
) of years older than you I dont think I am in a position to tell what is right and what is wrong for you or what is the best way to use your mind to it's full potential.
From what I read so far I understand that your opinion is that swearing promotes flaming. Yes. Sometimes it does. And sometimes people promote flaming without using a single swearing word.
As for the thread proposal, the issue of swearing was raised in the Arcane Sanctuary a couple of months ago, when Cobalt Wolf attempted to edit all of the offending words. We discussed it in AS and the vast majority thinks that what she did wasn't a very good idea. Since then we let people use their asterisks as long as they go on debating. We rarely see any serious flaming in AS.
I will repeat what I usually say: We are not here to judge or to tell people how to live their lives. We are here to help. Teenagers like to swear. Thank you very much. What is the big deal about it? Those who break the rules get baned. Those who prefer asterisks to arguments are not taken seriously. And all of us use the occasional f*** word either for literary purposes or because we just feel like it. Real world or not.
P.S. Battle Staff looks more and more like a philosphy forum, lately
