I'm sure this was already discussed to death shortly after this site was made, but I wasn't here then, I like it here, and I'm tossing in my tuppence. Writing, more often than not, is about life. People curse in the real world. Writing, always, is about language, and the fact that one can infer from the context what a writer was trying to say does not mean it's the same as printing the actual word. Yeah, there are usually better ways to confer a strong meaning or emotion to a reader than with strong language, but not all the time. "****" isn't the same as the word the author originally intended to post there. This is true in poetry, this is true in dramatic dialogue, this is true in a bloody knock-knock joke. If I want my character to say **** or ****, or to tell another character to go **** a ***** until it ****** all over his ******* *** like a ***** ***** ********** *** **** ***** inside a goat's mouth or something, then by golly, I should be allowed to do so. Thank you for your time.
No. This is a family site. Some of our members are fairly young, and it would be irresponsible to have no censorship at all due to that. Personally, I'm of the opinion that if you can't think of a different word to use, you aren't thinking hard enough. And besides, it's not like we can't figure out what the stars mean when viewed in context. This is just a fuss about nothing really.
I have to agree with Banzai. While I don't mind looking at it, it's not appropriate for people 13 and under and there are quite a few members here who fall under that category. However, possibly an over 16's or over 18's forum could be implemented in the boards to allow for more adult writing. I'll suggest it to the mod team
Well what about an optional profanity filter, like they have on message boards & stuff? That way those young members, who are already being so responsible by not viewing the filth they could easily be viewing in addition to their time spent on this site, can leave it on, while we who wholly disagree with the statement can turn it off?
The guidelines in the posts are reasonably firm about what they allow in cursing. I'm happy with it it's not like we can't tell what f*** is and what not I think. There are most certainly a lot of younger writers here and I think that's great lets keep them here so they can learn the art of writing
The filter is there for a reason. I understand about the cursing in novels and such. I use curse words myself. But the thing is- it can get out of hand and it does become distasteful. I mean, if someone doesn't like someone or a flame ware erupts, then you can imagine the curse words and what it will look like to someone young and new joining the site. Ok, I'm not dumb, young guys and gals swear probably worse than their parents- some do anyways, and I curse like a sailer sometimes,but the thing is, I think if profanity is allowed then it becomes distateful and I think the site's 'look and feel' will be degraded. The place is a fantastic site and if I have kids, I'd more than likely let them on here, but if I see open curse words then I wouldn't let my kids on here. As Banzai said- it's a family place. Also, I probably wont read many books with over usage of profanity. It looks lame and if over-used then it looks like the author is a try hard. But if the Mod team and LP spider agree to a mature section, (to which I will be shocked! ) I would back the idea. ~Doz
c'mon, how could anyone enforce an 'adult' section???... no one knows how old anyone is, unless they want to tell us... and anyone can pretend to be any age... so, how in the bleep could you make sure only over-18s look at what's in the 'adult' section?...
I agree that cursing has its place in story line. Forest Gump mfolks. Lt. Dan just isn't Lieutenant Dan without language. Apom from Aliens just isn't himself without language and lets not forget AJ Johnson colorful metaphors. Strong language has its place but I hate when people jsut throw it in for the sake of throwing it in. In that sense its pointless because it serves no purpose. Language is like everything else in writing. Either it promotes the storyline or the character's or its simply a waste of space. That being said I agree that this is a family friendly site as it should be and that it is perfectly fair to censor language from the stories. Its not that big a deal anyway. Language is easily edited before posting and in context anyone can find out what your infering.
I personally feel disgusted at the sight of profanity, and like it has been said, this is a family site not an adult site only. I think I like it the way it is. Because the other way round - I would probably leave.
And anyways- if you are complaining about the profanity filter because you want to have visible swear words rather than stars, then why come here? I'm sure there are more adult orientated writing sites that don't mind the language. And like Lord said: And if you want a Johny 'I like goats' to do something like that to an animal- then I don't think that sort of thing that I, and I'm fairly certain, quite a lot of other members here want to read. Profanity is alright, but yeah, if you're using language just because you can, then there's no point. Push yourself and find other ways to write the scene. I don't mind the odd swearword in novels. Some Characters suit it but I get irritated when it's over used. I think by the forth ****ing **** something, I get the point.
Hah! That's brilliant, DOZ. Had me in hysterics. And in terms of this discussion, I think this thread is rather pointless. I'm sure there has already been one on this subject, and the stance on censorship is unlikely to change so long as this remains a family site. If you have real issue with it, Lpspider is the person to talk to.
I don't think anything else can be said on the issue. The mods and Daniel are discussing different options Thread closed.
This has been discussed to death before. The profanity filter doesn't prevent anyone from reading between the lines and making a good guess at the word that was removed. The tone is conveyed quite adequately, and certainly adequately for the purpose of reviewing the writing or presenting the piece for consideration in a contest. The filter, and the posting standards, are there so that all the members can read the site without being presented with words that are still considered offensive to a significant number of people. There are a lot of words that are NOT filtered, and all we ask is that they not be used excessively.
