It's not a matter of trying to fool anybody. There's a balance to be had between completely censoring and maintaining the integrity of someone's speech. Rather than take away entire threads and comments or leave people puzzled about what someone was trying to convey, words get bleeped out here. I suspect other people do it because they either don't understand the intent of the language guidelines, they see it elsewhere and go on autopilot (when in Rome), or they just don't care.
Nevin's attitude towards it is what I'd consider ideal. There's no need for a poster to use the words- they can say something else. Most of us do this with language in real life anyway. We don't curse around bosses, grandparents, kids, etc... We choose language appropriate for the audience and situation. The problem is that so many people don't realize (or don't care) that they've got the same kind of mixed audiences online too.
So what's the difference, between me say in go F*** yourself and the real thing. Is there any doubt in terms of what im saying? Do those **** really amount to anything?. It is not about the site either, we can take this to the blips on tv shows. Your response, as wordy as it was, doesn't really address the point. It is not about any of that, it's about what's the real purpose of the ***. Do they really suppress anything?
They are less offensive and set expectations for conduct. Your example would be an attack regardless, but in casual conversation, yes, the censorship is less offensive to many people.
Undecided on this one.. don't have any strong feelings either way.. for preference I would use *** if I had to and yes, I know that everyone knows what I mean if I were to type a work beginning with f and ending in k, with a few *** in between... I guess my only motive in that is that I know that that way is slightly less offensive to some people.. so where possible I would choose the path of trying to offend as few as possible
Is it really less offensive to you, if I use *** while referring to you or anything you say, as opposed to openly say your opinion is s***? Do you feel less offended?
I buy the "expectations for conduct"---sort of a practical demilitarized zone where the occasional unintended or unknowing incursion won't result in war breaking out again.
One the other hand, I once had a child psychology professor state that "The high point of a 2 year old's day is a good s**t"---a comment both on real life and the ability of a word to serve speech, rather than the other way around.
So it's the best of both worlds---a nod to the fact that the words generally are unnecessary and generally intolerable in everyday speech, but that they concepts they represent have real value.
In other words, the substitution of "**" for the letters understood allows an acknowledgment both of standards and the certain conveyance of a specific experience that certain unique words can provide.
I understand what you say but can't really see it. I think the *** are used to portray ourselves a little above someone who'd just flat out say the actual word. It's like something saying,"Gosh darn it, im freaking late". It means nothing. But I do concede that despite of it being exactly the same thing to me, I think less bad of the.guy that uses freaking that of the guy that says the actual word. Thanks for your response. Good one.
Benedict Arnold 