Is there an exhaustive list of words that you're not allowed to use on the main boards on answerMug?
I'm curious because I was censored/warned about using the word "sh*thole", yet I see that the word "b!tch", (when not referring to an unaltered female dog), is allowed to stand.
The word "b****" is not allowed. If you see it, please use the report button or send me a message. We can only moderate what we see and we are only human. Thank you to all users for their help in advance.
Profanity must be censored - however, it is acceptable to substitute asterisks or other symbols for some of the letters and leave the meaning obvious, provided that said words are not directed at another AM user in a derogatory manner. F**k, sh**, b*tch, a$$, b@$tard etc. M2c tends to censor all but the first letter in profanity when she comes across it and spell it with a line of asterisks (or deletes it altogether), then posts the deletion and the reason for it in the Mug Mods group. I'm a little more lenient, starring out a letter or two and sending a personal message to the poster. Whatever works.
We tried to do a list of words early on and had members help us create one. It was massive, kept growing, and had all kinds of things I never considered on it. There was the expected, variants of the expected, compound words, alternate spellings, and so on. What we basically learned from that is that a list isn't reasonable. People who are trying to watch their language aren't going to use the words and don't need a list, but crafty people hoping to bend the rules will use the list to try to bend the rules. It's a game I don't care to play.
Instead, we ask members to keep their language at about a PG-13 rating level. Yes, it's subjective, but if you've got that mindset, you'll rarely go wrong. If you think a word fits into a gray area, just don't use it. The reality is cursing isn't necessary in discussions an it isn't difficult for people to monitor themselves.
Additionally, we don't really treat curing like an "offense." Yes, we'd like you to have a certain amount of decorum, but it's not the end of the world if you slip up. When someone does curse (and even I'm guilty of it), it just gets edited and we let you know. Our letter to you isn't a "reprimand." It's more a courtesy. We let you know we've touched content you wrote, why we did it, and ask you to be more mindful in the future. That's it. Unless you're actually posting curse words habitually after we've spoken to you, in which case we can generally surmise you're doing it to get a rise out of the mods, nothing ever comes of it. We don't want to spend our time moderating cursing. Heck, we don't want to spend our time moderating at all, but something like that isn't treated anything like personal attacks or name-calling. We deal with cursing and move on.
As far as cursing being allowed, it's not. If it's allowed to stand, it's probably because we didn't see it. Equally, I have the mouth of a sailor. If I'm moving between a discussion with a friend or just coming out of an area of the site where I can curse, I'm far less attuned to the language being used. It's the nature of the beast. I'm human. There are times I see it and don't even remember I'm supposed to be moderating for it. It doesn't make the hairs on the back of my neck stand up like nastiness/ name-calling does. Members have caught me cursing in the main forum and have called me on it. If I'm not perfect, neither in terms of my own language or in terms of catching it every time, I don't expect others to be either. I give it my best effort. That's all I can do and it's all I can expect of others. If you happen to see inappropriate language being used somewhere, please hit the report button and I'll check it out.
We understand, JA, and we appreciate what you do. It's an adjectival XYZ expletive of an unprintable, illegal and highly improbable obscenity of a job you do, none of the rest of us want it and we're grateful.
Something many muggers may not have said to you recently ...