I think the word in question falls under the "offensive to conventional standards of decency" even if not "especially by being sexually explicit".

There are certainly different levels of decency appropriate in different situations. The word in question certainly would be inappropriate in e.g. a job interview with a suit. Here at perlmonks things ought to be a little looser, but if there are genuine objections to a particular bit of looseness, even by one person, I think they ought to be heeded. (Though "heeded" may take the form of pointers to how to avoid seeing selected sigs.)

So, the interesting question here is not how this thread originated, but how situations like this should be resolved. Assume for a moment that the problem is not with a sig, but with an individual repeatedly using profanity in the bodies of nodes. I hear others recommending

  • discuss with the poster by /msg
  • if that doesn't work, bring up the problem publicly but without specific names

    Questions: Should publicly preferably be by chatterbox or meditation? Or is it up to the objector? What's the next step, assuming the public response validates the objection?

    Update: I retract all the theoretical question. I doubt such a problem would arise, and if and when it does, then will be soon enough to deal with it.

    In reply to Re: Re: Podmaster's Obscene Signature by ysth
    in thread Podmaster's Obscene Signature by princepawn

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