Re: Consideration for obscenity

Howdy!

The phrases "family-friendly" and "safe-for-work" are often used as bludgeons by people with a selfish agenda to bash people who have the temerity to openly disagree with them. Note well that I am not trying to tar you with that brush.

Having looked at that node in its context, it appears clear to me that it was an attempt a humor. George Carlin milked that word (and six others) for a lot of laughs in a famous routine. Perhaps your personal sensibilities are more tender than others. You considered the node, in accordance with your understanding of the guidelines, and that consideration was turned down by the expressed opinions of others. It happens. I hope the conversation you started sheds helps you understand how the end came to be.

I could see a node getting reaped for obscenity, but it would need to contain more "content" with a clear expression of obscenity. Merely using a word ought not necessarily make an expression obscene. Context is critical. Filters that focus on individual words throw too many false positives and false negatives.

yours,
Michael

Comment on Re: Consideration for obscenity

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Re^2: Consideration for obscenity by Herkum (Parson) on Feb 03, 2007 at 13:35 UTC
It is true some people will bludgeon others with anything they don't like. Some people will come from the opposite direction. They say something for no other reason than to try and shock someone also. As for the post itself, I have been on this site for almost a year and humor is rarely modded up. So I find it surprising that something that is can be considered offensive is kept because it was intended to be humorous.	[reply]
Re^3: Consideration for obscenity by Joost (Canon) on Feb 03, 2007 at 13:57 UTC
Some thoughts. I'm wondering. Were you (and the people who voted to delete the node in question) offended by that node or is it just that you think other people might be offended (or even damaged) by it? In other words, is it a case of offending your sensibilities or of "won't someone think of the children/my boss/my wife/the feds?" As noted by someone else here, "fuck" might be one of the "most offensive words" in the English language, but that doesn't mean much. Words by themselves are one barely expressions, and context is everything. I have a hard time believing any single word is so offensive it should be banned here regardless of context. See also the various posts in this thread that use the word "fuck". I also note that the guidelines say "highly offensive posting", not any offensive posting. In any case, we already have a system in place for censorship. It has been applied, and the node has been found "good enough" to keep. Appealing to the guidelines after the vote is probably not going to help. The consideration system is the usual mechanism to enforce the guidelines. That way the guidelines get interpreted by us monks on a per-node basis, which is a good thing, in my opinion. "What should it profit a man, if he should win a flame war, yet lose his cool?"	[reply]