Censoring on MacOSX.com

[nkuvu]

xoot asked:
I mean, when I say ****, does it bother anyone?

Nope. I'm perfectly comfortable with stars.

Again I feel I have to point out that this is not a "freedom" issue. It's Admin's choice.

[dricci]

Yeah, is this a community of mature (mostly) Mac users, or is this sixth grade recess? Are we going to snicker whenever someone says "****" or "sex" and then have to stand in the corner, or are we going to act grown up about it and ignore words that offend us?

If "touchy" words are banned, then I think the next step should be the bar and grill going, and any off topic discussion banished. Then we can all shave our heads and go to the auditorium and listen to the morning's briainwash speech.

[simX]

Originally posted by nkuvu

Nope. I'm perfectly comfortable with stars.

Again I feel I have to point out that this is not a "freedom" issue. It's Admin's choice.

I know this is Admin's choice. But that doesn't make it right.

The word "s" "u" "c" "k" is not an offensive word in the least, and that's why it should not be censored.

Think about it this way. What if "tree" somehow became a synonym for the word "excrement", but was meant in an offensive meaning. But then the word lost its offensive meaning because of its wide usage. Should the word "tree" still become censored because of the past usage of the word, even though everyone does not become offended by it now? Why should I be forced to use "very large plant" just because "tree" used to be an offensive word at some point?

The same is true for the word "s" "u" "c" "k" "s". IT HAS A LEGITIMATE USAGE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (as sithious pointed out), and although it may have been "offensive" at one point, it is not in the least offensive now. So it should not be censored 1) because it has a legitimate use and 2) because it is not offensive.

While it is not that big of a problem, it still is the suspension of a commonly used word, and I feel that I should be able to use that word here on the forums.

PLEASE NOTE that I am not saying that ALL words should NOT be censored. I agree that SOME words should be censored. But not the word "s" "u" "c" "k" and not the word "p" "i" "s" "s". These are not offensive words, and I have no idea why Admin chose to censor them and why he continues to when the point has been brought up. I take issue with the fact that he feels the need to make me change my vocabulary when it is a perfectly good word.

I do not want to leave MacOSX.com, but I do not feel that I want to be a member if ridiculous rules like this are imposed on me. Like dricci said, we are all mature users here and I think we can use these two words responsibly (if there's even a way to use them irresponsibly).

To further illustrate how ridiculous this is, I don't see anyone up in arms about me evading the censorship. I still have not seen one person responding in this thread that has been offended by seeing these two words that are being censored. EVEN ADMIN DID NOT MAKE A STINK ABOUT IT. So if we can all use it, why should the censorship be imposed?

[xoot]

Why did Admin start this?

[sithious]

Originally posted by xoot
Why did Admin start this?

god only knows, and he's not telling.

[xoot]

Use the force, sithious...

Read Admin's mind...

- Yoda

[edX]

I think this came about shortly after some idiot made his 1st post by repeating ***** (p e n i s in case that got censored) about a hundred times and then screaming that he should never have been allowed to do it, that it should have been censored. There was also enough leakage i guess from the few folks who participated in the cus thread (or so admin claims, i never saw it) that he closed it at the same time.

i'm still trying to bite my tongue on this for now as i have some awfully strong feelings about censorship and the whole concept makes me want to use a whold bunch of those censored words. I have expressed these views somewhat tactifully in the past and the short of it that i think that censorship is far more dangerous than any of the words that get censored. Flat out - admin is very wrong on this one.

that being said, it is his site and he can be as wrong as he wants to be. the question of whether we all want to find a new place to hang out is up to us, and i'll admit i am torn. i have had a few thoughts about doing so because the vast overrunning of posts by gibberrish spouting kiddies lately. The intelligencelevel of general conversation seems to have dropped about 20 IQ points in the last month. and i was also tempted to when the censorship went into place, just like my friend Simone who has never been one to use abusive language in my memory.

but frankly, admin has never been that much of this site. and until his recent slanders of democrats i had the utmost respect for him. In light of those cheap shots, this censorship action just looks like more right wing control of freedoms to me, the same kind of mentality that fueled the inquisition and book burnings - deciding what is too dangerous for others and taking on the patriarchical role of protecting them from themselves (a very republican kind of thing to do i have noticed). However, it is the people here that have always made this site a place i want to be. there are many i would hate to lose touch with. there are many people that i enjoy 'listening' to what they have to say.

As for this not being the US, you are wrong on that one nkuvu. The server and owner of it reside in the US, and therefore this site is subject to US law, to state law and to admin's local law. It is also protected by the bill of rights. However, admin has the option to set rules as he sees (within the law) as this is privately owned and not a public corporation.

I would simply beg of you admin, to let this board go back to taking care of itself. It worked wonderfully for a long time. and punishing the abusers with suspensions as you have done in the past makes more sense than starting down the road to lack of personal freedoms and lack of responsibility.

i would like to see Simone stay regardless of the outcome. I am sure i will unless this thread gets closed, in which case i will likely begin packing my browsers and either going back to my real life or finding a new forum as well. for it is one thing to censor objectionable words, and entirely another to censor intelligent discussions about censorship.

[AdmiralAK]

Time for the admiral to weigh in

ok here is how it stands and how *I* understand the whole matter

1) I dont like sensorship---- HOWEVER....
you have to consider several issues and facts:

a) The admin, for two years was REALLY linient on how the forums were run, threads were locked once in three blue moons, and there was no way of getting banned. -- This was cool and it allowed our community to thrive.

b) Sometime ago several people came, this was the wave of "hoolingan" immature types of kids that wanted to just come on here and jerk off and BS the boards. I wont name names, everyone knows who I am talking about.

c) These individuals, and a few others, *perverted* the cuss thread which was started in the first days of macosx.com, and created a monster out of something that was supposed to be lighthearted and humorous, to add insult to injury they used that thread as a means of postcount boosting.

d) Some of these individuals were reprimanded but brought back.

e) The language from teh cuss thread, no matter how playful and friends among the members, spilled over into other areas of the forum, and we all witnessed it, and this not only brings down the integrity of the boards, it also brings down OUR integrity as posters who post on this board, its not JUST the admin's reputation here, but ours as well.

f) Finally, these boards are not public, us posters, cannot set policy, the only person that can set policy is teh guy who pays the bills, and that is the admin. If you dont like the sensorship you dont have to stay. However, its not like he is sensoring words like democracy, free trade, and whatever, he is sensoring swear words. Our vocabulary is WAY bigger than S U C K, F U C K, and other such colorful words.

---------- further edits -----------
After reading Ed's comments I needed to reply. The admin did take cheap shots at democrats, I am not a democrat, nor a republican. however I am more conservative than liberal. I did not think that cheapshots were called for, however you cant judge someone *just* on that. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.


secondly when people cry ** sensor sensor** after a man utters p e n i s in his first post... what is there to do? Now that you have it you dont like it?

These boards have no clear cut rules, which other boards that I frequent have. If we had rules, we would have no need to sensor, however we could kick off members which repeatedly broke them, or broke them in their first x amount of posts. We need a few more mods on here perhaps to supervise the boards while the admin or the mods are away.

-----------------------------------------

just my 2 cents

Admiral