Yes, I’m aware I can curse on the internet - it’s not my first day here. I use the exact words I mean to use, and I’m more a fan of the precision F-strike than indiscriminately carpet-bombing the place with “fucks”. Stop word-policing me (and others).

Edited to add alt text.

Yeah, this went over about as well as expected. And the irony and hypocrisy of the free speech absolutists coming out of the woodwork to tell us all what we can and can’t say is not lost on me.

  • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.works
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    4 days ago

    No, fuck that.

    Either stop self-censoring or don’t structure your comments and sentences to use the word. This half-assed censoring is the lazy coward’s way out

  • LiveLM@lemmy.zip
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    I don’t care if people censor their swears, my problem is the word substitutions making whatever they’re saying nigh unreadable like “Unalive”, “grape”, “PDF file”.

  • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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    I suppose i don’t see the point.

    The reader knows what you censored either way, so by using the words and then censoring them you don’t achieve your implied preference for reducing vulgarity in communication (so it might be more impactful and irregular when applied) at all.

    Anyone who reads “forking shut” knows what you are writing there in reality. Kinda feels to me like putting on censored porn to make it family friendly, that’s not working. Either watch a family movie, or some actual porn in private.

    The only reasonable course of action would be to avoid vulgarity and those stand-ins for it completely in your communication.

    • otacon239@lemmy.world
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      I brought this up recently. Talking around a topic is still talking about it. If you want to have an adult conversation, use adult words. No one is requiring you to curse at all, but if you’re going to, treat the audience as the age you’re targeting.

    • Empricorn@feddit.nl
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      You’re missing the point. The fact you’re inferring that the writer is trying to “sneak a meaning past”, or “reduce vulgarity”, or “make it family friendly” is all assumptions.

      If someone wants to say…

      They want to. That’s it. Stop word-policing people…

      • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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        See my response down below. I dont police, I’m just saying there is a logical inconsistency here. You want to swear, then do. You dont like it, then don’t. Using censored swears accomplishes neither.

        • Empricorn@feddit.nl
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          It’s. Not. Censorship. I really can’t be any clearer than that. Censorship is when your intended words or ideas are suppressed. No matter how many downvotes OP receives, it changes nothing. All words are made up, and if you think they should use different made-up words, then yes you fucking are word-policing.

          • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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            Why are you putting words into my mouth? I never said or even suggested there is a government or so at play here suppressing ideas.

            There is just a logical inconsistency in the whole concept, and also in OPs reasoning, which for arguments sake i take offense with. In truth i, again, dont don’t really give a shit how he writes, or you for that matter.

    • Iced Raktajino@startrek.websiteOP
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      The reasoning is irrelevant. Those are the words the person is choosing to use, and no one is in any way negatively affected by it.

      • GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip
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        I mean, I’m not policing your words here, write how you want what do I care.

        But you brought up the reasoning yourself, and when I find it flawed your response is “I don’t need a reason”.

        • Ech@lemmy.ca
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          But you brought up the reasoning yourself

          Where? Their whole post is just “let people say what they want to say”. You’re the one trying to force them to justify it or fit your weird rubric.

          • Lumidaub@feddit.org
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            They did say they’re in favour of not “carpet bombing f-bombs” which does sound like they’d prefer less vulgarity and they censor any curse word in order to achieve that. see censoring curse words as a way to achieve that.

            Edit: clarity

            • Ech@lemmy.ca
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              Stating their personal preference isn’t a “reasoning”. Do you also think someone that wears a blue shirt is “reasoning” that everyone should wear blue shirts forever?

              • Lumidaub@feddit.org
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                They mentioned their preference in context of their thesis (“it’s perfectly fine to censor curse words”) so I can’t help but understand it as meant to support that thesis.

                • angrystego@lemmy.world
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                  I think it was more of an example of why someone would want to use censored curses without it having any wierd reasoning like religion or something. Just an illustration that censored curses are not necessarily evil. That’s an important context. But it’s just context, not the basis of the point. The point was: don’t tell people what words they should use, it’s not your business.

      • Vespair@lemmy.zip
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        Look man, you can say potato means underwear all you want, but if you start saying you’re wearing potato under your pants people are going to look at you weird. You are not the only party involved in communication, and thus your preferences are only part of the equation, and people will interpret and process your words based on conventions, not just your personal thoughts on the matter.

    • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
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      And the reason for that is that unalive only exists because of shit sites like YouTube that won’t allow basic language because oh my god won’t anyone think of the children!?

      • P1k1e@lemmy.world
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        Exactly, but it erks me that it has moved into irl interaction. Perhaps I’m just an old man, (I am) and I get that even speaking in public sometimes requires self censorship on the simple grounds that it’s polite, but using corporate approved verbage on every day conversation fills.me with rage and regret

  • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    Fuck that self-censorship bullshit.

    You can use expletives, or you can use words that aren’t expletives to express what you want to say. Both are valid choices.

    Using bowdlerized versions of expletives like a child trying to get away with “naughty” words or a YouTuber/TikToker trying to prevent being demonetized, though? That’s unnecessary to the point of obnoxiousness in an uncensored environment like Lemmy.

    • scintilla@beehaw.org
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      People’s fucking speech patterns are being affected by big brother and they are genuinely just ok with it. I don’t know how to explain to someone that changing the way you talk changes the way you think and you are letting corpos do that to you. AND THEN THEY GO AND DEFEND IT.

    • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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      That’s fine and all, but sometimes it’s funny to use good place style censorship, sometimes people want to keep their language appropriate for cleaner circumstances as they struggle with code switching, and sometimes people want to repost something they saw online without uncensoring it.

      Personally I don’t give a flying fuck, a hot damn, a fucking shit, or whatever other expletive one prefers to express indifference and I do hate the rise of advertiser friendly censorship, but also I don’t know if I’m more tired of the complaints about it and complaints about the word “slams” in news headlines, but both are about as certain as finding “first” in a 2010 comments section.

      • lowleekun@ani.social
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        If one wants to keep their cirumstances clean they can chose to not use the word fuck in any way at all. And if you are tired about people protesting censorship your future is gonna be really annoying.

        • macniel@feddit.org
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          If they don’t want to use those expletives we don’t have to take it in a censored way (our ears are not a toilet)

    • rigatti@lemmy.world
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      I guess I understand doing it around children, but I also think children swearing is hilarious, so…

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        Yeah, there’s nothing quite like the look on the face of a staunchly conservative bigot who’s just been called a racist cunt by a based 8yo kid 😄

      • snooggums@lemmy.world
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        Just use curse around children and explain how society handles curse words so they can learn.

    • Patch@feddit.uk
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      I probably swear less since having kids and use more non-swearing expletives (“flipping heck”, “crikey” etc.) in real life speech. Some of that inevitably bleeds into how I write online even though it’s not directed at kids, just because language is habit-forming.

      But I really, really hate the “f–k” thing. Either swear or don’t. Swearing like you’re trying to get one over on teacher is weird.

    • angrystego@lemmy.world
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      Are adults not allowed to be childish and to like cute things? The older I get the more strength I’m finding to stand by my own childishness.

      • Honytawk@feddit.nl
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        Sure, and the rest of us are allowed to find that fucking cringe.

  • KarlHungus42@lemmy.world
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    People can obviously say whatever they want, but my opinion is that substituting curse words makes people sound juvenile and the intent is still the same as the original word. You are still making people do a curse conversion in their heads. So why even bother? Kind of like people who won’t say goddamnit, but they’ll say gawldamnit or something like that. Do you think you’re fucking tricking god? There are plenty of other words that can be used for emphasis.

    • SkyezOpen@lemmy.world
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      OK but holy forking shirtballs was contextually hilarious and I will always respect a good place reference.

  • NuXCOM_90Percent@lemmy.zip
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    You’re more than welcome to say fork or frell or frack or feth or whatever you want. I LOVE a good “forking shirtballs”

    Just understand that if you start typing “f*ck” then people, self included, will assume you are a moron who thinks this is tiktok and you need to keep all your content monetized. Well, some of us are olds and will think you are a moron who doesn’t realize that gets you extra banned on gamefaqs. But most people will assume the tiktok and monetization thing.

    • bdot@lemmy.world
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      i have had it with these monkey-fighting snakes, on this Monday to Friday plane!!!

      • Ech@lemmy.ca
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        “You see what happens when you find a stranger in the Alps!”

          • snooggums@lemmy.world
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            TV edit lines do create some of the best comedic lines.

            Also the scene from Blazing Saddles where they are eating beans and just stand up and sit down silently for a few minutes because the censors banned fart noises.

  • Xtallll@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    The fucking problem with fucking self censorship, is it fucking often comes from people fucking compling with fucking corporate media fucking algorithmic censorship. Then internalizing the fucking limits of online spaces, it’s a fucking sinister infiltration of the human fucking mind, and is driving a fucking shift to the fucking alt-right. Also you can say fuck on the Internet.

    • Iced Raktajino@startrek.websiteOP
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      Also you can say fuck on the Internet.

      Gee, thanks. That’s totally good to know since it’s my first day here and all! 👍

      The … problem with … self censorship … is driving a fucking shift to the fucking alt-right

      Oh, the fuck it is. See? I wanted to use the word “fuck” that time, and I chose to - I don’t always, and that is my prerogative. Shouldn’t have to worry about self-un-censoring my style of speaking to keep a bunch of internet edgelords from getting their panties in a wad because I didn’t say the swear.

      • ExperimentalGuy@programming.dev
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        I’m just curious but is your post about saying fuck or shit or is it more about self censorship in terms of vocab made up by tiktok, like unalive or pewpew? I think there’s a lot of confusion about whether youre talking about normal cursewords or tiktok brain.

  • I_Has_A_Hat@lemmy.world
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    No, fuck that. Self censorship is shit that has been pushed by companies to sanitize the internet to make websites more appealing to advertisers. It’s how we get people “unaliving” themselves with “pew pews” because people are now too fucking chickenshit to just write what they mean.

    If you want to fucking swear, then fucking swear. If you don’t want to, then don’t fucking use some bitch-ass substitute.

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    Our problem is not with the way people want to say things—its the necessity to do so due to censorship by corporations in an effort to cleanse everything for advertisers.

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    Ok yea I’m sometimes guilty of this, but in a more joking kinda way usually

    Except when you’re posting someone else’s content that the creator clearly intended to have a cussword, e.g. a comic, and either you or where you got it from censored it for “the algorithm”. That shit is annoying AF