because the minority cannot hold hostage the majority by using rare exceptions. and because we cannot read context. and because being warned is hardly brining down the guillotine.
1st time is a warning. 2nd time is a 15 minute mute. 3rd time is a kick. seems pretty lenient. so the first time you use a word and realize "ooh, i see why i can't say $*&^)%" then nothing bad has happened and now you know. again, hardly a guillotine.
Because in this site, froggybusiness, there aren't only adults. We have children from 12 years old up reading those abusive words. You know what will happen! They ban one for swearing for 30 mins for this reason. It helps the teenagers here...
you've got to be kidding, froggybusiness. unless you're over 60 or a cat-species enthusiast, then you don't use that word in any other context other than the offensive one. and that word wasn't on the list until people started really abusing it.
I honestly think using these words takes away their punch. "Damn" used to be a bad word, now it's in PG movies. The words we consider bad are seeping into common use. People don't need any specific words to get an awful message across, so trying to get people to stop saying a few specific ones is entirely futile. Better to go with the flow and just reach a point where people know the words exist, and choose not to use them.
Really, I grew up around what lots of people would consider "bad words", and I'm not a total cretin. The way I grew up, I was aware of these "bad words" from an early age, and I just generally don't choose to use them. Meanwhile, the people I knew who grew up in sheltered homes where they weren't allowed to see R rated movies and were told swears were a huge deal, have invariably turned out to be socially naive weirdos. Parents, you want that for your kids? Go for it.
While I'm not saying that you should purposely jade your kids from an early age à la Brave New World, they WILL find out about these things eventually, and it will never be pretty. Better to let them discover these things "naturally", whatever you consider that to be. Trust me when I say that I've seen from firsthand experience people wreck childrens' lives by smothering them.
Now, I understand why Erik is enforcing this. It's just business. He might even agree with me. Clearly, these kids are going to learn bad words. But from his perspective, the bad parents who try to blame their own failings on a profanity their innocent cherub saw on teh intrat00bz will blame the place the profanity came from. So why should it have to be his site over another?
Erik-- out of curiosity, what's the policy on phrases that are composed entirely of ordinary words, yet have hilarious/disgusting meanings?
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ham+doctor
So what happens with these...ham doctors?
there are agreed-upon social norms around language. if you'd like to campaign to change those, you can do that somewhere. petition the FCC here: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/obscene.html
a line needs to be drawn somewhere, and since this is my website, i guess i make the rules. and those rules include not using vulgar, crass, offensive, or profane words.
from the FCC website:
"The FCC has defined profanity as “including language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance.”
Like indecency, profane speech is prohibited on broadcast radio and television between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m."
if you don't know what those words are and english is not your native language, i urge you to google for a list of vulgar/profane words. if english IS your native language and you don't know that these words are offensive, i invite you to ask your parents about why they chose to raise you the way they did.
Well, Erik, even the name of our species was considered vulgar in Live Chess. That's right, homo sapiens got censored. I presume homogeneous and other words with the prefix homo are also censored. When you can't even have a scientific conversation in Live Chess, you know the filters are bad. I realize that some call others "homos" as insults but this makes no sense. Censoring such words reinforces their misuse and is probably more offensive to homosexuals than the words themselves could ever be. Moreover, censoring such a broad word impedes conversation- which proves that it should never have been censored in the first place.
There are only a handful of words that are truly profane. Everything else is sillyness from oversensitive people. For example, the word the original poster used is completely inoffensive. In making chess.com a family friendly site, please don't alienate adults.
there are agreed-upon social norms around language. if you'd like to campaign to change those, you can do that somewhere. petition the FCC here: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/obscene.html
a line needs to be drawn somewhere, and since this is my website, i guess i make the rules. and those rules include not using vulgar, crass, offensive, or profane words.
from the FCC website:
"The FCC has defined profanity as “including language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance.”
Like indecency, profane speech is prohibited on broadcast radio and television between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m."
if you don't know what those words are and english is not your native language, i urge you to google for a list of vulgar/profane words. if english IS your native language and you don't know that these words are offensive, i invite you to ask your parents about why they chose to raise you the way they did.
The last paragraph is an infantile attempt to smear those who disagree with you. Instead of addressing their arguments, you snidely attack their family. Is that the way your parent's brought you up?
Thank you for stating that the FCC broadcast standard is the standard you intend to apply. Players who research this attentively will notice that the FCC ffailed to punish the publishers of Chicago Hope for broadcasting the word in question, so that could be considered precedent that it does not fall within the proscription.
my parents raised me to not use foul language, to use humor to diffuse confrontational situations, and to stand up for what i believe in.
it was a tongue-in-cheek jab at those who claim to not understand the cultural norms around appropriate language. if you know the words "infantile" and "snide", then i'm pretty sure you know that there are words that are generally not appropriate for elementary schools, day-time television shows, and family-friendly websites.
and yes, trying to make me feel like i'm a backwards clown for maintaining well-established rules for decent language on my own website bugs me a little. so i use non-crass hopefully-humorous attempts to make my position known. :)
zing... hehe
This a family site. It amazes me that some people are shocked when they use certain words and are banned for it, whether the words are seemingly ok in the context they are being used for or not. Use common sense. The "freedom of speech" issue has been brought up before. But this is not a public place, it is a club that everyone joined. The club has rules. If people don't like the rules, then you either don't join or you leave. f you were to start a club & make up the rules, then people would have to abide by your rules, wouldn't they? They obviously want Chess.com to become a huge global site for all ages, not just adults. So we have to all watch our language, the words we use, and talk as if you were in church, or talking to your parents, or children. It really is simple isn't it?
This a family site. It amazes me that some people are shocked when they use certain words and are banned for it, whether the words are seemingly ok in the context they are being used for or not. Use common sense. The "freedom of speech" issue has been brought up before. But this is not a public place, it is a club that everyone joined. The club has rules. If people don't like the rules, then you either don't join or you leave. f you were to start a club & make up the rules, then people would have to abide by your rules, wouldn't they? They obviously want Chess.com to become a huge global site for all ages, not just adults. So we have to all watch our language, the words we use, and talk as if you were in church, or talking to your parents, or children. It really is simple isn't it?
Yes it is, for us sweet, innocent, loving, caring people out there around the world. But it would be difficult for those who spout vulgarities or "bad words" every minute, so I agree with you that if they don't like the rules, they might as well leave the site.
Out of sight, out of mind.
.... so is there a public list of these words so that I can avoid future bans? :)
i'm not sure that that would be highly appropriate.
This a family site. It amazes me that some people are shocked when they use certain words and are banned for it, whether the words are seemingly ok in the context they are being used for or not. Use common sense. The "freedom of speech" issue has been brought up before. But this is not a public place, it is a club that everyone joined. The club has rules. If people don't like the rules, then you either don't join or you leave. f you were to start a club & make up the rules, then people would have to abide by your rules, wouldn't they? They obviously want Chess.com to become a huge global site for all ages, not just adults. So we have to all watch our language, the words we use, and talk as if you were in church, or talking to your parents, or children. It really is simple isn't it?
Erik - You have my full support.
Yes. It really is simple. I'm guessing that a few on this site are just trying to be clever with what is or is not appropriate language for a family site. As a teacher of 25 years, I can say without a doubt that Erik is doing what he needs to do.
You wouldn't like my language filter at all. It would be far stronger than the one in use currently. I'm held to an extremely high standard as a teacher when working with elementary students and could easily lose my license to teach if I say something, well, that's deemed inappropriate. A teacher friend of mine just got fired last week over what we are discussing right now. It truly is a serious matter. I would probably need to add another one hundred "inappropriate" words to the live chess filter.
BTW - I'm not saying that those who use "bad" words are bad people. I have a few choice words of my own, but I never, never use them with my teacher's hat on. It's just that simple. This is the best chess site in the world. Let's not ruin it. Bringing more children into the game will grow the sport It's also a wonderful activity for young minds. Please, let's keep this site safe for them. Thank you. 
possibly setting a ban is ineffective as people can then just create a new account. another idea is to create certain chat channels with different restrictions as to what we can say.
I dont see what the big deal is... a warning and a 15 minute mute will hopefully be enough for you to learn that swearing is discouraged here. However, all that is needed to keep someone from swearing is a mute, so I'm unsure as to why a ban would be needed (other than to 'teach a lesson').
If you want to swear, say it out loud to your computer! Nobody is forcing you to type it out.
There should probably be a 'report conversation' option for users using completely normal words in a sentence to form an inappropriate meaning.
As for context, it is simply a flaw in the filtering system. How many times are you really going to be referring to a female dog versus the swear word? I would generally say that the benefits outweigh the disadvantages.
Chess is a game of silence and cogitation can't everyone simply play in silence?
Why not just prevent the ban and say that we played "bad"..."horrible"...or some other word. Personally im glad Erik and thr guys are cracking down on the language. This is afterall a family site, and people need to keep that in mind.
That would have been a great idea. I, however, did not know that the word was prohibited, so is there a public list of these words so that I can avoid future bans? :)
Come on...really??? You need a list of words that you can and cannot use here?
Just remember that this is a family site. If its a word you wouldnt say in front of a child then dont say it here.
Why not just prevent the ban and say that we played "bad"..."horrible"...or some other word. Personally im glad Erik and thr guys are cracking down on the language. This is afterall a family site, and people need to keep that in mind.
Don't people in families s**t? How many English speaking children don't know that word already (and use when their parents are out of earshot)? Unless there's a list of unacceptable words published then I think the ban is grossly unfair. The word "s**t" is not abusive language, it is just mildly vulgar. How can it be "abusive language" when applied to the speaker's own play?
Common Sense....has it realy gotten to the point where people think its ok not to use????
And now some need a list of words that lets them know what its acceptable and what is not acceptable???
there are agreed-upon social norms around language. if you'd like to campaign to change those, you can do that somewhere. petition the FCC here: http://www.fcc.gov/cgb/consumerfacts/obscene.html
a line needs to be drawn somewhere, and since this is my website, i guess i make the rules. and those rules include not using vulgar, crass, offensive, or profane words.
from the FCC website:
"The FCC has defined profanity as “including language so grossly offensive to members of the public who actually hear it as to amount to a nuisance.”
Like indecency, profane speech is prohibited on broadcast radio and television between the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m."
if you don't know what those words are and english is not your native language, i urge you to google for a list of vulgar/profane words. if english IS your native language and you don't know that these words are offensive, i invite you to ask your parents about why they chose to raise you the way they did.
The last paragraph is an infantile attempt to smear those who disagree with you. Instead of addressing their arguments, you snidely attack their family. Is that the way your parent's brought you up?
Thank you for stating that the FCC broadcast standard is the standard you intend to apply. Players who research this attentively will notice that the FCC ffailed to punish the publishers of Chicago Hope for broadcasting the word in question, so that could be considered precedent that it does not fall within the proscription.
If you truely feel that cussiing front of children, and women is acceptable then i honestly feel sorry for you and am sorry for how you were raised. And no i am not attacking you or your parents. Obviously somewhere in your life you were taught that its ok not to be respectful towards others, and that its all about you and what you want.
And now some need a list of words that lets them know what its acceptable and what is not acceptable???
To be fair, some people are not native English speakers and so have no way of telling which words we consider usable in everyday conversation.
Those whose first language is English, however, have no excuse.
Being from the USA, I find the ban offensive. If there is not some kind of list or warning about the use of particular language than the ban is an ex-post-facto punishment. How can we punish someone if they are unaware that the will be punished. What has been done is that after the fact someone has determined that there was an offense and then punished the individual. That is not how we should conduct ourselves.
Hmm.. Just a thought... If noone ever sweares, how would the kids learn what swear-words they are not aloud to use? 
Correction:
The offensive language is the issue, but it is these border line words that make it hard. You get muted for 30 mins for something that is as you said for over 60's and cat enthusiasts completely acceptable, and in most other forms of society in the right context. Why bring down the guillotine for a minor infraction?