On Monday.
Following some of the profanity for personal attacks that happened in early June we've elected to turn on the profanity filter. It will *** words that are on the prohibited word list. I realize that profanity isn't always directed at people and thus might be permissible, however as new people(either on their own or by way of their employer/health plan provider) come to the site to look to determine if they want to join, they might be deterred with prevalent profanity. Certainly there is a lot of great PG/G content in the community but it would be hard not to judge a book by the cover if a very active conversation got chaotic and R rated. Having worked with online communities for many many years now, I know they do not survive without order.
This is a sponsored site so "freedom of speech" doesn't exactly reign here. Membership is always a priviledge and not a right on a sponsored site. We are fairly liberal in our thinking though.
Moderation and profanity filters are mostly unrelated. Things will go into moderation independently of profanity. Posts that appear as spam might also contain profanity but it isn't guaranteed. Profanity is simply *'d out. Spam moderation detects posts that have characteristics of likely being spam. Unfortunately a computer can't discern yet between a profanity used for a personal attack and profanity used for the purpose of venting. As such, all profanity on the "naughty word list" will be hidden regardless of context. The naughty word list contains a specified set of words. It's by no means all-inclusive and while many variants are listed, there are many that aren't included due to the character limit. I don't endorse intentionally bypassing the profanity filter with alternative spellings. In other communities they will actually ban you if you intentionally bypass the profanity filter with alternative spellings.
If you're looking to blow off some steam. We have Uncensored. Profanity can't be turned off just there and personal attacks are always prohibited but it might be a great place if you're looking to be more R rated.
The profanity list is just an initial list and may be modified over time to add or remove words.
MarilynH I didn't see a mention from you recently. I'm not on vacation and have been on the site. Friday, however, I will not be around as I'm moving. I don't typically post unless I have something worthwhile to add to the conversation. So you won't always see posts everyday from me.
Mark
EX Community Manager
EX Community Admin Team
