What is the impact of randomly censored words on TV?

[Moonbear]

Of course I was talking about people who use the words appropriately, not inappropriately. Nevertheless this does answer one of my questions. It IS the arrangement of the letters that is important not the meaning associated with that arrangement...

Affirming that it is the arrangement of letters that is important and answering my question about what is accomplished by censoring the word but not the meaning - nothing.

If someone already knows the meaning, they can figure out what is meant with one or two letters. If they are still naive, hearing something called the "B word" isn't going to give them much of a clue. I think we can agree that the value of the site content is NOT in learning profanity, but in learning science. There's no reason to risk having a child denied access to the site or have a filter block the site on their computer because of a few words their parents would like them to learn later rather than sooner.

I used mainstream media because I find it's always better be specious rather than general. The principle applies to society as a whole. These are topics that society feels should be left to the parents to introduce to their children.

When talking about mainstream media, I'm less convinced about the role of censoring, simply because words will be censored even when very violent scenes are not. Why is it perceived to be worse to hear a few choice words than to watch violence enacted? Given a choice between the two, I'd prefer the violence be limited and the words permitted.

Is there any difference between offending someone by using a prohibited word and offending someone without using a prohibited word? I assume either would get you banned. Why make the word the issue rather than the message?

Indeed, that's the case here.

 

[cristo]

Did you mean to say that the rules could be up for negotiation, or that they're non-negotiable even if overwhelming evidence is presented against them?

I meant what I said; namely that the existence of the PF profanity filter isn't up for negotiation. The filter is not only to stop the forum getting chaotic (whether or not there is evidence for or against this), but is to allow everyone access to the website. As Moonbear mentions below, the profanity filter prevents the site being blocked by either parental filters, or filters that schools put on their internet connection. We want PF to be available to everyone; the advantages of allowing people to swear are greatly outweighed by the disadvantages.

Anyhow, I'm a Wikipedia editor, and Wikipedia has a strict no-censorship policy.

Fortunately, wikipedia is not something we are trying to emulate here!