# Do you thinking profanity should be allowed on the forums?



## tumut (Aug 21, 2019)

Personally i think it absolutely should be. I know its a "childrens forum" but i feel like the majority are teens, young adults, and up who are all exposed to it anyway.

I think if we can have mature discussions about mental health, politics, and gender we should be allowed to say **** without censors. Im curious what the rest of the forum thinks tho. I think that this site isnt really a childrens forum and shouldnt be treated as such.


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## cornimer (Aug 21, 2019)

Nah I don't think so. Given the nature of the forum there WILL be children on here and I know people that joined when they were very young. Even if the majority of the userbase is older, we shouldn't make children feel uncomfortable - I know that I for one felt very unsafe and unwelcome when I saw profanity used online as a kid. Also I just don't see why it is necessary, people could just.....not swear. There's no reason why you NEED to swear in my opinion, just keep it friendly.


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## MasterM64 (Aug 21, 2019)

Even though Animal Crossing appeals to younger gamers, it also has a huge following among older and young adult gamers due to many of them playing the original GameCube AC and Wild World. Thinking in context of TBT, the majority of the community's population is very late teens and early 20s. Due to that, I think the rules should be more catered towards the majority. Additionally, you technically and legally have to be 13 to register on here (because of the Children's Online Protection Act) and I can assure you that most 13+ year olds have heard the entire book of profanity. To me, there is a huge difference between allowing profanity and allowing pornography (which to me does not belong clearly) on here for example.


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## SherlockLina (Aug 21, 2019)

Dude im only 13, and i dont like curse words one bit no way no how nopity nope nope nope

- - - Post Merge - - -

And no, idk and idwk what profannyti is! I agree with vampnessa!


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## Wildtown (Aug 21, 2019)

SherlockLina said:


> Dude im only 13, and i dont like curse words one bit no way no how nopity nope nope nope
> 
> - - - Post Merge - - -
> 
> And no, idk and idwk what profannyti is! I agree with vampnessa!



profanity means curse words...i more or less would rather this stay a kid friendly forum


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## SherlockLina (Aug 21, 2019)

Good bc me too... Nh is gonna draw in younger crowds!!!


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## That Marshal Fangirl (Aug 21, 2019)

Not really, no.  Even though there are lots of older people on here, there are also young children who deserve an environment that's friendly towards their age group as well.  I'm by no means someone who avoids swearing, but I have no problem refraining for the good of the younger community as well as for people who are offended by it in general.


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## SherlockLina (Aug 21, 2019)

I likes the age limit tho, i joined right after i turned thirteen!!! It shows there is some safety for young childrens

- - - Post Merge - - -

Now that i say it, i mightve put my birth wrong... I put 2005 instead of 2006 may six LOL


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## Halloqueen (Aug 21, 2019)

I'm indifferent. 

While the points of the forum population's age range and rule about needing to be 13 to register have been brought up already, changing it at this point seems unnecessary. Even if it's not strictly a children's forum per se, I feel that Vampnessa and ThatOneMarshalFangirl have the right of it when they say that swearing isn't actually necessary in the first place. Additionally, anyone familiar with swearing will be able to discern whatever the person was intending to say even with the censor. All that said, it does seem silly to try to protect the youth from words they'll almost definitely hear on the playground or from adults anyway. Society makes a bigger deal of it than it ought to be.

If it changed, I'd be fine with it. If it doesn't, and it very likely won't, I'm also fine with that.


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## xSuperMario64x (Aug 21, 2019)

Eh I think we get out point across good enough by saying **** like ****. No need to uncensor the word. Everyone knows what we mean when we bleep out a word.


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## Dim (Aug 21, 2019)

Aren't people ages 12 or under not allowed here? :/


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## xSuperMario64x (Aug 21, 2019)

Nox said:


> Aren't people ages 12 or under not allowed here? :/



That is a true statement sir. Legally children under 13 can't sign up for an online website.


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## HistoryH22 (Aug 21, 2019)

As much as I love a good swear, no, I don't believe profanity should be allowed on the forums. As others have mentioned, the games target audience is on the younger side. I have no issue filtering myself.


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## Dim (Aug 21, 2019)

xSuperMario64x said:


> That is a true statement sir. Legally children under 13 can't sign up for an online website.


looool not gonna lie, I was 10-11ish when I first signed up for a gaming forum 

Ehhh, maybe 13-15 may still be a bit on the young side for strong words


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## xSuperMario64x (Aug 21, 2019)

Nox said:


> looool not gonna lie, I was 10-11ish when I first signed up for a gaming forum



Well I was 12 when I joined this forum, but I didn't get banned because I was largely inactive until around 2015.


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## seliph (Aug 21, 2019)

tumut said:


> I think if we can have mature discussions about mental health, politics, and gender we should be allowed to say **** without censors.



this is such an obvious joke thread but like you have a bit of a point there, i haven't been here in a while but there are some topics (like abortion that just loves to constantly pop up for some reason???) that honestly shouldn't be discussed in this environment lol


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## xSuperMario64x (Aug 21, 2019)

gyro said:


> i haven't been here in a while but there are some topics (like abortion that just loves to constantly pop up for some reason???) that honestly shouldn't be discussed in this environment lol



Yeah, the presence of topics like abortion confuse me here. Why in the world would someone go onto an Animal Crossing forum to discuss these problems? Is there literally no better place in the known universe to discuss them?


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## Mars Adept (Aug 21, 2019)

Yes and no. I?d be fine with the less vulgar swears used in small amounts(like the true form of ?crud? or ?heck?), but otherwise I think the site is fine as is, and doesn?t need unnecessary cussing.


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## cornimer (Aug 21, 2019)

Nox said:


> looool not gonna lie, I was 10-11ish when I first signed up for a gaming forum
> 
> Ehhh, maybe 13-15 may still be a bit on the young side for strong words



I joined my first game forum when I was 9 which definitely contributes to my opinion about swear words (not) being allowed haha


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## LambdaDelta (Aug 21, 2019)

I don't ****ing care, even though it occasionally causes things to get filtered that otherwise shouldn't be and seems off in areas

at least it just filters the word and not removes it completely, like discord


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## rhinoo (Aug 22, 2019)

i dont care about it here, but in the discord?


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## Alolan_Apples (Aug 22, 2019)

xSuperMario64x said:


> That is a true statement sir. Legally children under 13 can't sign up for an online website.



That may be true, but they could be reading these forums without being logged in. If they see a bad word, the site will be responsible for not censoring words.

- - - Post Merge - - -



xSuperMario64x said:


> Yeah, the presence of topics like abortion confuse me here. Why in the world would someone go onto an Animal Crossing forum to discuss these problems? Is there literally no better place in the known universe to discuss them?



I feel guilty for tainting an innocent Animal Crossing site by talking about politics on this site (including my blog). But on the bright side, the mods and admins do not shut you down from expressing your beliefs. Facebook is doing it, Twitter is doing it, and even Pinterest is doing it (in fact, Pinterest doesn?t even want people accusing them of doing it). The Bell Tree only closes threads that get out of control.


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## AnimalCrossingPerson (Aug 22, 2019)

[I've retracted my comment on this]


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## dedenne (Aug 22, 2019)

i for one wouldnt care if they were uncensored but there are some people who dont like profanity and feel uncomfortable around it so i think its best if it stays censored


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## Hat' (Aug 22, 2019)

I don't really care but I'd say know! I'm known for cursing a lot so being on there actually forces me to talk without cursing which is great hehe!


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## deSPIRIA (Aug 22, 2019)

yeah, most 13 year olds are okay with it and the forum has that age limit anyway but i guess you cant please all 13 year olds and some might still have nosey parents

i should have mentioned that this is more of a personal preference and realistically it probably shouldnt happen


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## Chris (Aug 22, 2019)

Aside from the obvious reasons (eg creating a more hostile atmosphere and the high likelihood of being used aggressively)  uncensored curse words can unfortunately trigger some parental blocks which could prevent some of our younger users from being able to navigate the forum properly.


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## hzl (Aug 22, 2019)

no I don't think so. We can have discussions without the need for profanity. Despite swearing like a sailor in RL I rarely if at all use profanity on forums or online and I'm conscious of this due to the nature of AC in general attracting a younger audience


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## 2kimi2furious (Aug 22, 2019)

As a person who swears like a sailor irl, I kind of like that it is censored here. It keeps me in a positive mood and feels like a breath of fresh air. Really fits the mood of these games.


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## Ossiran (Aug 22, 2019)

Given the theme of the boards, profanity is really unneeded, in my opinion. If you wanted to disable it in a couple if possible, that'd be one thing, but as a whole it's not needed.


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## sarahac (Aug 22, 2019)

honestly? i think it should be left as is. it's kinda the best of both worlds. if you wanna swear,  censor it. it still gets your point across, people get what you mean. if you're too young to be exposed to that kind of thing, or youre just not into that, you dont have to see any of it! that way,  everyone's happy


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## SensaiGallade (Aug 22, 2019)

Profanity is already censored, so I do think its fine as it is. That doesn't mean though you swear the house down so excessively. 

Adding onto that though, us older members also have a responsibility to set an example of how to behave when we are using the forums so we don't have a negative influence on younger members, because we're gonna be hit with a lot of new members closers to New Horizons release.


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## Alolan_Apples (Aug 22, 2019)

How about we change the swear filter to where if someone cusses, it is changed to a vegetable rather than asterisks. Even if the filters change bad words to asterisks, we still know what they’re trying to say. But I don’t know what they’re trying to say if they are vegetables.

Remember when we couldn’t say “Halloween” because every time we say it, the filters change it to Christmas?


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## Lavamaize (Aug 22, 2019)

I say no profanity. The Bell Tree is a positive environment and allowing profanity may alter that and make it become less appealing to some.


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## oath2order (Aug 22, 2019)

Alolan_Apples said:


> How about we change the swear filter to where if someone cusses, it is changed to a vegetable rather than asterisks. Even if the filters change bad words to asterisks, we still know what they’re trying to say. But I don’t know what they’re trying to say if they are vegetables.
> 
> Remember when we couldn’t say “Halloween” because every time we say it, the filters change it to Christmas?



So basically do what RuneScape did in the old days, swears got changed to "cabbage".


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## Antonio (Aug 22, 2019)

IMO, we can already curse on the forums. It's just...censored. 

Censoring profanity feels like a comprise between not censoring it and out-right banning curse words in terms of removing the post with cursed words. Yes, it filters out the word but the mature members of the website can still understand what the cursed word is based on the context.


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## oath2order (Aug 22, 2019)

Antonio said:


> IMO, we can already curse on the forums. It's just...censored.
> 
> Censoring profanity feels like a comprise between not censoring it and out-right banning curse words in terms of removing the post with cursed words. Yes, it filters out the word but the mature members of the website can still understand what the cursed word is based on the context.



Yeah, the asterisks are fine as is, nothing needs to change here.


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## xSuperMario64x (Aug 22, 2019)

Alolan_Apples said:


> How about we change the swear filter to where if someone cusses, it is changed to a vegetable rather than asterisks. Even if the filters change bad words to asterisks, we still know what they’re trying to say. But I don’t know what they’re trying to say if they are vegetables.



What the cucumber do you think you're doing you stupid tomato???


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## That Marshal Fangirl (Aug 22, 2019)

xSuperMario64x said:


> What the cucumber do you think you're doing you stupid tomato???



You heard what the asparagus I said, you cauliflower pea pod.


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## Alolan_Apples (Aug 22, 2019)

Whether or not these bad words need to be censored, people shouldn’t cuss anyway. It’s a bad habit in general. We shouldn’t even use the dolphin noise as a cuss word here.


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## xSuperMario64x (Aug 22, 2019)

Alolan_Apples said:


> Whether or not these bad words need to be censored, people shouldn’t cuss anyway. It’s a bad habit in general.



I wish you would have told me this when my friend and I were swearing constantly while playing Mario Kart Wii about seven years ago lmao

But seriously, I kinda agree. In person I never swear around others unless they're my really close friends (basically you can consider my swears like an eternal friendship bond lol).


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## Stella-Io (Aug 22, 2019)

Nope. The occasional crap or damn is okay, esp if posted in the venting thread, but I would say keep curse words out of it as much as possible, even self censoring. I believe somewhere in the rules even states to avoid self censoring. Yes while majority of people who use these forums (WHO VOTED) are in the young teen-young adult range, the simple fact is children do use these forums. We don't need to expose them to extreme cursing, or even if they know the word, need to promote that kind of stuff. This is supposed to be a positive place, cursing has no place for that.


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## N e s s (Aug 22, 2019)

No, if swores were allowed then the soccer moms would unionize


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## Bread Kennedys (Aug 22, 2019)

I'm very indifferent. If swearing did become allowed, then **** yes. If not, ah well. We've gone this long without swearing being allowed, and even then you can just use asterisks and most people will understand the message you're trying to convey. At the same time, OP also does bring up a good point about how it's kinda ridiculous how we can have "mature" discussions about serious political matters that kids shouldn't really be discussing (like abortion) and yet those are allowed but swearing isn't, so I dunno. Again, I'm quite indifferent, regardless of what were to happen though it wouldn't change my opinion on the forums here or the staff.


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## jacex (Aug 23, 2019)

I do curse irl, but, no. You wanna curse, you can censor it. It's really not that big of a deal to keep it censored, honestly


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## tumut (Aug 23, 2019)

Vrisnem said:


> Aside from the obvious reasons (eg creating a more hostile atmosphere and the high likelihood of being used aggressively)  uncensored curse words can unfortunately trigger some parental blocks which could prevent some of our younger users from being able to navigate the forum properly.



Makes a lot more sense now. But the 13+ age requirement and censor seemed contradictory at first considering kids be playing roblox and doing vampire furry RPs at 13.


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## Twiggy_Star (Aug 23, 2019)

I don't think swearing should ever be on any forums about kid friendly games. If think swearing should atleast be in private message and in places where it is impossible to go to without an account. I hate swearing


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## Alienfish (Aug 23, 2019)

Twiggy_Star said:


> I don't think swearing should ever be on any forums about kid friendly games. If think swearing should atleast be in private message and in places where it is impossible to go to without an account. I hate swearing



Well it is PG-13 iirc and I've seen sites being more allowing but that's not me to decide. They could exclude some words and add some new so you don't get banned for English not being your first language or using a word in an innocent context (that's what happened to me some years ago) and make it more equal what you ban for as for words etc.

As long it's not slurs like n-word and lgbtq+ slurs and such idc i guess?


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## dumplen (Aug 23, 2019)

I'm comfortable that I can express a point without needing to swear.....


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## Ably.Saucey (Aug 23, 2019)

No, if someone has no idea on how to express themselves using any of the 1,000's of other words the get the point across without cursing, they shouldn't be posting at all.


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## tumut (Aug 23, 2019)

Also i never realized so many people on this forum had the mentality of a suburban white soccer mom


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## YunaMoon (Aug 23, 2019)

I think there should be an 18+ section based on the entered age used when one signs up and profanity can be in there. Only viewable by those with access to that section. Other that that? No.


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## Ably.Saucey (Aug 23, 2019)

YunaMoon said:


> I think there should be an 18+ section based on the entered age used when one signs up and profanity can be in there. Only viewable by those with access to that section. Other that that? No.



The only problem being that almost everyone lies about their age on the internet, the only sure screening process would require a credit card , id or something of that nature.
And nobody wants to do that just to post on a forum.


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## LadyDestani (Aug 23, 2019)

I don't have a problem with profanity and I curse all the time myself, but I also filter myself in certain situations. Since there are or may be young people on this forum, I consider that a time to filter myself. While it really wouldn't bother me at all if it was allowed, it may offend others or keep younger people from being able to join due to their parents. Plus, I don't really think it's necessary.


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## Alienfish (Aug 24, 2019)

tumut said:


> Also i never realized so many people on this forum had the mentality of a suburban white soccer mom



lmaooo true though.

but yeah as i said the filtered ones and what's allowed is very vague since yeah i warned for using a word that is not really used in the bad way but whoever warned me thought and since idk it was apparently used mostly in the bad way in english it was a bit.. uh okay..tl;dr fix the filter and add a certain word i cant spell out.


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## Holla (Aug 24, 2019)

Honestly no. It just adds to the negativity and there’s already way too much of that on the internet to begin with.


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## TheRealWC (Aug 24, 2019)

I'm fine with censorship on cussing for what other people said: there are young children that use these boards. It'd be naive to think there are not people on the boards right now who lied about their age to join.

It'd also be naive to think that children aren't exposed to cussing on the Internet, nor that children cuss themselves. I can tell you that in middle school, I cussed like a sailor. I still do, but I'm able to get my point across on the Internet without vulgar language.

So while we can build a family-friendly atmosphere, that's not going to stop children from "experiencing" the Internet. Just look at some of the stuff that's posted on the subreddit. It's a stark contrast to what's posted here.


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## Alienfish (Aug 24, 2019)

TheRealWC said:


> It'd also be naive to think that children aren't exposed to cussing on the Internet, nor that children cuss themselves. I can tell you that in middle school, I cussed like a sailor. I still do, but I'm able to get my point across on the Internet without vulgar language.



^^^this this this. if one think you will be not be exposed these days.. think again.

also that word i'm pointing towards is not really bad and you can type it out but for some resaon i got warned for it lol (context but still bruh)


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## SherlockLina (Aug 25, 2019)

Cussing aint neccessary


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## SherlockLina (Aug 25, 2019)

*In my young defense....*



SensaiGallade said:


> Profanity is already censored, so I do think its fine as it is. That doesn't mean though you swear the house down so excessively.
> 
> Adding onto that though, us older members also have a responsibility to set an example of how to behave when we are using the forums so we don't have a negative influence on younger members, because we're gonna be hit with a lot of new members closers to New Horizons release.



I agree, and i dont mind stuff like heck or crud, thats all i can say irl! But srsly we all know what ya mean. And i firmly belive that nh is gonna make kids wish they were thirteen ( like me) to be on here!



tumut said:


> Also i never realized so many people on this forum had the mentality of a suburban white soccer mom



Im just trying to protect young minds boi, and i wanna be the lil sis of all of btf bc i probably the youngest on here anyway ( by a month... May six 2006 bois )


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## rhinoo (Aug 25, 2019)

I'm fine with anything.but id rather have swearing uncensored


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## Blood Eclipse (Aug 25, 2019)

sometimes i like curse to add emphasis on a word, but honestly it doesn't bother me if curse words are censored in a public forum, as long as you don't get a permaban for accidentally using it.


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## Alienfish (Aug 26, 2019)

Kuriboh said:


> sometimes i like curse to add emphasis on a word, but honestly it doesn't bother me if curse words are censored in a public forum, as long as you don't get a permaban for accidentally using it.



yeah i use it and idc about the censor too much even if some everyday censored words are censored randomly lol


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## deleted (Aug 26, 2019)




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## SherlockLina (Aug 26, 2019)

Lol true man true


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## CatSoul (Aug 26, 2019)

I think the mild curse words that aren't censored by the filter are fine. Anything stronger is a bit excessive for AC discussion.


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## MelloDimensions (Aug 26, 2019)

I find it very refreshing to not see the word **** for once in my life.


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## Mimi Cheems (Aug 27, 2019)

Well... As much as I'd like to say yes? I'd say no...

Some words might trigger parental blocks placed on younger children's PC's or any electronic device they use to access the site. As one of the moderators said, I think?

Plus, I was only... like. 14-15 when I joined the site? I was just learning how to swear and promoting cussing on sites made for young teens and kids over 12-13... isn't... a good idea. I don't know. I had a really good point to bring up but since I'm at work, my client had to use the bathroom so I had to help her and I completely forgot what I was going to say. =w=​


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## Lancelot (Aug 27, 2019)

I find the "Teens are gonna see it anyway so why do we block it" argument so stupid.

Just cause they're gonna see doesnt mean we need to add to it.


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## Alienfish (Aug 28, 2019)

B3N said:


> I find the "Teens are gonna see it anyway so why do we block it" argument so stupid.
> 
> Just cause they're gonna see doesnt mean we need to add to it.



no because we need to protect teens from "i failed" and birds/female things lol.


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## Lancelot (Aug 28, 2019)

Sheila said:


> no because we need to protect teens from "i failed" and birds/female things lol.



what

?

Idk what else to add to this post to add to the "post quality"


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## Alienfish (Aug 28, 2019)

B3N said:


> what
> 
> ?
> 
> Idk what else to add to this post to add to the "post quality"



Some words that are censored (Although I think you can write out another f-word for fail but you might be warned depending on context) that really shouldn't be.

In general the filter needs to be looked over but I don't mind it as a whole, some words shouldn't be typed out like n-word and other racist/sexist slurs etc.


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## Lancelot (Aug 28, 2019)

Sheila said:


> Some words that are censored (Although I think you can write out another f-word for fail but you might be warned depending on context) that really shouldn't be.
> 
> In general the filter needs to be looked over but I don't mind it as a whole, some words shouldn't be typed out like n-word and other racist/sexist slurs etc.



Oh yeah, I get you. Its like this good boy's name being banned


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## Alienfish (Aug 29, 2019)

Yeah, exactly that dude and some others. Throwback to gen 5 GTS, those were the days.


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## WILDWORLD (Aug 31, 2019)

Yeah. Idk why we pretend like the kids themselves have never heard a swear word or anything. They'll click off tbt and go onto their favourite youtuber who swears within the first 30 seconds. But that's just me, i believe in free speech to a big degree. There's no way they'll ever change it tho


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## seliph (Aug 31, 2019)

WILDWORLD said:


> But that's just me, i believe in free speech to a big degree.



freedom of speech just protects you from the government not the justin


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