Profanity and Inappropriate Language - ALL PLEASE READ

Art Andrews

Community Founder
Community Staff
In the past few years, we have witnessed a disheartening trend here at TDH, where the envelope of acceptable, decent, and respectful conduct has been pushed to a breaking point. The overall quality of posts and responses, especially in the Sarlacc Pit, have eroded to the point where we have begun to receive considerable criticism from members who do not appreciate the amount of inappropriate language they must wade through to reach useful information. In an effort to curb the downward spiral, at least in our little corner of the Internet, we want to make our stance on inappropriate language clear.

TDH is a “family friendly” board. We have an ever-growing number of young members. While we have no illusions about what they might see/hear/read on TV or other websites, we do not wish them or others to view inappropriate language here at TDH. This is an informational board and the purpose of the board is to help each other build better costumes. The freedom to express oneself using inappropriate language is not a right or a privilege we wish to extend. We are confident that every member is capable of expressing him/herself without resorting to such crudeness.

Under the section “Colorful Language”, the Code of Conduct previously stated:
“Cursing and the use of obscenities are prohibited. Additionally, adding "@" or "#" or "$" or "%" or "*" or "-" or any other character in place of letters in curse words do NOT make those words acceptable to post. Keep it clean or keep it off the board.”

We are redefining this section as follows:

Profanity.
The use of profanity is prohibited. For clarification on what qualifies as "profanity", please visit Wikipedia and search for “profanity” and “list of profanities” Profanity includes but is not limited to blasphemy (insults, slang or taking the name of a deity in vain), general insults and expletives, sexual insults or slang, and discriminatory insults or slang. Additionally, adding "@" or "#" or "$" or "%" or "*" or "-" or any other character in place of letters in inappropriate words do NOT make those words acceptable to post.


Discriminatory and sexual slang is pretty obvious. However, blasphemy might be surprising and unclear as it has become very common to use blasphemous phrases with little thought. Blasphemy is a form of profanity. Using exclamations such as “Jesus Christ” or “Oh my God!” is not acceptable. While blasphemy against the Judeo-Christian deity is by far the most common, we will not tolerate blasphemy against any deity. Such language is simply not needed to express oneself or to get a point across on a costuming board.

As we have stated in the past, we will NOT be scouring the board, looking for posts that break this or any part of the Code of Conduct. However, if we do see inappropriate language or we are PMed about an inappropriate post, we WILL alter/remove the inappropriate comments and PM you to let you know the changes we have made. Repeated violations of this or any rule within the Code of Conduct will result in disciplinary action.

Thank you for your understanding and cooperation in helping to make TDH a board where everyone is welcome and can feel free to read posts/threads without unnecessarily inappropriate language.
 
so instead of profanity is rules lawyering going to be tolerated? because that is the other side of the coin is intimidation/ coercion through misuse or abuse of the translation of the rules? I have seen this happen on other boards and it has driven more than one to obsurity. I just mention it , not because I beleive the mods or anyone is presently doing it. But...frustration with others is a natural occurance. I would rather someone type some garbage than politically try to comb through old posts and politically attact me ( or any others through misuse or abuse of the rules). Please tell me you know what I mean. I just want to mention this to possibly head rules lawyering off at the pass because it is the worst form of public manipulation and shaming.
 
Does the words like crud or crap count in this?

Euphemisms aren't much better than using overtly inappropriate language, especially when the word that is being masked by the euphemism is apparent. Crud is a euphemism for crap. Crap is a euphemism for... well, we all know what it is a euphemism for. We would prefer that you not use euphemisms because it is only a slightly more socially acceptable form of an inappropriate term. Instead of telling someone a helmet on eBay looks like "crap" it would be much more helpful to say "the helmet is not at all screen accurate. The overall shape is off. The dome is lumpy. The paint colors are incorrect. Worst of all the price is considerably higher than it should be for a helmet of this quality." This is not being a "goody two shoes." It is maximizing your helpfulness while avoiding any form of inappropriate language.
 
hmm, okay. But say I want to descibe someting that happened to me in the Sarlaac, and say "My day was just utter crap". Would the same priniciples apply then when not describing anything that has to do with someones elses work?
 
so instead of profanity is rules lawyering going to be tolerated? because that is the other side of the coin is intimidation/ coercion through misuse or abuse of the translation of the rules? I have seen this happen on other boards and it has driven more than one to obsurity. I just mention it , not because I beleive the mods or anyone is presently doing it. But...frustration with others is a natural occurance. I would rather someone type some garbage than politically try to comb through old posts and politically attact me ( or any others through misuse or abuse of the rules). Please tell me you know what I mean. I just want to mention this to possibly head rules lawyering off at the pass because it is the worst form of public manipulation and shaming.

I am not entirely sure I understand what you mean and I would prefer not to make assumptions. Can you clarify this a bit more? You are welcome to do it here or in PM.
 
hmm, okay. But say I want to descibe someting that happened to me in the Sarlaac, and say "My day was just utter crap". Would the same priniciples apply then when not describing anything that has to do with someones elses work?

I understand where you are coming from but you could just as easily say that you had a bad day or a terrible day or an utterly intolerable day.
 
And thanks for cooperating and tolerating The Sniffer .

This is a wonderful message board and we thank the people who keep it going
 
Rules lawyering mean use of the rules to manipulate ( get someone to do something they would not do , for your personal gain) or coerce another. I. E. interpreting the rules to someone else so that you appear to be the one in the right or more important, when in fact the activity or...subject being discussed was not necessarily a reason why the rule, or guidline was even made in the first. The spirit of the rules for profanity for instance ( but not really what I am talking about just an example of application in action) the spirit of the rules is to protect those who would be offended and not harm or enourage the,,wrongful education of youngsters that we would like to encourage to enjoy costuming... and all that Goes with going to conventions and trooping. While rules lawyering then gets nitpicky and annoying and comes down to the level of referring to innuendo or even someone referring that a pic of the cod strap may be offensive or even verbally using the rules to shut someone up because they are talking about the new Boba fett ps2 game coming out ( it's not costumin anfter all) Those are examples of extreeme Rules lawyering that I can saw are difinitive.
 
I think I understand what you mean now. Keep in mind that the administration of TDH reserves the right to change and interpret the rules within the Code of Conduct as they see fit. Their judgments and decisions are final. What does this mean? It means if member A is disgruntled with member B and member A approaches the administration and attempts to use the Code of Conduct to support a trivial allegation against member B, it will be the administration's decision as to whether or not member B has actually broken the rules. Member A will never be allowed to tell the administration how they are to administrate, nor will any member be allowed to force his/her interpretation of the Code of Conduct upon the administration. In fact, wasting the administrations time with such things might get member A in the hot seat. Having said this, let me remind you that you are always welcome to disagree with any decision/ruling the administration makes. We prefer you do it via PM and do it respectfully, but you are welcome to disagree. However, there is a distinct difference between disagreeing and "rule lawyering."

One of our main concerns with implementing the profanity rule was this and a very similar type of issue. Let me be perfectly clear that TDH will never become a "politically correct" board in which we banish anything and everything that could ever possibly be interpreted as "offensive." Nor will we simply prohibit something because someone claims to be offended by it. What is allowed and what is prohibited will always be left to the digression of the administration. I hope this better explains our position and allays your fears.

Rules lawyering mean use of the rules to manipulate ( get someone to do something they would not do , for your personal gain) or coerce another. I. E. interpreting the rules to someone else so that you appear to be the one in the right or more important, when in fact the activity or...subject being discussed was not necessarily a reason why the rule, or guidline was even made in the first. The spirit of the rules for profanity for instance ( but not really what I am talking about just an example of application in action) the spirit of the rules is to protect those who would be offended and not harm or enourage the,,wrongful education of youngsters that we would like to encourage to enjoy costuming... and all that Goes with going to conventions and trooping. While rules lawyering then gets nitpicky and annoying and comes down to the level of referring to innuendo or even someone referring that a pic of the cod strap may be offensive or even verbally using the rules to shut someone up because they are talking about the new Boba fett ps2 game coming out ( it's not costumin anfter all) Those are examples of extreeme Rules lawyering that I can saw are difinitive.
 
Also keep in mind that the administration is here to SERVE the membership and we do not want to do anything that would drive members away. We are well aware that overwhelming the membership with long and complicated rules is one way of doing that. We would like to think that all of the rules we have set in place are here to help the membership as a whole to have a more enjoyable/profitable visit to this board. If there is any rule in the Code of Conduct that any member feels does not contribute to a better experience at TDH, please PM us and tell us why.
 
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