Those ****ing Asterisks

I think that censorship should be ***** **** ** *****.

Or how about little love-hearts, they look friendly and non-threatening. That way when I try to talk about **chees, people will see ♥♥♥ and think that my message is one of love and not fruit.Alternatively one could replace each word with appropriate symbols. For example the word "***" could be replaced with ╚ ῖ . I think that would work.

I always look at it from the persepective a person interested in buying this software from Percy. Having the feature makes the software better.If somebody is posting a particular word over and over, that you don't want to have on your forum, then being able to hide with asterisks works great.Plus, I like the idea of the admin being able to really show you... as in, "you really showed them!".'You won't stop posting that word? Fine, now its just a bunch of asterisks!" I like it.Its better than suspensions and bannings.Edited by Catholic Scientist, : No reason given.

I agree. Maybe it would be better for admin to streamline how they hide msgs so it will be easier for them and still leave msg available in peek mode for anyone who wants to read it. A "flag" feature could be made available to members so it would be easy to bring an offensive msg to their attention. Just a thought.

That's an interesting idea. Moderators could hide messages they disapprove up, but everything except the message's content would still be visible. A click of a button would unhide the message for those interested, but the fact that moderators disapprove of the message is evident, and moderator cautions and suspensions might become necessary less often. I'll give it some thought.

The fact that moderators at virtually every Creationist forum censor, delete posts, and suspend and ban people for what they personally find offensive is one of the specific reasons I participate at this board, and not those.I can understand including features in your software, as those same Creationists could in fact become your customers, but I still disapprove, particularly when it comes to actually using such censorship here at EvC.

Gotta test it somewhere...

If you're volunteering to be a guinea pig, I've always felt that you overuse words containing the letter T.

Censored words are now replaced with asterisks only in the rendered message. The original words remain visible in Peek Mode and when editing.The number of asterisks is now equal to the number of letters in the original word.

That's a really neat solution Percy.

Let's test that. Lychees. Lysimachus. Lyme disease.

See, if you didn't call people liars so much, then you'd be able to use those words.

Yes, it is easier to hit the "Peek" button, than to try to guess what you posted.If I set to "Peek Mode" while replying, I see your post as: I like this change.

I appreciate the distinction between censoring here and having the option available on the software. If it is a useful tool for moderation it could still function behind the display.This pseudo censoring is an improvement but the whole idea of censoring is a dangerous concept.It is counter productive in that it draws more attention to the words than would have otherwise been applied and thereby increases whatever harm you were trying to reduce.It looks like you are censoring words but you are, in fact, trying to censor ideas. How many ways are there to express an idea? Rules and regulations should evolve to be fewer and each one more effective. The tools are in place. If someone is out of line then suspend them. Having it as an overt function is another step toward legitimising the concept of censorship.Asteriskized words look like pixelated nipples on a picture of a corpse.

Banned words on a per user basis!!??That is frickin hilarious!!The fun that can be had by admins has increased significantly I would have thought.On a more serious basis how can we see what words we are individually banned from writing? Are they listed in our user profile or listed as part of the bannings and suspensions or anything?