I completely understand why you have to censor the language on the board. I mean, we all want a clean environment to talk in, right? I think the censor is just a little bit over the top, though. I was writing about ancient "m a n u s c r i p t s" and when I went back to look at it after I posted it, they had become m****cripts. I think that's just a bit extreme. I'm not really complaining, but I think it's something you might want to look at.
I realy dont think it matters if people say **** or ***** u kno. that is what they want to say and u cant stop them and they arnt gonna want to stop. what is the point of this!! i dont get it! some people dont like that kind of stuff and u just have to deal with it! i am sorry i am so mean about this but i cant change the way i feel. Danielle
Censoring seems to have lost its point, since people have so many ways of getting around it. (e.g. d@mn, da.mn, d a m n, or whatever)
But even so, it makes the curse words seem a little more tame. It would look weird to see "****" (f*ck) sitting plainly on the page on this site, so I guess I can see why some things are censored.
I think that swear words, the f word, the sh word, the d word, the b word...those can be censored but I seriously think that the anatomy words should be allowed on here...and seriously, manuscripts?
Although we've decided to change the way we filter certain words, YouthNOISE will continue to follow our Rules of Play.
Rule #2 states,
"We don't know why you'd want to, but please don't bash another member's race, heritage, culture, gender, sexual orientation, religion, etc. We're about tolerance."
We understand the point you are trying to make and although members of the LGBTQ community have begun to reclaim the usage of those words, they are still considered hateful and derogatory to some, so we can't allow them to be used on the boards in any context.
Remember, you may not find them offensive, but others might. In order to make the NOISEboards a safe environment for all posters, we cannot allow those words to be used.
Thank you for your feedback and for being a member of the YouthNOISE community. We are always open for suggestions so keep 'em coming!
I have another thing to bring up about this: and I'm pretty sure I'll get shot down, but eh I'll make my case anyway.
I've noticed that certain words that used to be considered derogatory have since been reclaimed by LGBTQ culture. To be more specific, words like h o m o, d y k e, f a g, q u e e r, etc. (I'm not sure how many of these you censor out.) While I realize that these terms still have the potential to be very hurtful when someone uses them in a mean way, I also feel, as a member of the LGBTQ community, a bit weird about them being so strictly prohibited on these boards.
Thank you all for your patience! We ask that you bear with us just a little while longer. This will be an ongoing discussion; one that is very serious and will not only involve our staff, but may require advice from our legal department regarding compliance with COPPA (Children's Online Privacy Protection Act).
However, we are making some immediate changes to the filtering tool so that words will not be unnecessarily filtered. For example, m****cripts will now read manuscripts.
We will no longer be filtering some words that have been identified as being appropriate for use on these boards in certain biological contexts. Please note that words used will be judged based on the context in which they are used, at the discretion of the moderator. A good rule of thumb is to be well aware of Rules of Play and post accordingly.
If you find after we have made these changes that some words are still being unnecessarily filtered, we want to know about it. Post your suggestions here or send an email to support@youthnoise.com.
We are always open to suggestions and hope that you will continue to let us know of your concerns.
We just wanted to let you know that the YouthNOISE team will be meeting to discuss our current censoring policies. We'll keep you posted. Thank you so much for your feedback and please feel free to continue to sound off and let us know what you think. Your opinions mean so much to us.
So being anatomically correct is being sexually explicit? (Bad news for biology/anatomy in school) Yes, being a "teen" site, there are teens of all ages, meaning 13-19 yr. olds theoretically. I think they all know, or all should know enough about life and the world to understand language and cope with offensive people. How is it making this place more "safe" to censor? Thank you Jill and the kind Doctr for your support. At least we got their attention...(and the response didn't seem to formulaic either)
I'm not complaining about the censoring of the most explicit words, but censoring d@mn? That's removes some of my most cutting catch phrases .
But seriously, I think that if the child is over 13, they can watch PG-13 material, and being a free forum, you should allow a resonable amount freedom of speech. I'm not pulling out the first amendment rant, I respect your rights as a private company/organization. But you're loosing people who find censoring of this magnitude objectionable. I can tolerate it and it's not going to make me leave, but some of my most intelligent and worthwhile debate partners and advesaries have left. And this dimishes the site.
And if you still stand your ground, at least try and fix the annoying "collateral-censor" stuff like c o c kroach and Conf u cious.
I hope this does have some effect on you desicion.
I really love this site, and I visit it as often as possible, but I really must say that I agree with Commonsense. Isn't it true that people under the age of 13 are not allowed to join youthNOISE? I believe that (most) teens are old enough to have mature discussions on sexual issues. I can understand why out and out raunchy or hateful language should be censored, since I've been to many a message board that has disintergrated into a bunch of cuss words and hate speech. But I strongly believe that if censorship is to occur at all on this site, it should only be when this sort of language is present in obnoxious amounts (I know most of the people here will disagree with me on this part). All of us are old enough to watch PG-13 movies, and the vast majority of us are able to watch rated R material. Shouldn't we be able to have frank and honest and mature discussions without being met with a bunch of these things: ******? Thanks for hearing me out.
Thanks CommonSense for sharing your thoughts about the filtering tool used on these message boards. We understand your frustration, and are sorry to hear that you feel the filtering diminishes the value of the dialog on the boards.
Due to the need to provide a safe place for ALL teens, of all ages and backgrounds to talk, we simply cannot alter our rules of play at this point. Rule #3 prohibits the use of sexually explicit language. This does not mean that YouthNOISE thinks the use of sexually explicit language is inherently wrong. Rather, it simply means that it's use is not appropriate on these boards, which are used by thousands of teens worldwide.
Please continue to let us know if you find things that you think should be changed, and we'll be happy to make changes when possible.
Topics 
Danielle
.
