Censorship on Elitetrader?

Vinny Gigante · Jan 12, 2003

for responding to this topic. I appreciate the feedback. It appears the results are in and the majority feel this board is purposefully censored with good intentions, and not over-sensored at all.

Censorship is a sensitive issue, and the people in charge seem to be doing a fine job of keeping this message board clean, without overstepping.

Bravo!

Usually, when I speak no one listens, but it just goes to show that everyone deserves a 2nd chance!

Vinny

hii a_ooiioo_a · Jan 12, 2003

Quote from I Missed Boat:

Even if Bush has demonstrated xenophobia, this is so far removed from the depictions, demonization, racist propaganda and violent condoning that Hitler utilized to seize and maintain power.

Hitler assassinated his political opponents, turned a democracy into a totalitarian state (which is more complete consolidation of power and brainwashing of the masses than occurs under even a typical dictatorship). Hitler charged the Jews money for "causing" their own victimhood. Bush? Never has he done anything that even deserves comparison to such.

Hitler was evil. bin Laden is evil. Moreover, Bush has never tried to demonize N. Koreans nor the Afghan people. He stated quite the opposite many times. He referred to evil regimes, headed by evil people.

You, like most of the German people after World War II, are under no great delusions about what Hitler was about.

Perhaps after World War III you will be as clearsighted about Bush. For now, you're more or less in the same role as the average Germans (and many Americans too) in the 1930's who chose to believe that surely he couldn't really be all that bad.

candletrader · Jan 13, 2003

Quote from Corallus:

I see the "F" word and the "S" word used all the time on ET and none of that is being removed.
Thanks.

These words have entered common usage amongst adults and are therefore not a grounds for censorship...

metooxx · Jan 13, 2003

Quote from hii a_ooiioo_a:

You, like most of the German people after World War II, are under no great delusions about what Hitler was about.

Perhaps after World War III you will be as clearsighted about Bush. For now, you're more or less in the same role as the average Germans (and many Americans too) in the 1930's who chose to believe that surely he couldn't really be all that bad.

Agree ...

inandlong · Jan 13, 2003

Quote from candletrader:

These words have entered common usage amongst adults and are therefore not a grounds for censorship...

As this quote is in reference to the f word and s word, I must strongly disagree. Common or not, they are offensive language, indecent, and add nothing to any conversation or discussion. Indeed, they detract and distract from intelligent exchange.

hii a_ooiioo_a · Jan 13, 2003

Obscenity filters are common features on chatrooms. On Yahoo you can set your chatroom options for varying degrees of filtering (Lots of swear words on Yahoo for sure).

The Ignore List on Elite Trader is an effective remedy for some of the censorship issues people have mentioned. Perhaps a profanity filter would be an enhancement that some members would appreciate, and would reduce the concerns about needing censorship, if people could set filters according to their own preferences.

OPTIONAL777 · Jan 13, 2003

Quote from hii a_ooiioo_a:

Obscenity filters are common features on chatrooms. On Yahoo you can set your chatroom options for varying degrees of filtering (Lots of swear words on Yahoo for sure).

The Ignore List on Elite Trader is an effective remedy for some of the censorship issues people have mentioned. Perhaps a profanity filter would be an enhancement that some members would appreciate, and would reduce the concerns about needing censorship, if people could set filters according to their own preferences.

Filters:

Is it really less offensive to see "freaking" than "fucking?"

How silly people are about words.

The profanity and obscenity is in the intention of a word, not in the words themselves.

nitro · Jan 13, 2003

Quote from Corallus:

Maybe I'm missing something, but who's getting censored? I see the "F" word and the "S" word used all the time on ET and none of that is being removed. Or, are we talking about censorship of ideas/opinions that perhaps are in conflict with our sponsoring firms?

Thanks.

Who? Who used these words here on ET?

Shame on them.

nitro

inandlong · Jan 13, 2003

Quote from OPTIONAL777:

Filters:

Is it really less offensive to see "freaking" than "fucking?"

How silly people are about words.

The profanity and obscenity is in the intention of a word, not in the words themselves.

True and yet, when you hear someone say "freaking", doesn't your mind say to you, 'this person is substituting "freaking" for the other because it is not considered offensive and vulgar speech?'

And when you hear someone say "f" this or "f" that, are you telling me that your mind doesn't wince at least just a bit? While these kinds of words might be acceptable in private, there is no place for their general use in the public domain.

You don't hear your government representatives using these types of words in public. You don't hear corporate leaders doing so either. You don't hear teachers, or pastors, or community leaders of any type use these types of words when speaking to the public. I cannot imagine one responsible parent who advocates and encourages the use of this type of language by their children.

And when you are posting in the forums on ET, you are speaking to the public.

OPTIONAL777 · Jan 13, 2003

Quote from inandlong:

True and yet, when you hear someone say "freaking", doesn't your mind say to you, 'this person is substituting "freaking" for the other because it is not considered offensive and vulgar speech?'

And when you hear someone say "f" this or "f" that, are you telling me that your mind doesn't wince at least just a bit? While these kinds of words might be acceptable in private, there is no place for their general use in the public domain.

You don't hear your government representatives using these types of words in public. You don't hear corporate leaders doing so either. You don't hear teachers, or pastors, or community leaders of any type use these types of words when speaking to the public. I cannot imagine one responsible parent who advocates and encourages the use of this type of language by their children.

And when you are posting in the forums on ET, you are speaking to the public.

True, politicians and others do not use profanity on camera.

However, this site is for traders, right? Not just the general public. I doubt that anyone is under the age of 17, and show me a movie that is for people over the age of 17 (rated R) that doesn't have profanity. Do traders use profanity when the market goes against them? Some do, some don't, but in a room with other traders, I can't imagine they don't hear it from time to time.

Profanity has a point if not used constantly. When someone says "fuck" it conveys a message, a message that we all truly understand.