You don't have to- just put down the normal, obvious curse words and profanities, now people can still have "outburts" if they'd like, however if they have to get around it then they should be warned.

 

All i see in this thread is "Ya make mods have to take time and deal with swearing!" at least give a good reason. As for iterations and stuff just filter the words themselves, its a start and its just a little thing that can save ecc mods some time. As well then if people spell the word in a different way they have acknowledged its against the rules by purposely bypassing the system. I see no problem with this addition, it only takes a little effort to cover the basics and will save time. Swearing may not bother most of us but do you really need to have it there if it can be avoided for the most part.

People need to stop coming on suggestions and being I don't care this wouldn't benefit me in any way and then go be annoying on someones post. You have your opinion and that's great, take a second and think how would this effect others.

Anyway i see no reason to not add a very basic filter, nothing to extensive. This may not have any effect on me but i think it will create a somewhat better environment for younger kids playing ECC.

 

Having been one of the sole fighters to protect cursing/language for much of the history of ECC, I figure I should say something about this.

Before I start this, I'll tell you this: We had a language filter in the past, it didn't work. In fact, it automatically muted Andrew for saying something like "I'm going to assassinate you, Ike!!!" for 5 minutes. That was when we lost it.

I have never understood why people were in favor of taking rights away from not only others, but themselves. What you are advocating is taking the rights you have (which are protected by the server rules) and saying you do not want them anymore: completely ignoring all of the hardship those that fought for those rights in the past went through. Furthermore, you are ignoring the reasons those rules are in place and the reason we do not have a language plugin.

I fully admit our community has changed dramatically since I first joined: from a community of just over 10 people where the server turned off after 9pm est and turned back on at 10AM est to the one now, things are dramatically different. One of the biggest shifts in our time has been the age of our userbase: we once had a userbase that averaged around 20 years old, then it dropped in a matter of months to just over 12 years old. It has begun to steadily go up as of since, but I doubt it will ever reach the average it was in the early days. One of the greatest aspects of our server, in my opinion, is the fact that it teaches people things. It teaches them about the economy, about socializing with others, and about following the rules and laws set out to ensure things are fair and most people have a good time. It also teaches them that if you do not follow the rules, there are consequences.

The rules, and in this case, the rule about cursing, teaches people to watch their language. They understand that there are words that are a little harsher that they can say on occasion, such as "crap", "damn it", and "shit", and then they understand that there are words that they should not say, that go above the level of some of the more mild choices. This is an invaluable lesson in life: you gauge what is acceptable and what is not based around whom you are around and what the rules are. Just the same as you wouldn't curse like a sailor in front of grandma, you learn not to curse like a sailor in front of the whole server.

Adding an automatic filter removes that learning aspect. Instead of having your message actually go out there and receive something back, whether it be an "aww it'll be ok" or a "stop cursing please", your message is simply replaced with a group of *** marks where your word used to be. It removes the value of your message, and of the word you used: you chose to use that word for a reason, didn't you?

It also teaches the younger people on our server that, no matter what you say, it will be ok because it will be censored when it comes out the other end. Instead of having to learn when and where you can say certain things (such as a private ECC channel where cursing is usually allowed), you do not learn anything at all. You can keep cursing and it'll just be phased out. Perhaps that will go nowhere, but perhaps it will go somewhere: children are molded by a mixture of nature and nurture. You cannot deny that there is a moderately large userbase on this server who come home from school, do their homework, and spend the rest of their night on ECC (or even ignore their homework and hop straight on ECC). That was me for a time. ECC becomes part of your life, and ultimately changes the way you see certain things because of how much time you spend on it: it becomes part of your 'nurture'. If your nurture part says that all that will happen when you curse is your words will be censored, there's very little from stopping that child from cursing in real life.

After all, just like many of the other older people on this server, I picked up my cursing habits from the internet. However, I also learned when and where certain words were acceptable, and where they weren't. That was an invaluable lesson, and I don't want it taken away from people on ECC where it can be controlled. I'd rather have them learn it here than on a more... 'unforgiving' site. I'm sure we all know a few.

I would much rather have a child get in trouble on a minecraft server for spamming 'crap' than having them suspended from school down the road for cursing out their teacher. I would also much rather have them learn from their mistakes than simply wave that learning opportunity off for further mechanization in the form of yet another plugin. Machines can't teach from experience, but humans can.

 

I don't really think anyone is learning something, considering you guys approve of self censorship and allow it to happen. Perhaps they could learn from being lectured by someone in game by a simple "Don't curse", even though "some people find it funny" and probably egg it on, the community itself probably won't teach them what is and what isn't right. I think a chat filter will be able to send a message like "use another word", so that they can find alternatives to what they're trying to say that are socially acceptable.

 

Hold on, The staff allow what to happen?

 

I'm sorry, I really don't understand what your getting at here. Do you mind explaining?

 

They allow people to self censor their own words. So if I said s*** it would be fine, I believe.

 

Yes, So what is wrong with that? No rules are being broken. It isn't as if the user is actually saying "shit". Swearing is allowed, as long as it isn't directed at someone, ie. calling them names.
Also, If people had some commonsense they would realise what to, and what not to say. If they say the right thing, then great! say the wrong thing, and as ike said, they will face consequences.

 

The point of self-censorship is exactly what I was talking about: those that choose to censor their words understand the weight of what they would normally say, but still want to say it in a manner that won't get them in trouble. Its the same as saying "Fudge" instead of the older F word. I also fundamentally disagree with you when you say that our community doesn't teach, because I've seen it first hand. Our community and our rules teach our members, especially our young ones, what is right and wrong: if you haven't seen that first hand, I'm not sure what to say. One of the biggest examples was with the spawn building competition: those responsible were punished and learned their lesson, and now prove to be upstanding members of the community.

Furthermore, on a note that I didn't include: a language filter would add impossible obsticales. Most language filters don't differentiate between channels (as seen with our caps filter which works in all channels except /pm), and thus would continually censor peoples language no matter where they are. Private channels are supposed to be significantly more lax, if not have no rules at all: that is the reason so many people purchase them, and thus a filter on those channels would remove much of the reason why people actually purchase them.

 

We will not currently be adding a language filter. There are too many issues with adding a filter such as what words, as well as all the variations of said words. The current system has been used on the server for a very long time and works fine.

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