Autocensor Changes

[Valka D'Ur]

I've just finished reading this thread, and I must say that I'm utterly flabbergasted. The autocensor has been here for a long time, certainly before I joined, and some in this thread are carrying on as though it was just activated a couple of days ago!

The Key is context. If I'm calling people stuff that would make James Rolfe blush, than yeah, I deserve an infraction. But just because I support a certain politcal party that has a cuss word, raise animals whom technical name have vuglar body parts, or maybe I need to take something off my chest, I should be able to. A blanket ban is just like gun control; criminals/naughty users will still get/use them, but the regular person now can't defend himself/use the full dictonary.

1. I've no idea who James Rolfe is.

2. Want to get frustration off your chest? Go kill some AI enemies in a game of Civ. Shout the words out loud as you sit at your computer. But don't type them. They're not wanted here.

3. Gun Control? Let's see... the way that works in Canada is that people have to register their firearms. It's true that criminals don't bother doing that. There's been a controversy for a very long time over this issue. Are you suggesting people register their words? And those who register them get to swear?

There's a Freedom of Speech, but not a Freedom to not be offended.

Freedom of speech is an American concept. CFC has members from all over the world. I wish that those who wrote your Constitution had made it clear that freedom of speech carries with it the duty to use that freedom responsibly. Judging from some of the posts I've seen here and elsewhere on the 'Net, that's a foreign concept to many people.

If it's really the intention to filter out profanity, then how about a compromise.
An OPTION in user profiles, which can default on if you wish, or even adjust it's default dependant on user age, which causes potentially offensive words to appear like **** instead. You know, the kind of swear filter that's adequate for 95% of other organisations in the world.

Those of us who want to swear, can do it all we want. Those of us who don't want to see swearing, won't. And those of us who do, can disable the option and see things uncensored. It's the best of all worlds. It makes everyone happy without sacrificing anyone's freedom.

And what would lurkers see?

I go out of my way to avoid cursing on this forum. Even when being actively flamed (which has happened several times in the past) I go out of my way to avoid it unless I feel I cannot make my point without it.
If you have been flamed, did you report the person(s) who flamed you? That is what you're supposed to do.

As I said, this filter does nothing to prevent impolite posting. I am quite capable of ripping into someone in an entirely polite manner, with a smile on my face. Capability does not mean I will do so, nor that I should, but this filter does nothing whatsoever to prevent this. It simply means flaming takes more creativity... And thus becomes more fun for those who do so regularly.

We know this. However, the filter does cut down on some of the impoliteness.

Once again: The removal of curse words in no way increases the general politeness of posts...

If the curse words are not there, the post is more polite than it would be if the curse words were there.

[quote[Honestly, the best solution is a karma system, or rating system, or however you want it. When posts can be rated up/down, reported to moderators (with false reports being infracted heavily, abuses of the rating being infracted, etc), you tend to find things become far more polite almost immediately.

This sort of system has been discussed extensively elsewhere in Site Feedback. It can be an absolute nightmare for people who are the objects of targeted trolling, and for moderators to sort out.

Frankly, this system is extremely childish and does nothing productive.

We shall see, won't we? The intention is to lessen the workload for moderators so we can concentrate on the issues the filter can't handle.

Unfortunately, it aggravates many people. Those of us who wish to be treated as mature adults, at least.

Yes, it is evident that it does aggravate people. I admit to being surprised at which people it aggravates, since I never heard of you before yesterday. I don't recall seeing you post in the Colosseum forums, where I moderate, or in the Civ II forums where I post about my Civ games.

Certainly cursing can be impolite.

Under what circumstances would you say that cursing is not impolite?

I think you misunderstand the purpose of the autocensor. It is protecting the readers from seeing things that TF does not want them to see. It's also keeping those terms out of Google search related to the site, and preventing certain kinds of advertising from being posted.

The words and terms that are censored are prohibited in all forms. Putting in a space to break up the word, typing $%#*&, changing letters, and any other method of evading the censor are prohibited and can result in infractions. We won't necessarily get them all, but any use of these terms carries that risk.

THERE WE GO.

How many pages has it taken you to admit it in the end? It's all about image. All this has been for naight if you don't admit it in the end, but you always have your flaws.

And what's wrong with presenting a civil, friendly image to the 'Net? When I check out a forum to see if it's a place I might want to join, I want to see a place where discussion is done with civility. I can tolerate *some* mild cursing, but there is a limit to how much I'm willing to tolerate.

And what on Earth is wrong with not wanting every nasty, vulgar spambot to come running over here based on what the Google spiders harvest? I run several Invision forums, and when people complain about the ads that appear on the IF (free) ones, I remind them to be careful what they post - the Google spiders will pick it up and think that's what the people here are interested in and adjust their ads accordingly. It's a matter of keywords. There is no logical reason to object to Thunderfall wanting to keep certain keywords from attracting the wrong kinds of advertising here.

A friend of mine, reading the site, wishes to add the following: ...

Is your friend a member here? I would assume not, since he seems unwilling to post his opinions for himself so other people can engage him on them.

Everyone determines Karma, by how they post and how that post is received by the community. And if you feel someone is abusing the system, you inform the moderators of that fact and they investigate.

This is what moderators are for. The same system functions extremely well on any number of forums; There is no reason it would fail here.

CFC is not a Simple Machines Forum. This issue has been discussed before, in other Site Feedback threads. I suggest you read those to see what the various opinions for and against are.

This thread is a testiment to the failures within the higherups at CFC. Frankly, I'm surprised at how many self-proclaimed "open" and "liberal" people are fascists when it comes to anyone disagreeing with them. I guess living in the echo chamber that is OT does that to a person...

Let's not get into OT, especially when you're not one of the people who posts there, 'k?

I have not and will not claim that cursing should be allowed.

I have instead stated that the manner in which it is disallowed is extremely undesirable in and of itself.

I wonder... if there had not been a general announcement of this, would you even have noticed?

Well, why can't we have free speech in the first place? Don't answer, just think about it.

If you don't want an answer, why bring it up?

Once again... I do not think either Afforress or myself is actively arguing in favor of cursing being allowed.

Actually, I think you are arguing in favor of it being allowed. You want to go back to the system whereby your cursing might be caught and infracted, or it might not be, and would slide. Or this "karma" business, where cursing is okay if nobody (or hardly anybody) objects.

People have stated that the desire is for a more polite forum. If that is the case, a karma system results in a FAR politer forum than any filter can possibly do.

I've experienced a forum situation where the addition of a "reputation system" utterly destroyed what politeness had previously existed.

Yes, we are all thankful our merciful overlords don't smite us this very second.

Your sarcasm is noted and not really appreciated.

An obscure place with no official thread for discussion yet? Yeah... I know what you're up to - cause I've done it myself. Hide us in obscurity, where we can't possibly do any harm... Nice try. If you want a open discussion of the autocensor, the karma system has to be allowed as a consideration.

This group was started and is maintained by one of the supermoderators. Many of the posters in this group are other moderators. Outside of Site Feedback, you won't get a better access to the people who are trying to come up with better solutions to the various issues people brought up during the recent survey.

Clearly I misunderstood the open nature of this discussion. I'll let the fascism continue unabated now. I shall not return.

That's a childish attitude. Do you call everybody who doesn't give you your own way a "fascist"?

Does it mean that the autocensor is fixed so that words that can be used a as racial insult, but do have a proper use?

lets check it out. I want to find if their is a still a (censored word) in the autocensors armour.

Considering that such words are being edited out, I think it is a bad policy, since the autocensor is not good since correct words are being censored when they shouldn't be.

I hope people know what word I was trying use and it was used properly, even though it can be used as an insult.

I agree that this is a frustrating situation. It's ludicrous for this particular word to be censored on a gaming forum, where there would likely be a lot of occasions to use it. For what it's worth, I've brought it up in the Staff forum, and we'll see what develops. Some patience would be appreciated, please.

Question: are anacronyms like "WTH" & "STFU" permitted? I've seen "WTH" used many times w/o warning or infraction throughout the years. "STFU" would probably be infractable as sheer rudeness from one poster to another.

"STFU" is infractable, as it is quite rude. "WTH" is not infracted, as it's more of an exclamation - a more emphatic way of saying "What?!"

I dont really understand why **** or smilies were not acceptable. Why does triggering them merit an infraction? I mean okay, bypassing should be infractable, but if the word is indecipherable with 100% certainty and is only used to portray the weight of emotion of the user then the purpose of the rule is accomplished.

Keeping the substituted characters or graphics in the post is still making it clear that the forbidden word is there. It shows intent to swear and thumbing your nose at the forum rules. The word is decipherable in most cases, and when in doubt I have PM'd the poster to ask for clarification. Sometimes that goes well; sometimes it doesn't.

They way moderating is done about this issue is like on a heavy handed fundamentalist Christian forum. [Which was absurd for a number of other issues includes bans for saying evolution or Darwin] I essentially have more posting freedom on GameFAQs, and that site autoflags words like nazi and ********.

Are you seriously suggesting CFC is moderated like a "heavy handed fundamentalist Christian forum"? Are you saying we prohibit saying "evolution" or "Darwin"? Or are you referring to other forums? Please clarify this, as your point doesn't make a lot of sense as is.

I don't understand why "report post" is insufficient. If somebody is insulted, they can report. If nobody reports a post, then no harm was done?

People don't always see the offending post. Or they may be averse to making reports, for some reason. Some prefer not to argue; others prefer to slug things out in the forum itself (and then wail about getting infracted for doing the very same things they accuse the first person of doing).

 

[Valkrionn]

I've just finished reading this thread, and I must say that I'm utterly flabbergasted. The autocensor has been here for a long time, certainly before I joined, and some in this thread are carrying on as though it was just activated a couple of days ago!

Yes, but prior to this thread there was no easily accessible place to raise our complaints about it, without going out of our way.

The majority of those posting against it are modders. We typically have better things to be doing.

Freedom of speech is an American concept. CFC has members from all over the world. I wish that those who wrote your Constitution had made it clear that freedom of speech carries with it the duty to use that freedom responsibly. Judging from some of the posts I've seen here and elsewhere on the 'Net, that's a foreign concept to many people.

Actually, so do I. It should be easy to grasp that if everyone is accorded the same freedoms, than you are only free to do as you wish if it does not impede another's ability to do as they wish. Too many do not make that distinction.

And what would lurkers see?

I should assume the ****.

This sort of system has been discussed extensively elsewhere in Site Feedback. It can be an absolute nightmare for people who are the objects of targeted trolling, and for moderators to sort out.

Can be, sure. For the first few weeks, you'd likely have more work to do.

However, if you already know there are people on the site who would abuse the system, who would happily troll in a new way... Why are they tolerated in the first place?

We shall see, won't we? The intention is to lessen the workload for moderators so we can concentrate on the issues the filter can't handle.

We shall. I'm of the opinion that people will just bypass it.

For example:

I just said absolutely nothing. Hit the smiley button 4 times. Yet if that was in the correct place in a sentence, everyone knows what it is... And no filter is tripped.

Yes, it is evident that it does aggravate people. I admit to being surprised at which people it aggravates, since I never heard of you before yesterday. I don't recall seeing you post in the Colosseum forums, where I moderate, or in the Civ II forums where I post about my Civ games.

I do not post in those forums. Again, modder. Most of my posts have taken place within my own forum, or one of it's parent forums; And it appears to be a far more civil place than the rest of the site.

Again, why those who you know would thumb their nose at new rules are tolerated is beyond me.

Under what circumstances would you say that cursing is not impolite?

For example: "There is no way in hell that will happen."

Emphasis. Certain words are far more emphatic than more acceptable language.

And what's wrong with presenting a civil, friendly image to the 'Net? When I check out a forum to see if it's a place I might want to join, I want to see a place where discussion is done with civility. I can tolerate *some* mild cursing, but there is a limit to how much I'm willing to tolerate.

And what on Earth is wrong with not wanting every nasty, vulgar spambot to come running over here based on what the Google spiders harvest? I run several Invision forums, and when people complain about the ads that appear on the IF (free) ones, I remind them to be careful what they post - the Google spiders will pick it up and think that's what the people here are interested in and adjust their ads accordingly. It's a matter of keywords. There is no logical reason to object to Thunderfall wanting to keep certain keywords from attracting the wrong kinds of advertising here.

I see nothing wrong with that at all. Again, I'm not arguing we should be allowed to post like that.

CFC is not a Simple Machines Forum. This issue has been discussed before, in other Site Feedback threads. I suggest you read those to see what the various opinions for and against are.

I might.

I wonder... if there had not been a general announcement of this, would you even have noticed?

Would I have noticed the filter? Of course, I've always disliked it.

Would I have noticed the change? Maybe in a few months, in a pm or one of my two team forums.

Actually, I think you are arguing in favor of it being allowed. You want to go back to the system whereby your cursing might be caught and infracted, or it might not be, and would slide. Or this "karma" business, where cursing is okay if nobody (or hardly anybody) objects.

No, I want to replace an ineffectual, heavy-handed filter with a process that functions better.

As has been pointed out however, I am obviously not acquainted with the OT crowd. And I'm quite happy with that, from the sounds of it.

I've experienced a forum situation where the addition of a "reputation system" utterly destroyed what politeness had previously existed.

And I have seen forums where the addition removed a LARGE percentage of the blatant stupidity that existed before.

Are you seriously suggesting CFC is moderated like a "heavy handed fundamentalist Christian forum"? Are you saying we prohibit saying "evolution" or "Darwin"? Or are you referring to other forums? Please clarify this, as your point doesn't make a lot of sense as is.

I believe his point was that it is a slippery slope.

 

[esvath]

I agree with the new system.

 

[Camikaze]

Can be, sure. For the first few weeks, you'd likely have more work to do.

However, if you already know there are people on the site who would abuse the system, who would happily troll in a new way... Why are they tolerated in the first place?
[...]
As has been pointed out however, I am obviously not acquainted with the OT crowd. And I'm quite happy with that, from the sounds of it.

Such a system as proposed wouldn't work in OT not just because of trolls. It would simply be impossible to get a consensus on what is and what isn't acceptable. If I think a particular view is abhorrent and has no place on the forum, I would down vote something. But others might see it as a perfectly acceptable statement. And the opposite would occur. What if someone thought something I said was abhorrent and should be removed from the forums, despite it being well within the site's rules? Such down voting would be based on people's opinions of what you said, essentially having the effect of weeding out divergent views. We expect moderators to act impartially for this very reason, but it would impossible to expect that from the community as a whole.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Yes, but prior to this thread there was no easily accessible place to raise our complaints about it, without going out of our way.

Site Feedback was here before; you could have raised the issue any time you wanted. Since you're here now, was it really so "out of [y]our way"?

 

[Valkrionn]

Site Feedback was here before; you could have raised the issue any time you wanted. Since you're here now, was it really so "out of [y]our way"?

Yes, but that would have required finding an appropriate thread, or making my own, after finding the forum.

This was just following a link sent to me by someone else.

So yes.

 

[Jester Fool]

What's wrong with smily faces? I thought THAT was the whole purpose of an autocensor. If someone can somehow divine what the smily faces really mean, then obviously that person is not an innocent child warranting protection. I am not saying I want to post banned words - I don't. However, I am not looking for a new mommy to shield me from the harsh realities of life - may my mother R.I.P. If I can happily work 70+ hours a week for a boss who used extremely banned words speaking to me, a few smily's here and there definitely won't make me lose any sleep. I have extreme prejudice towards anything that even conjures up similarities to Communism and thought police. Fairness Doctrine anyone? If you have served in the U.S. military you most likely know exactly what I am intimating. Life revolves around politics afterall.
P.S. Not 17 BTW (that was 23 years ago).

 

[Jester Fool]

Thunderfall has set a standard for his forum.

As is his right. Absolutely.

The fact that posters continue to swear when they have been asked not to is a pretty good indicator of their childishness, selfishness and lack of self control.

You're dreaming. Blanket statements such as that indicate "feelings" not logic. Americans do what we want - you know, the Constitution thing. I do concede however that disobeying "the rules" merits whatever punishment that follows.

Such qualities are expected from teenagers who feel it imperative to express their rebelliousness

Or expected from soldiers who served in the U.S. military to protect your family, your parents, your friends, and YOUR freedom. I would do it again too. Freedom is worth dying for.

I have a question for those who oppose this measure:

Would you rather be notified that a word in your post triggers the autocensor and thus be able to change that before you post (the system in place now), or would you rather post that word and then get infracted for it (the system that was in place)?

Why have an autocensor if it doesn't AUTOcensor? Have the autocensor change the word to smilies and be DONE with it (wasn't that what was happening anyway?) No work for the mods. Children won't have the knowledge to figure it out and adults can speculate. Problem solved. And no, 4 smilies in a row won't have crawlers sending porn ads to the site either.

Any complaints about "nanny state" or "fascism" or the like is irrelevant.

Then the forum will have a grand total of five Communist members. Serve the marketplace or someone else will. Context matters. Have you heard of the Tea Party? Socialism is going bye-bye.

No. The system insults me by it's very existence on this forum. I treat others with respect, and I feel I have every right to expect the same in return. Knowing that such a heavy handed system is hanging over the head of anyone frequenting this forum is repugnant to me.

As I have said, I do not care if I trip it or not. My opinion of it will not change. It is vile. It is repugnant. It leaves us assured that the moderators consider us naughty children who cannot be trusted to post without having a nanny give it the once over.

EXACTLY. Well said. In context, you are one of the most polite debaters on the forums. I DO wish you would release the next RiFE patch though. (good natured ribbing)

Submit to the authority, and the harmony of the whole is more important than individuals. Remember the quote in Civ4 "The whole is more than the sum of its part"?).

Never gonna happen with Americans - it's like herding cats. Individualism (i.e. self-determination) is the core of American society. That is a good thing, otherwise we would have conquered Earth after World War II (what is more whole than the entire world?)

acronyms like "WTH" & "STFU" permitted? I've seen "WTH" used many times w/o warning or infraction throughout the years. "STFU" would probably be infractable as sheer rudeness from one poster to another.

They shouldn't be permitted because all the young gun "texting gurus" KNOW exactly what they mean...us old people have to think about it for a minute.

STFU depends on context, obviously (Are you telling some politician to STFU? some poster? etc - but I don't think it's because of the word used, but for flaming, etc.) and I don't think WTH is obscene

What does the F stand for? (you know exactly what it means) There is no logical difference between and F (as to what it stands for). Your logic (if you could call it that) is horribly flawed.

can easily distance themselves from the words they represent

So can smilies. Same difference.

P.S. @Mods - I typed in the smilies manually.
P.S.S. WTH is obscene BTW. Also, STFU is patently rude - with the side benefit of stifiling debate. Never have I used, or even considered using, that acronym in any of my posts. Freedom of Speech is GOOD for BOTH the goose AND the gander. (Plus, without debate, there would be no point to even having any forums.)

people still knew what word was meant to be said.

Who cares? Are you kidding me? ALL that should matter is whether crawlers can pick it up (which would risk the site being deluged by porn bots) OR more importantly whether a minor (or adult too) can see the word. You are projecting your ADULT mind into the innocence of a child's mind - they don't understand what means. Your battle is foolish. You won't win, it is too late for that - The U.S. alone MURDERS a great deal of its unborn children every year. Just wait until Obamacare kicks in. Swearing will be the VERY least of our problems.

 

[IdiotsOpposite]

When did this go from yelling about the new autocensor to OBAMA?

IN ONE STEP, no less.

Dude, seriously off-topic.

 

[Jester Fool]

Freedom of speech is an American concept.

And the world is better for it too. Americans ARE exceptional. When Great Britain faced the scourge of Nazism, America stood side by side with our brothers across the pond to defeat the Nazi menace. Canada stood with us as well (I know my history).

I wish that those who wrote your Constitution had made it clear that freedom of speech carries with it the duty to use that freedom responsibly.

You do not know the meaning then. How could you? As abhorrent as it may sound, Free Speech PROTECTS the irresponsible use as well as the responsible use - there is no qualification. Freedom is absolute. We are free to make mistakes. However, we should always strive to act responsibily.

Judging from some of the posts I've seen here and elsewhere on the 'Net, that's a foreign concept to many people

Yes, especially Americans.

Dude, seriously off-topic.

Whatever. (I probably shouldn't have reponded, but I am trying to increase my post count.)

EDIT: What's up with the Sex, Drugs, and more Drugs sig? Sex is fun, but drugs are ILLEGAL (unless you are taking viagra.)

 

[IdiotsOpposite]

Whatever. (I probably shouldn't have reponded, but I am trying to increase my post count.)

Post count means nothing to me. I look at post CONTENT.

 

[Tee Kay]

As is his right. Absolutely.You're dreaming. Blanket statements such as that indicate "feelings" not logic. Americans do what we want - you know, the Constitution thing. I do concede however that disobeying "the rules" merits whatever punishment that follows.Or expected from soldiers who served in the U.S. military to protect your family, your parents, your friends, and YOUR freedom. I would do it again too. Freedom is worth dying for.

Your right to freedom of speech don't apply here. Which you'd know if you actually read the forum rules.

This is Thunderfall's party, at Thunderfall's place, which Thunderfall pays for. If you don't like his rules then too bad.

And the world is better for it too. Americans ARE exceptional. When Great Britain faced the scourge of Nazism, America stood side by side with our brothers across the pond to defeat the Nazi menace. Canada stood with us as well (I know my history).

Canada was at war with Nazi Germany almost from Day One.

Jester fool, take your off-topic ramblings outside the thread.

 

[Bucephalus]

And the world is better for it too. Americans ARE exceptional. When Great Britain faced the scourge of Nazism, America stood side by side with our brothers across the pond to defeat the Nazi menace.

Actually, you didn't. You stood on the sidelines until you were attacked by Japan, and then Germany declared on you.

(I know my history).

Not very well, apparently.

 

[Tee Kay]

Guys, World History Forum is over there --------------- --> link

Let's take it over there. It looks like it's going to be a nice flame war to watch.

 

[ono-neko]

I just have to post this. Just because Americans thinks freedom of speech is their way of life, it does not make it the best way of life for everyone on earth. I've lived 13 years in the states, and I always hated that when someone thinks that Americans's way of life and thinking is the best and should be adopted by the rest of the world. Freedom is ability to choose that you do the right thing and not to offend others. If you don't have ability to restrain yourself from offending others, you just lost the freedom yourself. If your freedom is being destructive to others, it's not freedom anymore, it's anarchy.

The US, as well as Canada, stood by UK, in WW2 not because of freedom of speech issue, but threat of being invaded by Nazi.

 

[Lone Wolf]

EDIT: What's up with the Sex, Drugs, and more Drugs sig? Sex is fun, but drugs are ILLEGAL (unless you are taking viagra.)

It's a humorous name for a Civilization succession game.

And no, the autocensor isn't fascist, since it has nothing to do with rolls of tape.

Jester Fool, however, is clearly a dirty commie, since he drags political considerations into how a private forum should be run, just like the liberal, America-hating left is prone to do.

 

[IdiotsOpposite]

It's a humorous name for a Civilization succession game.

Yep! And thanks for helping me out with that, I didn't even know that that comment was said. It was a parody of "Sex, Drugs, and Rock and Roll", where we were part of the Dutch Hippie culture!

And I sorta fell out of it for a month, despite being the starter, but that's beside the point.

Go and post in the game about what you think!

 

[Ambidexter]

I'm sorry to hear Thunderfoot is a tone troll.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

As is his right. Absolutely.You're dreaming. Blanket statements such as that indicate "feelings" not logic. Americans do what we want - you know, the Constitution thing. I do concede however that disobeying "the rules" merits whatever punishment that follows.Or expected from soldiers who served in the U.S. military to protect your family, your parents, your friends, and YOUR freedom. I would do it again too. Freedom is worth dying for.

You seem to think that your Constitution was written to give you the right to do whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want, to whomever you want, however you want, and the only "why" that matters is "Because we're Americans!!!1!"

Really... do you think your soldiers who died did it so you could swear on an Internet forum?

Never gonna happen with Americans - it's like herding cats. Individualism (i.e. self-determination) is the core of American society. That is a good thing, otherwise we would have conquered Earth after World War II (what is more whole than the entire world?)

There's more to the Universe than Earth. And I can herd my own cats just fine. Perhaps you need to practice cross-species communication.

They shouldn't be permitted because all the young gun "texting gurus" KNOW exactly what they mean...us old people have to think about it for a minute.

And you are how many minutes from a rocking chair, slippers, and the old folks' home?

And the world is better for it too. Americans ARE exceptional. When Great Britain faced the scourge of Nazism, America stood side by side with our brothers across the pond to defeat the Nazi menace. Canada stood with us as well (I know my history).You do not know the meaning then. How could you? As abhorrent as it may sound, Free Speech PROTECTS the irresponsible use as well as the responsible use - there is no qualification. Freedom is absolute. We are free to make mistakes. However, we should always strive to act responsibily.Yes, especially Americans.

Quick, what year did WWII start? 1941? Shame on you. For Canadians, it started in 1939, and we wouldn't have dreamed of sitting it out when we had the moral duty to help defeat the Nazis and stop the atrocities in Europe. At least there are Europeans who are appreciative of our efforts...

Yes, I will agree that some Americans are exceptional... however I won't finish that sentence or I'd have to infract myself.

Whatever. (I probably shouldn't have reponded, but I am trying to increase my post count.)

The first part of your second sentence is correct. Your post count is irrelevant as long as you make a sensible, civil post that contributes positively to the discussion.

And if you object to anybody's sig, just report it. The moderators will figure out if it's in violation of the rules.

 

[LoneGamer]

And what on Earth is wrong with not wanting every nasty, vulgar spambot to come running over here based on what the Google spiders harvest? I run several Invision forums, and when people complain about the ads that appear on the IF (free) ones, I remind them to be careful what they post - the Google spiders will pick it up and think that's what the people here are interested in and adjust their ads accordingly. It's a matter of keywords. There is no logical reason to object to Thunderfall wanting to keep certain keywords from attracting the wrong kinds of advertising here.

That makes a lot of sense. It was mentioned before by another mod but this version clicked with me. Thanks for touching up on it.