IMPORTANT BZPower's Word Filter and You

[Nato G]

Alright, just checking. Thanks for clarifying that. 

[Kopekemaster]

 

 

Wait, so is:

This includes if you combine a swear with a Bionicle or other fictional word, such as "Karzahni."

this saying that we can't say "Karzahni!" as a mock-expletive?

 

I'm guessing not, but I don't really see another way of interpreting that.

I've bolded the key word for you. 'Karzahni', 'Karz' etc are fine; combining them with real-life profanities is not.

I got that, I guess I'm just somehow missing what "combining" them would be like/how that would work/why someone would do that. But, of course, I won't get to see an example. Darn.

[Prowl Nightwolf]

Here is an example... Staff please don't Ban me for this... read at your own risk
 

 Karz######er
 

 

Nope didn't work... Guess I don't know how to do it....

 

 

 

 

Edit: Spoiler tags are meant for storyline-related spoilers only. Also, see the posts below.

-Wind-

Edited February 9, 2015 by -Windrider-

[Eyru]

Here is an example... Staff please don't Ban me for this... read at your own risk

 

 

 Karz######er

 

 

Nope didn't work... Guess I don't know how to do it....

 

Just a thought: asking the staff not to punish you before you do something you know is against the rules is like asking the police not to give you a ticket before doing 50 in a school zone. Come on, bud. It doesn't matter whether you're trying to give someone an example or not; it's against the rules.

Edited February 9, 2015 by -Windrider-

[Prowl Nightwolf]

well I did wrap it in spoilers so it is not out in the open... Still I don't know how the filter works and don't remember seeing any of these hybrid words. So I didn't know how one gets past the filters. Unless it is like replacing A's with @, S with $, and whatever else is out there. Just wanted to try it and clearly I am no good as I got busted by the filter....

[-Windrider-]

Attempting to bypass the word filter is prohibited by the first guideline listed here. Do not do it.

[IcarusBen]

So, let me see if I understand this.

 

Saying "What in Karzahni?!" or "That Teridax, he's a real son of a Muaka, y'know?" or "That's a load of Mukau" is alright.

 

Saying "Why you SWEARING son of a Muaka" or "That's a load of Mukau SWEAR" is not allowed.

 

And, of course, making like Mr. Krabs during the Bad Swear Day is most certainly not allowed.

[Eyru]

So, let me see if I understand this.

 

Saying "What in Karzahni?!" or "That Teridax, he's a real son of a Muaka, y'know?" or "That's a load of Mukau" is alright.

 

Saying "Why you SWEARING son of a Muaka" or "That's a load of Mukau SWEAR" is not allowed.

 

Exactly. As Ghost (and others) said on the previous page:

 

'Karzahni', 'Karz' etc are fine; combining them with real-life profanities is not.

 

 

[The UltimoScorp]

That does clarify the point, though. Good on you, Ben.

[Toa of Dancing]

For example, some things that I have seen are Karz#### (#s typed purposefully) or the common combo words of ### in everyday society that people tend to drop past the filter on this site. This post was made (from my observation) just to clarify that in no circumstance should you ever post real life swearing on this board, and that included misspellings and combinations. Not a hard concept, but I guess it needed clarification.

 

Thanks for the post, B6.

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

Sidorak cursed in a language that had been old when Metru-Nui was young.

You can always just not have an expletive said. Let the reader use their own imagination to fill in the gaps.

 

The other main trick is to just have something cut a character off. The good old fashioned, "Oh..." *crash; or the always lovely, "Why don't you take your sword and -" *crash*.

 

There's no reason to make up alternative swears or dodge wordfilters when you apply your writing skills creatively.

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Ghidora131]

Exactly.

 

This is probably the first time Levaticus said something and I 100% agree.

[Perp]

What would be the rulings on such beautiful nuggets of verbiage such as:

'She left her children at their table and was swayin' to the rhythm almost immediately; she was one cool mother-funker.'

or

'He approached the vendor timidly, eyeing his display of fresh cattle legs. "That's some nice bullshin you have there," he said.'

or

"Some would say this being came straight out of legend - born straight from the sands the water gently laps against - a Son of a Beach."

[Bloody Nine]

Isn't that what they mean when they said "dont try to bypass the filter"

 

Yeah its cute that you have that context but come on, anyone with a brain knows what youre doing

Edited February 15, 2015 by Bloody Nine

[Nato G]

No. Bypassing the filter is adding a swear onto an existing word. I'd give examples, but.... you know.... I kind of can't. 

[Bloody Nine]

No?

Exactly. We can't possibly think up every possible word and every possible spelling, misspelling, or 'leet' version of the word and include that into the filter. If you think something is not appropriate, don't type it. Just because that specific word isn't in the filter doesn't mean it's okay to say.

 

You probably got that from Black 6's OP, but

 

This includes if you combine a swear with a Bionicle or other fictional word, such as "Karzahni."

 

'Includes' isn't 'exclusive to'

Edited February 15, 2015 by Bloody Nine

[Perp]

I wasn't aware "funk," "shin" and "beach" were swear words.

[Bloody Nine]

I wasn't aware that anyone actually used these words in that context. You think that you're being cutely oblivious by using these absurdly specific situations. You're not.

[Perp]

Huh? What am I being 'cutely oblivious' to?

[Bloody Nine]

Well let's see.

 

You ask whether 'bullshin' 'son of a beach' and 'mother-funker' could be construed as something else in a thread about word filters and swear words.

 

When someone says that it sounds like you're trying to bypass the filter anyways, you immediately get defensive as if you're ONLY talking about 'shin' 'beach' and 'funk' alone, without any context to those words.

 

On an unrelated note I'm not sure why people are trying to figure how to stretch the meaning of the filter despite what B6 said. He said he wants less of the swearing and bypassing, so why not just accept that? I swear like a sailor outside of BZP but it's not like I'm gonna try to bring that over here. His site, his rules, after all.

 

If your friend asks you to remove your muddy shoes before going inside his house, do you run around muddying up his perfect lawn because lol it's not inside the house, technically!!

Edited February 15, 2015 by Bloody Nine

[Ghosthands]

Perp is making a valid point: would the mods consider what he is doing (i.e. strongly implying a profanity for comedic effect, but using words that make sense in the context and could therefore be read without any offensive meaning) to be a filter bypass, or not?

[Perp]

If your friend asks you to remove your muddy shoes before going inside his house, do you run around muddying up his perfect lawn because lol it's not inside the house, technically!!

 

Uh yeah, I don't really see any way in which Muddy-Shoes Guy is going against his friend's wishes, so... your point is...?

Edited February 15, 2015 by Perp

[Bloody Nine]

Well I'm not sure how swear words are xD comedic and necessary, but that is a fair question I guess.

 

But aren't you staff yourself?

[Ghosthands]

Perp's examples are puns. Puns are comedic.

 

I'm just a staff member of the BZPRPG: I'm not actual BZPower staff. I don't have any say in official BZP policy matters, like this one.

[Bloody Nine]

Oh, so you just tell people to stop godmoding and stuff, then

[otter]

Considering how they aren't being used as swear words, nor are they actually swear words themselves but are instead being used for an attempt at witty wordplay, I can't see anybody having a problem with it. Getting offended at something like that is like getting offended at any bad pun, it's just pointless. Sure, it might be obvious where it came from, but the manner in which it's being used isn't patently offensive unless you hate humour in general.

 

Because, again - they aren't being used to bypass the filter at all. There's no swearing going on in any of those examples, in any way, it's just a little attempt at a joke.

[Bloody Nine]

The way I see it, you're still trying to evoke the same thing even if you're trying to dress it up as a pun. A pun still refers to the swear word even if you aren't using it as such.

 

That said, attempts to bypass the filter or talking about something that is filtered without direct mentioning it ('that one site') is just as bad as using the filtered word, if not worse.

 

As the above says. You can't evoke anything from hashtags because they're just hashtags.
 

Getting offended at something like that is like getting offended at any bad pun,

 

Whoa dude. Calm down. Nobody is getting "offended" by le bad words. Nobody 'hates' humor. So by this logic, allow misspelled banned words because getting offended at that is like getting offended by bad speelings? Do you hate people with dyslexia?

 

I don't understand why people are fighting for their rights to use swear words under any circumstance, it's such a stupid thing to keep trying to find loopholes in. If the people that run the site don't like it, then why bother? Nothing wrong with respecting their wishes, letter or spirit.

Edited February 15, 2015 by Bloody Nine

[Perp]

 

As the above says. You can't evoke anything from hashtags because they're just hashtags.

 

 

Yeah dude, agree with you there, but it's really fun to use the word (hashtag, asterisk) instead of the symbol (###, ***) when typing in swears.

 

Example:

 

"I told 'Pimp Slappa Extraordinaire' to stop being an ******"

 

This is much better:

 

"I told 'Pimp Slappa Extraordinaire' to stop being an asterisk."

[Razgriz]

Whoa dude. Calm down. Nobody is getting "offended" by le bad words. Nobody 'hates' humor. So by this logic, allow misspelled banned words because getting offended at that is like getting offended by bad speelings? Do you hate people with dyslexia?

 

Man it's too early for this sorta bull shins

[otter]

I like how I make one comment about how you're basically getting all worked up over a few little puns and get to told to calm down and then suffer an ad hominem attack for it. Oh, internet, I love you so.

 

It's one thing to remove a mispelled banned word because it's still banned and still obviously a swear word. It's another thing entirely to try and remove simple little puns simply because of the passing similarity to the banned words. They're not meant to be used as profanity, they're not meant to be patently offensive - which profanity most often is - they're just being used for a humorous purpose. Yes, sure, they obviously derive their humour from that which they are similar to. So does every other pun on the face of the Earth.

 

We're not trying to find loopholes in the usage of banned language on the site. That's not our idea at all. We're simply asking for clarifications as to the usage of slightly similar words and phrases for humorous purposes in which they aren't even being used in a manner remotely similar to the phrases from which they're derived.

 

And, no, I don't hate dyslexic people. Sorry to burst your bubble there.

[Bloody Nine]

I wasn't implying that you hated dyslexic people any more than you were implying that I hated puns and humor.

[otter]

Whoa dude. Calm down. Nobody is getting "offended" by le bad words. Nobody 'hates' humor. So by this logic, allow misspelled banned words because getting offended at that is like getting offended by bad speelings? Do you hate people with dyslexia?

 

 

 

I see, of course, you weren't implying that at all when you asked if I hated people with dyslexia. Unless you were making a poor attempt at humour or a poor attempt to get a rise out of me and it didn't work and you're just covering your tracks.

 

:^)

 

But I never even blatantly asked "do you hate humour" or anything like that, I simply said that puns like the ones Perp mentioned, while yes, juvenile and not particularly thought out, were just that - puns. Not used in any offensive manner, not used at all like the words/phrases they might be based on, and it's pointless to get offended over that, unless, of course, the person getting offended hates humour. Pretty much the only way I see that happening.

[Bloody Nine]

You keep trying to characterize me as this guy getting worked up and offended by swear words when I just want to clarify my position. And then say that anyone offended actually hates humor. :/

Would it be better if i had said " do we hate dyslexic people"?

Personally I think the filter itself is outdated, given that the core audience outgrew the age label. Actually a bit surprised we now allow YouTube but the filter is still there. It worked when Bionicle was still popular and kids were looking for a place to discuss who the best toa was. Actually probably still gonna need it with the reboot, actually. Well, point was that it's a bit annoying to me but I'll respect it anyways.

Words have meaning. You say that swear words only matter when you mean that youre angry or whatever when you say it. I feel differently.

When I'm asked to not swear in front of my cousin's kid, it's because they'd rather not teach them to express themselves in such a manner. Not because they're afraid of negative vibes or something. Same with bzp's filter: it's a toy set theoretically aimed at children.

So why dont i *winkwink* and pun? Talk about how maaaad fudge makes me? Or how annoying all the beaches are? Because I respect them to not to. I don't say "Hey, where's the bathroom, I wanna ###" even though there's no angry, dismayed or otherwise negative tone: just a simple request. I don't talk about the devils' land even though I'm not dismayed. Swear words aren't just aggressive: they are also used in generic discourse. Compare "Karzahni is a bad place where bad matoran go to be broken" vs "What the Karz?" Both use the same word (or root, whatever), one is aggressive while the other is used neutrally, but both are used as bowdlerized swears. Swapping in for the RL version isn't okay in either case, despite the former not being aggressive, dismayed, or attached to any sort of emotion.

 

And that's just my premise. Not because i hate puns or get offended by swear words. I could slip and slide around the filter with tricky wordplay but who does it really help, aside from stroking my own ego at the expense of the rules? That you have to ask whether such puns are are allowed in the first place, instead of doing it anyways, shows that you too feel it's skirting the line.

That's all i have to say on the matter. I hope i made myself clear.

Also to the guy that dug my name history to expose my hypocrisy or whatever: come on that was 4 years ago. And I'd look into 'Show Them Fury Unleashed' for an actual filter bypass. Check the acronym

Edited February 16, 2015 by Bloody Nine

[Toa Levacius Zehvor]

This Entire Argument, by Everbody

Disclaimer Beforehand: I don't personally think the word filter is necessary. I was always familiar with a long enough list of expletives by the age of eight to rival most adults, and I'm sure with the diversity of BZP's userbase, more than a few played the Pokemon swear-word game even better than I did. With the exception of the most explicit of words - mostly those referring to sexual exploits - I don't think there's a problem with them, particularly in light of BRPG having a generally older audience than the BZP average.

 

That being said, BZP is a Bionicle fan-site, with some degree of sponsorship (which, not being part of admin, I'm not aware of the full details on). While I may be making assumptions, I'm fairly sure following policies handed down from LEGO - for instance, the spoiler policy - is a pretty important thing. And unless we're going to age-gate one forum - which simply encourages people to lie about their age, and is thus pointless - we can't lift the ban elsewhere. So I can understand why the policy is in place.

 

Is this sort-of-swear-word-thing allowed?

Does this really need to be asked? Disregard this.

 

Swear words are a part of language, which is simply a means to convey an idea. The idea behind a swear word, then, is more important than the actual composition of letters. Be it a female canine, a child born out of wedlock, a persons rear end, someone's unpleasant fate in the afterlife, a racist slur, or even carnal acts, something is being said. The intention may be to offend, or it may be to express irritation.

 

If the intention for your character is to say something offensive, you can either make use of Bionicle-approved swear-words (Karzahni, Piraka, more?), or you can actually be a creative writer, and come up with better insults. Sarcasm is a powerful tool, and figurative language as a whole can be used to create far more interesting commentary than a single, one-word swear. It can also be a powerful way of expressing the differences between characters intellect; less intelligent ones can't into sarcasm, and simply come up with simple insults, while a more intelligent one will be more adept at subtle, sometimes extended comments.

 

For when the intention is to express irritation, see my above post; you don't actually need to type out a word to carry the idea across. More importantly, you don't need to actively define the idea, which spares you having to worry about bypassing the word-filter. Only the irritation is carried through to the reader, allowing them to fill in the blanks.

 

Now, before someone accuses me of not reading the context of the posts: I did. And in that given context, there's nothing inherently wrong about them. However, it's very easy for someone, particularly a younger member (from experience, I'd say the 12-15 age group), to get the idea that they might, perhaps, be allowed to bend the rules in other places. While one would hope to have more faith in newer members than that, let's not forget that we've become significantly more liberal in what's been allowed to slip by over the last five years or so. This was perfectly fine with Bionicle dead; with the reboot, cleaning house is an unfortunate side-effect.

 

Personally, I don't think there's anything wrong with it. They just aren't very funny.

 

Yeah dude, agree with you there, but it's really fun to use the word (hashtag, asterisk) instead of the symbol (###, ***) when typing in swears.

While no doubt fun for the writer, the audience is not guaranteed to feel the same way. Personally, I find anything which breaks the narrative flow to be distracting and out of place, on par with a random pie-in-the-face gag breaking out in the midst of the RPG's climactic end-fight.

 

Still, depending on context (as with the puns) I can't imagine there's anything inherently wrong with it. Maybe I'm wrong? :shrug: Overall, it just comes across as unnecessary. Immature? Not so much. But definitely unnecessary, and perhaps a little forced.

 

But don't take my word on any of it. I think the rule was "if it fit's in a PG-13 movie, it's fine", but with the broad range that entails, I'm not entirely certain. Better to just wait for B6 to rule one way or another than go charging head-first into an edited post.

 

-Toa Levacius Zehvor

 

P.S.: I feel like I'm waving a flag around that says, "No Fun Allowed", but this discussion isn't giving me "this will definitely end well for everybody involved" vibes.

 

End Note: If the formatting is wonky on this, it's because I've been having difficulties getting the BZP posting box to work right on Pale Moon. The older members on the site may recall the days of having to code their posts? Yeah, I don't miss that part.

Edited February 15, 2015 by Toa Levacius Zehvor

[Perp]

You're overthinking it.

Edit: Or maybe underthinking it.

 

 

Yeah dude, agree with you there, but it's really fun to use the word (hashtag, asterisk) instead of the symbol (###, ***) when typing in swears.

While no doubt fun for the writer, the audience is not guaranteed to feel the same way. Personally, I find anything which breaks the narrative flow....

 

Sarcasm is a powerful tool

Edited February 15, 2015 by Perp

[Nato G]

As the above says. You can't evoke anything from hashtags because they're just hashtags.

 

Gotta disagree with you there. 

[GSR]

After talking things over with Black Six, we're going to ask that folks err on the side of caution.  The occasional pun might be borderline, but this:

 

Whoa dude. Calm down. Nobody is getting "offended" by le bad words. Nobody 'hates' humor. So by this logic, allow misspelled banned words because getting offended at that is like getting offended by bad speelings? Do you hate people with dyslexia?

Man it's too early for this sorta bull shins

 

Really isn't. 

 

Basically, to reiterate what's said above: instead of spending energy trying to skirt past the filter, use it to liven up the sentence in a different way. 

[Voltex]

After talking things over with Black Six, we're going to ask that folks err on the side of caution.  The occasional pun might be borderline, but this:

 

Whoa dude. Calm down. Nobody is getting "offended" by le bad words. Nobody 'hates' humor. So by this logic, allow misspelled banned words because getting offended at that is like getting offended by bad speelings? Do you hate people with dyslexia?

Man it's too early for this sorta bull shins

 

Really isn't. 

 

Basically, to reiterate what's said above: instead of spending energy trying to skirt past the filter, use it to liven up the sentence in a different way. 

 

I like this plan

 

Coming up with entire absurd sentences has always been more fun anyway

[fishers64]

I prefer to adopt my 10th grade English teacher's policy - save the swear words for when things have really gone to Karzanhi. 

 

BZPower is fun and bright, even on it's bad days, it never really gets as bad as life can get. So no need for swears. And if things change, and it really does get that bad, this emoticon is your friend: . Or just type out them swears and let the forum take care of it. End of problem.

[Razgriz]

Actually this one is my friend

 

:^)