This question is marked "community wiki".

Hey Simon and other IQ moderators,

Before I start I just wanted to say I could not log in to IQ Meta nor log in providing an email. I apologise in advance for posting in the wrong section!

I just wanted to raise awareness that there has been an increased usage of profanity and other cuss/taboo words on IQ within the past 2-3 months or so, and I just wanted to ask if there were any moderators concerned about this.

The reason I ask is because, whilst not very proud to admit it, in the real world I do toss around profanity quite a lot, and when it comes to participating in an online community with high intellectual views such as IQ, I really do my best to abstain from any such words or terminology for the sake of promoting 'smart language.' With that mentioned I'd be lying if I said I were an innocent bystander when it comes to this topic.

It would be nice to have some feedback just so I know what is best felt from the moderators. I would like to know whether profanity has any value in shaping the look and feel for the website which I deeply appreciate.

Personally whilst I do support freedom of speech and actually have got no problem with people engaging in swearing, I feel it would be best if IQ stuck to a no-profanity style medium, only in thought to show visitors to IQ that this is, indeed, a very well educated and intelligent community, vastly different from most others.

Thankyou for your efforts, and btw, the latest update to the website about matching usernames to asked questions in the questions page was a fabulous idea.

asked 10 Jun '13, 08:16

Nikulas's gravatar image

Nikulas
5.4k534156

closed 20 Jun '13, 04:33

Barry%20Allen's gravatar image

Barry Allen ♦♦
11411

@Nikulas "in the real world I do toss around profanity quite a lot" Ditto :). But isn't it fun :)? Here is a quote that sums up my opinion about this

"It's easier to ask forgiveness than it is to get permission." :)

(10 Jun '13, 08:33) releaser99
8

Profanity is the result of a limited vocabulary.

(10 Jun '13, 08:37) Dollar Bill

@releaser99, @Dollar Bill, @Catherine, @Wade- I already can feel this was going to be a hot topic before I even posted it. We're all fairly active and old-timer IQs, I'm more asking what we can do as respectful users to assist spread an image Simon might prefer to be spreading. For example, the fact it is a Q and A website in contrast with a discussion forum setup...

(10 Jun '13, 09:52) Nikulas
1

...I am curious and dont hold any bad views on swearing, its more of how we can act best on the website as teachers, students and spiritual beings in best respect to IQ moderators. Perhaps they care, perhaps they dont, that's why I felt the need to raise the issue considering it hasn't been touched upon. We've being given the privelidge to participate freely in the website and I feel I'd like to do my best to make the moderators jobs as effotless as possible as an ongoing fair token of thanks.

(10 Jun '13, 09:58) Nikulas

@Nikulas I'm pretty sure that Simon knows how to handle his own vibration and believes in the LOA. And if he holds his vision of what he wants out of this site without negative emotions attached to the vision, he is already getting what he wants (in his mind) and probably also in physical reality.

(10 Jun '13, 10:30) releaser99

So I think we can all relax and express who we are comfortably without shame and guilt. If he feels lovingly inspired, he will kick out the user's he doesn't want anyway. :) If someone feels threatened and offended, the answer is always within, not in trying to control external conditions (people) with "shoulds and shouldn'ts".

(10 Jun '13, 10:30) releaser99

@Nikulas I don't think the use of profanity has increased in the last 2 or 3 months. It's always been a part of IQ. To be honest, when I had enough points to edit, I was tempted to edit out the 'f' words in a few answers where the user used the word multiple times. In RL, I don't swear & I shouldn't here. What others do is up to them.

(10 Jun '13, 14:37) ele

Do not be apologetic to profanity. LOL, if u swear u swear, LOL, it is ok brother, just not on this site lol.. :-) JK,. lol,

(11 Jun '13, 08:16) TReb Bor yit-NE
1

@ele- Yes it's always been a part of IQ. It's more that I've noticed it more to the point I needed to ask a question about it.

@releaser99- "the answer is always within, not in trying to control external conditions..." Agreed. Currently I feel inspired to write my answers with zero foul words (that's not out of fear btw), I'm more than happy for others to continue their chosen linguistics but it was clearly a personal concern I had.

(11 Jun '13, 09:25) Nikulas

I honestly feel the other way around about this. If someone is just being themselves and expressing only their true inner personality through a story their sharing, it feels wrong to tell that person to limit, rewrite, or not share anything at all with us unless they constantly write it to be 5 year old and grandma appropriate.

I agree though if its profanity towards another member on here. Like calling someone a name on here, thats not ok. But in all honest ive never seen that on here ever.

(20 Jun '13, 02:50) ikaruss21

@ikaruss21 Evidently this is ok -- "fuck you , I'm intitled to say what ever the fuck I want to say.." This comment was also voted up.

http://www.inwardquest.com/questions/77824/is-there-any-merit-in-burning-

This user was warned only after he used used aggressive & offensive language in his comments to another member.

@Wade Casaldi handled this comment with such class, grace & integrity - I applaud him as I did @Snow

(20 Jun '13, 03:29) ele
showing 1 of 11 show 10 more comments

The question has been closed for the following reason "Question is off-topic or not relevant: Any further discussion of site policy should be done on IQ Meta" by Barry Allen 20 Jun '13, 04:33


I'll answer this here on the main Inward Quest site since you cannot log into IQ Meta. (I've now made some changes to the configuration there so please see if that fixes your login problems)

The Inward Quest FAQ states:

If you find that you strongly disagree with another's viewpoint, it is up to you to express your own viewpoint more eloquently and persuasively than the other person. If instead you resort to confrontation and verbal violence towards others, we will suspend your account without further warning. We don't care what your viewpoint is (everyone's point of view is welcome here) but we do care how you say it. Disruptive behaviour is of no value to anyone here and simply suggests to us that you've run out of anything worthwhile to say.

The moderators will (and have) suspended users for using offensive language. This will continue to be site policy into the future. We try to be lenient if we think someone is in an emotionally disturbed condition and is behaving that way as a disguised cry for help. However, we operate zero-tolerance for anyone who is clearly just using such language as attention-seeking or disruptive behaviour.

Regardless of the rights or wrongs of using such language, this is a public website where many have contributed high-quality information to share with others globally. So we will seek to enforce behavioural standards equivalent to a "lowest common denominator" situation to ensure that the information reaches the widest audience possible. In other words, if your great grandmother, who is surfing the internet looking for information, would be offended by the language used then that language will not be welcomed here.

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answered 10 Jun '13, 12:29

Simon%20Templeton's gravatar image

Simon Templeton ♦♦
1320

Hear here! Excellent! This is comforting. I love the talk as if your grandmother were here point. Language is an art and should be creations we can be proud of expressing. Come to think of it someone that offended me I haven't seen any posts from him in a while, I guess he was suspended.He was a new fellow with a long name.

(10 Jun '13, 16:05) Wade Casaldi

@Wade if you were offended, why didn't you speak up or edit the answer? I can't say I've ever been offended - felt sad a few times. IMO, it doesn't represent the best of IQ.

I assume you were talking about this user - I don't think the moderators has any other choice than to suspend.

http://www.inwardquest.com/users/4186/popi-bearcat-gibson/recent/

(10 Jun '13, 17:42) ele

@Simon Templeton So if we use language that is offensive, but it is not towards others, this constitutes a ban ? Like for instance I have seen so much sh*% in my life... srry for example . but it is interesting for me to see this. Thank u simon.

(11 Jun '13, 08:10) TReb Bor yit-NE

@Simon- You have articulated what I was attempting to convey very well with the metaphoric idea of our great grandmothers viewing the website. Thankyou to getting back to me on this so quickly, I wasnt aware of the FAQ otherwise I probably would'nt have asked the question

(11 Jun '13, 09:13) Nikulas
3

@TReb Bor yit-NE Between issues of "The Individual vs The Collective", there inevitably arises a grey area. On Inward Quest, because of the way the software we use operates, decisions regarding those grey areas must be resolved by moderator (human) judgement. Therefore if you want to avoid becoming subject to the vagaries of such human judgement, the simple risk-free solution is to stay well clear of the grey areas.

(11 Jun '13, 15:39) Simon Templeton ♦♦

@ele yes that is him! LOL

I don't really speak up, it adds logs on the fire.

I'm the same with any arguing even in person, I see it as pointless. As for editing it was a comment toward me not an answer.

I believe that this was who Nikulas noticed with the profanity.

(11 Jun '13, 17:02) Wade Casaldi

@Wade- "I believe that this was who Nikulas noticed with the profanity." I think it would be wise in contemplating why you feel the need to make a judgement like that. Forget if it's correct, or incorrect, is it relevant? With the comment you posted, you found him to be the notice of profanity and not me.

(14 Jun '13, 11:57) Nikulas

For your curiosity satisfaction I actually enjoyed reading many of Popi's posts, and, no, he wasn't of my concern when I posted this question; the concern was mine and I will never ever point fingers at others.

(14 Jun '13, 11:58) Nikulas
1

@Nikulas sorry, I was just noticing and adding things together that I thought that was the reason. It was just speculation, I am sorry.

(15 Jun '13, 01:09) Wade Casaldi

@Simon Templeton Curious, if a user is banned, is it for life? Does a banned user ever get a 2nd chance after a certain period of time has elapsed? If the banned user apologizes or shows regret or has an explanation or excuse will they get another chance?

(20 Jun '13, 03:43) ele
showing 2 of 10 show 8 more comments

This is not only an intellectual issue but as well on a spiritual perspective about our frequency.

When I see swearing here it turns me off spiritually. It dulls my inspiration. It is a lower base frequency. My reaction is one of being repulsed. It is a way to turn me away from responding.

I need to point out that I used to strongly feel anyone that expressed themselves with profanity hadn't anything with worthy of my time. Elly Rook changed that with his excellent book which I'll abstain from spelling one word out of consideration and decorum. "The Big ?@#$ing Secret." It is an excellent book but I wish he that he used only words worthy of his points.

I had a friend that attempted to talk with me at work. He swore so much while talking, I had no idea what he was trying to tell me or ask me.

link

answered 10 Jun '13, 09:09

Wade%20Casaldi's gravatar image

Wade Casaldi
36.9k428102

edited 10 Jun '13, 11:08

4

@Wade Casaldi - was just about to type "profanity is vibration lowering" when you posted!

(10 Jun '13, 09:13) Catherine

"I love words. I thank you for hearing my words. I want to tell you something about words that I uh, I think is important. I love..as I say, they're my work, they're my play, they're my passion. Words are all we have really.

We have thoughts, but thoughts are fluid. You know. And, then we assign a word to a thought . And we're stuck with that word for that thought. So be careful with words. I like to think, yeah, the same words that hurt can heal. It's a matter of how you pick them.

There are some people that aren't into all the words. There are some people who would have you not use certain words. Yeah, there are 400,000 words in the English language, and there are seven of them that you can't say on television. What a ratio that is. 399,993 to seven. They must really be bad. They'd have to be outrageous, to be separated from a group that large. All of you over here, you seven. Bad words. That's what they told us they were, remember? 'That's a bad word.' 'Awwww.' There are no bad words. (There are)Bad thoughts. (And there are) Bad Intentions. (And just words)

http://www.erenkrantz.com/Humor/SevenDirtyWords.shtml

http://goo.gl/LsLJ9 WARNING CONTAINS THE 7 WORDS YOU CAN'T SAY ON TV

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This answer is marked "community wiki".

answered 10 Jun '13, 12:10

ursixx's gravatar image

ursixx
22.0k1445

wikified 10 Jun '13, 12:11

(10 Jun '13, 15:36) ele

@ele depends on where you work. Those 7 words are not restricted in Swedish media. I love My freedom of Speech

(10 Jun '13, 17:07) ursixx
1

Not to worry - I wasn't offended - I love George Carlin. Thanks to Google translator, I now know how to say those 7 words in Swedish..

(10 Jun '13, 17:38) ele
1

@ursixx "WARNING CONTAINS THE 7 WORDS YOU CAN'T SAY ON TV" lol. I'm glad you've warned me. So I didn't click on the link and so I probably prevented myself dying from a heart attack :)... Love George Carlin :). Thanks for reminding me of this clip :).

(14 Jun '13, 18:55) releaser99
showing 2 of 4 show 2 more comments

In My own opinion, i do not see an issue with swearing, just as all things in life, a word is given only as much power as we choose to give it, so if it offends us, it is because we allow ourselves to be offended. I can never be offended by somthing I embrace and accept. I try ( and this is a BIG try lol) not to judge things. ESPECIALLY WORDS. Now, I do see why this rule is here, and also I see why many would feel this way, BUT I know too that we all can only be effected, if we are infected. SO if we relax, take it easy, words of these nature, will never truly affect us. hope this helped.

love n light

rob

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answered 11 Jun '13, 08:19

TReb%20Bor%20yit-NE's gravatar image

TReb Bor yit-NE
14.0k21578

5

@Treb- Yeah, I totally vibe with what you're saying, and, again, I have a limited vocabulary in real life if you know what Im saying.

"So if we relax, take it easy, words of these nature, will never truely affect us," Whilst I cannot argue against that, fact is many visitors and users are not in proximity of the vortex or relaxed when they come onto the website. I think smart langauge comes across as a more professional and people can take things on board with less resistance.

(11 Jun '13, 09:17) Nikulas
2

It's very, very rare a self-help, metaphysical or religious book contains even a single dose of naughty langauge. I feel it's best if I do the same. I'm not attempting to persuase anybody to change their langauge, I'm more communicating that I'm going to really sharpen up my answers in the future to make them appear more comfortably available to a wider variety of audience.

(11 Jun '13, 09:19) Nikulas

@nilulas . ABSO-LULTELY. this is why u never see me swear in any of my videos or on this site, because i know many can not deal with it, and many do not vibe with it, and i really do not use too many of them in my real daily life anyhow. I have heard Treb swear once, Bastardization was the word lol. which i did not think was even a real word until i didn't get a mistake via red underline in my browser LOLOLOL.,

(11 Jun '13, 12:34) TReb Bor yit-NE

@TReb - "I know too that we all can only be effected, if we are infected." Oh so true. That is one of my most treasured lessons, continually being learned. :)

For me, it's not so much about the words used, as it is about the intent behind the words.

(11 Jun '13, 14:49) Grace
1

We're talking Respect ...

(12 Jun '13, 23:06) ele

@ele. I get it,. I understand what u mean, it is all about the answer from a metaphysical standpoint for me,. I do agree we all should not be arguing and cursing. I only mean that to be highly offended, only means that there is somthing in ourselves to be fixed, it is all i meant. LOVE

(13 Jun '13, 13:01) TReb Bor yit-NE
1

"we all can only be effected, if we are infected" Perfect words.

(14 Jun '13, 19:01) releaser99
1

@Treb Bor yit-NE Sorry, I think you misunderstood me. My comment was in response to @Nikulas 's comment - respect for others. I get you. I do not consider skit (Swedish) profanity; but I don't think the 'f' word is necessary, especially on IQ. Don't worry, it would take a lot to offend me. Love your post & I agree & Lots of Love to you, too.

(18 Jun '13, 03:40) ele
showing 2 of 8 show 6 more comments

Lenny Bruce was an advocate of free speech. On October 4, 1961, Bruce was arrested for obscenity at the Jazz Workshop in San Francisco; he had used the word "cocksucker" in an adult night club.

Lenny Bruce - blah blah

Here is Dustin Hoffman playing Lenny Bruce.

link

answered 19 Jun '13, 19:41

Dollar%20Bill's gravatar image

Dollar Bill
12.0k29113

edited 19 Jun '13, 19:42

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