me:B.O.P. I don't agree that the use of profanity says anything about someone's charactar. I think it just says that the person uses words that possibly offend some others.
you:Actually is show that a person lacks the command of their native language. In this case English. Since this language is spoon fed from birth there is no excuse for not learning to using the proper words. Profanity screams laziness and a lack of respect.
my response:I disagree with part of your answer. It doesn't scream laziness, nor a lack of respect. It may demonstrate the lack of a large vocabulary, that I'll agree with. Not 'dissing" any group, but I have to use an example so I'll chose the obvious. The inner city ghetto dwellers for whatever reason generally use more curse words than other parts of society. that doesn't mean they are intentionally showing lack of respect, have bad charactar, are lazy, it just means they were brought up or acculturated differently than other people. Do you see what I am getting at. They aren't any less or more intelligent than any other sector of society, because of their circumstances or different word usage.
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me:The idea that people all have to write the same way, IMO is not a healthy one, it discourages people from expressing their views.
IMO the purpose of a message board is to get across ideas. Some people spell badly, others have bad grammar. We all have faults. But what is the important aspect of a post? The correct spelling (etc) or the idea? If the idea or point or fact is understood, isn't that really what's important?
I have had exposure to a lot of different circles in my lifetime, from the best of society to the worst, from absolute saints to absolute sinners, and I have found that no "group" has a monoply on good ideas or intelligence.
Spelling and poor grammar are also indicative of laziness, but they do not necessarily demonstrate a lack of respect.
you: As for you argument that restricting profanity forces all to post the same way, you and I have demonstrated to distinctly different styles and opinions on this subject. Yet neither of us has needed to profanity. I did not feel restricted…did you?
my response: I wasn't trying to imply that it's a 'forced" issue, I am saying that if people want everyone to write the same way and are critical of style, it hurts substance, because some people then become intimidated and won't post at all, from timidity. After all who wants to read responses where you're called an idiot for not being able to spell as well as everyone else, or put a comma in the wrong place, or used some bad words?. Everyone is different, IMo we should be focusing on the idea, not the petty. If einstien had written his theory of relativity and mispelled half the words, and interjected a few
M.F.'s in there, would his theory have been any less correct? (Although I agree it may have taken longer to have been accepted, LOL LOL )
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you:
You are of course entitled to your opinion as am I. But let me ask a question…
Would you elect a man to the office of President of the United States if his speeches were laced with profanity?
me: probably not at this point in time. In 100 years who knows that may be the norm? But this is something that I think goes to another issue. we aen't electing presidents here, we are exchanging opinions, and some of the things that people get so worked up about are really so silly. I happen to be in the 'school" that doesn't really care about spelling, punctuation, or some of the other things that people use to attack another.
btw i didn't feel restricted either, but I don't really think that's the point of it all.
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Don't misunderstand, I am not trying to get into a big brouha about this all with you, I just wanted to present an opossing opinion about the matter. I agree with a large part of what gabard has written about the message boards and the problems that certain people create for others etc etc etc. IMO the readiness of some others to jump all over someone because their posts are not picture perfect, is just another little thing that people use to create problems for others. In the scheme of things, I really don't think the mistakes people make in the construction of their posts matters that much, to me it's the idea or concept, or point, or fact that's important. I am not going to lose or make money because someone spelled something wrong, (as a general statement).
AI
