Rule Change-

[Arrhin]

I don't know what a run on sentence is so you should explain it to me and give me some examples and then send me back to grammar class.

Sorry...I'll leave.

I hate periods and punctuation, sentence flow. I type the way I talk..def no queens English here

[Bonbori]

It seems to me like the easiest way to avoid any issue with the profanity rule is to simply not use bad words in circumstances where they could be seen as inflammatory.

I don't think anybody's ever been punished for saying vulgar things in their FC chat or otherwise amongst friends, but if someone is cursing like a sailor in a public chat, in front of strangers, that is not appropriate social behaviour and anyone who wishes to report it is fully justified in doing so.

[Penthea]

I feel it's incredibly biased to not view the context.

It's just lazy. If SE don't want people saying certain words then the profanity filter should not be able to be switched off.

By having an optional profanity filter you're sending the message that the filter is only for your personal use. By forcing it on all the time you're sending the message that the words it filters out are not okay under any circumstances.

Yes I know people will find ways to use profanity around a filter but the point is they would be purposely doing so while knowing the game completely forbids it. So they would be aware that they are most definitely breaking a rule. As it is now, the profanity filter being optional can be misleading.

[Arrhin]

Oki, and to address the OP topic PROPERLY. I think that in a Teen+ or 14+ or w/e this place is rated for (With a disclaimer about online interactions NOT bein rated) environment some bloody cussin is expected. I think it's heavy handed language in the ToS, like alot of it tbh and I don believe it should be written that way. I see that #&^%#%&% thing bein broken so much it kinda takes the credibility right outta it anyways!

[Arrhin]

It seems to me like the easiest way to avoid any issue with the profanity rule is to simply not use bad words in circumstances where they could be seen as inflammatory.

I don't think anybody's ever been punished for saying vulgar things in their FC chat or otherwise amongst friends, but if someone is cursing like a sailor in a public chat, in front of strangers, that is not appropriate social behaviour and anyone who wishes to report it is fully justified in doing so.

This, so much

[Nikolas_Wolfe]

It seems to me like the easiest way to avoid any issue with the profanity rule is to simply not use bad words in circumstances where they could be seen as inflammatory.

I don't think anybody's ever been punished for saying vulgar things in their FC chat or otherwise amongst friends, but if someone is cursing like a sailor in a public chat, in front of strangers, that is not appropriate social behaviour and anyone who wishes to report it is fully justified in doing so.

I can see your side to this, of course there is a limit when general banter becomes inappropriate.
But let's say you're in a duty roulette, you make a mistake and die to a mechanic. You say "oh s*** my bad lol"
Is that really something that should be reported? Especially when there are filters in place, and filters that are removable.

That is the only thing I just can't understand.

And according to their rules 3.3 states profanity or offensive language. Something that a reasonable person might find offensive. So you can be in your FC chat with friends, and someone you don't know well or for whatever reason doesn't like you, (maybe you had a falling out as friends) and they decide to report you and claim to be offended. Is that fair or justifiable?

[Arrhin]

I can see your side to this, of course there is a limit when general banter becomes inappropriate.
But let's say you're in a duty roulette, you make a mistake and die to a mechanic. You say "oh s*** my bad lol"
Is that really something that should be reported? Especially when there are filters in place, and filters that are removable.

That is the only thing I just can't understand.

And according to their rules 3.3 states profanity or offensive language. Something that a reasonable person might find offensive. So you can be in your FC chat with friends, and someone you don't know well or for whatever reason doesn't like you, (maybe you had a falling out as friends) and they decide to report you and claim to be offended. Is that fair or justifiable?

I do say that, F bomb and all. Never been reported that I know of. I think, and I'm not sayin my experience is universal mind you, that any person that would report fer that is malicious anyways and I'd hope that the GM might take that into account. They do go over logs and they do look at context. I do however believe that the system can be used by a malicious person to harm another, because of how the ToS is written. We bin over issues like this ad nauseum in our LS since the new ToS was released. Lets be fair here, it's crap, up for abuse...and written by someone with either an overly idealistic idea of how ppl interact, or a 1st year law student, idk which.

[Nikolas_Wolfe]

I do say that, F bomb and all. Never been reported that I know of. I think, and I'm not sayin my experience is universal mind you, that any person that would report fer that is malicious anyways and I'd hope that the GM might take that into account. They do go over logs and they do look at context. I do however believe that the system can be used by a malicious person to harm another, because of how the ToS is written. We bin over issues like this ad nauseum in our LS since the new ToS was released. Lets be fair here, it's crap, up for abuse...and written by someone with either an overly idealistic idea of how ppl interact, or a 1st year law student, idk which.

Exactly! Certain levels of profanity are expected in an MMO. Hands down. Obviously as I said, there is a limit when it becomes inappropriate. But come on for the most part, it is harmless.

Sometimes GMs don't care to look at context because I have NEVER maliciously harassed or used severe profanity towards someone, and I was suspended in the past. They refused to at least give me an idea of what exactly I was reported for. I believe that having 1 GM conduct an investigation is poor quality control. It should be given to a team of several to determine a decision.

And I love your ending comment, I actually AM a law student, and wholeheartedly agree, the way it was written is poor.

[Penthea]

Sometimes GMs don't care to look at context because I have NEVER maliciously harassed or used severe profanity towards someone, and I was suspended in the past. They refused to at least give me an idea of what exactly I was reported for. I believe that having 1 GM conduct an investigation is poor quality control. It should be given to a team of several to determine a decision.

Nah this decision making has nothing to do with the fact that usually only one GM looks at a case. It has to do with things like company policy, internal rules, training, quality control, and ofc the ToS.

I know quite a few people who GM for Blizzard and that company tends to handle profanity by looking at context, whether the profane response was provoked by someone else, etc. You would still get a warning depending on what was said, but they're not as blindly harsh about it as SE. And most GM tickets are handled by one person in Blizzard.

[Bonbori]

By having an optional profanity filter you're sending the message that the filter is only for your personal use.

It is for personal use. But the choice has nothing to do with the profanity rules. Rather, the option determines how the in-game chat is displayed on your end - modified or unmodified. The option to turn it off is there if you don't wish the chat to be altered by an algorithm that could potentially produce false positives and impact the clarity of communication. It occasionally happens and is annoying so having the ability to turn it off is simple QoL.

However, whether or not the game filters out profanity is irrelevant to the ToS which objectively and explicitly forbids it. The message that it's bad comes from reading the ToS, not exploring the options menu.

I can see your side to this, of course there is a limit when general banter becomes inappropriate.
But let's say you're in a duty roulette, you make a mistake and die to a mechanic. You say "oh s*** my bad lol"
Is that really something that should be reported? Especially when there are filters in place, and filters that are removable.

That is the only thing I just can't understand.

And according to their rules 3.3 states profanity or offensive language. Something that a reasonable person might find offensive. So you can be in your FC chat with friends, and someone you don't know well or for whatever reason doesn't like you, (maybe you had a falling out as friends) and they decide to report you and claim to be offended. Is that fair or justifiable?

I suspect the vague "reasonable person" clause is there to cover cases like this. In both of your examples, the tired, overworked GM who had the misfortune of receiving that report would be the final arbiter of whether it came from a reasonable person or not. Should they decide the report wasn't reasonable... well... abusing the report function is itself punishable for wasting the GMs' time.

It's important to keep the human factor in mind. The judgement will depend on the context, the GM's subjective policy... or even their mood that day. So that's why I advocate just... never putting oneself in a situation where they could be reported for profanity. It's a gamble one doesn't have to take - cursing in any given situation is a conscious choice - so if it comes back to bite them, ultimately it's their own fault.