I have noticed that there have been multiple instances of people getting muted or possibly talked with about light curse words that people in other regions may not be aware of. I feel like adding a list of curse words and or a suggestion on what you should and should not say when it comes down to instances like these. Obviously, it’s a little absurd but as someone who was unaware certain terms could be considered inappropriate or a curse word in one part of the world rather than another it would be great to have an idea on what i should be cautious about.
List of Curse words
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Aspasia Castellanos
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I don't know whether to agree or disagree with this thread but I do want to point some things out.
First I think you are undermining a child's intelligence if you believe that they will start using swears if they see them on a swear list. The page will probably be hidden unless you click a link in the rules section and probably starts with bold letters "NONE OF THESE WORDS ARE TOLERATED ON POTTERWORLD" with all of the words having asterisks in them(EX: Bad --> B*d). To say that a child can't figure out what they shouldn't say is silly.
I am very American (a literal Florida man) so all of the words that are prohibited make sense to me. However if you are from a different part of the world that considers different things "swears" to US a list of some kind would be very helpful.
The reason why I am conflicted is that there are so many things that can be considered swears that such a list would be so long and tedious. There also is just a certain desire not to get messy by listing it all out and have it as a use border line words at your own risk system. The penalty also is not that severe, at most you will get muted for a few minutes or a staff member will tell you to stop.
First I think you are undermining a child's intelligence if you believe that they will start using swears if they see them on a swear list. The page will probably be hidden unless you click a link in the rules section and probably starts with bold letters "NONE OF THESE WORDS ARE TOLERATED ON POTTERWORLD" with all of the words having asterisks in them(EX: Bad --> B*d). To say that a child can't figure out what they shouldn't say is silly.
I am very American (a literal Florida man) so all of the words that are prohibited make sense to me. However if you are from a different part of the world that considers different things "swears" to US a list of some kind would be very helpful.
The reason why I am conflicted is that there are so many things that can be considered swears that such a list would be so long and tedious. There also is just a certain desire not to get messy by listing it all out and have it as a use border line words at your own risk system. The penalty also is not that severe, at most you will get muted for a few minutes or a staff member will tell you to stop.
I have to disagree with this. I think it should be common knowledge that since we are a family friendly server, it should be common sense to avoid swears all together. If there were to be a public list of swears, young players would be exposed to all the inappropriate words on the filter.
I think it should just be common knowledge, and best to avoid any light swears all together.
I think it should just be common knowledge, and best to avoid any light swears all together.
I agree somewhat. I think that it should probably be in a spoiler and have a warning or something on it. But I don't think it should include every word that is blacklisted, it should only really be words that are in a sort of grey area. Once I was punished for saying something I didn't even consider a light swear. I asked about it and the staff member I was talking to said that it's considered vulgar slang by google so I shouldn't have said it, but "crap" is also labeled vulgar slang so that's a pretty invalid argument to me.
Do I think it would be helpful? Yes.
Do I think Potterworld would do it? No.
Do I think it would be helpful? Yes.
Do I think Potterworld would do it? No.
To give a small input to this, I do not believe that it would be either a good or an effective idea. I do understand why some of you really think this could be necessary while it makes it easier to know what you are not allowed to say, however, there are some things that will still not work out, I thought I would list some of the reasons why this would not really work.
1. The quite obvious reason it would not work out that has already been mentioned; we do not allow swears on our platforms. This would mean that having a list on one of our platforms with swears would simply go against the values we have on Potterworld all together.
2. Another issue is that not only would that display a list that would go against our own values, it would also show some terms that are not only bad but also very hurtful to people if we were to add all not allowed words to a list.
3. The list is endless; there are plenty of terms that we classify as swears, and making such a big list would be inefficient. Additionally, not all words that are considered a swear on Potterworld may have been in mind when making the list, in other words, they would constantly need to be added to the list which would be inefficient.
4. Having that kind of list would make it easy for people who wants to make hurtful or even hateful comments because they could simply have a look at the list, what swears we have not thought about, and attempt to use them, either as they are, or by bypassing the chat filter depending on if it is on the list or not. There are, unfortunately, people who do their best to make hurtful or hateful comments, and having this list would definitely make their life easier. That is why we, mainly moderation, but also the other staff members, are here, to protect the community from this, not to make this easier to happen.
5. Languages; swearing is not only not allowed in English but in other languages too. This means that having a list of swears would, once again, be even longer, and additionally, we cannot simply cover all terms we do not tolerate as some swears in other languages might not even have an equivalent in English but is still used as a swear in the country/countries where the language is spoken and has to be looked at case by case.
I would say that these are the main reasons why I believe this list would not even be possible to implement, and additionally, I do not believe it is a great idea to implement it in the aspect that it can both be hurtful to people to see this list and be maliciously used on our server. I do understand your concerns about not knowing what we count as a swear, however, my general advice would be that if you are unsure, do not use it and ask a staff member about it. We are there to answer all your questions.
1. The quite obvious reason it would not work out that has already been mentioned; we do not allow swears on our platforms. This would mean that having a list on one of our platforms with swears would simply go against the values we have on Potterworld all together.
2. Another issue is that not only would that display a list that would go against our own values, it would also show some terms that are not only bad but also very hurtful to people if we were to add all not allowed words to a list.
3. The list is endless; there are plenty of terms that we classify as swears, and making such a big list would be inefficient. Additionally, not all words that are considered a swear on Potterworld may have been in mind when making the list, in other words, they would constantly need to be added to the list which would be inefficient.
4. Having that kind of list would make it easy for people who wants to make hurtful or even hateful comments because they could simply have a look at the list, what swears we have not thought about, and attempt to use them, either as they are, or by bypassing the chat filter depending on if it is on the list or not. There are, unfortunately, people who do their best to make hurtful or hateful comments, and having this list would definitely make their life easier. That is why we, mainly moderation, but also the other staff members, are here, to protect the community from this, not to make this easier to happen.
5. Languages; swearing is not only not allowed in English but in other languages too. This means that having a list of swears would, once again, be even longer, and additionally, we cannot simply cover all terms we do not tolerate as some swears in other languages might not even have an equivalent in English but is still used as a swear in the country/countries where the language is spoken and has to be looked at case by case.
I would say that these are the main reasons why I believe this list would not even be possible to implement, and additionally, I do not believe it is a great idea to implement it in the aspect that it can both be hurtful to people to see this list and be maliciously used on our server. I do understand your concerns about not knowing what we count as a swear, however, my general advice would be that if you are unsure, do not use it and ask a staff member about it. We are there to answer all your questions.
Hmm, I think I see where the problem arises but I don't think the suggested solution is the best way to solve it.
I'm going to quote a few things and explain what I see as the main problem here, before suggesting what I think would be the best solution.
Potterworld claims to be an inclusive, family friendly server where any and all words that come even close to swearing or cussing are not allowed. However, in my experience, this is done quite inconsistently.
There are a number of light swears that are just allowed on Potterworld. A good example of this is Magma's example, where he got banned for using a word that was deemed "vulgar slang" by google while a different word with the same label was allowed.
Furthermore, I see a lot of people using the word "damn" on the server, including versions such as "damn it" or "god damn it" (including ofc the abbreviation "gdi"). This is not considered a swear word on Potterworld, while in some instances it can actually be seen as a light swear and the reason for this is because there are a lot of christians who get insulted by the casual use of such a word or phrase. To me, it seems somewhat contradictory to me that Potterworld claims to be inclusive and family friendly while not taking into account all cultures and backgrounds when deciding what words are allowed and what words aren't.
So I think the real underlying problem here is the inconsistency in rules. When it comes to light swears, there's a real chance that they're allowed. Players could see other players use light swears in chat and blindly assume that a different light swear is also allowed, before being muted for using that different word.
It is for this reason that I think the best solution to this problem would be to more consistent in enforcing this rule and to really ensure that no light swears are actually allowed, so that Potterworld really becomes inclusive and family friendly.
But that's just my point of view. Oh, and btw, I don't really think a list of forbidden swear words would be beneficial to the server for pretty much all the reasons that @gospojken stated. Personally I think that with more consistency, such a list won't be necessary, as the absence of any and all light swears in global chat (if such consistency is being implemented) should, in my opinion, create enough "common sense" not to use such words.
I'm going to quote a few things and explain what I see as the main problem here, before suggesting what I think would be the best solution.
Potterworld claims to be an inclusive, family friendly server where any and all words that come even close to swearing or cussing are not allowed. However, in my experience, this is done quite inconsistently.
There are a number of light swears that are just allowed on Potterworld. A good example of this is Magma's example, where he got banned for using a word that was deemed "vulgar slang" by google while a different word with the same label was allowed.
Furthermore, I see a lot of people using the word "damn" on the server, including versions such as "damn it" or "god damn it" (including ofc the abbreviation "gdi"). This is not considered a swear word on Potterworld, while in some instances it can actually be seen as a light swear and the reason for this is because there are a lot of christians who get insulted by the casual use of such a word or phrase. To me, it seems somewhat contradictory to me that Potterworld claims to be inclusive and family friendly while not taking into account all cultures and backgrounds when deciding what words are allowed and what words aren't.
So I think the real underlying problem here is the inconsistency in rules. When it comes to light swears, there's a real chance that they're allowed. Players could see other players use light swears in chat and blindly assume that a different light swear is also allowed, before being muted for using that different word.
It is for this reason that I think the best solution to this problem would be to more consistent in enforcing this rule and to really ensure that no light swears are actually allowed, so that Potterworld really becomes inclusive and family friendly.
But that's just my point of view. Oh, and btw, I don't really think a list of forbidden swear words would be beneficial to the server for pretty much all the reasons that @gospojken stated. Personally I think that with more consistency, such a list won't be necessary, as the absence of any and all light swears in global chat (if such consistency is being implemented) should, in my opinion, create enough "common sense" not to use such words.
I mainly say this as someone who would never consider the word "p***** off" to be a curse word neither light nor aggressive i'm mainly requesting for more awareness on i need to be cautious of. Looking back it seems reasonable for it to be a curse / light swear however, as someone who comes from a family and place of consistent swear words i was unaware.
Maybe as an alternative: under the rules (the no swearing rule), there can be a point that says something like this:
No swearing is allowed.
-This includes all light swears, even if they may be fine to use in some cultures/backgrounds, we do not allow them as it's different for other backgrounds.
If there are swears from different cultures that aren't on the chat filter. It would be best to contact a Lead Prefect to get them added.
No swearing is allowed.
-This includes all light swears, even if they may be fine to use in some cultures/backgrounds, we do not allow them as it's different for other backgrounds.
If there are swears from different cultures that aren't on the chat filter. It would be best to contact a Lead Prefect to get them added.
Some of these ideas about expanding what are considered swears sound good in theory but in my opinion they wouldn't hold up in practice.
I think an obvious point is that depending on who you are asking and what culture they are from and how they interpret their culture, almost every word can be considered offensive to some degree. This would mean staff would have to pick and choose which ones which could lead to even more confusion and even more people who get muted for things most of us don't see as offensive. I also would like to point out that the reason this suggestion was made was because people didn't know what counted as a swear, this would just make the problem worse because of the differences in culture.
I think a better solution would be one outlined by Joshios where you can check first but even that has problems because once again if you don't know something is a swear you won't check in the first place. I personally believe after reading through all of the replies they should make the punishment less strict. My ideal system would be that the first time you try to send something that has swears in it instead of just muting you it would give you a warning saying that what you said was offensive. It would also say that if you repeat offend in the next X number of minutes (whatever staff want it to be) you would be given an actual consequence.
I think an obvious point is that depending on who you are asking and what culture they are from and how they interpret their culture, almost every word can be considered offensive to some degree. This would mean staff would have to pick and choose which ones which could lead to even more confusion and even more people who get muted for things most of us don't see as offensive. I also would like to point out that the reason this suggestion was made was because people didn't know what counted as a swear, this would just make the problem worse because of the differences in culture.
I think a better solution would be one outlined by Joshios where you can check first but even that has problems because once again if you don't know something is a swear you won't check in the first place. I personally believe after reading through all of the replies they should make the punishment less strict. My ideal system would be that the first time you try to send something that has swears in it instead of just muting you it would give you a warning saying that what you said was offensive. It would also say that if you repeat offend in the next X number of minutes (whatever staff want it to be) you would be given an actual consequence.
I think the point of this suggestion was to do something about the fact that people, when using a light swear, sometimes don't know that it is seen as a swear in other "cultures/backgrounds". I don't think changing the rule clarification to this would do something with that fact, as, well, how are people to know that the words they want to use are seen as insulting in some "culture/background"? This new "clarification" doesn't answer that question and so doesn't really help in the problem at hand.
as much as i love potterworld and respect all decisions made by staff, i do have to say i certainly agree with this! as nathan points out, potterworld players should not be expected to know what is offensive in all cultures or not. for example, a thumbs up in one culture can mean something entirely different in another! this is the same with words. i believe it would be a lot more inclusive and helpful for us players to know what words specifically are not allowed, as it will promote inclusivity as players are able to learn more about other cultures, and promote friendliness as people will make sure with the list to avoid offending anyone else! plus, it would be way easier to moderate as it eliminates some grey areas, and players know what to not say! however, i do see the downsides of implimenting this feature, and believe that whatever potterworld chooses, it will always be the best for the players!
Heya @_EatSoap_! Thank you so much for taking the time to make this suggestion! I will now bring this up with the other poltergeists and we will discuss it further! I will get back to you once we have reached our decision! Have a wonderful day!
