Quote from: bing101 on July 19, 2021, 07:55:15 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 16, 2021, 11:12:49 PM
Quote from: kkt on July 16, 2021, 09:55:13 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 16, 2021, 09:21:45 PM
Quote from: vdeane on July 16, 2021, 09:21:05 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 15, 2021, 08:49:42 PM
Quote from: vdeane on July 15, 2021, 08:33:20 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 15, 2021, 04:53:05 PM
Quote from: SectorZ on July 15, 2021, 04:39:29 PM
Quote from: paul02474 on July 15, 2021, 02:06:49 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 14, 2021, 09:56:07 PM
Quote from: vdeane on July 14, 2021, 08:35:57 PM
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 14, 2021, 01:30:44 PM
Quote from: amroad17 on July 14, 2021, 04:03:10 AM
^ I agree. It was I-95/MA 128 for so long that it is ingrained into the minds of the citizens in that area (as well as for a few of us road enthusiasts :nod: ). I could see a similar situation with I-86/NY 17. If both routes are posted, that's OK. Call the highway by whichever number one is used to.
Is NY 17 still posted on I-86?
Depends on how the Regional Traffic Engineer feels when the sign is installed. Some sign assemblies omit NY 17, others are replace in kind.
Is it in the long-term plan to decommission NY 17?
At the risk of further out-of-state thread drift, they should restore NY 17 to its pre-freeway alignment (including NY 394 and 417).
To steer the thread back into Massachusetts, we could do the same for Route 128.
I'd love old school 128, but I also understand that the fallout from doing so would cause massive issues with navigation.
Some parts of 128, like in Lexington and Woburn, are still state-maintained.
Maybe MA 128A. Moving 128 would screw up navigation, but it would be nice to have an all-surface Boston bypass.
People have had 40 years to get used to I-95.
Why do they have to? 128 has always been signed alongside it.
Only to appease the people who refuse to call it anything else. IIRC, MA actually tried to remove MA 128 and people vehemently complained.
Roads are to serve the people.
So what's the endpoint? Should there have been no interstate numbers, just US route numbers and state route numbers and maybe a smaller symbol meaning "this road meets interstate standards"? Should there be interstate numbers but always signed with the previous US or state route number?
Are there other interstates that are mostly known by the other numbers?
Sacramento I-305 is mainly known as the western terminus of US-50 from the I-80 interchange to the CA-51/CA-99 interchange.
Preview button. It sometimes takes several tries.
Quote from: 1 on July 19, 2021, 09:51:36 PM
Preview button. It sometimes takes several tries.
How do you normally fix long quotes? I tried multiple times before giving up and just posting the whole quote.
As many of you have noticed, I have a hard time keeping track of the nested quotes. Which doesn't make a lick of sense, since Computer Science is all about nested logic.
Anyhow, if you post the entire quote sequence simply take the top //quote author=Roadgeekteen link=topic=29783.msg2638605#msg2638605 date=1626745835// and move it all the way down to the bottom.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 19, 2021, 09:50:35 PM
Sacramento I-305 is mainly known as the western terminus of US-50 from the I-80 interchange to the CA-51/CA-99 interchange.
Then take the next one and pull it down to the next to the bottom.
Quote from: bing101 on July 19, 2021, 07:55:15 PM
Are there other interstates that are mostly known by the other numbers?
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 19, 2021, 09:50:35 PM
Sacramento I-305 is mainly known as the western terminus of US-50 from the I-80 interchange to the CA-51/CA-99 interchange.
Keep doing this until you get them the way you want them. Delete the ones you don't like. If you want them nested, just put them back the way you found them like such:
//quote author=Roadgeekteen link=topic=29783.msg2638605#msg2638605 date=1626745835//
//quote author=bing101 link=topic=7654.msg2638564#msg2638564 date=1626738915//
Are there other interstates that are mostly known by the other numbers?
//quote
Sacramento I-305 is mainly known as the western terminus of US-50 from the I-80 interchange to the CA-51/CA-99 interchange.
//quote
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 19, 2021, 09:50:35 PM
Quote from: bing101 on July 19, 2021, 07:55:15 PM
Are there other interstates that are mostly known by the other numbers?
Sacramento I-305 is mainly known as the western terminus of US-50 from the I-80 interchange to the CA-51/CA-99 interchange.
By the way, I'm quoting from the messed up quote sequence. It might not have the authors and quotes listed correctly.
With great care. Pay attention to how nested the stuff you want to remove is. Maybe only remove one post at a time. I often expand the size of the text box so I can see more of the post at once, rather than scroll all over the place (which often doesn't work right when selecting text, anyways). I usually quote the specific post I reply to, rather than edit the block, except to prune the older posts if needed to avoid too much of a quote string effect.
Sometimes, I'll just copy the very specific comment I'm responding to, then put quote in brackets, paste the comment, then /quote in brackets. It's usually not the most important thing in the world to mention who said it.
To me it doesn't seem like a big deal.
Quote from: jeffandnicole on July 19, 2021, 10:32:43 PM
Sometimes, I'll just copy the very specific comment I'm responding to, then put quote in brackets, paste the comment, then /quote in brackets. It's usually not the most important thing in the world to mention who said it.
You can still manually add who wrote something by adding an author tag. You just won't get the time and date, or a link to the post.
Quote from: JoePCool14 on July 20, 2021, 10:05:25 AM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on July 19, 2021, 10:32:43 PM
Sometimes, I'll just copy the very specific comment I'm responding to, then put quote in brackets, paste the comment, then /quote in brackets. It's usually not the most important thing in the world to mention who said it.
You can still manually add who wrote something by adding an author tag. You just won't get the time and date, or a link to the post.
I once modified a time and date to make it a specific second in the future (for fun) by doing a binary search. It measures in seconds since the beginning of 1970.
Quote from: 1 on July 20, 2021, 10:14:32 AM
Quote from: JoePCool14 on July 20, 2021, 10:05:25 AM
Quote from: jeffandnicole on July 19, 2021, 10:32:43 PM
Sometimes, I'll just copy the very specific comment I'm responding to, then put quote in brackets, paste the comment, then /quote in brackets. It's usually not the most important thing in the world to mention who said it.
You can still manually add who wrote something by adding an author tag. You just won't get the time and date, or a link to the post.
I once modified a time and date to make it a specific second in the future (for fun) by doing a binary search. It measures in seconds since the beginning of 1970.
I was gonna mention that. I've tried to do that before when trying to quote posts from locked threads. Is there a website that converts time and date into a number?
Quote from: JoePCool14 on July 20, 2021, 10:35:45 AM
Is there a website that converts time and date into a number?
https://www.epochconverter.com/
Quote from: US 89 on July 20, 2021, 10:37:00 AM
Quote from: JoePCool14 on July 20, 2021, 10:35:45 AM
Is there a website that converts time and date into a number?
https://www.epochconverter.com/
Thanks, now I can make some nice-looking fake quotes.
Very carefully
For long posts including multiple complicated quotes, I occasionally copy & paste into Word, using colored highlights to keep things straight in extreme cases, then copy & paste the finished product into the reply box.
Quote from: US 89 on July 20, 2021, 10:37:00 AM
Quote from: JoePCool14 on July 20, 2021, 10:35:45 AM
Is there a website that converts time and date into a number?
https://www.epochconverter.com/
That's the one I use. Daylight Saving Time can make things get off by an hour, so you should always preview the timestamp before posting.
I'm looking forward to this next year.
Quote from: JoePCool14 on March 13, 2022, 09:14:34 AM
It's that time again. I think DST is a really great and terrible concept. It should be permanently kept and removed.
Thoughts?
Don't forget to try the link.
This is turning into an instruction manual for how to quote from the Alanland thread. Which I've avoided posting on here. Kind of amusing that it's taken this long to come up.
Quote from: kphoger on July 20, 2021, 02:53:07 PM
Quote from: US 89 on July 20, 2021, 10:37:00 AM
Quote from: JoePCool14 on July 20, 2021, 10:35:45 AM
Is there a website that converts time and date into a number?
https://www.epochconverter.com/
That's the one I use. Daylight Saving Time can make things get off by an hour, so you should always preview the timestamp before posting.
Trying to get this thread locked?
Quote from: JoePCool14 on July 20, 2021, 03:20:27 PM
I'm looking forward to this next year.
Quote from: JoePCool14 on March 13, 2022, 09:14:34 AM
It's that time again. I think DST is a really great and terrible concept. It should be permanently kept and removed.
Thoughts?
Don't forget to try the link.
So is DST both banned and not banned in that certain place?
Quote from: hbelkins on July 20, 2021, 09:27:15 PM
So is DST both banned and not banned in that certain place?
If you're referring to Arizona, yes.
Quote from: kphoger on July 20, 2021, 03:59:18 PM
This is turning into an instruction manual for how to quote from the Alanland thread. Which I've avoided posting on here. Kind of amusing that it's taken this long to come up.
Quote from: hbelkins on July 20, 2021, 09:27:15 PM
Quote from: kphoger on July 20, 2021, 02:53:07 PM
Daylight Saving Time can make things get off by an hour, so you should always preview the timestamp before posting.
Trying to get this thread locked?
Actually, I figured my first post there would be halfway to a thread lock. For the last several years, I've generally quoted from locked threads without much fanfare announcing what I was doing, under the assumption the mods wouldn't really appreciate everyone knowing how to do that–or else locking a thread would only be so effective.
Seems the cat's out of the bag with this thread, though.
Quote from: SkyPesos on July 20, 2021, 09:34:39 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on July 20, 2021, 09:27:15 PM
So is DST both banned and not banned in that certain place?
If you're referring to Arizona, yes.
Good answer!
...although I should point out that the user's location says "Virginia". It's not entirely clear to me if DST falls under "government usage" (annexation not official) or "city planning" (official).
Quoting from a locked thread isn't always something that needs to be avoided. There's the "favorite quotes" thread, and often you want to quote something from before the last few pages where it turns bad if it's a long-running thread.
Graphing calculators have their own epoch, but every one is different. I believe mine is 2001 (no, it's not that old), but I've seen some with 2003 or 2004. It may be the case that even the same model can have different epochs if they were created at different times.
Since the programs I used to write in it before I learned computer programming either used the difference between two numbers (time elapsed) or did it modulo a certain number (either for a random number or hour/minute/second), it wasn't an issue.
Only the mods and admins can do that.
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 21, 2021, 08:09:49 PM
Only the mods and admins can do that.
Do what? Quote from locked threads? Haven't you been reading? Some of us know how to do it manually.
Quote from: kphoger on July 21, 2021, 09:17:18 PM
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 21, 2021, 08:09:49 PM
Only the mods and admins can do that.
Do what? Quote from locked threads? Haven't you been reading? Some of us know how to do it manually.
Yes, but in a more advanced tactic way.
Quote from: kphoger on July 21, 2021, 09:32:38 AM
Quote from: kphoger on July 20, 2021, 03:59:18 PM
This is turning into an instruction manual for how to quote from the Alanland thread. Which I've avoided posting on here. Kind of amusing that it's taken this long to come up.
Quote from: hbelkins on July 20, 2021, 09:27:15 PM
Quote from: kphoger on July 20, 2021, 02:53:07 PM
Daylight Saving Time can make things get off by an hour, so you should always preview the timestamp before posting.
Trying to get this thread locked?
Actually, I figured my first post there would be halfway to a thread lock. For the last several years, I've generally quoted from locked threads without much fanfare announcing what I was doing, under the assumption the mods wouldn't really appreciate everyone knowing how to do that–or else locking a thread would only be so effective.
Seems the cat's out of the bag with this thread, though.
My view on it is that quoting from locked threads is OK as long as you're not quoting something that contributed to the thread getting locked or seeking to continue a discussion that got a thread locked. If you're, e.g. quoting a post from early in the thread, before it got contentious, it shouldn't pose a problem.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 21, 2021, 11:16:01 PM
My view on it is that quoting from locked threads is OK as long as you're not quoting something that contributed to the thread getting locked or seeking to continue a discussion that got a thread locked. If you're, e.g. quoting a post from early in the thread, before it got contentious, it shouldn't pose a problem.
Don't those problematic posts usually get deleted?
Quote from: hbelkins on July 22, 2021, 01:41:39 PM
Don't those problematic posts usually get deleted?
A lot of problematic
threads just get locked without having the posts deleted. See Alanland.
Quote from: kphoger on July 22, 2021, 02:05:30 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on July 22, 2021, 01:41:39 PM
Don't those problematic posts usually get deleted?
A lot of problematic threads just get locked without having the posts deleted. See Alanland.
Question - Is there a link of where you can see all the deleted threads? I'm pretty sure they are all funny :rofl:
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 22, 2021, 02:07:45 PM
Question - Is there a link of where you can see all the deleted threads? I'm pretty sure they are all funny :rofl:
I didn't know entire threads had been deleted.
Of course, I don't obsess over this stuff like some people.
Quote from: kphoger on July 22, 2021, 02:13:58 PM
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 22, 2021, 02:07:45 PM
Question - Is there a link of where you can see all the deleted threads? I'm pretty sure they are all funny :rofl:
I didn't know entire threads had been deleted.
Of course, I don't obsess over this stuff like some people.
It's fun to see the archives.
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 22, 2021, 02:07:45 PM
Quote from: kphoger on July 22, 2021, 02:05:30 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on July 22, 2021, 01:41:39 PM
Don't those problematic posts usually get deleted?
A lot of problematic threads just get locked without having the posts deleted. See Alanland.
Question - Is there a link of where you can see all the deleted threads? I'm pretty sure they are all funny :rofl:
Only if you're a moderator. When we delete something (actually, moving it to a non-publicly-viewable forum so that posts can be restored if necessary) it's because we don't
want it to be seen. Generally, it's because leaving it publicly visible would invite disruption (e.g. posts pruned from a thread that are bringing the thread in a direction that's against the forum rules) or because someone posted something that either got them warned or would get them warned if the discussion continued off of it. A lot of it is politics or mean-spirited arguing, some of it is racist or sexist.
So tl:dr; no, they're not funny. If it's funny, we usually leave it up.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 02:33:44 PM
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 22, 2021, 02:07:45 PM
Quote from: kphoger on July 22, 2021, 02:05:30 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on July 22, 2021, 01:41:39 PM
Don't those problematic posts usually get deleted?
A lot of problematic threads just get locked without having the posts deleted. See Alanland.
Question - Is there a link of where you can see all the deleted threads? I'm pretty sure they are all funny :rofl:
Only if you're a moderator. When we delete something (actually, moving it to a non-publicly-viewable forum so that posts can be restored if necessary) it's generally because leaving it publicly visible would invite disruption (e.g. posts pruned from a thread that are bringing the thread in a direction that's against the forum rules) or because someone posted something that either got them warned or would get them warned if the discussion continued off of it. A lot of it is mean-spirited arguing or racist or sexist. So tl:dr; no, they're not funny. If it's funny, we usually leave it up.
Like I did see about a thread about SSOWorld wanting to do something and another one about racism in the "General Highway Talk" board. Those have got deleted.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 02:33:44 PM
Only if you're a moderator. When we delete something (actually, moving it to a non-publicly-viewable forum so that posts can be restored if necessary) it's because we don't want it to be seen. Generally, it's because leaving it publicly visible would invite disruption (e.g. posts pruned from a thread that are bringing the thread in a direction that's against the forum rules) or because someone posted something that either got them warned or would get them warned if the discussion continued off of it. A lot of it is politics or mean-spirited arguing, some of it is racist or sexist.
Huh... I see now that the forum guidelines get "updated" every so often. Didn't realize that.
Quote from: Alex on May 21, 2009, 10:34:10 PM
« Last Edit: 09 July 2021, 20:16:03 by Scott5114 »
Quote from: kphoger on July 22, 2021, 02:51:08 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 02:33:44 PM
Only if you're a moderator. When we delete something (actually, moving it to a non-publicly-viewable forum so that posts can be restored if necessary) it's because we don't want it to be seen. Generally, it's because leaving it publicly visible would invite disruption (e.g. posts pruned from a thread that are bringing the thread in a direction that's against the forum rules) or because someone posted something that either got them warned or would get them warned if the discussion continued off of it. A lot of it is politics or mean-spirited arguing, some of it is racist or sexist.
Huh... I see now that the forum guidelines get "updated" every so often. Didn't realize that.
Yep, the moderators periodically have discussions about adjustments to the rules, and if there's consensus for a change, someone will edit that post to update it. This usually happens no more often than once or twice a year. We usually publicize new rules if we feel like they would be a surprise or they're a notable shift in how we run the forum. Most changes are just closing loopholes, adjusting wording to more accurately reflect how we enforce the rule, codifying things we already
were enforcing (and that everyone would already expect to be enforced), or dropping rules that nobody has been enforcing and which didn't become a problem.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 03:06:05 PM
Quote from: kphoger on July 22, 2021, 02:51:08 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 02:33:44 PM
Only if you're a moderator. When we delete something (actually, moving it to a non-publicly-viewable forum so that posts can be restored if necessary) it's because we don't want it to be seen. Generally, it's because leaving it publicly visible would invite disruption (e.g. posts pruned from a thread that are bringing the thread in a direction that's against the forum rules) or because someone posted something that either got them warned or would get them warned if the discussion continued off of it. A lot of it is politics or mean-spirited arguing, some of it is racist or sexist.
Huh... I see now that the forum guidelines get "updated" every so often. Didn't realize that.
Yep, the moderators periodically have discussions about adjustments to the rules, and if there's consensus for a change, someone will edit that post to update it. This usually happens no more often than once or twice a year. We usually publicize new rules if we feel like they would be a surprise or they're a notable shift in how we run the forum. Most changes are just closing loopholes, adjusting wording to more accurately reflect how we enforce the rule, codifying things we already were enforcing (and that everyone would already expect to be enforced), or dropping rules that nobody has been enforcing and which didn't become a problem.
If you don't mind telling: what former rules on the forum have been dropped? I'm quite curious.
There were a lot back at the beginning since the current mod team preferred a very different forum experience than the very first iteration of the forum provided. I don't even remember what all of the rules back then were. Most recently we dropped a rule against swearing that was in there despite nobody ever getting in trouble for swearing, and which none of the mods ever followed themselves.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 03:35:51 PM
There were a lot back at the beginning since the current mod team preferred a very different forum experience than the very first iteration of the forum provided. I don't even remember what all of the rules back then were. Most recently we dropped a rule against swearing that was in there despite nobody ever getting in trouble for swearing, and which none of the mods ever followed themselves.
Pointless cursing?
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 22, 2021, 03:37:28 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 03:35:51 PM
There were a lot back at the beginning since the current mod team preferred a very different forum experience than the very first iteration of the forum provided. I don't even remember what all of the rules back then were. Most recently we dropped a rule against swearing that was in there despite nobody ever getting in trouble for swearing, and which none of the mods ever followed themselves.
Pointless cursing?
That's the one. How am I supposed to decide whether someone cursing is pointless or not?
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 03:38:37 PM
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 22, 2021, 03:37:28 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 03:35:51 PM
There were a lot back at the beginning since the current mod team preferred a very different forum experience than the very first iteration of the forum provided. I don't even remember what all of the rules back then were. Most recently we dropped a rule against swearing that was in there despite nobody ever getting in trouble for swearing, and which none of the mods ever followed themselves.
Pointless cursing?
That's the one. How am I supposed to decide whether someone cursing is pointless or not?
Maybe if it's excessive?
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 22, 2021, 03:40:32 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 03:38:37 PM
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 22, 2021, 03:37:28 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 03:35:51 PM
There were a lot back at the beginning since the current mod team preferred a very different forum experience than the very first iteration of the forum provided. I don't even remember what all of the rules back then were. Most recently we dropped a rule against swearing that was in there despite nobody ever getting in trouble for swearing, and which none of the mods ever followed themselves.
Pointless cursing?
That's the one. How am I supposed to decide whether someone cursing is pointless or not?
Maybe if it's excessive?
Then someone will try to argue what constitutes "excessive". Given that we don't really care whether anyone swears or not, it's best to just admit we don't give a shit and delete the rule.
There used to be a rule that you had to be 13 to join, and I believe someone even got banned for it. That rule was gone by the time I joined in 2013.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 03:54:35 PM
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 22, 2021, 03:40:32 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 03:38:37 PM
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 22, 2021, 03:37:28 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 03:35:51 PM
There were a lot back at the beginning since the current mod team preferred a very different forum experience than the very first iteration of the forum provided. I don't even remember what all of the rules back then were. Most recently we dropped a rule against swearing that was in there despite nobody ever getting in trouble for swearing, and which none of the mods ever followed themselves.
Pointless cursing?
That's the one. How am I supposed to decide whether someone cursing is pointless or not?
Maybe if it's excessive?
Then someone will try to argue what constitutes "excessive". Given that we don't really care whether anyone swears or not, it's best to just admit we don't give a shit and delete the rule.
That's why I made that angry rant thread.
Oh yeah, I guess we actually do care about excessive profanity after all...
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 03:38:37 PM
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 22, 2021, 03:37:28 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 03:35:51 PM
There were a lot back at the beginning since the current mod team preferred a very different forum experience than the very first iteration of the forum provided. I don't even remember what all of the rules back then were. Most recently we dropped a rule against swearing that was in there despite nobody ever getting in trouble for swearing, and which none of the mods ever followed themselves.
Pointless cursing?
That's the one. How am I supposed to decide whether someone cursing is pointless or not?
Good fucking shit Scott, that rule was fucking stupid and I'm glad you fucking got rid of it.
Quote from: Roadgeekteen on July 22, 2021, 06:09:35 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 03:38:37 PM
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 22, 2021, 03:37:28 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 03:35:51 PM
There were a lot back at the beginning since the current mod team preferred a very different forum experience than the very first iteration of the forum provided. I don't even remember what all of the rules back then were. Most recently we dropped a rule against swearing that was in there despite nobody ever getting in trouble for swearing, and which none of the mods ever followed themselves.
Pointless cursing?
That's the one. How am I supposed to decide whether someone cursing is pointless or not?
Good fucking shit Scott, that rule was fucking stupid and I'm glad you fucking got rid of it.
If you are on City-Data, you cannot fucking swear on that forum cause that forum is too fucking strict!
butt
heheheheh
i can say dirty words too
I think the phrase was "gratuitous use of profanity," and sure enough, it's no longer in the rules.
Back in my younger days, I had as foul of a mouth as anybody, but with age comes (or should come) wisdom, maturity, and discernment. To me, any use of profanity is gratuitous. Meaning it's unnecessary. If you're not literate enough to converse without cursing, well, I don't know what to say to you. There is absolutely no point that cannot be made without resorting to profanity. I'm not necessarily offended by it. I just don't think it's warranted.
I can accuse someone of being an illegitimate child who engages in sexual intercourse with their maternal parental unit and I can invite them to consume feces and assume room temperature, or call them a diety-cursed moron, without ever uttering a single curse word.
Quote from: hbelkins on July 22, 2021, 06:46:04 PM
I think the phrase was "gratuitous use of profanity," and sure enough, it's no longer in the rules.
Back in my younger days, I had as foul of a mouth as anybody, but with age comes (or should come) wisdom, maturity, and discernment. To me, any use of profanity is gratuitous. Meaning it's unnecessary. If you're not literate enough to converse without cursing, well, I don't know what to say to you. There is absolutely no point that cannot be made without resorting to profanity. I'm not necessarily offended by it. I just don't think it's warranted.
I can accuse someone of being an illegitimate child who engages in sexual intercourse with their maternal parental unit and I can invite them to consume feces and assume room temperature, or call them a diety-cursed moron, without ever uttering a single curse word.
See, I've had the opposite experience. When I was younger, my parents strictly forbid profanity and I'd get spanked if I said so much as "damn". Then I grew up and realized they're just words, and, just like any other word, carry an unspoken connotation that sometimes makes it where choosing a swear word can communicate one's point with more precision than any other word. "That's very disgusting", "that's extremely disgusting", and "that's fucking disgusting" all communicate three very different levels of disgust by the speaker (and to me, at least, I read the first two as the speaker being less disgusted themselves and speaking in a more detached manner than the third). As someone who prides myself on my abilities with the written word, choosing to eliminate
fucking from my vocabulary makes about as much sense as a painter eliminating orange from their palette would.
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 07:37:56 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on July 22, 2021, 06:46:04 PM
I think the phrase was "gratuitous use of profanity," and sure enough, it's no longer in the rules.
Back in my younger days, I had as foul of a mouth as anybody, but with age comes (or should come) wisdom, maturity, and discernment. To me, any use of profanity is gratuitous. Meaning it's unnecessary. If you're not literate enough to converse without cursing, well, I don't know what to say to you. There is absolutely no point that cannot be made without resorting to profanity. I'm not necessarily offended by it. I just don't think it's warranted.
I can accuse someone of being an illegitimate child who engages in sexual intercourse with their maternal parental unit and I can invite them to consume feces and assume room temperature, or call them a diety-cursed moron, without ever uttering a single curse word.
See, I've had the opposite experience. When I was younger, my parents strictly forbid profanity and I'd get spanked if I said so much as "damn". Then I grew up and realized they're just words, and, just like any other word, carry an unspoken connotation that sometimes makes it where choosing a swear word can communicate one's point with more precision than any other word. "That's very disgusting", "that's extremely disgusting", and "that's fucking disgusting" all communicate three very different levels of disgust by the speaker (and to me, at least, I read the first two as the speaker being less disgusted themselves and speaking in a more detached manner than the third). As someone who prides myself on my abilities with the written word, choosing to eliminate fucking from my vocabulary makes about as much sense as a painter eliminating orange from their palette would.
Part of my revelation came when I used to play a lot of basketball. I used a lot of profanity, dropped a lot of f-bombs, when I missed a shot, failed to grab a rebound, the other team scored, and basically at every opportunity when things didn't go well for me or the team on which I was playing. One day, a friend took me aside and noted that one of the people with whom we were playing was a minister. I didn't know that. I'm sure he was extremely offended and not at all happy to hear a constant flow of foul language rolling off my tongue like when Ralphie was beating up Scott Farkus. I don't remember if I apologized to him or not, but I made a mental note to behave myself better. Both my grandmothers would have been appalled at my use of such language, and my parents would have as well. It was also pointless for me to use such language.
It was a slow journey to cleaning up my language. One of the biographies I read about Johnny Cash when I was young made mention of the same process. My thought process now is that I don't want to use language that I wouldn't want my parents, grandparents, preachers or other very religious people, or others to hear me say.
I continue to be amazed at how casually people drop the f-bomb. I was in a meeting a few years ago where the presenter just used the word for no apparent reason. As I've said, I'm not offended by hearing the word, but I know that many people are. This guy didn't know his audience or who might not react well to just hearing that vulgarity used out of the blue. Turns out I wasn't alone. Several other people in the meeting later expressed agreement when I noted my opinion on the incident.
I know that my moral/political/societal beliefs are offensive to a lot of people (many of the forum members for sure, and most of the moderators should the truth be told). That doesn't bother me. I enjoy liberal outrage. :D But even if my principles cause offense, I don't want my behavior to do so. So you will never hear me turn and say to someone else in a store checkout line, "I sure wish that cashier would hurry the fudge (only I didn't say fudge) up. What in the fudge is taking them so long?" It's disrespectful to anyone who might be in earshot who doesn't want to hear that language.
Quote from: hbelkins on July 22, 2021, 08:48:50 PM
Quote from: Scott5114 on July 22, 2021, 07:37:56 PM
Quote from: hbelkins on July 22, 2021, 06:46:04 PM
I think the phrase was "gratuitous use of profanity," and sure enough, it's no longer in the rules.
Back in my younger days, I had as foul of a mouth as anybody, but with age comes (or should come) wisdom, maturity, and discernment. To me, any use of profanity is gratuitous. Meaning it's unnecessary. If you're not literate enough to converse without cursing, well, I don't know what to say to you. There is absolutely no point that cannot be made without resorting to profanity. I'm not necessarily offended by it. I just don't think it's warranted.
I can accuse someone of being an illegitimate child who engages in sexual intercourse with their maternal parental unit and I can invite them to consume feces and assume room temperature, or call them a diety-cursed moron, without ever uttering a single curse word.
See, I've had the opposite experience. When I was younger, my parents strictly forbid profanity and I'd get spanked if I said so much as "damn". Then I grew up and realized they're just words, and, just like any other word, carry an unspoken connotation that sometimes makes it where choosing a swear word can communicate one's point with more precision than any other word. "That's very disgusting", "that's extremely disgusting", and "that's fucking disgusting" all communicate three very different levels of disgust by the speaker (and to me, at least, I read the first two as the speaker being less disgusted themselves and speaking in a more detached manner than the third). As someone who prides myself on my abilities with the written word, choosing to eliminate fucking from my vocabulary makes about as much sense as a painter eliminating orange from their palette would.
Part of my revelation came when I used to play a lot of basketball. I used a lot of profanity, dropped a lot of f-bombs, when I missed a shot, failed to grab a rebound, the other team scored, and basically at every opportunity when things didn't go well for me or the team on which I was playing. One day, a friend took me aside and noted that one of the people with whom we were playing was a minister. I didn't know that. I'm sure he was extremely offended and not at all happy to hear a constant flow of foul language rolling off my tongue like when Ralphie was beating up Scott Farkus. I don't remember if I apologized to him or not, but I made a mental note to behave myself better. Both my grandmothers would have been appalled at my use of such language, and my parents would have as well. It was also pointless for me to use such language.
It was a slow journey to cleaning up my language. One of the biographies I read about Johnny Cash when I was young made mention of the same process. My thought process now is that I don't want to use language that I wouldn't want my parents, grandparents, preachers or other very religious people, or others to hear me say.
I continue to be amazed at how casually people drop the f-bomb. I was in a meeting a few years ago where the presenter just used the word for no apparent reason. As I've said, I'm not offended by hearing the word, but I know that many people are. This guy didn't know his audience or who might not react well to just hearing that vulgarity used out of the blue. Turns out I wasn't alone. Several other people in the meeting later expressed agreement when I noted my opinion on the incident.
I know that my moral/political/societal beliefs are offensive to a lot of people (many of the forum members for sure, and most of the moderators should the truth be told). That doesn't bother me. I enjoy liberal outrage. :D But even if my principles cause offense, I don't want my behavior to do so. So you will never hear me turn and say to someone else in a store checkout line, "I sure wish that cashier would hurry the fudge (only I didn't say fudge) up. What in the fudge is taking them so long?" It's disrespectful to anyone who might be in earshot who doesn't want to hear that language.
The f word is quite ubiquitous tbh. All of my peers probably wouldn't bat an eye at it. Adults can be a different story. And what does being liberal have to do with any of this...
High school and college kids swear a lot. I don't mind.
Quote from: tolbs17 on July 22, 2021, 10:04:39 PM
High school and college kids swear a lot. I don't mind.
All my friends swear a ton. I swear a bit less but still a decent amount.