> I strongly dislike CUDA. Once you have allowed that proprietary cr*p
Genuine question...why not just type "crap"? It's not even that much of a curse, but I've never really understood the point of self-censorship. If you don't want to curse then you could just use a non-curse word.
Because I know it is not technically crap, a lot of competent people worked on it, most with good intentions. I suppose it is better described as a cleverly designed Trojan horse than can infect your software and make that software become crap, in the sense that it becomes harder to maintain, increases code duplication, messes with your build system, ties your build system to platforms that have their toolchain binaries available, etc., etc., without bringing any long-term benefits over learning things the hard way.
I thought that cp*p is some kind of ugly cuda pointer declaration :D And being non-standard C++ syntax it wouldn’t compile.
Normative behavior has shifted due to pervasive censorship and surveillance.
* is used to give emphasis and show that they are using the word as curse word rather just calling it bad
It doesn't read as emphasis to me. It reads like the person is trying hard not to curse, and they think "crap" is a curse word. It's a little bit adorable, like I'm reading a comment from an obedient child.
I guess you are not from the generation of texters. This how languages work we used to use * as a way to avoid getting censored it over time became a way to curse or give emphasis.
I'm definitely from the generation of texters and there was never any censorship going on with SMSs... yours must be a cultural or regional thing.
Maybe you didn't have T9 enabled but I consider it censorship when I type bitch and it gives me chubi.
Even now I wonder if I am allowed to type bitch here...
I guess we will find out.
But typing "b*tch" with T9 is just as difficult (if not more) as typing "bitch". Anyway, I guess I never had a need to swear much over SMS. On IRC, on the other hand...
Am I, with around 30, in this generation? Putting * in words seems like self censorship to me. Still, might have a cultural component. German here.
It can be used for in-jokey comedic effect. For example, referring to M*cr*sft W*nd*ws or Br*dc*m as though they were offensive terms. Or *r*cl*.
I'm in my 40s and * is self-censorship to me. It must be a cultural thing.
Is that a cultural/national thing instead of an age thing?
I've never had texts censored by texting providers, they're not supposed to read texts in the first place (at least around here).
Sounds like a generational thing.
I grew up texting. But in the 90s any profanity filters could just be turned off in settings.
People are getting used to censor themselves in order not to be reported, banned, or «hurt » other sensibilities. The words « rape » couldn’t be written in instagram for example, what a great way to deal with such a serious issue. Mainly an American thing spreading away from young people if you ask me. Sorry America, just being honest here.
America is partly guilty, but TikTok censorship is a big part of the younger generation's tendency toward self censorship.
As much as I personally dislike TikTok, I don't think it is fair to it: cultural willingness for more sensor sheep on Internet started years before TikTok's popularity in the west.
It's not the sole cause, but I believe it's the main driver behind a bunch of specific substitutions that are mainstream now or nearly so. For example, dih, ahh, and unalive. They may not have been invented on tiktok, but that's where they incubated.
There's no such censorship on TikTok, it's entirely groupthink based on people saying "when I use that word my video is seen less so therefore it's being censored".
Youtube is a lot more guilty of it though, as well as demonetizing.
How is that not a form of censorship? It is direct suppression of certain forms of speech.
YouTube has its problems but I don't think it's had quite as strong of an effect on language.
well_ackshually, tik tok has a well known, long, and rich history of suppressing certain search keywords.
After reading through the threat here it seems more like a cultural thing. The US has quite a lot of filters for profanity. I remember from my youth that in 2009 Eminem was a guest in a Germany TV show and very happy to swear as much as possible without being censored. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/2OC-yKZ5Yag
You had profanity filters for SMS?
I’ve been texting since it was first a thing (sms on Nokia phones) and no one I knows does this. We just say shit, fuck, and crap.
stop feeding nonsense to the masses
I think a string of non-alphanumeric characters would work much better here, like "Once you have allowed that proprietary @#$&% into your C++ codebase”
Leaves more to the imagination.
In any context I've seen, asterisks are for wrapping formatting and said formatting it to add emphasis. So being in the habit of typing `emphasised phrase`, for italics - regardless of whether the platform parses markdown/similar formatting, e.g. SMS.
To have an unclosed asterisk replacing characters in a word? I've only ever seen that as a way to bypass censorship. This spans communications from people currently in their 40s down to 20.
i do this to put emphasis, i always type "h*ck".
(although it is a half-joke since it's definitely not a curse word imo)
like for example, c*nt?
Maybe more like p**p, as in "that cunt p**ped in my yard"?
I'll admit, it never once occurred to me that people might be using censored characters to provide more emphasis that a word is a swear, but I guess it does indeed do that, at least to the writer. Whether that comes across to the reader, and whether the writer cares that their intention was understood... I'm not so sure.
What about ^#%& as was traditional in newspaper comics strips?
How about "Pockmark!... Freshwater swabs!... Bully!.." or "Amoeba! Bashi-bazouks! Chowderheads! Certified Diplodocuses! Nyctalop! Ectoplasm!"?
I was so disappointed when I tried reading tintin in other languages and found the dear captain was straight up using slurs in those. I wonder whether the english language ones have been edited over the years to remove that sort of thing
"Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!"
Known as grawlix or obscenicon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grawlix
Hah. Yeah, I agree. It's one of those things I admit is `lost in translation` for sure.
Platform may retroactively make up and enforce rules that makes your content violate terms (and remove them)
See YouTube.
I certainly dislike how everyone on YouTube is saying “SA” and “unalive” and “corn”.
It’s one thing if it’s some funny commentary channel avoiding those words, but what bothers me is the true crime YouTubers. In the subject of true crime, rape and murder are just things that are probably going to come up, and when they refuse to use the appropriate language, it comes off as infantilizing, which is weird considering that my actual YouTube account is over 18, let alone the viewer using it.
Advertisers ruin everything, I guess.
I don't think those filters are even real, I think it's just mass-hysteria. I call these kinds of behaviours "traditions", but I'm not sure if there's a better term for it.
Basically someone comes up with something which is nonsensical, but plausible. Like believing that their videos are unpopular because they said the word "rape" and the algorithm magically got them, rather than because their videos suck. Then someone else sees that and starts thinking it is true. It silently spreads across the population.
I've seen this in organisations, where new recruits haven't been properly trained. Someone has come up with a method which is wildly incorrect and illegal, but plausible. The other new people around them have copied them. They've become slightly more experienced people, they've taught the next round of new people.
Before you know it, half of the organisation is doing something hilariously wrong, and they all sincerely believe it is the right way of doing it, because everyone does it. It's just self-reinforcing at that point.
I am sure they are bullshit. Like when they mute cursing and "risky" speech, but when you enable autogenerated subtitles they show up there. Youtube knows what thay said regardless if it's censored or not. It's so fucking stupid
It's become so bad that even quality history youtube channels are frequently using euphemisms like "moustache-man" instead of just saying "Hitler", to avoid their videos being buried by The Algorithm, and therefore cut severely into their viewership.
> even quality history youtube channels are frequently using euphemisms like "moustache-man" instead of just saying "Hitler"
That can be quite confusing. You had German mustache-man, Russian mustache-man, French mustache-man (Petain), French small-mustache-man (de Gaulle), Spanish small-moustache-man (Franco)
I think it's a win-win. Intelligent people easily knows what they're talking about, and the others don't get offended. /s
glad i found that /s at the end
It may be to bypass censorship, rather than self-censorship. Some platforms block or shadowban comments with curse words. Not sure about this platform.
HN definitely doesn't give a crap about that word.
I have written many words far worse than "crap" on this site. I haven't gotten in trouble over it yet.
I do find it a little amusing, because commenters stopped criticizing my cursing the moment I started getting a good chunk of karma here. I remember in 2016 someone criticized me for using the term "shitposting"...I don't think I've gotten that kind of criticism since 2016 though.
Back then the term was still associated with 4chan.
They dont like "seppo" for some reason.
can confirm, looks like crap is not on a list
pretty crappy list
cause you might go to the eternal flames if you say a no-no word online
Your comment only makes sense in context if you believe in a deity who is too dumb to understand the difference between cr*p and crap. I for one do not worship a Bayesian spam filter.
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IMO cr*p and crap are both valid but separate swear words. People have a wide option to choose from when they want to swear, and people like variety (much much more than LLMs do). People also tend to influence each other with their usages: cr*p is popular because it is popular.
Otherwise cr*p is just as good as crap, shit, horseshit, poopoo or such.
edit: * replaced with \* as HN interprets asterisks as formatting for emphasis. Thx latexr for informing me
To use a literal asterisk on HN, do ** or \*. Your single usage in two places instead turned the majority of the post italic.
His kids were probably watching him type over his shoulder and he didn’t want to hear, “Daddy, what does crap mean?”
"Daddy, what does cr*p mean?" Kids aren't stupid and this self-censorship isn't protecting anyone from anything.
(if a platform is serious about Bad Words for whatever reason (moral?) they would also forbid character replacements; ultimately it's the intent, not the word itself, that they try to steer with rules like that)
I'd consider that a joke - but also zero issue using any words talking in front of kids. You might wish to explain them anyways.
I am arguing that they would ask that anyway.
I guess I never understood censorship when it’s plainly obvious what you’re censoring. Anyone who can read will clearly know that it said “crap”, so I don’t see how it’s fundamentally different than just saying the word. You still put the word into my brain.
What if a toddler is browser HN and sees the curse word?
My guess is that jacobgorm will not reply. I would love a reply, because I want to understand how others think.
I believe we'll be left to wonder.