Scratch

That wouldn't be the sites fault. It would be the mother's fault, because she just looked at the front page. She didn't take a day to explore it, find out the rules, and tell the kid what he's allowed to do on Scratch (maybe allow him to create projects but not do forums).

Saying the Lord's name in vain SHOULD be removed, for the sake of users who are Christian, Jewish, or Islam. Especially since I'm Christian.

I think this thread is just going to turn into the next "Freedom Of Speech" forum. Just saying.

PW132 wrote:

I think this thread is just going to turn into the next "Freedom Of Speech" forum. Just saying.

Well in my opinion arguments are not bad things. They allow people to see other people's point of view. 

sanddude wrote:

PW132 wrote:

I think this thread is just going to turn into the next "Freedom Of Speech" forum. Just saying.

Well in my opinion arguments are not bad things. They allow people to see other people's point of view. 

Yes but...yeah. I just see the old FOSOS forum, sorry!

Using God and Jesus in vain should certainly not be tolerated. It is offensive to those who are religious. And why is it necessary to say anyway?

I disagree with you on c*** and h*** too. Scratch is for ages 8+. There are plenty of parents of 8 year-olds who wouldn't want their kids on a website with those words. Besides, you don't need those word to discuss Scratch.

In my opinion, stupid, dumb, and idiot are fine as long as they are not used to attack another user.

the "what god said in vain" stuff should be allowed ONLY when not directed at somewon such as:
okay: what the h**l???
not okay: Go to h**l!

hmnwilson wrote:

Most people know those words by the time they're 9, at least. They shouldn't be encouraged, but definitely allowed.

That's all true - but by allowing the community the swear, it only encourages swearing for new members - even though not directly. Simply said, just as with friends IRL, if they swear a lot, and when you start being with them you generally don't swear a lot, than the odds are that you'll start swearing a bit more. And we don't want that to happen on Scratch.

As somebody mentioned before, what is the advantage to using swears over other slightly more appropriate words? What is the advantage to saying such words?

mariobrosrule wrote:

sanddude wrote:

SeptimusHeap wrote:

Scratch is for all ages, so C--- and H--- should NOT be allowed. Ever think of 5 year olds who play scratch?

Ever think of 15 year olds who play on Scratch? :mad

SO WUT?!?!? JUST BCUZ UR SELF-CENTERED AND SELFISH DOESNT MEAN SCRATCH SHOULD AGREE TO THE LANGUAGE PART!!!! gosh!!! ur only thinking about urself and infuencing the young to say bad words!!!!!! the majority of young scratchers(less than 13) is about 80%!!! 20% of the teens/adults are not to be curesing or swearing, IT ALSO MAKES SCRATCH A BAD SITE!! SCRATCH IS SUPPOSED TO BE FOR KIDS, PERIOD!!!

Amen 

Lucario621 wrote:

hmnwilson wrote:

Most people know those words by the time they're 9, at least. They shouldn't be encouraged, but definitely allowed.

That's all true - but by allowing the community the swear, it only encourages swearing for new members - even though not directly. Simply said, just as with friends IRL, if they swear a lot, and when you start being with them you generally don't swear a lot, than the odds are that you'll start swearing a bit more. And we don't want that to happen on Scratch.

Let me rephrase that... I don't mean all words should become uncensored, I just think that using minor swears that people hear all the time (like the ones in the first post) shouldn't be so heavily censored (i.e. using "c---" shouldn't have to be edited out by a moderator, but words people get offended by easily should).

mariobrosrule wrote:

sanddude wrote:

SeptimusHeap wrote:

Scratch is for all ages, so C--- and H--- should NOT be allowed. Ever think of 5 year olds who play scratch?

Ever think of 15 year olds who play on Scratch? :mad

SO WUT?!?!? JUST BCUZ UR SELF-CENTERED AND SELFISH DOESNT MEAN SCRATCH SHOULD AGREE TO THE LANGUAGE PART!!!! gosh!!! ur only thinking about urself and infuencing the young to say bad words!!!!!! the majority of young scratchers(less than 13) is about 80%!!! 20% of the teens/adults are not to be curesing or swearing, IT ALSO MAKES SCRATCH A BAD SITE!! SCRATCH IS SUPPOSED TO BE FOR KIDS, PERIOD!!!

Um, I'm pretty sure he's just trying to balance it out for everyone in the community. It's natural to tire of purely kid-friendly stuff as you get older, so it makes sense why someone would suggest it eventually. IIRC Scratch's rules were different around the time it was made, and you were allowed to post projects with minor blood/violence without running the risk of the project getting blocked from the frontpage/removed. That was probably the reason it was more diverse back then. But like I said, projects that could easily offend should still be blocked.

OK, that was a long post...

Last edited by hmnwilson (2010-07-15 00:29:30)

Chrischb wrote:

This is ridiculous.    Just because some parents are fine with their kids saying certain words doesn't mean that it's okay to ignore those that do care; the forums should be accessible to everyone, even if it means disallowing the use of those words. And as coolstuff said, there should be no need to use them; the forums are for sharing information, not fighting over religion, discussing your favorite swear words, or cursing each other.

+1

Chrischb wrote:

...the forums should be accessible to everyone, even if it means disallowing the use of those words. And as coolstuff said, there should be no need to use them; the forums are for sharing information, not fighting over religion, discussing your favorite swear words, or cursing each other.

I agree with this statement completely, nicely put! 

And now, unfortunately, I think this thread needs to be closed as it is making a lot of work for our moderators trying to keep it clean according to our current standards.

My final thought on this is that we will never be able to please all parties.  There are always going to be people that think we either allow too much or censor too much.  That's just human nature - we all come from different cultures with different taboos and different levels of permissiveness when it comes to language.  The main purpose of Scratch is to serve as an educational tool for first-time programmers who are primarily young children.  To support that purpose, it is important that we maintain a friendly and supportive environment for all-ages which means we have to be somewhat restrictive in what we allow on the site.  It's good to hear from the community on this though as it is a tricky and somewhat fluid area and your input is appreciated.