Hi Dark, Oh, I see. I was just wondering why you mentioned language filters. Raul and I pretty much decided not to use them for the exact reasons you pointed out. Sometimes they are too restrictive, because as you pointed out some words people find offensive like hell, bitch, etc are perfectly fine put in their proper context.
For instance, I've read a number of fantacy books were female werewolves are called bitches by the characters. In this context it is perfectly ok, because the word bitch simply means a female dog, wolf, etc. Calling a person a bitch, calling your former girl friend a bitch, etc is likely to result in your face getting slapped. In that context it isn't very nice or proper. Grin. Same goes with the word hell. Most people have this idea of a firy place underground were the devil lives, but that's not were the word originated. The word hell actually simply means a hole in the ground or grave which is, interesting enough, in keeping with old testament passages regarding hell. In the old testament the hebrew word for hell would be better translated as grave. Early Jewish concepts of death did not have a concept of hell as we think of it today. No, that idea came much later on in history when Jesus began describing the lake of fire, gahenna, which was a garbage dump outside the towns and villages were they burned their trash. Finally, there are a number of passages in the Greek version of the new testament where the word Hades has been translated as hell by English scholars. So what is the point of this history lesson? Well, to begin with the word hell has multiple meanings, and even in the holy bible the word hell isn't consistent from book to book or chapter to chapter. Not if you go back to the original Greek and Hebrew and read the text as it was actually written rather than translated by scholars. At its most simplist translation hell is nothing more and nothing less than a grave. Another translation of hell is the lake of fire. There is a version of hell which replaces the word Hades which was the Greek land of the dead. That's three different translations of the word which are perfectly acceptable in various contexts. There is another translation, more modern, were hell simply means that something was rough, terrible, and more than you can bare. For example, life in the Notzi consentration camps must have been hell. We aren't litterally talking about hell as in a grave, place of the dead, or where sinners go but that hell as in miserable, terrible, and inhuman conditions. So anyway that's why Raul and I don't use language filters. Words people find offensive are largely open to personal interpretation. You yourself have pointed out that in England the word sod is a sware word. Over here in the U.S. the word sod is grass and dirt used to lay down on a bare patch of ground to help add grass and soil to that area. There is just way too much flexability to use language filters. Instead it is up to the moderator to decide if the word was used improperly or not. I.E. aimed at someone in a negative way, to insult, etc. Personally, I think a big reason why a lot of people get so easily insulted by a word is they are usually ignorant of its alternative meanings. If I use the word hell most Christians will jump to the description taught to them in their Sunday school classes of this place under ground, burning night and day, were the devil and his minions live. Strangely enough, this description is not consistent with the actual biblical descriptions or concepts of hell. If that is the only translation or interpretation they are aware of then they aren't going to be too receptive of other interpretations of the word. Even if my use of the word might be proper in the context I use it. Cheers! On 3/12/11, dark <d...@xgam.org> wrote: > Hi tom. > > I think you may have got the wrong end of the stick here slightly. > > Basically, I posted the message, but didn't see any response immediately, > and didn't catch the return mail to me so I wasn't sure it had posted > correctly (yes, I should've checked the archives). > > The only reason I could think of for this was the p i s games joke. > > i have no problem with either your or Raul's moderating, in fact I learnt a > lot of what I do myself when moderating audiogames.net and the entombed list > from the pair of you, so I wouldn't really be one to level cryticism unless > there was a really good reason. > > I have however seen occasions where automated language filters get in the > way of things irrispective of moderator's position. > > For instance, I only found! the language filters for audiogames.net (which > were rather hidden in a subsection of the admin pannel), when I wanted to > allow microwave for talking about towers of war which previously was > disallowed to discourage spambots (I also allowed quite a bit of other > language while I was there). > > And I have seem some very silly language filters, for instance in core > exiles, I was having fun naming all my mechs things like scrap iron of > death, spare parts of doom, and junk heep of terror. > > However, the mech I dcalled the wreck from hell was auto deleted by the > games' filters, sinse for some odd reason Hell was considdered against the > in game naming system's language filters. > > Rather nutty if you ask me, I think they may have been programmed by your > deviled egg haiting relatives Tom ;D. > > Hope this makes things clear. > > Btw, a question. If you believe people will go to hell for saying hell, how > can you warn them where they're going? ;D. > > Beware the grue! > > Dark. --- Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
