Swearing Frequently Asked Questions

Try out the swear word lists in the swearing sand box - it's fun!

What am I supposed to do with these?

Anything you want! You can moderate user contributed content such as blog comments, forum posts etc.

How?

I have no idea!

So is that it?

Pretty much.

I think this site is great/useless and demand to tell you so immediately

You probably ought to use the shiny Contact Us page then. Problem is, it's not working right now because my useless hosting company have broken the database. (This is now technically a lie, I'm with a new hosting company, and don't have a database at all any more)

You should have a blog or something.

Funny you should mention that, I've just set one up, but it too is suffering at the hands of my hosting company, as the database is down, and even when it was up the system threw lots of random .Net errors, Joy!

But it says "alpha" that must mean there's more to come?

Well yes, eventually. But I'm very lazy so it'll take a while. (About 6 months and counting so far!)

Oooh - do elaborate

Well in theory the plan is to provide an interface so that people can contribute to and moderate the swear word list, keeping it up to date for everyone to share.

Sounds sweet, but didn't anyone tell you altruism doesn't exist?

Well yes, but there are loads of people who moderate forums etc who need these lists and who notice when their users bypass them with a new word. If they come back here, add the new word and download a new list, in theory all those admins and moderators will have an easier time of restricting bad language

Anything else planned?

Dunno, skys the limit. Maybe provide the lists in a few different formats for specific forums or blog software for example. We could also get a bit of a code library going with examples of how to use a word list to moderate some content.

So why did you do this is first place?

Because when I needed a banned word list for a project, I assumed I could find one on the internet in 10 seconds, but it turns out that people are quite shy and secretive when it comes to swear word filters. I ended up compiling my own from scratch and adding to it by browsing the many online profanity dictionaries

So how does this differ from a profanity dictionary?

Basically, it's much shorter and much more boring, for example it doesn't contain any double-entendres. Neither does the list contain phrases and words that are only offensive in context or if you already have a dirty mind.

I like this list, but you've missed out a few words.

It was bound to happen. It would be great if you could add them to your own list and then pop back in a few weeks, maybe I'll have some pages up that allow you to submit those words for everyone else to share. In the meantime you could use the Contact Us page, if it wasn't broken. Which it is.

So who are your hosting company, so that I can steer clear?

I'd rather not say until I scrape together the wherewithal to move somewhere better. The last thing I need is for this service to get any worse.

Hey dude, you're just a part of the machine. You've sold out to the man, man. Censorship is the enemy of freedom. Does..like...the government totally own your soul?

No. Moron. But free speech and civilised debate does not mean we need to be f-ing and blinding at all times. I swear, probably more than I should, but not in front of my Mum or my boss. It's the same on the internet, some places are for adults to swear, others are not. These lists are to help online community administrators keep their little corners of the internet clean if they want to. You are free to build your own little corner of the internet where you can swear to your hearts content. The rest of us are free to ignore you if we so wish.

What's with the rubbish drawings?

Well the website is in alpha and so is our cutsey corporate identity. More to the point, I can't use Photoshop for toffee.