Ok, it has been suggested that we are too strict on our policy regarding not allowing people to circumvent the filter outside of the lounge.

Our current rule was implemented in early January, after extensive Town Hall discussion. The current rule is:

The following Amendment/interpretation guideline has been added to the rules. Please review:

Implemented: New Guidelines On Allowed/Disallowed Words and Acronyms

Remember, these guidelines do not override any existing rules. Meaning, even if a word or acronym is allowed in general, it does not allow you to disregard the rules that prohibit personal attacks or sexually explicit/graphic comments.

Here are the new guidelines.

If a word is censored, meaning if you type a word that the message board automatically replaces with ****, it is NOT allowed to to use characters like !, @, etc. to get around the profanity filter, nor can you add a smiley to the end of a censored word or use any other trick to get around the profanity filter.

It is allowed for a member to type a censored word and let the profanity filter substitute **** for it. This will be seen as the equivalent of beeping or bleeping out bad words on TV/radio.

Acronyms that are allowed: WTH, WTF, FUBAR, SNAFU, LMAO, LMFAO, ROFLMAO, ROFLMFAO, BS, SOB

Acronyms that are not allowed: S.T.F.U., F.U.

This guideline will not list specific words that have been approved or disapproved. If the profanity filter replaces a word with ****, do not use any variation of that word, nor alter it to get it past the filter. If a moderator tells you a word or word variation is not allowed, do not use it.
The following quote from another Town Hall Discussion posed the question of whether or not our circumvention of the filter rules is too strong. Here is what a member posted:

IMO, this example seems a tiny bit strict as far as the interpretation of "circumventing the language filter"... if one was to type "fuuck" or "fu ck" or other means that display the actual profanity, then yes...but "f'k" or "f*ck" or "sh*t" are like self-censorship on the part of the poster... similar to "azz" or "a$$" instead of the less-acceptable word for donkey. I mean, how is "****" different from "sh*t"? One still knows what the poster meant in most cases
So, the discussion here is about whether or not the rule regarding not circumventing the language filter (outside of the lounge) should be changed. Since ass and shit are not censored, this is primarily related to F-bomb varieties: f*ck, f'ck, etc., but there are a few other words that people at times alter to circumvent the censor filter, rather than typing **** and having the filter put * in the place of all letters.

Please discuss what you think about the current rule, as well as the suggestion to loosen the 'circumvention' rule, or any other input you have regarding the the guidelines on allowed/disallowed language.