Censorship

[Mongrel]

When I read OMG I actually read it Oh Em Gee, which is one of the best words

Haha.
I read OMG as Oh My Gaaaa for some reason. o.0 Sometimes I read it as Oh Em Gee too. But I always see it as Oh My Gosh, not Oh My God.

I s'pose I'm the only one who reads it as ohmguh, the way you'd say it if it weren't an acronym.

Do you mean "omguh"? If you do, then occasionally you're not the only one.

I read "omguh" as "ahmguh" and "ohmguh" as "oa[like road]mgh."
I never learned phonics so I don't know how other people "read sounds."

[sily_sicily]

When I read OMG I actually read it Oh Em Gee, which is one of the best words

Haha.
I read OMG as Oh My Gaaaa for some reason. o.0 Sometimes I read it as Oh Em Gee too. But I always see it as Oh My Gosh, not Oh My God.

I s'pose I'm the only one who reads it as ohmguh, the way you'd say it if it weren't an acronym.

Do you mean "omguh"? If you do, then occasionally you're not the only one.

I read "omguh" as "ahmguh" and "ohmguh" as "oa[like road]mgh."
I never learned phonics so I don't know how other people "read sounds."

I read ohmguh as what you read as, and omguh as o[like octopus]mgh.
I never learned phonics either...I learnt it meself; in me own way

[laurenb]

I'm of the camp that if I get censored for saying "damn" or "OMG" it shouldn't appear anywhere else on the site (news, games, what-have-you). I just don't want a double standard - I know they run the site, but there shouldn't be a case of do as I say, not as I do. Not that I do much on Nepets anyway besides play games and poke around, so I doubt this would be an issue for me.
/random-but-not-really-comment

To the original sort of thread - I'm not really offended by OMG, but if a lot of people are offended, then I do think something should be done. Just because some people see it as Oh my gosh/goodness/goober or whatever, doesn't mean everyone does, and I can see how some people could see it as offensive - I'm sure there are sayings that I find offensive that other people don't.

On a less serious note:

I see it as oh em gee, or omguh (which sometimes comes out close to omega in my brain come to think of it).

[Alex]

I agree; the double standard can get annoying but there's nothing we can do about it.

Random amusing note: Was at the shops a few days ago, and saw a group of goths/emos (not trying to offend anyone!) and heard them say OMG out loud - as on "Oh Em Gee!" o.o

[Pink]

...I do that...

[Alex]

...I do that...

I've never seen it happen here before.

[whhattisthiss]

I just had a "duh" kind of moment.

[Cranberry]

I completely disagree with the "if it could offend someone, it shouldn't exist!" kind of thinking. That's the same kind of thinking that leads to stuff like "some religious people think witches are evil and therefore Neopets shouldn't have any witch characters" and "we shouldn't condone stealing/gambling, so all the games about thieves and gambling should be removed from the site!"

Everything Neopets does is going to annoy or offend somebody. I guarantee that. So what they have to do is look at how many people are annoyed, and if it's just a tiny minority... there's no point in sanitizing things to an extent where you're going to turn off the huge majority. If people are so offended by words like hell, damn and OMG -- words that are perfectly fine for early-evening television and therefore deemed suitable for kids -- then they should go find some other site to play.

And on the topic of "do as we say, not as we do"... I've said this so many times here, but Neopets is allowed to do whatever they want because they are doing it responsibly and in the proper context. Their plot characters can get married while our Neopets can't, because TNT are not suddenly going to start graphically describing how they "mate." TNT can say "damn" while we can't, because they're not going to yell "damn you!" at someone on the boards. If characters in a freaking Disney movie can get married, and if a Disney movie can have a character literally go to hell (Hercules), then I think it's absolutely ridiculous for people to suggest Neopets avoid these subjects altogether. What kind of lame, boring, stupid site would it be then?

/rant

[laurenb]

Perhaps I ought to clarify that by "a lot", I would mean close to, if not more than 50%. And I am not saying that subject should be avoided, however given that, in theory, there are 8-year-olds (or under) playing on the site, I think they should be careful with what they say - if the site is supposed to be G rated, I'm not entirely sure that "Damn" has a place there. There are terms and conditions for users to follow, and I think everyone posting on the site should be held to those terms and conditions. Let's pretend that Neopets could get married - one couldn't describe how they mate in detail because it goes against the terms and conditions. I'm not doubting that there would be irresponsible users that would write their smut, but I'm also not doubting that there would be repercussions for their actions. Though, for the record, I don't think pets should get married.

ETA: While early-evening television shows may use "Hell" or "damn" they are also rated (at least here they are) - so if you don't want your child to hear those words, you can easily turn off the TV, or what-have-you. Not having children, I have no idea how the netNanny type things work, whether it screens out sites for content, or words on sites that could be offensive.

[Daze]

ETA: While early-evening television shows may use "Hell" or "damn" they are also rated (at least here they are) - so if you don't want your child to hear those words, you can easily turn off the TV, or what-have-you. Not having children, I have no idea how the netNanny type things work, whether it screens out sites for content, or words on sites that could be offensive.

Just as parents have the right to turn off the TV or not let their children watch programmes that contain words that the parent feels is not acceptable to them or their children so do the parents of children that play on Neopets.

It is ridiculous to me that parents would let children on any web site without supervision or prior knowledge of site.

As for words like damn, OMG - I find nothing wrong with them, but I do have an issue of uneven censorship.

We have the mad situation of "words within words" being censored. It is impossible to type ...as bad as... which is used quite a lot in my vocabulary due to the fact that a more 'vulgar' phrase can be seen within it.

The censorship needs to be re-addressed and maybe some words added and a few taken off the 'bad' list, but overall, I agree with Cranberry; if the site is too heavyily censored, then where will it stop?

[Cranberry]

Well, if a parent is dilligent enough to check TV ratings and screen programs before they let their kids watch, they should also be able to check out Neopets and other sites their kids may visit. Children under 13 need parental permission to access some of the site's features, too (such as neomail and neoboards), and I would expect a parent who really cares what their kid is seeing would look into it fully before signing the form.

Edit: Haha, posted at the same time as Daze. Well, then... ITA.

Neo is tame, anyway. I'd imagine that if it has a rating, it's probably PG, not G, but either way... it's definitely family-friendly.

[_ei]

Hmm I still cannot see the "as bad as" problem but then that's just me.. I can't even tell what the "vulgar" phrase is meant to be.... maybe my idea of vulgar differs from everyone elses

Also: People are talking like you can't say "damn" on the neoboards... did they change that recently, because as far as I was aware you definately could... Same goes for "OMG"... ah well, I abandoned the neoboards a while ago.

I personally am always surprised by the number of children and adults alike on the neoboards who go into a frothing frenzy at any so called "bad words" (that I don't even notice in the grand scheme of language) most of the kids I know (above the age of 13, as it is the neoboards) wouldn't even bat an eyelid... in fact if you tried explaining that the word "hell" could be seen as offensive they'd look at you blankly and then wander off...

I also agree that if they can do something in a disney movie then that's pretty much "family friendly", and Cranberry's right about the "do as I say not as I do" thing - the fact is the majority of the site can't be trusted to be sensible about things so they just aren't givin the option.


People are just way too sensitive in my opinion.

[VirtualMetal]

Parents should be watching as kids play online and if OMG is so offensive, they can just remove neopets from the list of sites their kids play at. It's not neo's job to be everyones parent....

Or that's just my opinion.

I completely agree.

Also I don't see how "OMG" can be offensive. For most people it stands for "Oh My Gosh" or "Oh My Goodness". But even then if you find "Oh My God offensive, it's not as if it is mean't that way or intended to cause offence to anyone.

For the most part I find people are getting way too over zealous about censorship. For a start Neopets has adverts I'd consider far more worth complaining about. But even then, back to HotRoxy's point, neopets is not a baby sitter. If parents want to be nit picky, they should supervise their children more.

[pipsqueeek]

I think it's pointless to try to censor out every single 'swear word' anywhere. Kids are going to be exposed to them, there's nothing you can do to stop it. I'm not saying that swears are good, but they're unavoidable. And also, a lot of the more minor swears have become so much a part of language that I would hardly consider them 'bad words' anymore.

As for OMG- it's not really religious at all anymore, in my opinion, even if it's written out 'oh my god' or 'my god'. It's just an expression of shock or surprise. And to me at least, it's god with a lowercase g. I'm invoking 'my god', not 'God', so it's really not anyone else's business anyway.