Censored Words

Quote by Magical_felix
You can't use beaner, **removed by moderator** (lol that one must've been really bad), donkey dick or retard either.

Quote by VanGogh


Duly noted, Jack.

So, I did a search in the stories search on the front page for "faggot" .... it returned 65 stories.

I chose one Arthur where it has "fucking faggot" in it.

So .... is faggot really a censored word?

came up with 52 stories. I chose a poem Kandi-Girl wherein the last line says: "Darling techno !"

So .... I'm thinking isn't really a censored word.

resulted in 6 stories ....

Anyways, I think it's important for all writers/authors to know what is not allowed in our attempt to have our stories published here.

Thanks again!

Van

Quote by Magical_felix


Probably depends on the story verifier. I got a story rejected for using "nigga" with an A once yet there are stories with " " in them.

Could be those stories you found are older. Could have been more lax at the beginning.

Quote by Magical_felix


Probably depends on the story verifier. I got a story rejected for using "nigga" with an A once yet there are stories with " " in them.

Could be those stories you found are older. Could have been more lax at the beginning.

Quote by VanGogh
Could we get a listing of words that are unacceptable for publishing on Lush?

Quote by lafayettemister
After searching for stories with one of the offending words, I found 52 stories. One was written by a mod and is listed as an "Editor's Pick" and another story is a "Recommended Read".

Quote by Milik_the_Red
In the EP story you referance, the individual in question was calling themself the offending word, a vastly different situation than using it as hate speech. In the Recommended Read, the story is a 19k word behemoth that was written in 2012. Even though it is now a 149 vote, solid 5 story, it wouldn't pass today. That doesn't mean we are going to kick it back three years after the fact.

We have 30 thousand plus stories on the site. With thousands more having been deleted or rejected over the years. Seriously, we are likely talking about over 100,000 stories that have been moderated, so I'm not going to worry overly much about the couple dozen that got through. We do very well for an all volunteer group.

Quote by VanGogh


Thank you very much for the scolding. I am pretty sure no one here is asking "remove those offending stories that are likely famous for having the words nigga/faggot/ [or variations thereof]" because that is ridiculous. [Although, many authors lost their famous " " stories because they were removed. I wonder how that is soo different?] Also, no one is slamming or saying that the awesome volunteer group of story verifiers are doing a shitty job. From a former mod, I know how diligent many of the mods are, often looking at Lush as their/our baby.

Anyways .... onward ....

In light of the newest comp, I think it is very important to "note" what is unacceptable.

So far we have:

Faggot (does that include fairy, fag?) What other variations are there of this word? Is fuckboi similarly looked at as faggot?? I don't know and that's why I'm asking.

and nigga (are there variations of that??)

Tranny

isn't offensive, apparently .... so it's just the three words???

What alternative words for these ARE acceptable??

This new comp could be very touchy with regards to unacceptable "stereotypical" word usage .... as many people, not just authors, could be still be exploring and coming to acceptance about things different than what they know.

Thanks a whole bunch for clarifying this "touchy" subject.

Van

Quote by Milik_the_Red
I wasn't scolding anyone, let alone quoting you at all. I was giving perspective to a post meant to give the impression we are either inattentive or inconsistant. Thank you for noticing my post, but let's not confuse what my post was about.

Quote by VanGogh


I see. No scolding. But you perceive that someone is saying that the mods are inattentive or inconsistant. I don't see it that way. Perhaps you are being overly sensitive?

Because Lush is a living evolving site, rules change and we must change with those rules. (ie - )

The question and statement was very simple ..... a definitive list of the censored/unacceptable words would be greatly appreciated.

At this point, I don't even want to know the reason or even why said word is censored.

And for the record, I was considering entering the contest - but after hearing from another author about a censored word, it made me realize, I might too cross that "not appropriate use of a word or words". Do I want (or even care) to spend my time writing a story that will be rejected which could be rectified by a list of no-no/censored words??

sigh ............ This information would be helpful to the veteran authors and the newer Lush authors who are not mods and are unaware of those words. (this includes me!)

Thanks a bunch again.

Van

Quote by HotWife4U
I think it is hard to avoid using words that are offensive to some while in contex to the story. If I was writing a historical story about the civil rights movement of the sixties, it would be hard to avoid. Racial slurs when directed at individuals should not be used. Ever!

Quote by sprite




words that i have told my mods not to let pass as it now stands:

the N word, and variations.
the F word (as bad as the N word, imo, not matter how it's used)
i'll get go as long as it's not used in a hateful way - if i get feedback otherwise, i'll add it. same with "tranny".
" " - if you put " " in a story, not only will it get struck down, i'm probably going to send the story back with a stern warning.

Quote by Milik_the_Red


In the EP story you referance, the individual in question was calling themself the offending word, a vastly different situation than using it as hate speech. In the Recommended Read, the story is a 19k word behemoth that was written in 2012. Even though it is now a 149 vote, solid 5 story, it wouldn't pass today. That doesn't mean we are going to kick it back three years after the fact.

We have 30 thousand plus stories on the site. With thousands more having been deleted or rejected over the years. Seriously, we are likely talking about over 100,000 stories that have been moderated, so I'm not going to worry overly much about the couple dozen that got through. We do very well for an all volunteer group.

Quote by Jonathans_Fantasies


I once thought about writing a historical story about the wife of a white plantation owner falling for one of the male slaves set back just prior to the Civil War. I told a Mod friend about it and my story idea and on their advice I backed away from that story. You have to be VERY careful when approaching some story ideas. They may sound good in your head but can offend others even when no offense was intended.

Quote by lafayettemister


Okay, so is the word offensive no matter how it's used? Or is the word not offensive or hate speech depending how the context of it's use?

We aren't talking about 100,000's of stories. A quick and easy search of a couple of those words turns up 50-60 stories. In fact, if the word is offensive no matter what, then you don't even have to read the story. Search for stories with the word, then delete them. Hate speech is hate speech and they should be purged. For that few stories, it shouldn't take very long at all.

Writing should be provocative, it should push the envelope whenever the author wishes to do so. Censorship only stifles creativity and stifles the growth of the writer and the reader. I'm not a very good writer. Hell, I'm not even a mediocre writer, which is why I rarely write. But, I've read worse. Banning words does more harm than good. It insulates us from experiencing the good and bad in people, as expressed through characters in a story. Be it erotica or anything else.

I understand that Lush has banned certain words. I've accepted that there is a ban and there's nothing I can do about it. As such, I will remain in the shadows and enjoy using Lush to keep up with my friends here.

Quote by VanGogh
thank you all for your contributions to this query.

What I am taking from this conversation is that .... if the word is said without hate, it's ok.

example:

Henry looks at John with a big smile and exclaims, "holy shit, buddy, you're a faggot!"

or if someone is writing about their sexual conflict such as: I thought to myself I was a normal straight chick with a little pussy twist, a lipstick coming out of the straight closet. Such relief. I AM a lipstick and ready to explore!

The real issue isn't the "word" .... it's the hate behind the word when it is expressed in a story.

And, if the story verifier deems it to be non-hateful, it's a go.

perhaps this is exactly why "REVENGE" was not an approved story topic with the underlying subliminale "hate" aspect.

again, thanks for your patience and all the words trying to explain this to me (and I am sure others).

best regards,

Van

Quote by Milik_the_Red


First, let me thank you for the reasoned and thought out response without hyperbolie.

As I mentioned to you when we first spoke, these rules cover a lot of grey area. When I run into them, I do what I did with yours. I take it to the team for a discussion about the word in question, and the context that it is used. In your case, it was used as a slur against the main character. As such, the grey area was removed and it was clearly in violation of our rules.

As to those 50-60 stories out of the thousands here, I have little desire to go back and be the time cop on our older stories. If someone finds one to be offensive, they can file a complaint and we will look at it and try to contact the author. Otherwise, we aren't going to be proactive.

If, as does happen with new stories, a word or other content is passed that should not have, we as mods will be proactive. I recieved a complaint last week regarding copywrited material, and we edited it out on the spot. Then we contacted the author and explained why the action was taken.

Small edits to correct such mistakes are performed behind the scenes when we determine the mistake was innocent. If it was gross negligence on our part, or something heinous in the story, stronger steps are taken.

Is the process perfect? No. It will likely never be. We process too many stories everyday, and the rules have changed too much over time for it to be. Personally, as a writer, I dislike censorship as well. My instincts would be to allow much more latitude. On the other hand, I have seen where this leads. The unmoderated work we sort through will sometimes contain content that has sickened me. I wouldn't want to be part of a site that allowed the things I've seen submitted.

With that in mind, there is going to be censorship. So, the only question is, where is the line drawn. At hate speech, or somewhere else. Irregardless, someone is going to complain it's wrong. In their minds, it's their story that should be okay. Well, we can't win against that mind set. Someone will always be pushing and screaming censorship.

The rules are the rules. It simply comes down to that.

Quote by RavenStar


No, and let me explain very quickly why.

The reader's perception takes precedence over the writer's intent. Every time. That word has a negative, derogatory connotation. I would never (and really do mean the absolute never) pass a story with that word anywhere in it, because the hate it implies has no place here. You may not mean for it to be hateful, but that doesn't matter to someone who's had a horrible experience around that word. See what I mean?

Quote by lafayettemister


This is something I can't quite agree with. It would be impossible to write anything from the point of view of readers' perception. Every reader's perception is different. Take for example a woman from an abusive relationship. I'd venture to guess that during some of that physical abuse, there was also verbal and psychological abuse with words like bitch, cunt, and whore. To THAT woman, those words are hateful. Her perception and experience with those words is horrible. Should we ban the use of those words too? Where does it end if we limit word usage based on the experiences of everyone? I know that most of the women in my life would object a whole lot more to being called a whore vs being called a . They'd also react a lot more to being called a bitch. Most husbands will tell you, you call your wife a bitch and you can expect world war III to commence. Those women's perception of will vary from that of a lesbian who has been derogatively called a .

Does bitch or whore have less derogatory connotations that ? I guess it would depend on who you asked. What about bastard? Redneck? Hillbilly? How negative is too negative?

Quote by HotWife4U
I think it is hard to avoid using words that are offensive to some while in contex to the story. If I was writing a historical story about the civil rights movement of the sixties, it would be hard to avoid.

Quote by sprite


not really... reader are perfectly adept at filling in the blanks when you write something like this:

I watched pair of men in white hoods push a black man against the wall whilst calling him hateful names.

pretty sure most everyone can figure out what those names were without me spelling them out.

Quote by VanGogh


Duly noted, Jack.

So, I did a search in the stories search on the front page for "faggot" .... it returned 65 stories.

I chose one Arthur where it has "fucking faggot" in it.

So .... is faggot really a censored word?

came up with 52 stories. I chose a poem Kandi-Girl wherein the last line says: "Darling techno !"

So .... I'm thinking isn't really a censored word.

resulted in 6 stories ....

Anyways, I think it's important for all writers/authors to know what is not allowed in our attempt to have our stories published here.

Thanks again!

Van