User:T-rex/essays/Swearing encyclopedically
While Wikipedia is not censored that doesn't mean that it couldn't be, and neither does wikipedia encourage cussing. Well there is not (and shouldn't be) any ban against using any specific words[1] there is a general agreement that offensive words should not be used unnecessarily. For the most part swearing is kept in check by general style policies, such as WP:TONE. However, swearing and other offensive words should be removed from articles as it damages the creditability of the encyclopedia and turns away those who may be offended.
As stated above no words are banned. The appropriate use of "naughty" words is limited to direct nouns (such as the title of an album or a book), and direct quotes. While excessive quoting is not encouraged for style and readability reasons, the fact that it contains a bad word is not a reason to remove it. The opposite of course is also true, and that quotes should not be added in order to add more curse words, and the fact that an unnecessary quote contains swearing is not a reason to refuse to remove it. Please see WP:QUOTE for more example on when, and when not to use quotations.
Sometimes curse words need to be used outside the above dictated usages as it is critical to what they are known for or why they are famous[2]. Simply because a person has been known to swear doesn't mean it is important, because in certain contexts it is nothing exceptional[3], in fact even the George Carlin article is mostly clean, despite being well known for his "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television" monologue.
This current usage is mostly a result of how wikipedia policy has naturally occurred rather than as a result of any debating or discussion on the issue[4]. As such it is very accepted and unlikely to change any time soon.
Notes
- ^ While their is no written ban on using any specific words on wikipedia, to the best of my knowledge any article title that has ended with the words "on Wheels!" has been deleted.
- ^ An example of an article requiring a swear word is the one on Tim Shadbolt who is partially famous for being arrested for using the term "bullshit", and later published a book titled, "Bullshit and Jellybeans".
- ^ An example of an article that (outside of an album title) refrains from using curse words is the article on Deryck Whibley despite the fact that he is known to have a dirty mouth.
- ^ Best I can tell this topic hasn't seen any serious discussion since 2002 or 2003 which goes back to the very beginnings of this project.