The swearing filter on DDO should be removed

I appreciate the time he has devoted to the site. Since airmax accidentally posted his argument in the first round, which was supposed to be for acceptance, we agreed he will just pass on the last round. Also on the voting, I really just want alot of people to vote on this. If you read the debate, vote. I don't care if you think I won but vote for airmax because you agree with him. There will be no vote moderation. Read the debate and vote for who you thought was more convincing. I guarantee you, when people don't have to fear about voting moderation creeping up behind them in the dead of the night to viciously click the delete button by their vote, many people will have fun. Also, airmax says he is not particularly at odds on this topic. That's because, as moderator, even if he agrees with me, which he very probably does considering how absurd the swearing filter is, he's not allowed to go around trashing the rules. Airmax is a good guy, but I think even he can see the stupidity of the swearing filter. Burden of ProofIn case anyone forgot, the resolution is "The swearing filter on DDO should be removed. " When airmax quotes me saying that the swearing filter is one of the first things that needs to go, this isn't part of the debate. It's really just my personal opinion. But, since I feel strongly about this, I'm going to give very good reasons why the swearing filter should go. And it should go immediately. DDO is a wreckLet me say this: DDO is in a horrible wreck, and many users feel the same way. For the most part, this place is very boring. Seriously, look at debates from four years ago: Both of these debates have a lot of votes. I know, noobs, you've never seen that many votes on one debate before, let alone ten. The users were much more excited about the debates, and clearly, were more active. The site was actually fun. But now, it's very common for many debates to go completely unvoted. Look at how many *noob snipes* end in 0 votes. 0 votes. This is totally unacceptable. Look at how many of Kasmic's debates ended in a tie because they got no votes. Many of the best users have left the site, and if they do return, they realize what a mess the site is and leave. We have an influx of noobs who promote noobidity by noob sniping other noobs and asking for more rules. Many horrible, boring, and unvoted debates. The member base is a wreck. The voting is a wreck. The home page is a wreck. The forums have largely become a place to socialize, and discuss and so they're a wreck. Fun debating on this website is dead. I am not the only person who feels this way. I have had many users come up to me, and say: "Mike, you're 100% correct. This place used to be fun. I used to love coming on here. Now, it's boring and I don't even know why I stay. "Rules are the main causeThe reason this place has become so boring, and so many members are dissatisfied is because of the websites ridiculous amount of rules. Seriously, the voting standards are ridiculous. The swearing filter is ridiculous. People aren't allowed freedom. When you were a kid playing on the playground, it was fun to wrestle. When the all these rules came along and you had to wear your helmet, look both ways before crossing the sidewalk in case a tricycle would kill you, and don't you dare play red rover or climb a tree. Someone could get hurt. It got boring. That's what's happening to this website. Climbing trees is the same as swearing or trolling a bully. We like doing it. Rules get in the way. The Swearing Filter is RidiculousAirmax admits that the swearing filter is ridiculous. For crying out loud, he's the moderator of this entire site, and even he says it's silly! Rules on a debate website that even the moderator admits are stupid? How is this anything other than clutter? One reason why the swearing filter is so stupid, though I could go on and on:You can't say the word "a*s. "But you can say "Faggot" "Cunt" and "Nigger. "Solve the problem: Reduce Rules, Promote Free SpeechThe way to solve the problem is to completely rennovate the website. By rennovate, I mean get rid of all the bullsh*t rules. By far, the oldest and stupidest rule on the website is the swearing filter. This rule is stupid because as the moderator admits, it doesn't even work and is laughable. Second of all, it infringes on the users' free speech. How the bloody hell are we supposed to debate controversial topics if we aren't allowed to use controversial words? This website is called debate. org. Not CleanDebate. org not NiceDebate. org not UnControversialDebate. org, it's debate. org. Of course, as airmax points out, there are many problems with the website. The home page doesn't work for crying outloud. However, it would be a massive precedent if we got rid of the oldest and stupidest rule on the website. Imagine how easy it would be to get rid of all the ridiculous other rules. Debates would get many votes, people would have fun, and the member base would go through the roof. Juggle would start listening to us. Things would change. People who swear aren't stupidAirmax makes a really ridiculous argument. People who swear aren't swearing because they don't have a big vocabulary. They swear because they want to swear, and in fact, people who swear alot have better ability to use words. This study shows that people who swear up a storm, also know many other words, and are actually far better at using language than people who don't swear. . http://tinyurl.com...Also, come on, college kids swear alot. Hell, I'm in a school full of engineers and every day, I hear people in the library swear without a care in the world. Many smart people swear. Isn't debate about using language to convince people? Then why the hell would we make an atmosphere that turns off people who are better at using language? We should promote an atmosphere for controversial debate, where excellent debaters feel comfortable. Swearing isn't immature or any of that. The inability to control yourself is immature. But if you want to swear, go right ahead. This debate is not just about swearing. .. This debate is about what sort of website we want to have. As many people have pointed out, this website has many problems. The rules have gotten to a point of absurdity, and many users are very frustrated with this. TimeYes, there are problems with the functioning of the website. But it doesn't matter how well the website functions if it's boring. I'd much rather have every debate get 10 votes and the homepage never get fixed than so many debates end in 0 votes with everything working smoothly. If we don't change it now, things will get worseIf DDO does not change its direction, things will get worse. I promise you this. Many, if not all of the veteran members will leave. The discussion and debate quality will continue to decline. There will be more stupid rules, and anyone who actually wants to have fun will be gone. The website will be boring. ConclusionThis is something I feel strongly about. Look, ask any member who has been on the website for over 2 years and they will tell you: the website was more fun back then. And airmax knows that many people feel this way. As YYW points out, this website used to be the wild west. That's why we loved it. Anything went. Cowboys are badass. Let's make DDO the wild west again.