No Swearing Act

The **No Swearing Act**, known as the **NSA**, was the third official act enacted by the Sounddy Administration. It was voted on took effect on June 29, 2013, and would not be repealed until February 14, 2014 (officially). Although, all the lingering chat restrictions were not cleared until February 15). This was the third act voted on by the 2nd Ninzard Senate.

Initially, Sounddy had no mention of such a rule being put in place. However, after his upset victory in the June 2013 Ninzardia gubernatorial election, he chose to impose this rule to test his authority while knowingly restricting the freedoms enjoyed by his rivals.

Such ideas were lauded by religious members and advocates of authoritarianism. Support for the NSA drew from many Christian members, who had felt disturbed by the frequent usage of curse words. However, the NSA was vehemently criticized by those who opposed authoritarian leadership.

## Proposals

* Ban swearing in the community to limit usage of "certain swear words."

## Policing of the rule

The policing of the rule was strict. Punishments ranged from chatroom mutes to even an outright ban. Nine members had been banned at some point due to the enactment of the rule. Most notably, Alaric intentionally used all four offending words in the a single sentence. As a result, his punishment stacked up to becoming muted for 72 hours. Many others imitated Alaric's *trolling*. After three days, he did the exact same thing, which caught the attention of Sounddy and caused to become outright banned him from the community on July 2, 2013—the first NSA ban. After Alaric's punishment, much of the community conformed to the rules. Although, five members deliberately followed in the footsteps of Alaric, subsequently resulting in their bans. By July 2, six members were banned by the NSA. From July 2, 2013, to February 14, 2014, only three members would be banned due to the NSA (two following the update in August).

### Specific punishments

A list of specific punishments was provided depending on which curse word was used.

#### S-word

* S-word (1st offense) = 9 hour mute
* S-word (2nd offense) = 14 hour mute
* S-word (3rd offense) = 23 hour ban
* S-word (4th offense) = Permanent ban

#### B-word

* B-word (1st offense) = 18 hour mute
* B-word (2nd offense) = 19 hour mute
* B-word (3rd offense) = 9 hour ban
* B-word (4th offense) = Permanent ban

#### F-word

* F-word (1st offense) = 13 hour mute
* F-word (2nd offense) = 18 hour mute
* F-word (3rd offense) = 24 hour ban
* F-word (4th offense) = Permanent ban

#### N-word

* N-word (1st offense) = 32 hour mute
* N-word (2nd offense) = 8 day ban
* N-word (3rd offense) = Permanent ban

### Punishments update

In August of 2013, the punishments list was updated to make the rules more clear for members. While the punishments became more clear, the severity of the punishments increased. However, only two members were permanently banned following the update, as much of the community had become adjusted to the NSA.

These were the updated impacts of the four prominent swear words:

#### S-word (updated)

* S-word (1st offense) = 7 day ban
* S-word (2nd offense) = 30 day ban
* S-word (3rd offense) = Permanent ban

#### B-word (updated)

* B-word (1st offense) = 1 day ban
* B-word (2nd offense) = 7 day ban
* B-word (3rd offense) = Permanent ban

#### F-word (updated)

* F-word (1st offense) = 7 day ban
* F-word (2nd offense) = 30 day ban
* F-word (3rd offense) = Permanent ban

#### N-word (updated)

* N-word (1st offense) = 7 day ban
* N-word (2nd offense) = 30 day ban
* N-word (3rd offense) = Permanent ban

## Effects on the community

The administration listed four offending word while installing automatic features that would regulate the chat. The usage frequency of all four words drop exponentially and was almost non-existent. Few broke the rules.

Despite concerns about activity regarding the NSA, activity was not affected as a result of the act.

### Boycott of the rule

Senator Netterix encouraged members to undermine the new rule. He provided alternative usages for swear words. For example, instead of directly using the word "fuck," Netterix encouraged members to say "fuckk" instead. This was cracked down by Sounddy, who added the "double 'k' fuck" under the F word category. Every time the F word category was updated, Netterix modified his usage, using "fuqq," "fucc," "fuk," etc. At one point, Netterix had accidentally used one of the banned versions of the F word and resulted in becoming muted for 13 hours.

## Repealing of the rule

On the day of Netterix's election victory, he repealed the No Swearing Act. He had previously denounced the rule, calling it "a tool for tyranny." However, the rule had been made difficult to repeal due to the multiple layers of code installed in the chat-bots.

On February 15, 2014, all of the restrictions imposed on the chats were cleared.