It’s NOT about the Children, Dammit!

I get so tired of members ranting about the auto filters used in the AML forums.

They claim that the filters are in place because we stick-in-the-mud, risk-adverse, control-freaks want to protect the underage members from seeing certain naughty words… who are we to dictate what words kids can see… kids these days already know and use those words anyway… it’s the parents’ responsibilities, not Mensa’s… Robin is foisting her personal conservative sensibilities on members and treating adults like children and wah wah wah…..

Sigh.

It’s not about protecting children or old ladies with smelling salts. I am a parent of kids who do read the forums, and I very strongly believe that it is up to me, not Mensa, to judge what they should read and not read.

It’s about creating a community from which new members will not recoil in surprise when they discover that the intellectual society they joined is no different than a junior high school bus. The words in the auto-filter were chosen because they are words or phrases that shut down discourse, stifle safe expression of opposing views, and generally turn any conversation to a broiling emotional mudpit.

The list comprises: assfucker, asshole, cunt,  fucker, and twat.

There are a few other terms and phrases that have been used in demeaning and offensive ways, and we decided that such insults are not conducive to improving the Mensa experience for anyone. These are:

“Howard” (with quotes-- as if he is not a real person)

hired help 

Mensa Masters

That’s it. Note that the list doesn’t include fuck. Or shit. Or even motherfucker. Dick, pussy, bitch, and poopyhead are all unfiltered.

We do ask that posts outside of Firehouse be kept moderately PG in language choices, but I’ve also instructed the moderators not to get their panties in a bunch if someone slips an “I had a shitty day” into a paragraph. 

As for my kids, our policy is that when they encounter a word they don’t know, I will explain it to them. “Jizz” was an interesting topic of conversation I had with my daughter not too long ago.

Now you know. And if you cannot manage to express your thoughts and views to other Mensans without those eight terms, well…