WU, I have seen your posts. I know you are smarter than that. It is not a list of words. It is hitting someone for no reason other than to be cruel. I would elaborate further but, there is no doubt that you know what bullying is and how you could stop it.Having dealt with message board assholes as a moderator, one thing that's rarely productive is responding to "give me a list of what I can't say". Remember, these guys don't get enough validation in their real lives, and they live to be thought of as King Asshole by the other losers on the board. So this becomes a game of Outsmart The Mod - he'll find a new way to be an asshole that doesn't use one of the forbidden words. So you give him more things not to do. He finds ways around those rules.
It is nice that you are considering turning a new leaf, even if only sarcastically. Originally Posted by Adabear
And it goes on forever.
The issue isn't the words used. The issue is the attitude of the assholes who are more concerned with impressing their fellow losers. They're typically not stupid (although not nearly as smart as they like to think) so they know the difference between good and bad behavior. But their bad behavior makes them stand out from the crowd, so they wallow in it.
Rarely, if ever will their behavior be corrected. It's a waste of time to try. If you're a mod who cares about the community and has been empowered, you just get rid of them. Pretend that you think they'll reform themselves and give them a second (and probably a third) chance. But when the leopard refuses to discard his spots, just ban them and be done with it. They'll pop up again and again under new identities, but the right software makes it easy enough to stay ahead of them.
The root of the problem her is that the ownership values the short-term revenue from the clicks the drama generates. Unless that changes, nothing else will, either.