Naughty Notes and New Members

I PAY to be here. I LIKE it here. I’m starting to NOT like it here. PLEASE make it an option. Let US decide whether or not we want OUR notes censored! THANK YOU.

DM, you’re such a dad sometimes…

good idea!

I agree with the previous noter.. I pay to be here as well and I had liked it here now I’m wondering if a select few who may want censorship are going to spoil the whole barrel. Yes it sucked to lose our whole note but it also sucks to have big brother looking down on those who use “the select handful” of bad words. Not only that but you didn’t bring this up you instead implemented it and then decided to do an entry as if “btw” i’m taking away your freedoms..Not cool..

The problem, Bruce, is that it is a VERY SMALL SET OF WORDS. What about the other hundreds that are horribly offensive? Those are fine? What about all the people that know how to get around the stupid stars? LET US DECIDE IF WE WANT IT ON OUR DIARIES. All the sensitive people can turn it on, and leave the rest of us alone. Plus, isn’t that the whole reason we can delete notes we don’t like??

Censoring the notes is a good idea.

Thank you. I would be so surprised that I had used one of the forbidden words and then so surprised I’d lost my note. I see you’re using the ****s on the diary excerpts on front pages so I suppose this was the next reasonable step. ~~~ Listing new diaries is good too.

This was never a problem for me…I normally hit backspace and my note would be there again…but ok..cool… although a little html code helps you get away with too…. 😉 …

I’ve no complaint about censoring of notes; though I may be prepared to write something, that’s no guarantee that the person receiving the note is happy to get it. Some words are certainly offensive. But is there any way to prevent notes being censored when a word itself is not offensive, but contains one which is? I have several times tried to write a word meaning “laugh”, one which begins with s, and is then followed by an offensive term for African American. Each time my note has been rejected.

With every right comes a responsibility. Kids come in here and even though I am an angry perverse old man I do NOT want to be responsible in anyway for some kid learning the art of dropping the Fbomb.

I’m not sure that a place that purports to be for the purpose of WRITING should also be a place where censorship takes place. We’re all big enough and ugly enough to delete notes we don’t like the look of, or block people who offend us. Words, and how we react to them, are a very personal thing. Once you start trying to police that, you’re on a hiding to nothing. I’m a lifetime member. I would prefer this to be optional.

This should be optional, not mandatory. If people don’t want to see it in a note, fine, let them block it out with a bunch of ***. But we should have the option of not having censorship on our diaries.

I’ve never had an issue since I apparently never had to use ‘those’ words in a note. But, I can understand where the first few noters are coming from. If you pay for a serivce, you should be able to say whatever you want in a note. Perhaps only the non paying memebers should be censored?

I have no idea what people are having a problem with. The words were ALREADY censored before, now there is just a new implementation of that.. this is NOT NEW.

How about this: We choose if we can see bad words, and then just flag notes as naughty?

i dont get why people are mad. this isnt really censorship. we can still tell what the words are even if they’re starred. its just a matter of being civil towards other diarists. its not like we cant swear in our own diaries

I have never had a problem with the idea of some censorship in the realm of another persons’ creative space, but I do believe if the coding is possible that it should become an optional idea. I know programming can be a pain, but I think it can be done nominally if the effort and the planning where put into it.

I don’t see the problem either. There’s no censoring on diary entries just notes we leave other people. Hardly an issue if before you weren’t even able to have the word in there in the first place.

I pay and I agree that I would like this to be an optional feature… Thanks for everything you do around here!

No complaints from me either! 😀

I could care less about the censorship,I mean if you want to curse be my guest.. but not everyone likes it. Its your desire to censor what you want. i dont leave them in others entries. I respect that not everyone says curse words. My diary is my diary, I curse freely but then again I do curse in my entries. Thing is.. Its a good option on certain things. And yes it is not new. I know I can’t leave the f word in my own diary notes. Now that there is an entry implying this people are freaking out. I think you do a great job in what you have. 🙂 You know what would make everyone happy? Kittens. Lots of kittens!Lol.

Thanks DM! This is a cool change, sometimes I forget to star out my occassional bad language and lose my whole note, so I appreciate the change!

I think it’s great, thank you. I find that kind of language offensive. I also appreciate your efforts to make OpenDiary suitable for people of all ages. I think OD is classy. Thank you for your hard work. 🙂

Clearly sir, there are ways around this. We can use HTML, etc.. I am not a child, I don’t need to be protected from anything. I am a big girl and I can delete a note if I find it offensive, or I can block someone. Or as a last resort, report them to you. Is this worth losing paid subscribers over? At least make it an option for plus and lifetime members.

I think you’re doing a fine job DM. Thanks for all your hard work!!!

**** ( i wanted to test it :P)

I don’t know what the problem is either. You couldn’t drop the F bomb before in notes. Only the people who knew the coding got around it. After the last hacker the DM got rid of the option to allow HTML in notes so I thought. SO the people who are paying are complaining why? Because now instead of losing a whole note because you accidently typed fnck you just get ****

Aloha… Not sure who said it first… but… you can’t be all things for all people… At (the very least) you continue to try… and I love this place…!!! Sigh………………………

[I do, however, think it is important to be a bit more polite when you are leaving notes in other people’s spaces – which is why these words are blocked] Most other sites believe that what you have to say – regardless of where you say it- is your call. I can drop the f-bomb in my diary but not in a note. Why should you get to decide where I drop it? Let the other guy remove it if they don’t like.

I object to this censorship, and I’m not even the type to use that kind of language on someone’s diary. I prefer not to use it at all, and try my best not to. Still, I can’t condone forced censorship. Surely this should be a personal preference rather than a mandatory dictate from above.

I’m just being an asshole, but I can see where some people might be coming from.

People are blowing this, way, way out of proportion. Nothing’s changed – except that now the notes won’t get lost (as you said). And the people who want to swear, will find a way around as they did before. I truly believe that some people are just bored, with too much time on their hands, and need to create something to fill it with. Keep up the good work. 🙂

Hey DiaryMaster, thanks for working so hard to keep Open Diary up and running these long years. I started this ol’ thing back in high school and am now in Graduate school, so it holds a lot of memories for me. Thanks 🙂 dynne

If they don’t like it they can fly to the moon 😀

It was less obnoxious before. Don’t ask me why, it just was. This seems like an in-your-face way of keeping people from saying what they want to. Before, I made the decision to go back and rewrite my note, maybe say something else. Now, you do it for me. I don’t like that. Please make it a toggle option. Make us put Adult ratings on our diaries. Something else. Give us the choice. I’d rather go back to the way things were. Also, why not leave a note on Ensor or Hoops’ entries about this? Why just mine, dude? I know I’m hardly your favorite diarist, but come on now. They were at least as harsh and Hoops was WAY more paranoid. *grin*

I think this is preferable to the old method, so meh, thanks DM!

OMG I cannot believe that ppl want to make this an issue. It is only about notes not diaries. The way I understand it is that you can say all you want in your own diary. I have used some swear words in my own diary. Geez, Louise!

*chuckles at all the notes* wow did you ever stir up a hornets nest lmao I’m like a few here whats the problem its the ‘same’ words just you aren’t gonna lose your note and possibly your train of thought on what you were saying in the first place lol eesh READ ppl they didn’t CHANGE the word list thats already in place!

Nah, I like this. I think you’re doing good work.

Well ****.

It would suit me if those words were starred out in entries too, as well as notes. I find them just as offensive there as in notes.

Oh and as you know people are going to complain no matter what you do. You won’t lose my membership because of something that was already in place. Good job! I love OD!

You know, I bet that if you hadn’t written an entry about this, people would have hardly noticed.

Some people are so touchy. I have a funny note censor story – I once was telling an anecdote about a man who had a questionable last name to a Friend on OD. OD recognized the bad word and blocked my note – except that the word it told me it was blocking was NOT the word I was using (a sex term)- It was a word I would never use- a racial slur! I was totally shocked and offended that OD would acuseme of such a thing, I just had to laugh.

I like it. Two thumbs up. And yes, I’m a Mom.

Does that mean you weren’t testing an entry filter over on test diary 3? Because it really looked like you were. I really don’t understand why you can’t make this an option. Swear words aren’t always used to offend (and, in fact, it’s just as easy to offend without using swear words, making the filter all the more pointless) and they can be very helpful in making a point. Let people filter it for themselves, don’t foist your morality onto all of us. I’m sorry to say, you probably stand to lose more subscribers over this than you might gain. I love most of what you’ve done with this site but you’ve really dropped the ball on this one. http://priceisrightlosinghorn.com/

I never had a huge issue with the censoring of curse words. I don’t use them much, so it never really applied to me. I can see both sides. I think what some people said, about some sort of toggle option, would be a good solution, and keep people on both sides of the fence happy. Just a thought.

Some people will bitch about anything, won’t they? And apparently they can’t read, either… Hiya. That’s all.

I personally like the fact that you censor words from being published in notes. I commend you for it. Thank you. Keep up the wonderful work! =]

I wouldn’t even to begin to consider this censorship. I have grandchildren that have diaries here and it’s nice to know that some jerk can’t leave them a random foul note.

I’ve always thought it unfair to censor us like that, but I’m one of the ones that knew the way around it. I think it would be a better option to allow anyone 18+ the ability to choose whether we turn a censor filter on or not on our own diaries. At least offer it to us OD+ and lifetime members! There are many words that are offensive that AREN’T on that list, but some dumb ones that are. And another idea while I’m at it. We have the option for friends-only entries…you could make an adults-only option too, that way anyone who’s registered birthday makes them under 18 years old, can’t read what could be considered offensive to them. 🙂

I think you have created a storm Tell the people they are being censored and you’ll get tons of reponses, good and bad Allow them to live in bliss, and so do you! 😉

Honestly, it gives us more freedom to note. If we insist on calling someone’s abusive boyfriend a bleeping bleep, at least now we can get the real message across. 😉

I can hardly believe that people SAY these words, let alone write them down so the world can see the trashy way they speak. I don’t want anyone to leave notes on my OD with such words and I thank you for looking out for me!!:)

Ryn: if you read my entire entry I do recognize that it’s better to not lose the note, however if these are the same words that were blocked then the old system did not work. Only the f-word was prohibited before. I was able to use other words that are now censored. I’m willing to take you at your word that they should have been before, but they weren’t. That’s why there is such uproar. The old system did allow words that are not allowed now regardless of what it was supposed to do. Either way, it really sucks that any word is prohibited on the site excluding what’s on the front page.

I understand your point of view on this, but consider this: if you made this feature optional, you could be a hero!

I didn’t like note censorship before, I think this is a good time to revisit why some words are considered “too dirty” for notes and some are not. Adult content options should DEFINITELY be available here.

So… nothing is really changing then? Except I don’t lose my note anymore? Sweet! Great job, DM!

how about everyone just accept that those are the rules & deal with it. some words get starred out, get over it.

you job sounds frustrating….hope your having a good one!!

Oh, what a fuss! Many noters here, in their anger at their notes (not their entries, their notes) being censored seem to have forgotten that two people are involved: both the writer of the note and the receiver. If anything is allowed, the way is open for e.g. an Asian teenager found on random to receive a cursing, racist slur from some crazy. Please, DM, keep the censorship as it is.

I don’t ever use naughty words in my entries or notes so this is no big deal to me and I am all for it. But I can see some are affended by it.. Maybe there is an answer that will make everyone happy..

I must admit DM, that Im not a fan of the ‘censor’. This may sound really off, but I really dont agree with it for people who pay for OD plus. Ive been on OD for nearly 5 years and I am an OD plus lifetime member, this is my home. And I would like to act in my internet home the way I do in my own home. I enjoy swearing. For me it is a way for me to express myself. I appreciate people dont enjoy itsometimes when people swear in front of them and if that is made known to me, then I reign it in as I am not a common thug, Im just a girl from an area of the UK where swearing is very common and not vilified the way it is elsewhere. To that end, how about offering an option on OD plus. Not being computer-program-y in anyway but how about a ‘swear option’ in diary options? Then the diarist can disable notes so swear words appear as they do with the new programme…or if the diarist isnt a complete language-nazi then they can let their noters say whatever they want. And you will note Ive not sworn on this note whatsoever. Because the majority of us who are against the swear censor are actually decent individuals who enjoy a nice expletive now and then to express themselves.

omg its not like you are censoring their diary! Notes are censored. At least now people arent writing things like ‘you stepped in a pile of poo’ instead of seeing ****. I would rather have a word with a few asterisks. We know what it means. Is it really all that serious? If it is about censorship did you not just a few entries back state that you withdrew the rule about not identifying yourself? That would be removing censorship. I dont see the big deal. I have been here 10 years and my only major complaint was losing entries during the great OD hack and never seeing the winning OD logo. I think you are doing a great job of improving the site and maintaining a personal life. good job!

i pay just like alot of people and i dont care if 16 year olds are on here most of those kids dont pay. i want to be able to write what i want to. otherwise i’ll go else where with this journal. m*otherf*ucker stop trying to make this site a pg site. if 16 yeaar olds can read about sex, polygamy, throwing up, cheating, whats a few bad words. thats not what i pay for

Does this mean: If I accidently use two words in my note that the last two letters of one word and the first two letters of the second word spell one of those special words I won’t lose the total note???? If this is the case, God Bless You. This small problems has caught me a couple of times and I have had to disect the note to find out what I did wrong. Take Care DM. You do a great job.

Just getting a kick out of some of your notes. So not jelous of you 🙂 Thanks for what you do, conspiracies and all 😉

[cont] Also, Ive had my fair share of very impolite hate notes that do not contain any expletives and found them more hurtful than being called a ****. But those hate notes take a lot longer to sort out than a simple swear word. I do think perspective is needed here sometimes. However, I do want to thank you and the admins for all you have done. A simple ‘swear option’ would be the cherry on the OD cake as far as a lot of us are concerned. Laura x

You can still say what you want to say without profanity in a note, so I don’t know why some people are getting so worked up over this.

I like how the people who are up in arms about it just throw out the fact that this is nothing new. You couldn’t say those words before but now since they have **** it must be censorship. Jeez. People threat that they will go elsewhere but I doubt it. What happen to the people who were going to move out of the country if Obama won?

Can I try it? **** that ****.

I don’t really agree with the censorship, but this system is definitely way more efficient than having to retype your entire note because you absent mindedly said “f-ed up” instead of “messed up” or something. thanks for the change 🙂 step in the right direction

Just my $0.02…I’m a naughty noter unintentionally and it was SO ANNOYING to have the system delete my note. Thanks for this fix so the *facepalm* can stop!! Let people moan and groan, it’s what they do!

I don’t care to see nasty words. Period.I have no problem with @#$% rather than the word.Can’t people express themselves without vulgarity? Are people stupid? So stupid that they can not express themselves without cursing? Yes, I know we can block people and delete notes…but I rather not see the filth.

You are correct in that this is NOT censoring. People aren’t reading your full entry and are jumping to conclusions. You can’t worry about these people. They are just reactionaries. They are trying to add drama. I don’t give a **** if I can say ****, ****, ****, ****, or even ****. I especially don’t like ******!! We don’t need these words in polite society. Thank you for eliminating them from OD.

Nope, it’s just the way it always was. You do censor notes. I, personally, don’t like censorship in any form, but I like OD.

Since OD is apparently your job, it is also a real life thing, I feel compelled to mention. I understand other parts of your life creating conflict; most people do, however for those of us that pay or have paid, some of us tire of hearing that you had “other stuff.” Plenty of us are juggling a lot, and we lose our jobs when we perform poorly.

I also feel compelled to mention that many a time I note S, followed by H, followed by I, followed by T, and received no error message. In fact, I remember being able to use a handful of words with no error message. I also remember sorting out disagreements with noters and readers. If they didn’t care for “bad” language, we came to an agreement or parted ways.

People have to realize that it’s your site, therefore we all have to abide by your rules. We can swear and say whatever we want in our diaries, but you want those words not to be used in notes. I don’t find that an unresonable request, and think people are too sensitive. Can’t please everyone all the time… but I think most of us are cool with it. Later,

Incidentally, in my part of the US, which is coincidentally close to your part of the US, “cocksucker” is a pretty inflammatory word. You forgot to censor it. What about other languages? The whole thing is pretty ridiculous, and it’s especially ridiculous considering that the main functionality so often fails here – we can’t write or leave notes at all but time is spent basically telling

what is and what isn’t acceptable to say in notes.

Another thought occurred to me: Way back in 2006 when the you promised people who gave you $100 each that you’d give them all special features no one else had, we forked over money awfully fast. What do Lifetime Members have the other Plus members don’t? Seriously. Is there anything? ‘Cause I’m looking at my Diary Maintenance page right now, and I see nothing about “Lifetime Member features.” Isee “Open Diary Plus features.” I would prefer you give this to everyone with a paid subscription (actually, I’d prefer you give it to everybody, but I’ll concede that it’s a feature that might get you more money for the site), but at the very least, make good on that promise, DM. You never delivered on that. For a very short amount of time, Lifetime Members had a special email address at which they could reach you, which you promptly forgot about and never seemed to check. The censorship sucked before, and it sucks worse now. I really don’t believe you meant for this to become such a big issue, but it has, and you owe it to us to make it right. We bailed you out because we love this site. We did it because this is where so many of us find comfort…

I don’t know if you realize just how violated many of us feel right now. Please, make it right. Also, I know you probably meant for a couple of words that are starred here now to have been censored from the get-go, but, believe me, they weren’t. So this does feel like added censorship to a lot of us; we’re not paranoid. Give us more credit than that.

Ironically, if you do believe that the very same handful of words that prompted error messages is the same handful of words that are now starred out, your error messages never worked properly. I don’t know why I’m slightly surprised.

Dear DM – apparently the words WHORE and SLUT are acceptable to you. But B I T CH is not. EXPLAIN! Because I find those two words 100% worse than b i tch.

i’m glad you changed the way it censors notes. i am far from eloquent on some matters, and would sometimes find myself accidentally throwing in a swear here and there, and them boom! out in cyberspace my note went, lost forever. glad that won’t be happening anymore. HOWEVER as many others have said, it should be OUR choice weather or not we want to allow “those select few” words to show up, or be starred out. maybe an option for diaries that only allow private notes; to prevent someone young from stumbling upon those “bad words?” i know it’s been censored forever, but now all this is out in the open it may be a good time to discuss more options.

^^^^Pfffft. Your website, your rules. It’s that simple. I do like the idea of an “18 & older” category same as “friends” and “bookmarks”. BTW- I REALLY hate the term “bookmarks”. Can’t we get a better name than that? It’s so dehumanizing.

so star out my curse words, whatever. The second you say I can’t curse in my own entries is when I leave after 9.5 really happy years. I think I’m one of very few who made it through both hacker attacks, FOD, and other random adjustments completely intact. I love and appreciate this website, and find this hullaballo kinda ridiculous. DM, your hard work is appreciated by at least one ODer. 🙂

Good grief.

Your website, your rules, true, but you depend on fees paid by your website members, and ad revenues from advertisers depending on members to see and click on ads. I can’t imagine Facebook or LinkedIn implementing a change that caused its members to run riot, and countering with, “it’s not your website, its ours.”

Sigh, yes I pay for access to this site because I want to. It is my site, my diary. I appreciate that we have ‘policing’ on the site. Rules are few here. Those rules need to be enforced else chaos reigns. Keep doing what you are doing, making this a safe place to be is obviously a top priority and I see no reason for this to change. Thank you.

**** the haters!

just testing it out! thanks; i really hated losing my entire note 🙂

I think giving people an option whether they want to censor or not is a good idea. I don’t care either way. I’ve only paid to be here once and I don’t think it bothers me either way. I swear enough in the real world so I don’t need to swear as much online! 😀

You own this little cyber apartment complex, we just rent our spaces. Just like I tell my adult sons who live in our house (and yes, they pay to be here): My House – My Rules. Don’t like ’em? Go get a place of your own!

I’ve lost quite a few notes and had to retype them because I used a word that OD apparently didn’t like. It doesn’t make sense to me, especially if I’m responding to someone who used the very same word in their entry!!! It just seems silly to censor any words at all. If someone is on the internet, they can type in “sex” in a search and read all the words that are censored (and probably more). I happen to think fuck is a fabulous word (yes, I know that word will now be starred out), but I wouldn’t ever leave a note with that word on a diary if the person I’m noting never uses that kind of language. Because I’m not supposed to use those words, now I want to! ** giggling madly **

It’s a hell of a lot better then having to lose the entire note altogether! I agree with it! I also don’t see this change, as being a censory attempt. Maybe people just aren’t used to it, and need time.

I feel for you right now. This is insane.

oh please. People need to get a life about censorship and such…I teach high school, and this is what some of your notes sound like. Welcome to my world–I bet running this site is a lot like dealing with high schoolers all over again, except in this case many of them are of legal age.

Well, that’s strange. OD didn’t put stars to replace the word **** in my note above. What does that mean?

Hey! [Merri] said fuck!

Oh, but it did in my last note. How odd. Is this selective asteriking. Ha! I don’t really think asteriking is a word. =)

Lol Merri, I noticed that too! What is up?

If all the lifetime members leave because they can’t curse in their notes can you distribute their days to the OD+ members? ^_^ All I hear is OMG! Like we can’t say curse words in notes!!!! It’s the end of the world!

Ooooh Merri said ****

Correction: I can say curse words in my notes, I’m just not supposed to, because a few morality police are afraid their panties will dissolve if they stumble upon a four-letter word. I’m offended by baby diaries and sparkly .GIFs. Why is my offense not as important as someone who wouldn’t read my diary anyway? Oh, because it’s my problem, that’s why. I don’t read baby diaries and I bypass front pages with sparkly .GIFs. It’s pretty apparent that people who hate cuss words would HATE my diary, so they can do themselves the same damn courtesy and GTFO.

And when I stumble into their .GIF-laden, curse-word free domains, I’ll play by their rules. But I want my readers to be able to swear a blue streak if they feel it’s warranted.

Oh for ****s sake 😉

I dont often read ur entries. After reading this and some of the notes Im really stunned at people’s responses. It has been NO secret to me as a relatively new user of OD that some notes just get lost if u use the f word, to my frustration.. Im pleased with the change to stars. makes u wonder how they havent noticed all this time…

Is **** one of the words?

And ****?

how about mother****er?

****?

Bitch?

Cocksucker?

bitch isn’t and never was. I can’t believe all the **** about this

ah hahahaha I got one!!!!

Why isn’t cocksucker and **** is?

This is fun! BITCH!!!

LOL 😉 this is the most fun I had all day, thanks DM!

Pussy? Only if it is not a cat! LMAO

At least give us the option of turning the filter on an off. Fine-grained control of the filter would be nice, but I’d settle for a simple toggle. Come on DM, not all of us are offended by swears, you’re imposing your values on us.

Asshole?

SCORE!!!

Hey DM we need a list of what words we can and can’t use in our notes. I for one have no idea what words are bad and which ones are OK as you can see. I was a good Catholic schoolgirl hee hee!

Don’t worry DM it will all be over in 2012 anyway LOL

I pay to be here too and I thank you for the change because I like not losing the text if I would forget about the block. But hey if it makes your life easier to go back to the old way do it and I will go back to losing the occasional note. No biggie. You do a great job. Thank you.

I think this is really hilarious, anyone else? With all the problems in the world, this is like on a scale of negative 20.

I’ve always been in the crowd that believes this is kind of ridiculous… I don’t think we really need note censoring.

LOL at all of the test notes. I don’t mind the change, but I see others don’t feel the same way. I guess you can’t please everyone! 🙂

This is more interesting than the real housewives of atlanta! I’m not really effected by this in any way, and I can understand allowing paying members to have the option to leave notes however they want…but hell, I don’t plan on leaving OD over this! I’m staying until I get kicked out…or die. Whichever comes first.

Look, nothing new’s happened. In fact, people’s previously blocked words now appear as asterisks. I think that people love to jump on the Saviors-of-Free-Speech bandwagon to look intellectual before seriously considering HOW LITTLE IMPACT this is going to have. The entries can still be as curse-laden and shameful as the diarist wants, so STOP CRYING and just write your little entries, damn it!

Hey, how about them Yankee’s? Just thought I’d change the subject. Wil

You know, I kind of resent that people can’t swear (where the swear is not objectionable to the diarist) and yet, you allow people to use diary pictures that are in my mind very questionable as to their content. Just because HBO does it or it’s in a PG-13 movie, doesn’t mean it’s okay. I even sent a complaint in where someone’s picture was pretty risque and THIS close to nekkid and I was told itwas fine. I don’t like to complain at you, and I have the utmost respect for why you’re doing this. But it just seems a little uneven. Especially when people have pictures right in their diaries sometimes (NSFW) and all that. Censor or don’t censor, but to pick and choose what you censor? *shrugs*

[offmychest] is killing me!

**** that ****. Here’s what I think. If a noter is on a diarist’s friends list, there should not be any censorship. It ought to be safe to assume that one’s friends do not have offensive intent. I don’t see much risk to my idea because notes can be deleted and friends can be blocked if they become unfriendly.

I like the change. I always hated notes being censored on me to the point of ‘no note’ more so because sometimes i swear not really meaning to it’s just normal speak to me. I prefer the staring to the error message. I think people read your entry to fast and thought that you where going to start the censoring on Entries not just Notes.

Also have you ever thought (since people give there age here anyhow) of only censoring to a certain age? Like until a person is 13 or 16? I mean we honestly do all swear there are VERY few whom you will find who don’t, tho i do feel kids don’t need to hear/see it all the time… Just a thought 🙂

some people carry on just for the sake of it, good on you DM … great idea, saves losing your note! And nothing has changed, it’s infact improved the system.

Holy Hannah are people bent out of shape about this. I don’t view this as censorship per say, but I would like the option of allowing or disallowing swearing on my diary. I swear, so my diary should allow swears. For people who don’t like it, it’s a simple off switch. Really, though, it’s not the end of the world. People need to calm themselves. (Side note: my programmer boyfriend wants me to tell you that coding this feature would be fucking easy. 😛 But I’m sure you knew that!) Have fun with the crazies!

I want to say thank you! I like the new feature.. I have lost a lot of notes for accidentally typing in a curse word – This will save me a lot of deleted notes!! =) Sorry people are giving you a hard time! To the people who are complaning: do you realize that younger kids can use this site? Do you really think they need to see you cursing or have you leaving them notes cursing? Also some people might get easily offended and even if you curse a lot it dosent mean that they do or that they are comfortable seeing it.. this just makes it better for everyone! You can still curse up a storm in your own personal diary so CHILL OUT! Get outside.. get some air.. get a life – dont freak out about the tiny things on a site on the internet!

I write favorites only. Since I write ****all about whatever bull**** I’m feeling ****y and bitchy about, and my readers know it’s my style to curse freely like a drunken ****ing sailor, I’d like to offer them the courtesy to respond in their notes to me in ****ing kind. It’s the kind of goddamn hospitality a skanky bitch like me would like to offer my friends.

I guess I just feel like there is so much more going on in this country…to poo ourselves over curse words is immature.

ok I just read a lot of notes on this diary – really people are THAT mad about it?! Wow…. I mean do you really have no other time on your hands that you have to get all bent out of shape about something like not being able to say a bad word?! Are any of the people on this site adults?! And yes you may pay but come on people a measly $3 a month isnt like you are paying for a whole lot… I say for $3 a month you dont get much say in what goes on.. thats probably just barely enough to keep the site running!

While I would like the option of whether to allow profanity in notes that are left on my diary, I completely support your decision. Running a site is incredibly difficult and complicated, and I appreciate what you are doing. FWIW, I was always able to hit the back button and find my note unchanged before. I never lost my note.

I know for a fact that I could say “shit” until this change. But either way, we need to have an option to use whatever words we want on our own diaries. We (well some of us) pay to be here and don’t appreciate being censored or having our noters censored. If Tipper Gore has a diary, fine, let her have the option to not allow swearing, but if I have a diary, I want the damn option to let my friends swear. Once again, I’m regretting paying the lifetime membership because I find myself without recourse.~jo

This is not a new rule. Those words were always censored.

To the people who keep saying they’re relieved not to lose their notes anymore, hi, it’s called “Firefox.” I haven’t “lost” a note in four years.

Were people complaining this much about not being able to leave the entire note? Strange. Well, *I* appreciate you for trying to make things better! Even if you can’t please everybody, you certainly do try. Thank you!

I liked the old method better.

hey, at least we don’t lose the entire note liek we did before (which were rather frustrating, when you wrote soemthing thought.out & heart.felt only to lose it because you put a word in there that shouldn’t be). So thanks for that. ^_^

thats ****ing awesome!

you can’t please every one darlin. thanks for all you’ve done. I like it here muchly.

Its NOT the same as before. We couldn’t type fuck but we most assuredly COULD type shit without the **** This is out of line. A step taken too far.

Okay, those of you who keep saying that it’s important to censor notes because of the kids who come here, just stop. That’s jellyfish-retarded for so many reasons, but I’ll narrow it down. 1. The age limit for OD is 13. I don’t know about you, but I was teaching adults how to swear by the time I was 13. 2. Just because they can’t read swear words in notes doesn’t mean they can’t read them inentries. So then what do we do? Disallow swearing in entries? That’s a path even the DM says he isn’t going down. So, seriously, stop it with the “save the children” arguments now. You’re just peeing on your own feet.

Apparently the people whining about it did not read your entry or simply just didn’t GET IT. As you said a hundred times, the only thing different is that there are now *’s instead of having to re-write the note in THEIR OWN censored way so it would show up. I find it ridiculous that you have to defend yourself on this and that you’ve had to explain it over and over again to those who are not willing to see the actual point of the change. This is your diary. You CREATED this entire site. There have always been rules and terms of agreement to use this site. If they don’t like it, they can leave.

Ok and as I reread through these notes, I noticed some “swear” words that weren’t ***’d out. WTF? Haha, wow, confusing. I don’t know, maybe to quell some of the bitching, perhaps you could revert back to the old way for the non-paying members and for those of us who do pay for this site, have it as an On/Off option for our notes, just like having the choice for the notes to be Private or Public.

I do not mind. I say what I want in MY diary and I don’t mind my notes being a little clean. Profanity does offend some people and I respect that. I enjoy the way OD is and always has been. That’s why I’ve stuck around for 9 years! 😀 I can understand why paying customers would be a little offended, though. Maybe a new option for the next time you revamp that site?

I find these notes more entertaining than most entries I’ve read lately (actually that sounds like my friends’ entries are not entertaining, and that is not the case). This is not censorship of diaries – I can still say whatever I want in my diary. I have no problem with not being able to curse in other peoples’ space (and with them not being able to curse at me) – although they ARE prettyeasy to get around. That’s one of the main rules of the website that we all agree to – that we will be civil to each other. As this is a private business…you have that right. My goodness. To me this has nothing to do with children per se, but not attacking each other. Personally, I don’t care that much myself but I can accept that others do…so I comply out of respect for them.

Well Mr DM…in the midst of the world in turmoil, and my fellow military members fighting and dying for a fruitless cause “over there”, this is so minute. I guess people just can’t be happy that this wonderful place is still going strong. It just boggles my mind that people can’t appreciate what they have. *Sigh*, never satisfied. Keep up the great work!

Entirely reasonable and clever fix.

what words are you talking about. none of my notes get blocked as far as I know lol

You have a “real life”?

Tis a pity that you couldn’t insert dingbats instead of asterisks.

You can use whatever other words you like and claim that it’s not censorship, but a pile of **** is still a pile of **** and calling it something else doesn’t make it otherwise. I’ve been here for almost 6 years and you won’t be getting another dime of my money as a result of your priggish, censorship ways. My subscription just came up for renewal and I won’t be upgrading from here on out.

Thank you for doing the good and right thing 🙂 And for being nice enough to improve the note saving part for those who use offensive language in notes.

I have no problem with the asterisks instead of a whole note being blocked, but I can see how some problems would arise with the occasional not-really-offensive word that was blocked and would just look silly being censored out. Of course, I’m one of the jerks that knows how to get around it, anyway :). Happens rarely, but happens. All that said, it’s not a terrible idea to allow theoption of censoring received notes, is it? If people are that upset about it happening, why not just let them get the offensive words if they want to, and censor them if they want to instead?

It’d be nice to have a toggle, but that would require age verification I suppose. Meh, to those complaining… fvck’em 😉

f.uck!

well that’s not much different. that was childish i realize but i had to check :/

I think replacing the bad word characters with stars is a good way to go, it leaves the rest of the note. Willy

I’m really glad I don’t have your job. While I enjoy the not losing a note, I do like to say what I want but I also get the whole “It was censored before” thing. I’ve been using fvck whenever I wanted to use the other version. But that was the only word I ever remember needing to change. Could we have a list of censored words? It’d be nice just to know. Thanks 🙂

wow, and i have REAL LIFE problems to deal with. the fucks wrong with these people?

It was bullshit before and it’s bullshit now. You could so easily make this an option. Why won’t you? What is there to lose?

Thank you, I also pay to be here and I would like it very much if you would also censor the diary’s.. Nothing makes me so angry as to try to read a diary and it have all that filthy language in it and some of the pictures they put up are also so nasty I don’t even dare stop at their diary’s. That’s why I keep my diary private so I don’t have to read filth . If they talk nasty they are taken off mylist love the way you watch out for us. There are just some people who have nothing but a potty mouth and think its neat. Its not , it is disgusting and I will not read them and I sure don’t won’t nasty notes.Mrs Toot also has me back on her friends lists. I think it was just a diary glitch that finally got straightened out. Thanks diary master tonight you are my HERO. Betty

Are people really still bitching that they paid $100 for a lifetime membership and didn’t get something they were promised? Seriously?

And honestly, Bruce. I hope you’re making a heaping load of money — a fortune — because if I had to put up with all this crap from these people, I’d just close the whole ****ing thing down. (those were my asterisks ~grin~)

Oh, someone mentioned Firefox and not ever losing a note. Is that it? Did you ONLY ever user test for IE (assuming you ever user tested at all, which is questionable, given the general UseX of this site)? Again, I don’t know why I’m slightly surprised.

I don’t care much about whether or not I can swear in a note. I don’t do it much in the first place, especially not intentionally. No big deal to me personally. I’m just happy not to lose a whole note if I don’t realize I’ve used the f word or something else deemed unacceptable! Backspacing never worked for me, it was always blank. Not having to rewrite notes will save me a multitude of headaches.

you dont have to defend or explain yourself to anyone here. your site, your rules. you’re a great DM! keep up the good work and thanks for everything you do for us. :]

I would like to agree with those here that think paying members should be allowed the option to allow or censor profanity on their diary notes. I am fine with them being *’d out in other people’s diaries, but I don’t mind the profanity and I would like the option to allow my readers and noters to have the freedom of speech in my diary.

Good idea.

No conspiracy, just poor managment this time. I’ve been here for nearly ten years, I know which swears were blocked from notes and now which ones I am not allowed to use. Also ” I do, however, think it is important to be a bit more polite when you are leaving notes in other people’s spaces” Blocking swear words is not going to prevent people from being rude in notes. We’re smarter than that to have to rely on just those words to let someone know of our distaste, and again, sorry to say but it IS a form of censorship no matter how you look at it. DM, give your users some credit here. We’ve put up with so much, and I do love this site for all the friends I’ve met over the years but this is really unacceptable.

I’ve been blocked a couple of times when I’ve left notes in other languages than English. It will be interesting to see which words it is that I can’t use – I lost the whole note and never learned which ones to try to avoid. Since quite a few here write in other languages than English (me not included), the absolute best solution would be that diarists would be able to write their own list of unwanted words. I understand if that is unsolvable though.

It is, was and always will be censorship. I knew about it, I use html if I want to get round it. I appreciate that it’s your site (though nothing without your client group) but there is so much that is truly offensive on the internet – and this site in some diaries – that a few naughty words are beside the point. It’s about freedom of choice/speech; concepts that Americans adore but rarely allow others to have. xx

As a mom, it’s a comforting factor that if I accidently leave my diary page open my child won’t mistakenly read those words in my absence, but that’s not a very common occurence. Mostly, the words do not offend me at all, and I only use them myself when I am really heated about something…but if I was paying for a subscription I’d be upset that the money didn’t entitle me to something.

I do understand that nothing has physically changed with the words that are selected as offensive, but if you’ve paid $100 for a lifetime membership you might think you’d be allowed to write freely or have the ability to monitor your notes. A friend of mine said that ny words, not just curse words, can be deemed as hurtful and offensive and it’s so true. It begs the question, where do you draw

the line at what is offensive, how many words do you add to the list and how do you as the DM monitor what’s being said? There are many adults on this site that are not here for the sole purpose of writing, so should we all pay for the faults of those who ridicule and verbally assult others?

Someone’s point about the lifetime memberships I think is valid, even if I think it’s totally unrelated to this post. One of my friends was super nice to gift me my membership, even if anonymously, but I always wondered what was supposed to set the membership apart. I was willing to save up the $100, if only because I planned on sticking around OD much longer than what it would cost to pay for a monthly subscription, and I was tired of the ads 🙂 Crazy flack you got, but it is kinda dumb to allow cocksucker and whore, and yet I remember having a note censored for writing fantastiC.UNTil (without the period, and caps used for the “hidden message”) and having my note blocked. It should be better implemented. I’d rather NOT have *’s quite personally. There’s also that big red text reminding me not to insult you, degrade you, or be otherwise offensive. Make a “report” button, and an “are you sure?” option. (Because I sure as hell don’t get warning when I accidently block someone.) *shrugs* Just a thought. (I know it’ll create more work for you.) You can’t please 100% of people, 100% of the time. That’s what they say.

PS. While I’m here. I’d much rather you spent some time trying to figure out why I can go to any other website on the internet and have my cookies remembered, but if I do any surfing on OD (or writing an entry for too long), I’m logged out for inactivity. And did you know that the last 10 characters (there abouts) gets cut off if you use all of your 1200 characters? Really, it’s much more like 1192. Thought you’d like to know.

Oh God, get a life people. Seriously. I agree that it would be nice to be given the option, especially if you pay. I’m not going to cry myself to sleep over it though!!!

i like the fact that foul language can’t be left in notes on my diary!!! thank you! take care,

hey It is YOUR site, and frankly I can live with out the c–nt word and the f word and the s –it word my self. I pay and you can continue to ****** out.

Holy cow there’s a lot of notes on this entry. Personally it’s only recently that I’ve been unable to type swearwords and have been getting error messages. It could be that I only recently became that next level of ‘Frustrated at life’ that I began swearing in my notes, but I dunno. I’m curious about the word list, though..

HOLY *insert adult word here* Batman! *grin* My goodness! I’ve had so much fun reading all of this. *laughing so hard* I don’t envy you with this dude, not one little bit. I look at it this way. Yes, some of us pay for membership, HOWEVER, you still own the freakin (and yes, that is what I would have really said, not the the real F word.. *giggle*) site. In a flash you could justup and disappear and then where would they be??? Thank God you are a rational man…you are rational aren’t you?? *grin* Okay, so here’s my two cents worth….I don’t care which way you to what, however, I do think that some up there brought up one valid point. Words that might be offensive to you, might not be to others and apparently words you didn’t include are offensive to others. How you get around this…I have no freakin clue…that’s why you’re the boss and I’m just a lowly member. *giggling* *gives ya one big hug, cause I think you could seriously use one* *soft smile*

Hey, everybody, go **** yourselves. Oh no! What did I say?! Did I swear, or did I insert the stars myself?! Those asterisks could represent anything! ANYTHING! “Love,” “kiss,” “feed”… Oh well, I guess we’ll never know. Thank goodness the DM is helping us express ourselves this way. It ought to clear up all kinds of unnecessary confusion.

how is it even an issue…? People on here are morons, typing the occasional “f*ck” is necessary, it’s nice that we don’t lose a note because we’ve forgotten that it’s not an allowed word. Seriously, people get off your high horse, it’s just making you look stupid. If you don’t like the note; delete it…? and who’s offended by swearing anyway? it’s a necessary part of the language

I didn’t even know certain words were blocked from notes, I can’t have ever used them. Seems daft starring them though, especially if it affects words-within-words – presumably at least one of these words will be affected: S****horpe, swanky, ****ake, arsenal, s******. Would prefer if we could opt in or out.

Good grief. I cannot believe how much fuss this has caused. *shakes head in disbelief and wanders away*

am amazed at the fuss, tbh. So words you couldn’t say before will now be starred out instead of you having to rewrite the note? I mean, it’s not like there haven’t been numerous ways round it demonstrated above. Storm in a teacup. Thanks DM, as always, for your hard work on this site, I appreciate it.

i have a quote from a line in a NWA song in quotes and the new programing left that out and just put me at a default date entry. the word was perjorative for having sex with a mom. This is my diary and I have a lifetime membership. All but one of my readers is over 18 and she has been using curse words LONG before she read them on my diary. LIFE IS NOT PG!! At BEST IT IS R! Tem made some great points and so did a bunch of the other diarist pro-curse noters who have said it better than i can.

OMG. People need to get over this. You can still write all the horrible sweary yucky words you want to in your own diary. You can just no longer inflict it on the diarys of others. Which is nice. Cause haven’t we all just had one of those horrible notes from an anonymous noter that’s just nasty? Do we really need them getting any nastier? I think it’s only fair.

oh, for god’s sake, yall, get over it. nothing’s changed except now it doesn’t give you an error. I’ve been here for almost eleven years and I don’t find this oppressive; in fact, this place is much more open than some *glares at livejournal and their random removal of communities*

The reaction is absolutely amazing. Keep up the good work DM. I appreciate all you do for us here.

****ing awesome! lol

Personally I don’t mind in the least that people aren’t allowed to curse at me in my own diary! It’s not as if this is a new change… (huggles)

oh jeez, some ppl! I think this is an EXCELLENT idea and I agree we should not be using strong language to each other in notes…that is like going to someone’s home and pooping on their porch.

meh. (mind if I borrow a soap box? you have many here.)

Aacckkk! I’m getting spam notes. Please look into this!

It’s amazing to me that you can make it possible for people to have a greater degree of freedom with their words,and be denounced for “censorship”. They’re just lucky a comprehension test isn’t required for membership!

In real life, I have certain circles of friends that I swear in, some that I don’t. Is there some way of doing it using the friends / bookmark system so that those circles of friends who do like swearing are able to swear in notes. Not being able to swear in notes isn’t going to stop the really offensive and hate filled notes being left.

In real life, I have certain circles of friends that I swear in, some that I don’t. Is there some way of doing it using the friends / bookmark system so that those circles of friends who do like swearing are able to swear in notes. Not being able to swear in notes isn’t going to stop the really offensive and hate filled notes being left.

The “get a life” crowd and the “people who swear are stupid” crowd: to some people, their diaries are a vastly important part of their lives. I know it is to me. I couldn’t live without my OD and that is why I paid Lifetime. It is a disgrace people are saying you should ban swearing in entries, you might as well become a complete facist site and have done with it. I am a highly intelligent woman but I do swear occasionally. And barely swear in notes but I would like the OPTION to. It’s the principle of the matter. We don’t want to go around leaving nasty notes to people, but I would like to communicate with my friends in the way I want to. For example, I had a horrific accident happen to me today and I would’ve liked to have noted a friend to tell them. And yes, saying the f word in that note would have been necessary after what I’ve been through. I’m not wanting to give you a hard time DM. You must be sitting there laughing your pants off at all the opinions this debate has generated. I haven’t had as much fun on OD for years! But please can you at least sort out the snigger thing? I’ve been accused of a lot of things on here, I don’t wa

Want to be accused of being a racist to boot!!!! Peace x

They are not the same words that were blocked before! You used to could write S**T now you cant. This is not right. This is censorship. If people dont want to read cuss words then dont read my diary, if I feel the need to cuss in my diary then my readers may feel the need to cuss in their notes!!!!!

I suggest we all move on….it’s over. DM has spoken!:)

Thank you for just staring them out. I remember being tiffed when I would right a note but because there were letters in a certain order it would block the note and I would have to re-write it. Now I hope that they can decipher the note from the letters stared out. 🙂 And I’m sorry for all the headache you’re getting.

I never really gave the offensive word block feature a second thought (other than to be amused/annoyed when it blocked my note because of unfortunate word combos) and it still doesn’t bother me as long as I can say what I want to in my OWN diary, and of course I can. STILL, I do have to say I agree that it would be very nice to have some sort of “Swearing is Fine!” feature on your own diaryso you could choose whether to accept all language or not. I also think it’s not that big a deal – it would just be something to make the rabid anti-censorship fuckers happy.

Ummmmmm….. looks like there’s a word that missed getting added to the list, DM!!

You know me, I’m a geek. Let’s make it so each diarist can turn this on or off…and then let’s allow them to manage their *own* set of disallowed words! Now that would be the ****.

Actually, I’m not all that offended by the change. They HAVE been blocked since I’ve been here, and it’s nice not to run back to re-start my note after a dirty word slips. However, maybe there should be an option to make dirty words available to those that want it or not. We can have dirty words in our entries, but not in our notes…seems just a wee bit strange. 🙂 Have a nice day.

I do like the idea of making it a preference we could turn on or off. Maybe even with a setting so that it’s locked on “off” for people under 17 if you are concerned. If we, as grown adults, don’t mind people leaving nasty words on our diaries, why should you? Enhancement request! 🙂

This whole argument is ridiculous. The people who are getting into a ‘froth’ about it are being ridiculous, in my opinion. I think the change is great. Thank you!

oh. my. dm, i think you’ve just received the award for the most notes ever received on an entry. lol. assorted notes. sordid? heh. none of this has ever really affected me so its all good.

Actually, I’ve noticed that the word “s h i t” is being censored now and that used to go through just fine. I agree with a lot of other diarists– it should be optional whether or not we want to allow those “naughty” words in the notes left on our diaries. I also pay to be here and was extremely offended when I noticed that my notes were being censored. Most of us are adults, and we should beable to express ourselves that way. Also, as for curse words not living up to a standard of politeness… the vast majority of profanity that is used in notes, at least between my favorites and I, is perfectly friendly and considered polite by all involved parties. It’s like slang– it’s just a form of expression. You can say “Oh, that work project sounds just frightful” or you can say “Your boss asked you to do what? That’s a load of sh*t!” and they mean the same thing to the person receiving the note. Once again, most of us are adults. Let us act like it and decide for ourselves what is appropriate and what isn’t.

Haha. Worked themselves up to a froth. That’s a good one, I’ll have to remember it. :o) Thanks for the change. I hated losing my notes entirely when I’d let a potty word slip in. Great job, DM!!!

Thank you for making this optional. I, for one, really appreciate it and whatever work it took to make it possible. Well done. I know it’s not easy to make everyone happy, hopefully this will.

Oh get over it people!! Grow up and shut up!! If you don’t like it then find somewhere else to write. Jeeze.

lmao!!! who knew it would be such a big deal to cuss?

My goodness this seems to have stirred up a hornets nest. I do not see this as censorship. I see this as you being alert and knowledgeable as to what is allowed. Thank you so much for all you do. I see this as progress, where the note is saved instead of lost, with the stars instead of a lost note. Keep up the good work. Love,

The note left by Robbin is a prime example of how you can leave an offensive note without swearing. Thankyou for the change DM. I’d like to reiterate that this wasn’t about paranoia, we hadn’t worked ourselves into a froth and we hadn’t lost sight of reality in this argument. It was the principle of the matter, we live in 2009 and we should have free speech. Glad you took the more reasoned arguments on board x

I think this is a great change, and I appreciate it. For a long time we used the code to insert our preferred language when noting on diarists we knew wouldn’t mind. And, you’ve never censored the language used in any of the diaries I’ve ever written or read, so I feel completely comfortable (have been since I joined in 2000) and I think all these people ranting about censorship are being oversensitive.

**** the Yankees!

LOL still working!!

holy bat**** that stirred up th diary denizens.

I ****ing like it. I can type my actual thoughts and you censor them for me. Ha. The word is still there. It’s just stars instead of letters. It’s not like people don’t know what it’s supposed to read. What’s the big deal, people?

I appreciate not having a foul word stare me in the face in a note.

I like the change, I was just thinking recently something like that had to be done.

Jeez Bruce! You’ve really stirred up the peasants in your little kingdom! Too bad you can’t censor the whole site to eliminate stupidity. I’m paying rent at your castle, OD+ Lifetime, the penthouse suite, and I think you’re doing a great job. I can’t wait to go on to your next entry and see how this all plays out.

I don’t envy you your job. You can never please everyone. I like this feature. I have never cursed in a note before but I can understand the need for this. Thank You for all your hard work.

people can be funny… I am not always a fan of the changes, but this one is great! I can’t believe people would not embrace it, or call it censorship or a conspiracy. they simply are NOT thinking. Me, I don’t tend to use such language except when someone is already using such in their diary, then I tend to reply with the same language, forgetting the rules, and BOOM, lose my note. So I think this is great. thank you.

personally i think you are protecting the rights of the diary owner by blocking certain words from being used in the notes. i don’t always get here every day to check my notes or leave an entry and i would be very upset if anyone left a note including one of those words on my diary and anyone that came by my diary was subjected to that. i think this is a good idea and i think people should stop crying censorship. your right to say something is no more important than my right to NOT HEAR something. thank you for all you do.

Aww **** it!

when people joined OD they knew they couldn’t use those words so what’s the big deal? This is a much better system, at least you don’t lose the whole note! Those who do want to use foul language ;do what my kids did in school; make use of another word that means that word amongst your group. So when the kids wanted to talk about sex they said jello instead. Do you want some jello, I had the bestjello this weekend etc.