Use of Profanity in Titles (and other vulgarities . . .)

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Vic Dillingerposted 9 years ago
I'm relatively new to this site.

I know most sites of its type do their best to be "Google friendly" which translates into "family friendly" (a phrase I hate, by the way). Over the years when tempted to use profanity either in a title or in the body of an article (and I can creatively use profanity better than anyone I've ever met) I have chosen to either use clever or creative euphemisms rather than what I really would like to say. That is because I found the way to stay in G's good graces (having been warned about a few image-related issues and some language choices that G found "offensive" that might have cost me my AdSense account had I not toed the line) was to change my language.

So, having said all that fecal matter I just spotted an "article" (not very well-written) here that used the word "mindfuck" in its title. My question is this--how much profanity can we use here? Because if it is okay to randomly use words like "mindfuck", "shit", and many others I can think of, I could turn this site into cracked.com overnight.

Need some answers, kids, about what IS and is NOT appropriate here . . .
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I typed that word into our search engine and it turns out that this particular author is using it quite a bit not only in titles but also in several different articles.
  
  Free speech is great, but this is a site where people are trying to earn a few dollars and keep their rankings. When someone lowers the quality of the work here, it affects all of us aka, costs us our own rankings and income.
  
  I was really surprised to see that this person has continually produced work with this kind of language and neither HP or Google Adsense have done anything about it.
  
  Maybe they just haven't gotten around to checking his work out yet. I reported it and also wrote an email to the team about it.
  
  I think it's important to note that how you talk on an every day basis and what you put into words for publication on a site like this can well be two different things.
  
  I sometimes use profanity, but I would never publish anything that includes it. I lose respect for people who do that, and it ticks me off that they don't care enough about the other writers here to keep their hubs "clean".
  
  I'm no prude,, but I really don't like it when other people use dirty language to empty my personal wallet or lower my credibility and ranking.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I totally agree with you which us why I posted this in the first place. But by looking it up aren't we giving said dipwad "reads" or "views" or whatever they call it here? I didn't want to call attention to that person; he doesn't deserve it, I wanted to call attention to what I perceive to be an issue with losing credibility, cash flow, and standing online. I'm starting to see a few pence here and don't want to see it vaporize because some moron doesn't have the brain cells firing on all cylinders to come up with a tantalizing title without resorting to jackholery. Thanks, Timetravelr2, you seem to get my point.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Indeed I do. I not only flagged the guy, but also emailed the team. The response was "I have reviewed these articles, thanks for notifying us". So, I responded with..."and what are you planning to do about it? I'd really like to know because this will determine whether I decide to flag articles in the future". No matter the answer, my views on this will never change.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Keep fighting the good fight (my posting "privileges" have been restored).
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Were they suspended??????????
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Yes, for 24 hours sans explanation. I'm presuming it's because I opened a can o' worms.
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  You must have been a little naughty.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I guess pointing out the f-word in a live article (that is still up) here in this forum is what got me whacked. Go figure.
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Sounds like the wrong person got banned!
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Guess we should all get banned then since we've been supporting this thread lol!
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  In order to report people you have to look at what they have written. I'm not quite sure what the team has done about this, but they did say that "action was taken", whatever that means. I guess they can't be specific due to privacy laws, etc. Anyhow, reading and reporting are the only ways to get rid of trash. The few views this person got from it won't make him any money, believe me!
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  As if yesterday evening that stuff was still live.
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  colorfuloneposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Offensive or inappropriate content allowed and not allowed by Google.
  https://support.google.com/adwordspolic … 5406?hl=en
  
  There was some discussion in the forums about an adult drink recipe hub that used the word F*ck as a noun for the name of a recipe which is allowed. (that is how the word was spelled on the hub)
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Apparently what some consider profane or obscene varies, but the bottom line is that we all know what we should and should not write here in HP in order to keep it clean, support the site, show respect for others who may be more conservative and improve our rankings.
  
  This is not a matter of free speech or what any of us likes to do or even does...it is a matter of running a business in a way that will bring success. There is no room for bad language in our hubs, even when the team may seem to allow it. Perhaps they should re read what Google says here:
  
  "Promotions containing obscene or profane language
  Examples: Swear or curse words, slurs relating to race or sexuality"
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  colorfuloneposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  That pretty much sums up my personal view TT2.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Vic: This was a reply to a question I posted about the efficacy of using vulgarity in our writing. It blew me away and says it all:
  
  RTalloni says
  
  Some quotes come to mind…
  
  Will without intellect results in vulgarity.
  
  Vulgarity is no substitute for wit.
  
  All crime is vulgar, just like all vulgarity is a crime.
  
  If the only word you want to use is vulgar, grow up.
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  ChristinSposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Maybe those who want to dictate to others how to speak or write should grow up. There is a time and place for everything, and those who don't like it don't have to read it. "darn" doesn't have the same emotional punch or impact as a periodic "Damn" and if it isn't overused; it isn't hurting anyone. Some of the greatest literary masterpieces have curse words in them. Shall we go through and edit the classics and take those words out? We wouldn't want those authors to appear moronic.
  
  Implying that people who use a curse word or two for emphasis of an idea are somehow stupid or less witty is really patronizing. Seeing that I've managed not to offend the many who read my hubs, I think I shall carry on with occasional minor swear word for impact. Should I ever be in violation of HP rules I am quite confident they will unfeature that hub and make me revise it.
  
  I would also add, that unless one's hubs contain a litany of George Carlin's 7 dirty words, they are probably well within Google's standards. I think Google doesn't want profanity laced tirades, they don't have the time nor should they care about words you can actually hear on prime time regular TV.
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  peeplesposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  +1 Couldn't have said it better!
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Those quotes are neither mine nor Talloni's...they are quotes he or she pulled up from some other place. I thought they were pretty telling, but we each have our own opinions, don't we? Nobody is dictating to anybody else here...we are only stating our beliefs along with some facts. Do as you please, just as you always have, and I will do the same, but what you "think" Google wants and what they say in writing what they want apparently are two different things.
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  ChristinSposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I've successfully used Adsense for many years across numerous platforms, so I have a pretty good idea what the rules are.
  
  I'm not saying people should let go and be crazy with it, I just think that it isn't something to be so afraid of if someone has a periodic mild curse word in their writing. Regardless of where the quotes were pulled from (one was actually a quote from Granny on Downton Abbey by the way) it still implies that writing with a "dirty" word is somehow less valuable and that's not true in all cases. Is it in many? yes - no one wants to read a profanity laced diatribe we can all agree on that.
  
  As for Granny - glad we don't live in the Victorian era anymore .
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  You're obviously missing the point here.
  
  My tender sensibilities weren't offended at all! The issue is rhat such excessive, blatant, and obviously intended to titillate words such as the ones used by that so-called "writer" blatantly violate HP's expressed TOS as well as that of Google.
  
  No one is suggesting editing classic works, but I'd bet my ass if any of those authors relied on an outside revenue source such as Google and its TOS they'd either change the language or not get paid.
  
  For the record, THIS site, in case no one noticed, contains NO classic works; far and away what I've seen here (with some few exceptions, precious few) it consists mostly of material written amateurishly by amateurs and downright hacks who will never truly learn how to actually write. So they don't get the same graces extended to them as decent writers, and Mr. MF whoever the hell he actually is, falls into that category of not being among the deserving. They do not get to enjoy the same level of latitude or forgiveness that Cormac MacCarthy or even Stephen King would deserve.
  
  Nice try at trying to highjack this thread, though, rying to make it about censorship. It clearly is NOT about censorship it is about observing TOS and keeping our revenue stream alive.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  And George Carlin will always rock, but he was no hack and he definitely wasn't getting paid by Google, ChristinS.
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  ChristinSposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I loved Carlin - hence the reference and yes, he used profanity like a champ and was no dummy. My point was that a periodic mild swear word in a hub is not going to get anyone banned by adsense and that moderation is key.
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  ChristinSposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Nobody is hijacking your thread - relax. It is on topic when we are discussing what hubs should and shouldn't be banned etc. I have used AdSense for many years and I promise you that HP knows the rules too.
  
  I've also been here for a few years and know the ropes - so... take a few deep breaths and listen to what I and others are saying. Those who have a periodic curse word in their hubs are not going to kill your revenue stream.... everything is going to be OK. Hubs you feel cross that line can be reported - and if they do in fact violate the terms HP will remove those hubs or unfeature them - Unfeatured hubs also will not affect your ability to earn money from AdSense, because those hubs while they still may show up will have the Adsense ads removed from them. Some hubs have ads disabled - they don't get banned.
  
  I am not in any way defending those who use excessive swearing or "over the top" words (hence my reference to the 7 dirty words you can't say on television) I am saying that Google does not care if a periodic mild swear word is used. This is obvious by the fact that several of us have used the periodic word for emphasis or to express an idea or emotion.
  
  People don't want to listen, they want to get offended. That's fine be offended, I have better things to do with my day.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I'm not offended. Your position is clearer now, so thanks for that.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  And Carlin will always be a god!
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  ChristinSposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I'm not really sure where and why it wasn't clear in the first place, but glad you understand now. Have a nice day.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I don't think this thread was meant to discuss those minor curse words, but in fact the biggies that do offend many. After reading what Christin wrote later in the thread, I do see her point. I will add that she is a very successful author here, so she is worth listening to.
  
  I posted a question about this and one of the people who responded, who also is an extremely professional and highly credible author said something I think is worth remembering.
  
  He pointed out that using profanity is disrespectful to readers unless they are forewarned that a hub includes this type of language. He added that if he sees profanity, he stops reading and never reads work from that author again.
  
  That is an important point. We have to remember that it is not just about us or Google or HP. It is about our readers. Some have less tolerance than others, and to lose them is to lose readership and income.
  
  By the way, Matt wrote me back (again) and said that HP will only take action for hubs that use excessive profanity. In this case they will disable ads, and if its really bad, they will take further action. He added, and this really surprised me, that what one person writes here only affects him. In other words, what I have believed about our work being intertwined is not so.
  
  I'd have to see some proof of that because when Google ranks us, from what I have heard, they rank ALL of us as a site, not just us as individual writers.
  
  Anybody out there who knows more about this?
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  https://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4339166-2-30.htm
  
  This forum discussion on another site is really worth looking at because it discusses the issue of separate subdomains and how HP has handled them. It was written awhile back, but it's pretty eye opening in terms of how our articles affect one another.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I already said I got a warning from Google last year about an article that came up as "related" on one of my pieces on another site (the thing was about thongs and butts, not my piece, the "bad" one). I personally didn't care, but Google was giving me crap about it because it was somehow hooked ot one of my things. I had no choice but to report it and have it taken down. And, yeah, this thread was absolutely NOT about the "damns", "hells", "shecky derns", or "Land o' Goshens" people might toss in here and there (I do it all the time). It was about the more hardcore words, the ones that tend to get negative reactions from G that was at issue. I couldn't give a crap about the occasional "hell" or "crap". I even invented a word I use all the time in writing when describing something truly awful: "craptacular". I've used it dpzens of times with impunity.
  
  I haven't however, ever had the chutzpah to use an f-word or its variants (though I have used the term "f-word" a time or two). I make up euphemisms to stay in the clear. That's what should be happening here, I think.
  
  And, yeah, Google WILL whack you under the old "guilt by association" rule, because it HAS happened to me!
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  See? THIS is where all of the confusion comes in. I have always believed (and also read elsewhere) that what we do as individuals can and does affect others here. Then Matt comes along and says this isn't so. If you read the forum I linked to, you can see, even there, that there are widely conflicting opinions about this from "those who know".
  
  I personally like playing it safe and keeping it clean. It's easy to do, works well and saves a ton of potential problems. I just don't see the point of doing it if there is ANY chance that it will hurt me or others here.
  
  Guess I'm just an old fuddy duddy (pardon the language...lol!!)
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Consider for a moment that all the words posted on this thread are visible to Google, on this forum, on the main HP URL, and this page has AdSense Ads.
  
  Also, people use all kinds of words on the forum that AdSense doesn't approve of like abuse, rape, sexual stuff, etc.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  But does Adsense place ads on the forum?
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Look at the bottom of this page.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Never noticed this before!! Interesting. However, the public never sees these forums, does it? And does Google? And what's the point of placing ads on the Forums if we are not permitted to click on them??
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  The public sees the forum and so does Google.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Are you kidding? I had no idea that this was the case! I thought the forums were just for hubbers...OMG! This is NOT good!
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  ChristinSposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Why? If it was a problem HP admin would remove the problem posts. Trust me, they aren't going to allow anything here that would jeopardize this site with AdSense. They haven't in all these years and forums have been the place for many a ruckus over the years. It will be fine, please stop spreading fear. I understand your points and I don't mean any disrespect truly, but I think some on this forum are very much overreacting.
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Well I certainly didn't mean to scare you. You must be easily frightened.
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  ChristinSposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  My reply wasn't even to you Writer Fox so roll your eyes all you want. I'm done with this it's descended into the ridiculous lol. Everyone here is so freaked out by language.. good gravy. Has anyone here lost their AdSense account yet? Has HP? No.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  The team doesn't even have enough manpower to eliminate spam from hubs, what makes you think they have the ability to do it from the forums?
  
  I think what Writer Fox suggested here is a very good idea. I only wish the team would pay attention to what he is saying.
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I honestly don't know why they allow it. You can discuss wife abuse on the forum, for instance, but if you discuss that in a Hub you aren't allowed to display ads.
  
  I've suggested several times that the forum should be blocked from search engines. One of the main reasons I don't like search engines to see the forum is that it has tens of thousands of pages which takes a huge amount of crawl time for search engines and that detracts from crawl time allotted for Hubs.
  
  Google will only crawl so many pages on a given site.
  
  Also, a lot of spam is posted which sometimes takes hours to remove, and Google can index and cache that before HP deletes the posts.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Nope. In context, "rape", "sexual abuse", et al, are perfectly okay. I've used them all many times, including "pedophilia", "lesbian", "transgender", "gay", "homosexual", and other "hot button" words, all in context and all as descriptors and not for sensationalism, without getting hammered. They are legitimate English language words used to describe a situation or predicament or event.
  
  "Mindf---", however, is NOT one of those words. It is inappropriate for a site that relies on Google for its lion's share of revenue, and THAT'S the bottom line. Forums don't count, either, because this thread COULD be EASILY stopped and taken down by HP at any time if it were truly as heinous as all that. It is those cruddy articles with the f-word (which does not bother ME one bit, but I know it bugs G)-- apparently of which there are many--that are crawled and available to search engines moreso than this lousy thread, that is what is at issue here.
  
  Meanwhile, I'm done with this mess and am simply going to go on and write my next piece and publish it here--sadly, nowhere in it will it contain an f-word. I know, boring, right?
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Who is Matt?
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Matthew Meyer...he's one of the team members who monitors forums, responds to emails, helps with tech issues, etc.
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  ChristinSposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  We had a fun "fbomb" thread here once in the forums where we used that instead of the actual word.. it was funny. Anyway, in regards to you getting whacked, you also said that situation was straightened out correct? and that the offending content link was removed from your page? It sounds like the problem was resolved and you did not get permanently banned from Adsense, so that means that although you may have gotten tagged, you did not lose your ability to earn income which is what i think most are fearing. Am I correct in that assumption?
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DeborahDianposted 9 years ago
Welcome, Vic! This is Deborah-Diane from InfoBarrel. I would avoid using vulgarity in titles here, just as you would on the other sites that use Google Adsense. At some point, the author of that article you mentioned could have their article "unfeatured" and they could be asked to change the title. My old Squidoo articles are doing pretty well here, earning almost as much here as they did on Squidoo. My non-commercial articles, however, have been low earners. When the editors here see a problem, however, they do "unfeature" articles, and it can be a pain in the neck to keep editing them until they are satisfied, so I would tread lightly! You are a great writer, and I think people get a kick out of your creative euphemisms!
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ChristinSposted 9 years ago
The obvious correct answer is to go into a forum and start using a lot of profanity to make your point. Or, you could click on those hubs and use the "report" feature - just a flipping thought...
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Good deal--I'll do that, and thanks for the help.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Done, and done!! As I said, I'm kinda new here, but I got it reported.
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fpherj48posted 9 years ago
In the 4 years I've been here, I can't repeat some of the stuff I've seen here and that is allowed obviously, because they don't get removed. Mind you, I have no problem with any of it. Freedom of speech is big with me. Writers simply should NEVER be censored.
The Big "G" has their rules. They have far too many...to the point of ridiculous. He who has the gold, makes the rules. Makes one wonder if this is really America.

Sometimes, there is no other way to explain and/or emphasize something except to use profanity or quasi-profanity at least. I'm no red neck truck driver but I'm also not a NUN! When appropriate or necessary, I've been known to use colorful language. Those who are APPALLED OR OFFENDED needn't read anything I write. Seems EVERYTHING offends someone somewhere in these ASININE "PC" times. From day one I rejected the PC crap! Still do~~ always will. At my age, I'm not walking on eggs for any one or any group. Period, the end.

A prolific writer I strongly admired the first 2 years I was here, finally went elsewhere in order to have the freedom and writer's privileges to write as he chose. That's a shame IMO, because he's not the only one who has left here due to the shackles placed on us by Google.

Family----Schmamily! Google quite OBVIOUSLY knows nothing about the "families" of 2015!!
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I'm a firm believer in free speech. I hate censorship, and the term "family frindly". If HP is okay with it, I'll write what I damn well please, then, and not worry about it. I guess it';s okay if they lose any standing with Google, a place where they make money. [I guess nobody got the inherent smirk in the original posting.]
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  ChristinSposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I agree with you on personal expression - the world has bigger problems than a few F bombs here and there. Unfortunately, on this site we are beholden to Google rules because of AdSense and if Google gets angry they can remove our ability to make money. I sometimes wish this site would focus more on other avenues for revenue and traffic - a real social media push instead of tap dancing for Google all the blinking time - but it is what it is.
  
  I do have one hub with profanity in the title (mild profanity) and it hasn't been removed, but yeah, there are some times where I could let go and really let some things fly and I abstain lol
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I'm going to assume "ass" or "crap" or "damn" or "hella cool" or "lugubrious" probably wouldn't upset G as much as the F word (which I dearly love, by the way, and use it in speech about every other word in any given sentence, such as "Hand me that m'f'in knife so I can cut this effin'
  sammich, be-yotch!")
  
  Though new to THIS site I've been writing online for over 5 years, and when you're playing in someone else's backyard you kinda gotta play by their rules. I'd hate to see anyone lose out on G money because of one dipwad who can't read a site's TOS and abide by it, instead going for the "click bait" word in the title (and I wasn't searching for it, that piece of garbage came up as a "related" hub on one of my pieces).
  
  I truly appreciate your input, Christin S, so thanks for "getting" the gist here.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Oh, I just took a quick look at a few things you've done, Paula, and I saw nothing appalling or offensive in any of it, so I'm not sure how you figure what you;'re doing is offensive or appalling.
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  fpherj48posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Vic....I'm sorry. My second paragraph was a personal opinion rant. The worst I've printed in actual hubs would be Hell, damned, crap, ass, boobs........but we old timers email back & forth all the time and I spare no profanity in my private conversations. I've also let loose a time or 2 in HP comments but have never been called on it. I simply like to make my rejection of all the PC crap known.
  These oh-so-sensitive individuals who get OFFENDED make me laugh. All I can think is, "grow-up, get over yourself, grow a pair or stay out of the adult REAL world."
  I certainly HOPE what I write is not offensive or appalling, however should someone find it so......I make no excuses and offer no apologies. This is what I meant in my comment. Welcome to HP & Good luck!
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Hell damned crap ass boobs.
  
  Naughty lady!
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  fpherj48posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Writer Fiox........Actually I'm an innocent little "Angel."....but I have an evil twin alter ego!!! LMAO!
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I thought you meant your material online. I saw nothing there appaling, etc..
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  peeplesposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  HAHA! Just seeing this! I wish I would have seen the context of the time you used boobs! You are always entertaining Paula!
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WriteAngledposted 9 years ago
On the other hand, there was the hub that promoting cocktails with extremely offensive names that was held up to all of us as an example of a stellar and Hub-Pro(dde)'d hub not that long ago. A number of people objected to it at the time. I can't link to the forum posts because the lame Google site search won't let me find those posts. I note though that when I searched for hub itself, called "kickass cocktails", that it has been deleted.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I think there's a huge difference between that relatively innocuous title and what the guy who got me going is doing.
  
  Regardless, your point is valid: where DOES HP draw the line? I'm always loath to step over too far. [I got warned by Google for using the words "fetish" and "erotic" in titles elsewhere else even though neither article was about sexual things, it didn't matter, it's what they caught onto. They've also whacked me for "implied nudity" images (pictures of nude women that I had heavily cropped and otherwise censored but they seemed to think were somehow still bad). "Implied nudity" is a stupid term. We can apply it any of us: underneath our clothes we are ALL nude; therefore, a simple snapshot could fall into that lamely constructed category.]
  
  Anyway, thanks for your input--it helps create a picture of the shape of things around here.
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Here's the blog post, touting that Hub as a stellar example of a HubPro makeover:
  http://blog.hubpages.com/2015/03/23/hub … e-makeover
  
  The Title was "Kickass Shots: Delicious, Good-Tasting Shots" and the Hubber's name was Cocktailsexaminer. I use the past tense here because that Hub and the Hubber are now in 404 land.
  
  The Hub was a Squidoo transfer, and several sections of that Hub were previously published on examiner.com by the Hubber, as in: duplicate content.
  
  Some of the cocktails were: Liquid Cocaine, Purple Star F*cker and Red-Headed Slut.
  
  You can read this stellar, HubPro used-to-be here: https://web.archive.org/web/20150318005 … ting-shots
  
  Does anyone remember the day the Hub of the Day had WTF in the Title? Caused a big stir on the forum. I can't find that one now, but I didn't look too hard, either.
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  fpherj48posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Writer Fox......LOL! Wow, both of those hubs got right past me. Never saw either of them and didn't hear a word about them. Sometimes I think I'm unconscious!
  You made me laugh when you said the hub and hubber are now 404!! LOL
  May they rest in peace.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  and that's where the author of the hubs mentioned here belongs also. I'll even send flowers!!!
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starme77posted 9 years ago
I think everything has its own place and people who want to use the profanity should find the correct places for it. Alot of cuss words come up well when using the keyword tool. It is apparent that people do use them in search however, they have their own places on the internet and I just do not believe Hubpages is one of them.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  HP's own TOS says so, too.
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Kennedi Brownposted 9 years ago
Ugh, I normally have a sailor's mouth when I write. I've had to come up with some pretty creative non-swears since I started writing for Hubpages, though. I don't know if they would mind themselves, but the community here seems like the sort to get easily offended by "bad words."
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Google minds, and that is what counts.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I'm not offended (I'm about as sensitive as a toilet seat), but I know damn good and well it's not allowed and yet magically here it is happening. Why?
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MEDerbyposted 9 years ago
Good to see you here Vic
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Hi. As you can see I guess I'm rocking the boat a little bit. Didn't mean to, just wanted some answers.
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peeplesposted 9 years ago
Lets hope I don't get banned from forums for saying this but I have used the words damn, shit, and hell in articles over the years with no issues.
Some people don't see a point in using profanity and that is their right. However I think a well placed profanity can add emotion, humor, or expression. So I will use them once in a while in the right place. I think I even used the F word once, but it was in an article that already had adsense pulled from it because it was related to a form of child abuse.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Peeples: Those articles probably never went through the QAP because they perhaps were written before things tightened up here. As a protection for yourself as well as your fellow writers, you should go back into those articles and edit out the profanity. Remember that we all depend on each other here to gain credibility and acceptability with Google. When you use that type of language, we all take a hit, not just you.
  
  I strongly urge you and all others who have done this to make immediate changes. It will make things better for you as well as for the rest of us.
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  peeplesposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  My article with the F word is long deleted by myself. The articles with minor foul language are not going to hurt me or anyone else. They have been written since things tightened up and I would NEVER use excessive foul language in my articles. One Damn is not going to drag us all down. If HP were to flag it I would remove it, but since at least one of those articles had to be edited multiple times for other reason to get approved, that means a moderator read it multiple times and didn't have an issue. Again, I have enough respect for my writing to never put foul language in a title or ever use more than the random one small cuss word.
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  ChristinSposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I agree, it's not even that serious. It's only serious when it's a curse word filled rant. I have a couple of hubs with a few minor words and no one has flagged any of mine either and they QAP'd just fine. People need to relax a bit. Believe me if HP thought they were going to harm their AdSense earning capabilities they'd be pulled. HP doesn't want to lose money.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I have asked the team for clarification about this because I just found out that they do not ban "all" profanity...whatever that means! I hope they will follow through as there seems to be a lot of confusion about this issue.
  
  One "damn" probably won't bring the site down, but if each writer used it often within hubs, those "damns" would add up. Not sure if Google would care, but they have specifically stated in their own TOS that people are not to use profanity...period. This tells me that even something that seemingly unimportant might matter.
  
  The point is that using this type of language isn't necessary if you have a good command of the English language, so why use it? Darn instead of Damn, Hades instead of Hell, etc.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  When did things tighten up? The week before I got here? Because from where I sit things look pretty goddam lame.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Oh, it's been awhile now. HP has taken some bad hits from Google and has had to change its modus operendi in order to survive. It is still fighting to survive, and the rules ARE tight, but certainly not impossible to uphold.
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flycatcherrrposted 9 years ago
To me, the key point is whether hubs that use "sexual or profane terms in the URL" are in compliance with Adsense TOS, which expressly prohibits this. Because our own Adsense accounts are used in HP ad program, my big question is this - If a hub that uses language that's not "family friendly" happens to show up in the Related Hubs list on one or more of our hubs, is there a chance that our own Adsense accounts may be in danger?

It would be really good to hear some assurances from HP admin on this point, as well as an answer to the OP's original question.
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I got hammered by Google because of a "related" article that appeared at the foot of mine on another site. So, yeah, that can happen (I had the other site completely remove the article, thus saving my).
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  flycatcherrrposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Oh crap.
  Thanks for the info, Vic, though not exactly what I wanted to hear.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Definitely yes...and this is one of the reasons we need to flag unacceptable articles. Our work here does not, unfortunately, stand on its own. It is intertwined with the work of others, which is why we also need to be careful about who we connect with, etc. It's a very slippery slope.
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Vic Dillingerposted 9 years ago
For the record, this has been the only interesting forum thread I've seen here so far. Thanks to all for getting in on it.
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Vic Dillingerposted 9 years ago
And, yeah, G posts ads on the "home" page where this thread might be seen, but that's inconsequential vs. the bigger picture here, allowing articles that clearly violate not only the letter but the spirit of any TOS to stay up. I'm done now.
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Vic Dillingerposted 9 years ago
I see someone has SELECTIVELY edited this thread removing several comments by Writer Fox, me, and at least one other.

To Whoever It Was Who Did That:
Either tell the WHOLE story or tell NONE of it. Don't cherry pick which comments YOU think should be removed. Either take the WHOLE thread down ( the smarter move, by the way,) or leave it intact.

Sincerely,
Vic Dillinger
(You might know me better as the guy who DOESN'T use the word " mindf\k" in his titles or anywhere else in his articles but got banned from using your forum for 24 hours nonetheless).
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  It would be interesting to know which comments were removed. Obviously many of the bad words remained! How weird is THAT??
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Not edited for "bad" words at all (as WF thinks). The comments themselves were DELETED, not edited.
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  TIMETRAVELER2posted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I still see some of them on my computer.
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I didn't see that any of my comments were edited. All the bad words I posted are still here.
  
  What did I miss?
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  Vic Dillingerposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  They completely removed our discussion about "other" words such as "rape": et al. They also removed my pointing out how amateurish this site is. What? You didn't notice any of that?
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  AliciaCposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  I still see both of the posts that you mention, Vic. They haven't been deleted. When there are a lot of replies to a post, the replies sometimes disappear and a message like "15 replies" appears on the screen. This message has to be clicked to see the replies. You could also switch from a threaded view to a chronological view (as shown in the upper right hand corner on the computer screen) and then move through the pages to find a particular post.
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  Writer Foxposted 9 years agoin reply to this
  Ditto.
  
  @Vic: If you go to your 'Activity' and click on all of your posts to this thread, you'll see that all of yours (and mine) are still published and un-edited. I just checked all of yours and they are still here, bad words and all!
  
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Alessio Ganciposted 9 years ago
I personally disagree about using profanity in articles: if this was not HubPages but a newspaper, would have you been allowed to use prophanity? This results in a lower quality, and I think it is also useless: we can just express ourselves, even with prophanity, on Facebook, without affecting professionality of Hubs.

However this is only my opinion, and at the end, I don't think a single word would affect rhe rank, but I also think prophanity must not be abused if you want Google to rank good your hubs.
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