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Recently, I found a user with name YuckFou. This user name is obviously (at least for me) a disguised version of the f-word, which should not be allowed in a professional context.

I flagged this user with message:

The user name "Yuckfou" is insulting. – liliscent 18 hours ago declined - a moderator reviewed your flag, but found no evidence to support it

The flag was declined for "no evidence to support it".

It's indeed a tricky situation, since the f-word is misspelled, the user can argue that they genuinely meant "YuckFou" and nothing else.

But I could immediately imagine some abusive behavior if all these flags are declined as "no evidence".

  • What if a user chooses a name like "FucckYou", "FuuckYou", etc.?
  • What if a user deliberately misspells offensive words in comments?

In both situations, the user can argue that they don't mean to use the offensive word.

What should be the community's stance regarding misspelled/disguised offensive words?

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    I find that people who have a hang up over whether some arbitrary subset of words in a language are acceptable or not, or are offended and put out by seeing them, tend to be over-concerned with frivolity in general. I think you should chill the yuck out. Apparently, a study demonstrated that people who swear tend to be more cognitive, analytical processors, and tolerate pain more easily (up to a limit, after which excessive swearers follow the reverse trend).
    – CJK
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 8:16
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    @liliscent Seen by others?!? Oh no! I think the notion of "professional" and "unprofressional" is one of those absurd, meaningless constructs—akin to religion—used purely as an exercise of control, and not because it genuinely benefits anybody, businesses, or productivity. Yes, I think boundaries and rules are needed to promote a cohesive society; but whether or not someone chooses to use the word "Fuck" to express themselves is neither here nor there, and should really be a personal choice. It's interesting that you couldn't bring yourself even to type it.
    – CJK
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 8:27
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    Who was insulted? Was it directed at you? Or you believe it was directed at anyone in particular? There is a difference, IMO, in something being "offensive" and in being directly "insulting". And that difference is important to the flag thresholds. I believe the flag was correctly declined, and that we should all chill out a bit.
    – yivi
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 8:32
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    And using alternative, sanitized words to common "swear" words is something old as fudge (and extremely common in professional environments). I always found it amusing, but if you are going to feel personally insulted by people using these fricking harmless alternatives, heck... I guess your life must be an effing nightmare.
    – yivi
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 8:37
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    Contrary to what others are saying here, I find the response to your flag most unusual. Last I checked, we do edit out such egregious usernames as this (case in point: I reported someone for changing their username to an insult directed at me with my real name, in a language I understood, and they were suspended for it). The intent and message of such usernames is clear - "I want to flout the rules and be immature about it." And the rule being flouted here is that swearing in usernames is not allowed. You can swear your head off in your bio, but not your username.
    – BoltClock Mod
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 9:56
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    It's not acceptable and it's been changed. Thanks for posting. Next time raise a mod flag and we'll attend to it. I don't understand why it was declined, we'll discuss it.
    – user3956566
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 9:56
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    @CJK I have probably sworn most than most people on this site in my private life. I swear daily. I do not swear on here or at work or in other places where a professional attitude is required. It requires self control. Also citing latest studies that are viral on fb to make people feel better for lack of self control is not a way to convince me that people are "intelligent". What you state is viral on social media.
    – user3956566
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 10:07
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    @Bolt The case you mention (a direct insult) is completely different from the case posited here, in my opinion. An ethnic or sexual slur, for example, would also be a completely different matter and subject to immediate removal, even if written in a non-obvious manner. In any of those cases the offense is directed, and intends to cause offense and harm, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.
    – yivi
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 10:13
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    @yivi: "the rule being flouted here is that swearing in usernames is not allowed" It doesn't matter if it was directed at a specific person, or to the reader in general. As for immature, I don't know why you're comparing Getting Crap Past the Radar to sharing pictures of furry animals or pets. Maybe I should've added the word "willfully" to my original comment - I didn't think I needed to be that precise, but there you go.
    – BoltClock Mod
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 10:16
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    @yivi: There's a difference between using words like heck and darn, and going out of your way to preserve a word or phrase that you know is offensive in order to make a point. That difference is intent. The latter is intentionally disruptive behavior meant to incite responses like this very meta thread. There's a word for this: trolling. And if someone is trolling by words like heck and darn, certainly they'd be subject to the same disciplinary measures. But those instances are rare, compared to this.
    – BoltClock Mod
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 10:52
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    I think that when someone disguises a profane/vulgar name like "bolt cock" by inserting an 'l' (even though cocks, as well as asses, bitches and tits, are just animals!), then the name should be changed and anonymized. And good luck for en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinhardt_Adolfo_Fuck when trying to register here. All this has grown so much out of hand that I'm tempted to lean back and watch the world burn down. Maybe a better one will rise like a phoenix from the ashes. I doubt it.
    – Marco13
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 11:03
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    @Marco13 the rules regarding usernames have been the same for years. It's just people are reacting to anything since the welcoming blog. That is what's degrading the site. People carrying on about things that need to be taken care of and making it into a big deal. Linkedin doesn't allow profane usernames. Perhaps we should introduce using real usernames like LinkedIn.
    – user3956566
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 11:36
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    @YvetteColomb I think there's a significant difference between LinkedIn, whose sole purpose is basically connecting ("real") people for job searches, and a Q/A site, where people want to read good answers and basically don't give a 🦆 about the nickname of the user who as written it. Beyond that, I also notice that once the more "severe" problems have been leveled out, people tend to overshoot and to actively look for minor things that they can complain about. Every "offense" is only perceived in context. And if somebody thinks SO is "hostile", they should visit 4chan to toughen up ;-)
    – Marco13
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 11:49
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    @YvetteColomb Caution: People might call you a "small, female, domesticated cat" when you say that ;-) Seriously: This is the internet. At every point in time one is just 2 clicks away from the result of writing "clicks" with a bad kerning, and 3 clicks from the most disgusting, offending and irritating things that exist on earth. We're in a pretty "safe space" here on SO, thanks to the mods. And there is enough work to do to keep the site clean. So changing usernames like the one in this question is just a Sisyphus work and essentially a waste of time, IMHO.
    – Marco13
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 12:06
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    @duplode You can give everybody (moderators) pens, and let each of them draw a line (preferably after some negotiation with other mods). When a penis used wisely (and I might have forgotten to hit 'space' at some point), it may be a reasonable tool. But I think that the essence of all this is: When a username is inappropriate or obviously intended to be offensive and causes several flags, one can consider changing it. (I'm strongly convinced that changing it was not reasonable in this case, and the bar seems to be lowered every day, but I'm not in the role of making decisions here)
    – Marco13
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 14:20

1 Answer 1

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You did the correct thing flagging the user name. I've pinged the mod who declined the flag about it. They're not online at present, but may make a comment or answer on here when they're back.

If a flag you think should be marked helpful is declined, you can raise another mod flag explaining why or post on meta as you have here.

In the meantime I deleted the user's username and sent them a mod message. It's not grounds for suspension. Usernames need to conform with the ToS as mentioned in the following.

What should be done about offensive names?

From this answer:

Pick out a post by that user (any answer or question will do) and flag it for moderator attention. Pick the 'other' option and explain that you find the username to be offensive. If there are no posts, you can flag one of your own posts too; the idea is to drop us a message, it's not about the specific post that was flagged.

.../...

Profile information gets more leeway when it comes to offensive content (you can swear all you want in your About Me section, provided it's not illegal and overtly racist), but a username is visible everywhere the user posts. As such it is subject to the terms of service, which require that subscriber-provided content is not offensive.

Some more bedtime reading Stack Exchange Network Acceptable Use Policy.

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    Thanks. Reading the comments under this meta question has confused me a little about the community's position. I'm glad to see that username like this one is not allowed here.
    – llllllllll
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 12:54
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    @liliscent yep, that's why Boltclock and I chimed in. To try and clarify. The question was closed. I cast the 5th reopen vote. I wanted to give you a clear answer.
    – user3956566
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 12:57
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    Can you guide me how you (the mod team) want to handle the really offensive names? Do you want multiple flags (one per user) or one flag with a link to the query or something else (like, do nothing)?
    – rene
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 19:41
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    @rene a link to a query is fine. Did you look at those profiles? A certain mod cleaned those up last night when they saw your query. Click on the profiles. Also there's this, piggy backed from your query.
    – user3956566
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 19:48
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    @YvetteColomb Oh, I didn't follow any links yet, sorry about that. Good it is followed up and thanks for that. I was just wondering what the process would be if I had a bunch of them.
    – rene
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 19:51
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    @rene don't be sorry. yeh I was hoping someone would do regular queries. If you want to that would be good.
    – user3956566
    Commented Nov 18, 2018 at 19:53

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