[QUOTE=DeadReligion]I've a suggestion, that, has nothing to do with the previous conversation. Take off the swear filter. Anyone old enough to write and post here, is old enough to hear the word f[U]u[/U]ck once in a while, plus, there isn't much point to it, as it is easily overridden, as I just demonstrated. And, as writers, I think we should be able to express our ideas with any words that we choose. Plus, what about freedom of speech, I mean, it seems stupid that we're writers who don't condone the use of all words, even "bad ones." Thought I'd throw that out there.[/QUOTE]

It's not really a matter of [I]freedom of speech[/I], the administrator keeps the filter on simply to allow the site to be accessed by a broader audience, e.g: schools. If the filter is turned off, it will generally increase population and friendliness. It won't ever be changed, but it's easy to surpass anyway, so it's not that big of a deal.

[quote=False Advertising]It's not really a matter of freedom of speech, the administrator keeps the filter on simply to allow the site to be accessed by a broader audience, e.g: schools. If the filter is turned off, it will generally increase population and friendliness. It won't ever be changed, but it's easy to surpass anyway, so it's not that big of a deal.[/quote]

And if you have to do some sort of work to get around it, then generally you will think twice about using words which may be offensive to some.

Also it stops random spammers and people causing trouble by coming on and just posting random degenerate filth and mindless attacks and insults on people.

If you are intelligent enough to get around it, then you probably are intelligent enough to use those words in the correct context and setting. (Not always though...)

[QUOTE=jurialmunkey]And if you have to do some sort of work to get around it, then generally you will think twice about using words which may be offensive to some.

Also it stops random spammers and people causing trouble by coming on and just posting random degenerate filth and mindless attacks and insults on people.

If you are intelligent enough to get around it, then you probably are intelligent enough to use those words in the correct context and setting. (Not always though...)[/QUOTE]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to influence cursing in any form, but if a person really feels the need to do so, they can.

...I was just furthering your point. I don't personally care either way but I understand why the filter is there.

I've used cursing in songs before. If you can't figure out how to get past the filter, you should just find better ways to express yourself.

I actually have a problem with cursing in real life and even on here, from time to time, but [I]rarely[/I] do I swear in my writing. In fact, I think I have once cursed, but I don't swear just to swear...

EDIT: If anyone ever gets the time or the motivation, would they mind critiquing my piece in the [I]In-Depth Thread[/I] that I posted ages ago that got skipped? If not, it's really no big deal.

If I come up with a piece soon-ish, then I'll wander over there and crit it... but I feel like I've been headbutting a bunch of bricks so I feel a bit brain-damaged at the moment.

HELP! does anyone remember the book discussed a long *** time ago, back when i posted, about a robotic empire that spurs a human rebellion within itself to prove such an action would be futile?

PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!

[i]Player Piano[/i].

[QUOTE=False Advertising]I actually have a problem with cursing in real life and even on here, from time to time, but [I]rarely[/I] do I swear in my writing. In fact, I think I have once cursed, but I don't swear just to swear...

EDIT: If anyone ever gets the time or the motivation, would they mind critiquing my piece in the [I]In-Depth Thread[/I] that I posted ages ago that got skipped? If not, it's really no big deal.[/QUOTE]

I dont really have a problem with swearing in real life, but I think when you swear in songs your taking an easy way out. Its like your using obscenities to describe an emotion, which to me is poor imagery, poor imagination and poor writing all together. Occassionaly, I find lyrics where a swear word seems right, but most times people throw 'em in for the sake of it.

I don't swear much either. I just think it is a dumb idea. And if people get past it there would be swears on the site, so wouldn't schools get a red flag when trying to access it anyway? I just think the whole filtering thing is stupid. I just don't get why they're treated differently than other negative words. Wait a second....who cares, the mods probably won't change it anyway. Well, whatever, just an idea.

I like the swear filter. It prevents all the little fourteen year old wanna-be gangeters from coming into SL with their:

I like ****ing ho's
and **** **** *** u knoe
That I buy all the ****ing **** fliest clothes
and smoke teh **** biggest ****ing bowls
and my ****in ***** car got some ***** rims
and some ****ing gold plated trim ******
and ima kill u. *****!!

It's hard to act like a tough guy when all your cuss words get censored out.

I'm sorry if this was asked, but is bumping your piece still allowed?

I'm all for swearing when used properly. A well-placed curse can really bring an otherwise dull and lifeless line to life, be it by adding anger, sarcasm, whatever.
Generally, I don't think you should need to swear more than once a song, though - once you're doing that, you're starting to expose a lack of basic vocabulary.

[QUOTE=DeadReligion]And if people get past it there would be swears on the site, so wouldn't schools get a red flag when trying to access it anyway?[/QUOTE]

As far as I'm aware (the guys in the pit would be able to answer this for definite, but I have a life away from the internets, so I have an excuse for my ignorance), the school filters work in a similar way to the swear filter on here - they don't actually look at what we see when we open the thread - they look at the code (right click--> view source (in IE)). This means that in the same way you can insert [tags]to[/tags] to circumnavigate the swear filter, those same tags also duck under the school filter's radar, as it's only reading [yourtag]shi[/yourtag]t - although all the letters are there, and the board obviously hides the tags once you come to read it, what is actually there isn't going to be picked up by any of the filters, as in it's code form, it's not a swear.

Class dismissed.

[QUOTE=False Advertising]I'm sorry if this was asked, but is bumping your piece still allowed?[/QUOTE]
Only do this if it has zero replies. I actually need to see bumps so it's best if you do if you haven't go a crit yet.

Question:

With the recent revival of the forum, what would be the both the general and the moderators' views on me resurrecting the 'song of the month' threads - I did a couple a long time back, and they got a reasonable response, plus they highlighted the best pieces, and ensured they got a bit of recognition, even after they'd dropped off the front page.
Especially this month, as we've had so many good pieces from both regular and new writers, and interest in the forums seems to have spiked recently, it'd be a good way of making sure that the users feel involved.
Personally, I feel as long as we don't let it become a circlejerk with the same writers appearing each month, it could be a good thing. I know that once you reach a certain level of writing it's all down to opinion and/or popularity, but it's something different, and brings to light the level of quality writers we have here.

I won't stick it only because we have too many stickies as it is, but if it's good for the community in here and promotes good pieces it sounds like a good idea. You can always IM me with a list of pieces from the past month or something and we'll look at possible highlights. I'll run those we pick by Nick too so it doesn't seem biased.

Yeah, that's fair enough - there's no need for any more stickies, and as the thread is only really expected to have a lifespan of a week or so, there's not really a need for it to be stickied anyway.
The IM thing sounds like a plan. Do you have AIM only, as I'll have to download it (or Trillian or something) first, what with being non AOL and all.

I don't understand swear filters either. I can understand people don't like extensive use of cursing on posts but the filter doesn't really stop it, it just changes the words to some lame censored version, the word itself is just as obvious as if it were written, so what does censoring the word actually achieve? All it means is that words are slightly harder to read, its not people don't figure it out anyway...so it does nothing for profanity prevention.

personally i could care less, i just think that curse words do have a place in music and poetry and anyone who disagrees is stupid and backward, and that pathetic attempts at censoring profanity do more harm than good. Do you think Philip Larkin would have had the same notoriety if he'd said "your parents [i]fusty nuglet[/i] you up?"

[QUOTE=SubtleDagger]I won't stick it only because we have too many stickies as it is, but if it's good for the community in here and promotes good pieces it sounds like a good idea. You can always IM me with a list of pieces from the past month or something and we'll look at possible highlights. I'll run those we pick by Nick too so it doesn't seem biased.[/QUOTE]Why not unsticky the In-Depth thread, Writer's profiles, Tips & Questions, and create like an all-purpose thread with links to those threads (and Song of the Month) so people can find them and bump them whenver they want.

I'll think about it.

Is there a certain time limit between posting a piece and doing your other critique, or is it as long as you crit some songs before you post your next one?

[quote=A Perfect Sonnet]Is there a certain time limit between posting a piece and doing your other critique, or is it as long as you crit some songs before you post your next one?[/quote]

[u]Furthering The Question A Little[/u]:
What about if you have already done a whole bunch of crits and haven't posted a song in a while... Then you post a song; do you have to go crit something straightaway or can you just wait until your ready to post something else?

For example; I've posted at least 4-5 replies to people's lyrics (I've been trying to go for low reply counts too :D) in the past few days and I haven't posted a lyric in this part of the forum for ages... If I suddenly get a creative urge and post something then I don't want it enforced on me to do a crit, because it would generally be a poor critique and I have already been contributing crit-wise when I really don't have to.


Ugghh! That hurt my head trying to type that.... uhhhh Hang-Over :upset:

Hey guys, I just got back from band practice... the stuff we wrote is coming along really well... but now I have to do work and write actual lyrics rather than just screaming and growling incoherently :upset:.

Unfortunately I'm having a writers block.

So far I've been able to come up with really really really generic pseudo political lyrics:

[I]I see the empires
Begin to fall
I see our nation
Crumbling
Degression of humans
Back to primal
Loss of all culture
In full chaos[/I]

and then I don't know what the hell else to put... should I feel dirty from that [I]horrid[/I] display?

oh no, people don't give a crap about reading tips and questions as it is, let's not even begin merging a lot of threads into one. Hello, I'd like to congratulate Burt for being more around and being the effective mod he was back in the day and all the pertinent butt-kissing related to it.

yeah, 123 etc.

Just a thought for the critiquing guys, I'm going to start using the 'rate thread' feature, just to give a quick snapshot of the quality of the thread - during busy times it can take about 30-45 seconds to load a page on a 56k, longer if user is downloading as well, so it's frustrating to wait that long to view a song and it turns out to be trash.
Any thoughts?

Yes, I've started using the rate system as well.

I was tossing around the idea of what if the forum was broken up into a series of smaller forums (maybe two or even three), instead of just one big forum for everyone to post in? They could be seperated homogeneously by writing ability.

I see some new/young writers to the forums who post up their stuff and they get ripped to shreds by the more experienced writers. But when I think of what my writing was like when I first started seriously writing at thirteen or fourteen years old, I can empathize, because to be honest I was cliche' and wordy and all those other problems new/young writers have. However if these new writers keep getting critiqued by the better writers and being told "your work is bad, your work is bad" eventually they will give up, and we won't have any new writers.

At the same time, it's disheartening as a more experienced writer to have to read the same mindless drivel from the newer less experienced writers. For every one "good" piece I read, there are at least twenty bland ones to wade through. I find myself growing increasingly harsh and critical the more often I read work that I feel could be done better. There are a handful of writers in the forum that I consider my peers or even superiors and I greatly value there imput when they critique me. But there are other members who just say things like "oh that's good" or "oh I liked it" and can't give me a proper critique due to lack of writing experience themselves.

There is such a wide gap of ability between writers, it's hard to maintain any form of writing standard without being too harsh or being to lax on people who are at the very extremes of the curve. If the forum was split, perhaps we could fix this?

Even a simple breakdown like:

Beginning Writers
Intermediate Writers
Experienced Writers

Then if a member posts their work in a forum above their writing ability, other members can politely tell them to try submitting it in a lower forum. Likewise, if an exceptionally good member is posting their work in a lower forum they can be told to try a higher forum. Members would be able to read and post in all the forums, just actual submissions would go into their respective level of ability. That way newer/less experienced writers can visit the experienced writer's forum and see what a good body of work is. Accordingly, the more experienced writers can go to the beginner forums and give out critiques and suggestions to improve the newer writers without holding them to the same standard as the experienced writers.

yeh that's a good idea but sometimes it would be hard to differentiate between intermediate and experienced writers. There's no clear line. Perhaps just beginners and experienced sub forums?

That's a really good idea, but I am willing to wager a shiny penny that it'll never happen.

Of course miracles happen, but yeah...

Great idea though. I just wonder how one would determine who goes where, I can easily imagine an "Experienced Writers" forum being infested with 14 year olds who imagine that they're "all that".

In other poetry forums, experienced writer need a special password in order to access the exp. forum. That'll never happen here though, so I doubt S&L will be divided.