Just A Little Moan

Censorship on WritersCafe

Before I have a little moan in this write, I would like to firstly convey what a lovely writers website this is and thank you so much for all the writers who have made me feel so welcome here - you are an awesome bunch!!!♥



Okay, here's my moan!

I posted a poem called 'For The Love Of A Cat' about love and loss and relationships coming to an end and an old woman who is loved by her cats.  When viewing that poem last night (logged out) I found two words have been censored 'at this s****y hollow life'  now reads 'at this s****y hollow life'  and  'You thought she was mad, an old w***e' reads 'You thought she was mad, an old w***e'   LOL....what the hell??!!

I know there's a category for sensitive material on here, but that poem really doesn't come into that kind of category!  And since when has the word 'w***e' been an offensive word?  It's just a word.  It's even mentioned in the bible.  It's not been censored from that book - yet! ;o)

No doubt this work will also get censored too (for readers not logged in) as it contains those two same words. I'm wondering who exactly is it protecting from not showing words like that - children?  This is a website for mature minded adults isn't it???

I often give links to my writing on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.  But I'd be embarrassed to do that with words ***** out, making me look like I'm some kind of over sensitive writer.  So WritersCafe will lose out on links.

If you want to view that censorship please bookmark the poem and then view when logged out, and hopefully you will be able to see what I mean.

Has anyone else experienced this ridiculous altering of their writing?

Perhaps I'm the only naughty poet on here who uses disgraceful words like that?  And just think....I haven't even started on the F words yet!

I should be annoyed, but actually, I can't stop laughing!!! :oD

Reviews

[alifeacoustic]

Hmm, I am now intrigued as to what being logged out shows on my page now. Does it also work in reviews? I wonder what will happen if I say the you make a totally bitchin point, not that I usually would, but now, I wonder.
I'm glad I decided not to post that last angst ridden piece on anger. I'm sure everyone would be wondering what a God Dumb MotherFather was, or what I could possibly mean by calling someone a F*****G C**T. I mean, I call people folding coats all the time.
Maybe it's like soduko and is meant as brain training for the reader :-)

[Suzy Hazelwood]

Yes, the censorship works in reviews too! Roland got away with using the word 'buggery' for some strange reason, that's obviously not on the list, not as bad as w***e! ;o) 'God Dumb MotherFather' that's hysterical!! :oD Don't think you'd succeed with the C or the F word - way to obscene for WritersCafe!

I was watching a movie called 'Lenny' the other week. Starring Dustin Hoffman. I've been a great fan of Dustin Hoffman for many years and that's one of his movies I've never got to see. It's never been shown on British TV as far as I know, which is pretty ridiculous. Just wondered if you've ever seen it? It's about the stand up comedian Lenny Bruce who was very popular in clubs in the US in the 60's/70's. He got banned from saying some of his supposed 'dirty words' even to the extent that the courts sent cops to stand at the back of the club to make sure he didn't do a repeat performance! Here's a clip of him being dirty without using any dirty words at all - I thought this was so funny and makes a real mockery of censorship nuts! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1obg4ghEiY And all quite mad when you think those so called offensive words and phrases are being used by a lot people as everyday language now. The stupid things some people had to suffer all for nothing at all! :o(

I think it's one of Dustin's finest performances, and one he doesn't get a lot of credit for playing these days. I do wonder though, about Mr Lenny Bruce, if his death wasn't just a drug overdose. In between his dirty jokes he told a lot of truth about society and other things, he was a wise man. I would imagine there were a few people who would have been glad to see the man dead. Crazy f****** world!! ;o)

[alifeacoustic]

Yes, I've seen it. Censorship both made and destroyed him I think. After the cops showing up to his shows, it was all he could talk about. How can you not, when the media and law were making such a fuss of it. That was a great movie. I still have some Lenny Bruce on audio that I had to stop playing on my MP£, as it was making me look like a crazy guy walking about the shope etc, laughing like a loon.
I'm still gonna watch the clip again though, thanks for that Suzy, and have a great weekend.

[alifeacoustic]

blah de blah'd....Brilliant. It was even more obscene censored :-)

[Suzy Hazelwood]

Haha...it truly was!!! :oD

[Suzy Hazelwood]

Very glad you know of him, and yes, censorship did make and destroy him! I've not yet seen a show of the real man, but I think my brother is now very intrigued to know more of him. I'm sure he will dig some footage of him up from somewhere. Although having said that, he's probably on You Tube itself. Just haven't had the time to check him out yet! Have a great 'uncensored' weekend yourself!! :oD

[alifeacoustic]

Yes, I think it was you tube I got it from. They have an app where you can convert video clips to audio mp3. I think if you just google youtube video to audio converter it should come up. I actually prefer just listening to it, like in the old days, in the far, far away when not everything was brought out on dvd. It reminds me of listening to Billy Connolly tapes of my Dads when they weren't in :-)

[Suzy Hazelwood]

Yes, I know what you mean! I can remember my brother listening to a record of Jasper Carrot in the 80's. It's a different experience. You have be old to remember names like Jasper Carrot and things like records! I remember Laurel and Hardy too, but at least they were repeats of repeats!! :oD

[alifeacoustic]

:-)
I Jemember jasper. Saturday night tv, carrot confidential or something like that. Loved it. Vey good at facial expressions. Used to copy him all the time :-)

[andrew mitchell]

Wow I never knew! haha I wonder how my poems look, I've used the F word in humorous writes lol. Fascinating story you shared. Thank you.

[Suzy Hazelwood]

Oh those F words will definitely be starred out I'm sure ******!!! Childish by today's standards. I heard the other day about an area in Britain (some nice posh place!) that introduced a fine for anyone swearing on the streets. The only answer to that - WTF!! If I lived there, I'd make sure not to swear in the road but let it all out when in a shop - don't think that counts as it's private property. Attitudes are getting warped to this swearing thing - it's nothing at all - empty words.

Thank you Andrew, and sorry for this terribly late reply, haven't been on here for ages, just catching up with all the bits left behind! :o)

[Brian F. Lockard]

As a vulgar wordsmith I agree with this lol F*CK it

[Suzy Hazelwood]

Haha....the best kind of response, thanks!! :oD

[Roland Petrov]

Ah, now I see what's going on. A friend of mine said he couldn't read one of my poems without joining the site first. I had rated that poem "mature". It appears that work isn't really being altered, just blocked for visitors to the site. Why a visitor should be protected from something that they can see if they join the site, I don't know. Since this has got to be an auto protect feature, we can explore the limits by using less common restricted words. I wonder if they've programmed in "buggery" for example.

[Suzy Hazelwood]

Yes, the work marked 'mature' is only accessible to those signed in, that makes sense in a lot of ways, although I'm so used to reading all kinds of potentially offensive words on Tumblr blogs it really doesn't upset me - no censoring going on in Tumblr at all. It doesn't make sense to protect a visitor from something they could easily read if they joined, crazy! I'm wondering if they have the sensitivity on words set for too many and it's blotting out words that shouldn't be a problem. No, they missed out 'buggery' because I could see that in your comment signed out (comments get censored too). So buggery is okay but w***e isn't. It's all too silly!! :oD

[Roland Petrov]

Silly describes a lot of what humanity is about! On another note, Ewan has posted on this site as Nomenklatura.

[Suzy Hazelwood]

Okay, thanks for letting me know!

[AaronFreitas]

I had never see it on mine until yesterday... I was restarted my mac and it makes you sign back in to everything.. well when I looked at one of my poems I was like wtf happened to it. So I logged on looked at it and it was normal. I guess we are just a little crazy and need censorship haha :)

[Suzy Hazelwood]

Haha...so you've seen it too Aaron!! It feels a little over the top doesn't it? Never seen that on any writers site before. I guess the secret is out now!! ;o)

[AaronFreitas]

Haha it definitely does... I've never been on any other site... any good ones out there?

[Suzy Hazelwood]

Well, I used to be on a wonderful website called Jottify.com But it seems to have disappeared, no-one can connect to it at the moment. There is a small possibility it may come back, but it doesn't look hopeful. I'll give you a link if it comes back. I have a few friends from there on here now, which is partly why I joined, because it's nice to reconnect with those writer friends I've had for about three years, and of course find new ones on here too!

Hello Poetry is a friendly site too, post occasionally on there. The only other writers website I've posted on is Wattpad. Takes a long time to find some writers you can connect with on there. But once your settled it's a lot more fun. To start with it wasn't much fun at all!

I don't post a great deal on any writers sites as I'm mainly a WordPress blogger who likes writers sites and a bit of Tumblr too! Actually, I'm all over the place really and I started a literary magazine a few months back publishing other writer poetry. I'm supposed to be on a blog break at the moment, but now I'm posting on here too. Haha...I'm quite mad!! :oD

[AaronFreitas]

I'm so out of the loop I need to connected outside of here some more haha :) Definitely send me a link if it comes back :) Don't forget me haha

[Suzy Hazelwood]

I'm coming to back tomorrow and read some of your writing Aaron, it always takes me longer than I think to read and comment - I'm a bit slow at this! It's incredibly late where I am in England, need some snoozing!! So I promise I'll be back tomorrow! :o)

[AaronFreitas]

Oh nice... thanks... sweet dreams :)

[VALORMORE DE PLUME]

I think that when someone cruses this site, without logging in, an automatic censor restricts the language (as per some FCC code of ethics established) to protect underage children who might read such content by accident. However, children learn worse language from conversations of their parents and other adults in their lives. I would not consider it censorship because everyone accept unknown visitors can read every word. As for virgin ears, what planet do they come from?

[Suzy Hazelwood]

I'm sure it is some kind of auto censor that WritersCafe have set for non members but it seems a little over sensitive on the choice of words. The only other way to stop children accessing material their parents wouldn't wish them to see is by arrangement with the internet provider where clicks on websites not considered appropriate just won't connect. I think that's a more sensible option if parents are concerned about what their children are reading as it's connected to their own internet supply and doesn't intrude on what anyone else wishes to view.

I agree, children learn a variety of words very often from the adults around them. They certainly don't need the internet to acquire that!!

[VALORMORE DE PLUME]

Children are being taught to write computer code in grade school, in many states, this will give them access to things that even their older siblings are not aware of. It is akin to teaching them to make explosives and chemical weapons in third grade science class. Yet the same authorities restrict our language in the name of the children. Apparently the devil has our leaders in the palm of his hand.

[....................]

I have not seen this, and I have read many poems with curse words and vulgarities in them... this is odd... do you know if someone complained? Did you receive a message from WC moderators? It is weird that they would have censored your work without giving you an opportunity to respond or even change something they were offended by. As long as a piece of work does not fall into Hate or Slander/Libel categories then as long as we label it mature then there should be no problems.

[Suzy Hazelwood]

No, I never received any notice from WritersCafe to say my work had been altered. You can only see it when logged out, you wouldn't know about it unless you did that. For some strange reason it doesn't need censoring for the writers on here reading, but does need censoring for the general public reading work on this website.

I've said to Nadia "What if someone wrote a piece with quite a lot of 'sensitive' words, but didn't see it as worthwhile posting under a 'mature' warning. How much of the work would remain? The writer might not think to check it logged out. So when they go to share it on their social media pages their readers (who are not logged in) might be a little confused - it will look as if that's how the writer wrote the piece."

I think that's a good enough reason for WriterCafe to at least tell us if a piece of writing has been censored.

The next time you see a work with anything that might be likely to be edited out, bookmark it, and when you're logged out, go back and read it. You might find it's got lots of ******

I read a poem on here a few days ago where someone like me had used the word 'w***e' I bookmarked it, and came back to read when I was logged out, and sure enough there was the word 'w***e' written as w***e - very strange!

I've been posting on Wattpad for two years and despite that website being visited by thousands of teenagers there appears to be no censoring at all. And I've never come across that anywhere else either. So why do they feel they need it on here? All very odd!

[Nadia Gerassimenko]

I am so sorry your poetry got censored. I am very surprised as well. I mean, you can categorize your work as mature so that it puts a warning against children or teens that should not read things like that yet. But I agree with you, it is just words, you are just expressing yourself. I don't think works should ever be censored. After all, don't we have a right for complete self-expression in our works?

[Suzy Hazelwood]

It is very strange to censor our writing on here, especially when they don't tell us and we can't see that censorship unless we are reading our work logged out - which is very odd indeed!! I wasn't really upset by it, more confused as to why, and still find it highly amusing that those particular words would be classed as offensive! Seems a little childish for a writers website today.

I've been posting on Wattpad for two years and I've never come across any censorship on there while reading, logged in or out. And considering that website has a high membership of teenagers writing and reading, you'd think they might be the website to be over sensitive - but no, no censorship at all!

I think we should have a right to express what we feel and if there are over sensitive rules on here we could at least be informed if words are partially removed. I was just thinking - what if someone wrote a piece with quite a lot of 'sensitive' words, but didn't see it as worthwhile posting under a 'mature' warning. How much of the work would remain? The writer might not think to check it logged out. So when they go to share it on their social media pages their readers might be a little confused - it will look as if that's how the writer wrote the piece. I do think that is enough reason for WritersCafe to at least tell us when they have blotted out certain words. I do think this website is excellent, it seems a pity to spoil the writers trust.

[....................]

I agree... 100%