4 ms·

I see absolutely nothing wrong with swearing. I actually have more of an issue with the automatic disapproval than a healthy spread of profanities.

coderdude 15y ago
I doubt it's an automatic disapproval. It's annoying because swearing is used as linkbait all the time.
- danielhunt 15y ago
  Now, that argument I can understand. And if that is indeed the reason for the GP, then fair enough. But is it really any different than 'sex sells'?
- j_baker 15y ago
  If it's used all the time, it must be easy for you to provide a few examples. I've seen a few cases where a post title used profanity in a way that's arguably unnecessary, but I can't think of any examples of outright linkbaiting.
  - coderdude 15y ago
    You mean like this? http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=fuck http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=fuck Perhaps if we narrow it down to titles only: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anews.ycombinator.com+intitle%3Afuck https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anews.ycombinator.com+...
    - j_baker 15y ago
      No, I mean the specific examples that prompted you to make the comment I was responding to. You wouldn't make such a broad claim without at least one or two examples, would you?
      - coderdude 15y ago
        Suffice it to say that any of the examples you find in those search results are examples of "fuck" being used as link bait. Even the submissions with "fuck you money" in the title since that is a linkbait-y term unto itself. I am of the opinion that unless you're discussing the word 'fuck' there is almost no possible reason to use it in a title unless it's to attract clicks and votes by eliciting an emotional response.
        j_baker 15y ago
        I think that's debatable. I don't see anything blatantly wrong with any of those, but I could see how someone might find titles like that inappropriate. I personally don't have a problem with it.
        coderdude 15y ago
        Everything is debatable! :) Whether it is or isn't appropriate is the topic of a separate discussion altogether. That would have to touch upon personal and community etiquette, professionalism, audience, and so forth. I'm purely focused on the link-bait aspect. Using swear words in a title is in a way like gaming the attention economy by subconsciously tricking peoples' minds into thinking that a piece of content "grabs" them on some level, even before seeing that content. What I would be interested to know is if there is data that shows that people up-vote those articles -- before reading them -- disproportionately more often than articles with no swear words in the title.
        j_baker 15y ago
        Whether it is or isn't appropriate is the topic of a separate discussion altogether. That would have to touch upon personal and community etiquette, professionalism, audience, and so forth. You don't think that's important? If you had put a lot of time into this presentation, were proud of it, and submitted it to Hacker News to share it with others (without realizing that some people would take the profanity as a linkbait attempt), wouldn't you be at least a bit upset if someone said: "Why do you people keep linkbaiting by putting profanity in the title?" If it were me, I'd probably tune them out and their (valid) complaints would go unheeded. But if someone said something like: "That was a great presentation! I think it would be even better if you excluded the profanity though. To be honest, it's a bit offensive. But that's just me. What do you think?" ...then I'd be more likely to listen, and might change the title just because I couldn't fathom offending someone so nice. Wouldn't you?
  - RegEx 15y ago
    > I've seen a few cases where a post title used profanity in a way that's arguably unnecessary I think that's pretty much what he means, but you can't blame the author since it seems to work. People here are passionate, especially when it comes to articles related to the human side of software development. Profanity can tap into that emotion fairly well.
    - coderdude 15y ago
      "but you can't blame the author since it seems to work" -> "Profanity can tap into that emotion fairly well." So a formula for getting knee-jerk clicks and votes is to "bait" the user by using language that elicits an emotional response. :)
      - RegEx 15y ago
        Exactly, I was agreeing with you.
        coderdude 15y ago
        Ahh, so you were. For some reason I got the impression that you were justifying the use of swearing because of the response it generates while not making the connection between that and outright baiting.
tobych 15y ago
The way I understand it, ignorant of the psychology of swearing but having had to think about it since arriving here from the UK, is that if you're swearing, you're breaking a taboo that people assume you understand, so if you break it, they guess that you've lost your ability to keep your cool, and that because of that they fear you might punch them or shoot them. Which it seems, to me, most people, rightly or wrongly, believe happens quite often here in the US.

coderdude 15y ago

I doubt it's an automatic disapproval. It's annoying because swearing is used as linkbait all the time.

danielhunt 15y ago
Now, that argument I can understand. And if that is indeed the reason for the GP, then fair enough. But is it really any different than 'sex sells'?
j_baker 15y ago
If it's used all the time, it must be easy for you to provide a few examples. I've seen a few cases where a post title used profanity in a way that's arguably unnecessary, but I can't think of any examples of outright linkbaiting.
- coderdude 15y ago
  You mean like this? http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=fuck http://www.hnsearch.com/search#request/all&q=fuck Perhaps if we narrow it down to titles only: https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anews.ycombinator.com+intitle%3Afuck https://www.google.com/search?q=site%3Anews.ycombinator.com+...
  - j_baker 15y ago
    No, I mean the specific examples that prompted you to make the comment I was responding to. You wouldn't make such a broad claim without at least one or two examples, would you?
    - coderdude 15y ago
      Suffice it to say that any of the examples you find in those search results are examples of "fuck" being used as link bait. Even the submissions with "fuck you money" in the title since that is a linkbait-y term unto itself. I am of the opinion that unless you're discussing the word 'fuck' there is almost no possible reason to use it in a title unless it's to attract clicks and votes by eliciting an emotional response.
      - j_baker 15y ago
        I think that's debatable. I don't see anything blatantly wrong with any of those, but I could see how someone might find titles like that inappropriate. I personally don't have a problem with it.
        coderdude 15y ago
        Everything is debatable! :) Whether it is or isn't appropriate is the topic of a separate discussion altogether. That would have to touch upon personal and community etiquette, professionalism, audience, and so forth. I'm purely focused on the link-bait aspect. Using swear words in a title is in a way like gaming the attention economy by subconsciously tricking peoples' minds into thinking that a piece of content "grabs" them on some level, even before seeing that content. What I would be interested to know is if there is data that shows that people up-vote those articles -- before reading them -- disproportionately more often than articles with no swear words in the title.
        j_baker 15y ago
        Whether it is or isn't appropriate is the topic of a separate discussion altogether. That would have to touch upon personal and community etiquette, professionalism, audience, and so forth. You don't think that's important? If you had put a lot of time into this presentation, were proud of it, and submitted it to Hacker News to share it with others (without realizing that some people would take the profanity as a linkbait attempt), wouldn't you be at least a bit upset if someone said: "Why do you people keep linkbaiting by putting profanity in the title?" If it were me, I'd probably tune them out and their (valid) complaints would go unheeded. But if someone said something like: "That was a great presentation! I think it would be even better if you excluded the profanity though. To be honest, it's a bit offensive. But that's just me. What do you think?" ...then I'd be more likely to listen, and might change the title just because I couldn't fathom offending someone so nice. Wouldn't you?
- RegEx 15y ago
  > I've seen a few cases where a post title used profanity in a way that's arguably unnecessary I think that's pretty much what he means, but you can't blame the author since it seems to work. People here are passionate, especially when it comes to articles related to the human side of software development. Profanity can tap into that emotion fairly well.
  - coderdude 15y ago
    "but you can't blame the author since it seems to work" -> "Profanity can tap into that emotion fairly well." So a formula for getting knee-jerk clicks and votes is to "bait" the user by using language that elicits an emotional response. :)
    - RegEx 15y ago
      Exactly, I was agreeing with you.
      - coderdude 15y ago
        Ahh, so you were. For some reason I got the impression that you were justifying the use of swearing because of the response it generates while not making the connection between that and outright baiting.

tobych 15y ago

The way I understand it, ignorant of the psychology of swearing but having had to think about it since arriving here from the UK, is that if you're swearing, you're breaking a taboo that people assume you understand, so if you break it, they guess that you've lost your ability to keep your cool, and that because of that they fear you might punch them or shoot them. Which it seems, to me, most people, rightly or wrongly, believe happens quite often here in the US.