Blissfully I. asks Anyway, how does asterixing out letters in a word render it less offensive? It's still recognisable....f**k, s**t, p**s....?

Simple. You have to stop and think about it (I do, anyway) to get the whole word. It doesn't hit you in the eye so to speak. So if you're not interested your eye can just move over it and away with no particular emotional reaction. And IMO the shock and (perceived) hostility factors are WAY lower in the versions with asterisks.

Plus the asterisks presumably won't trigger the sm*t filters.