As a librarian in a school library, my ONLY objection has been to the use of the swear/curse words in thread titles. The reason I object to it is because most public libraries and schools now have profanity filters. If the library/school you are posting from does have those filters, those filters will pick up the words like "motherfucker" in thread titles, because the thread titles page is the front page to the forum.

I realize that the forum home page is not the website home page, but the filters don't. So when a person goes to click on the second link at google that is indented under the www.mudcat.org home page when doing a google search for "folk song lyrics" here is what I mean:

Google search for "folk song lyrics" the first hit is to the Mudcat home page, but the indented second hit says "Digital Tradition Folk Song Database" but the actual URL is to the forum home page.

So, if a person working from a computer with a filter clicks on the DT page link, and there are words like "motherfucker" in the thread titles, the filter will block the users access to the site.

So, you will, if you keep the profane word in the thread title, block some users from gaining access to the site until that word falls off the front page.

All that needs to happen to insure you don't block out users with profanity filters (like many library and school users), is have the Joe Clones watching the thread titles, and doing whatever it is you agree to do to remove the offending word and either substitute another word using a code (you could show the code at the top of the forum home page), or whatever.

The way it works with our profanity filters is that if you can get past the home page into the site, even with profane words on sub-pages, the filters won't block your access. So it's a question of just being sure people can get into the forum home page.

While I agree you can't possibly adjust to all the possibilities of how filters are set (and who would want THAT thankless job), you can certainly avoid the "most commonly used" profanity words, and insure that most people can get to the site even when there are threads with bawdy lyrics.

As to the people who are offended by bawdy lyrics in their presence, I say fuck 'em. We're adults. Don't like profanity and bawdy lyrics and chat, then don't come here.

As to the actual value of bawdy songs to "the tradition" I'm not convinced. While some are clever and funny, most aren't. People need to remember that these are songs usually performed when people are drunk/drinking their way to drunkeness. Quality does tend to suffer under those circumstances and you don't usually get the best of the tradition--though you do often get the worst of humanity.

It isn't just songs about sex that are usually bad. Racist songs are usually bad too. As are songs that celebrate violence, humiliation, etc. etc. You can hear tons of those sorts of songs today--turn on the radio, tv, etc etc. They sucked a hundred years ago, and they still suck today. IMNSHO.

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The Mudcat Home Page is http://www.mudcat.org - does that work?
-Joe Offer-