Acronym junction, what's your function?

[Togakure]

I frequent two forums that basically take a polar opposite approach to this issue, the Org and Taleworlds, the original forum for Mount and Blade.

Here, everything's rather stiff. I don't mind it, though sometimes judgment on the part of mods has been more absolute and inflexible that need be, in my opinion. I do get tired of the senseless use of profanity at the other board. But conversely, intelligent and witty use of it makes for some very entertaining exchanges there, which we never approach here. Also, when passionate about a subject, I sometimes use profanity in real life for emphasis or to express that passion poignantly, so I feel like I'm more myself at Taleworlds than here because I'm free to do that. Here, I feel more like I'm in a classroom or at a church meeting, not, say, at a bar having a drink and shooting the daisies with friends.

Recently at Taleworlds, they turned on an optional profanity filter, which ***s out profanity if left on. It was set to be on as default, but could be turned off. I have mine set so I can see the profanity, but those who don't like it can leave it on. I thought this was a pretty good compromise--though many of the hard-core, old-time patrons, who loved Taleworlds for its open expression, left permanently after a heated debate regarding the new filter (one of those who left was a long-time, respected-by-all administrator).

I enjoy frequenting these two sites because they are both gaming forums complete with off-topic areas, but almost polar opposites when it comes to how they are run. It's an interesting contrast, and I enjoy them both.

So I guess my opinion on the matter here is, I don't care. I can go elsewhere if I feel the need to express myself differently, to an audience that doesn't mind.

An interesting fact: active membership and participation at the Talworlds site is much greater than at this site, despite the fact that the Total War games are much better known and more popular than Mount and Blade / Warband. This surprised me when I noticed it. Here we seem to have a lot more lurkers and fewer active participants.