I'm going to reply to this one and then let the issue drop - I assume that everyone know my opinion now. "Internet was here before you were even born but somehow you decide you need to goose-step into someone's world and dictate what you think should be done." Hate to be difficult here, but only DARPAnet, the predecessor to the Internet, predates my birth. DARPAnet was originally developed and tightly controlled by the military (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency - DARPA) as a system to transmit research information between universities. DARPAnet originally was primarily a science and education-based development. Only with the evolution of DARPAnet into the Internet with the work of the Boston firm of Bolt, Bernanek, and Newman(in the 80s, if I'm not wrong) evolved a tendency towards freedom of usage - which I tend to support in large doses. While DARPAnet predates me, what many would call the internet and its independent streak probably does not. "The only position you take is that cursing offends people and you should think before you type. Yes freedom has a tendency to offend people, some people just dont want to welcome expression. As for thinking before you type, why dont you attack people use of "lol" or "hehe"? We all know laughs dont last that long anyway and by the time someone types "lol" they have probably stopped." This is sorta important. I did not propose any type of restriction to be levied upon quizbowl. I requested that people exercise self-restraint and decorum, which is fully in line with most democratic means of thinking. The United States issues requests for people to do many things (buckle up, immunize your children, eat better, vote, quit smoking) that are not construed by the vast majority as attacks on individual freedom since there are no penalties associated with noncompliance. And just because I have a freedom to do something doesn't mean that I should do it. I still don't like cursing because a) it offends people (eliminating a similar request against lol or hehe), and b) cursing, unlike bringing up a controversial issue that may offend people (such as single-elim playoffs), simply conveys frustration in a base form - I can't make a profound thought using a four-letter word. There are many ways to convey frustration besides this method. Hayden Hurst
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