One point of order is that Joe User is certainly more tolerant of foul language than Stardock's game related sites.

Joe User is also more tolerant of personal abuse, however wingnut (i.e. Right Wing) abuse of moonbat (i.e. Liberal) is far more prevelant than the converse. This is due to the fact that most people with anything approaching a Liberal view of the world don't bother hanging around very long because you may as well be speaking to a stone wall. This may be a selling point for those whose views are naturally right wing, just make sure that you're right wing *enough* or you may actually be considered Liberal.

The final thing to note is that although foul language and personal abuse are less likely to get you banned over at Joe User, I have seen multiple summary bannings occur because someone said the wrong thing to the wrong person (to be honest I've only seen two within the span of 2 years so it's not like a daily occurance, but then I hardly pay attention to the site so there certainly could have been many more). Just be aware that any banning that occurs on one of Stardock site applies to *all* Stardock sites. Forewarned is forearmed.

Got to get the "report post" button fixed then all will be well in SD land.

I still think the 'forum interstate system' installed in the last big round of upgrades is another example of technology getting way ahead of policy (this thread pre-dates that change, as the wording clearly indicates). Off-Topic is the same for every Stardock forum site now, so the intent of the OP here is pretty much foiled from the git-go by the fact that Joe User has much broader standards than, say, the game sites that have regular participation by minors.

If this were just GalCiv2's OT or Elemental's OT, then trying to avoid 'inflammatory' threads would make a bit of sense to me. Although I also think that, even when it made more technical sense, the policy was a heavy-handed global response to a problem that is better handled on a case-by-case basis. Banning subject matter just sticks in my craw, but swearing off swearing makes sense because you can say anything you need to without foul language, with the possible exception of deeply nuanced expressions of anger or disgust.