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Comment by debaserab2 | Hacker News Reader

I can empathize with the message of this essay because I feel like it reflects the roots of my career, but I wouldn't share this with anyone I know because there is so much unnecessary cursing in this that gives it a really immature feel. You can totally get the message of this across without the crass language. It only detracts, not helps, in my opinion.

I'm saying this as someone who swears a lot, too.

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Disagree. For emphasis on the power of being a "webmaster" AND to capture what that meant in the cultural vernacular of various pipsqueaks who claimed that title when it was a thing, you could do little better than a qualifier like "fucking" or "motherfucking" or "goddamn". You could for instance, write this with a theme embodied like, "I am webmaster, hear me roar" or "webmaster of my domain or something", but I think you are simply sanitizing the ego-boosting high and kind of crass thinking that often came with discovering that particular power, at that particular time. For an ancient courtier who discovered how he can manipulate the realm, you could probably expect a much more refined if still ego-laden expression of that power.

It doesn't read that way to me, it just reads as an adjective to make the article more "shocking" and illustrate the role of a webmaster to appear more against the grain of our little IT/startup world.

I think the rest of the essay does a great job of explaining why and how webmasters were so important and how they were/are the ultimate problem solver. No ego boosting qualifiers necessary.

Mainly those who are indeed somewhat shocked (usually due to some still active puritan heritage) actually think that such words were meant to "make the article more 'shocking'".

The rest don't even blink when we see them -- especially from countries without a history of a prudish outlook on things.

One can see people getting slashed with knives and shot in the head on PG13 movies -- words like these are nothing compared to that.

The primary use of cursing is when one is frustrated or angry and wants to draw attention to an issue. I think it's safe to say that adding a swear word to a title is going to draw attention to the title simply because the use of the swear word.

I'm not shocked, I'm just bored of the "I'm a fucking <nostalgic or out of style thing>" or "This fucking <nostalgic or out of style thing>" trend. Just because swearing hasn't become so blasé to a person doesn't mean they have an "active puritan heritage".

I don't see why you got downvoted. I 100% agree with you. It was simply not necessary. If you go around the web, even to large, reputable news sites, it seems more and more people are opting to not think about language and use whatever word first pops into their mind. To me, it's not about shock or ego boosting, it's simply mental laziness.

Why are you worried people will think you're immature for sharing something interesting that has cursing in it? Immaturity is to be distracted by fuck to the point where you take to the comments and only contribute that you empathize before policing their chosen form of expression.

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