I work in customer service...
this post was submitted on 19 Aug 2025
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Google hates my projects if I don't censor certain words. As far as that is the highest contributer of traffic, what can I do?
Well, yeah. It's sometimes referred to as 'tact'.
Literally all the time. It depends on where I am and what company I am in. I wouldn't be swearing the way I usually do with friends and online if I was in a work meeting, talking to customers, or at some kind of church/church function for whatever reason.
Everyone does, often unconsciously. You know nothing good will come out of mentioning something in present company, so you don't.
You don't bring up politics while that weird uncle is visiting for Thanksgiving. You don't bring up stuff you know will upset your friend. You answer "I don't know" when a cop asks you if you know why you got pulled over. There's endless situations where you know it's best not to say anything, and a few where you quickly learn not to say anything next time.
Life would be very difficult and cumbersome if you didn't self-censor to at least some extent.
Is there a difference between self censoring and "having a filter"?
Like, I usually don't say the first thought that comes to mind.
I have to think, often unconsciously like you mentioned, will the next thing I say:
- be stupid (protect my ego)
- be rude (preserving the dignity of others)
- be incriminating (will I get into shit if an authority figure reads/hears it)
I guess self censorship is just that last one? If something I say can later be reprimanded by the law, my boss, or even a moderator, I'd rather just shut the fuck up.
I'd say the only difference is that when you "have a filter" you may reword the statement before uttering it, but when you self censor you omit the statement altogether.
It certainly doesn't need to be incriminating. A lot of discourse about self censorship discusses how young people often don't express their opinions online, because they don't want to get into some drawn-out discussion which ultimately results in everyone still maintaining the same opinions. It's a waste of time and not good for your mental health. In that scenario the self-censorship is not about avoiding incriminating yourself, but about not triggering some situation you don't want to be in.
Before I answer: What's the difference between self-censorship and tact? Because
deference to the perceived preferences, sensibilities... of others
sounds like basic manners to me.
Yes, especially on Lemmy, I have a genuine thought I can relate to a conversation I type it up and before I hit send, I know my autistic ass will get dog piled and I don't have enough energy to deal with that level of noise, so I delete the comment
I've since totally block any community here within spitting distance of politics, it's been alot better since. Sure, I still argue with people, but it's the same 3/4 people so it's far more manageable. Like a shouty version of the cheers bar.
I self-censor all the time in new/mixed company.
As an example I’ve developed a way of vocalizing to imply “fuck” without actually saying fuck and follow it with an “excuse my language” to gauge whether those present are ok or offended by it and then proceed as appropriate.
All the time, man. Living in society requires it, at least for the sake of not hurting people's feelings for no reason. And, if you're a tad smarter than average, you'll have to let people believe in their nonsense sometimes because you know the odds of them being able to emotionally and intellectually leave these ideological crutches behind are very low. When you know better and handle the world more efficiently, sometimes you gotta allow people to be nonsensical and take the highroad (with great power comes great responsibility and all of that).
Yes .... but I've already said too much.
yes.
I have shared to my boss before how I thought they could improve team morale and boost productivity in a constructive language.
instead of:
you worthless micromanaging piece of shit. get the fuck out of our way so we can do the god damn job you fucking hired us to do. Jesus fucking Christ! Do you even realize how detrimental you are to your own success? Do you hear yourself and think, "I'm doing a great job!" You suck! You suck! You hack! You suck!
edit: I still have my job today, and they...do not.
Very often. I regularly consciously do not post comments, or write something and then don't post it.
I think you could call it self-regulation, though. It's better we don't always share everything in every situation.
You mean like that one time when I [redacted]?
"I don't remember if thats classified or not"
"Holy shit im arguing with toddlers why am I like this? There's no way this is worth my time"
"Am i actually accomplishing anything by pissing in this persons cornflakes about a topic that doesnt really matter just because im right?"
Common reasons I self censor. Half the time im amused by and enjoy engaging with the faceless void of people and chatbots that make up the anonymous internet, half the time im just overwhelmingly exhausted with it
Neurodivergent do it all the time because the truth is not casually dropped in conversations.
More often than not, they simply don't understand social cues, don't understand people and don't see the bigger picture (yes, this person is wrong now, but why does it matter? Would the correction and argument that comes with it serve anyone besides yourself and a need to 'be right'?). And then they commit social faux pas but, since they can't tell, they don't understand what happened. But people are often accommodating and will often let it slide because, well, they're not neurodivergent and understand those with Germanic-style 'tisms don't understand what they're doing.
People are far to easily pissed off, especially when being objectively wrong.
😁
Sometimes, sometimes there are deeper things we should've taken into account (the more you know life and people and understand body language, the easier it is to recognise it) and we have, unknowingly and unnecessarily, caused them pain. 🤷
You have to self censor on Lemmy all the time. It's pretty gay.
On Lemmy? All the time.
In real life? Also all the time.
Always in the same way. I want to say something that would be hugely unpopular so I replace it with a softer phrasing - like not revealing all the elements of my opinion, or making it sound more similar to the majority opinion while keeping the core intact.
Only when I can't be arsed to deal with the backslash.
••••••••••••••••
On lemmy? Every day.
All the time
Quite often. On Lemmy when posting to .ml, and on most political things IRL because of the rural, conservative area I'm in.
I think as long as you're "pushing the envelope", it's justifiable. It's only once you do more than required to escape direct punishment, maybe to get some kind of reward or be further down the dissident list than the next person, that you become a part of the problem.
In addition to the articles on censorship, remember that the can media preemptively bias their content by only hiring those who demonstrate a shared point of view. This is done before any need for actively censoring jouirnalists -- just hire the faithful rather than objective investigators.
Depending.
To close friends I don't.
To strangers, yes.
I'm a queer socialist in Bavaria, go figure