To offer the other point of view (surprise, surprise), what is the Server Fault community supposed to be? I was under the impression that it was "by sysadmins, for sysadmins" (or some approximation thereof).
I can't help but be reminded of grade school when I see people getting into a tizzy about the "language" in Your boss doesn't know his ass from an SMTP relay. (Oh noes, he said the "ass" word!!) Or the redaction of "damn well," "#$&^ing," or "unreasonably dumb users". Seriously, I've not seen so much made of mildly sharp/blue/coarse language or "name calling" since I was 8 or so, and I can't help but wonder how it's "professional" to make a big deal out of language that's commonplace amongst just about everyone who's hit puberty.
Furthermore, this being a Q&A site for sysadmin colleagues to help each other out, there's absolutely nothing wrong with pointing out that the problem is a stupid boss who doesn't understand the concept of a firewall, unreasonably stupid users who reboot a machine every time they get a pop-under dialogue, or an idiot auditor who wants a list of plaintext passwords. In fact, especially when the problem is a wetware fault/layer 8 problem/luser, rather than a technical problem, dancing around the root of the problem (stupidity) will only exacerbate the issue, and there's no reason colleagues shouldn't be able to express that to each other without mincing words.
Yes, it's unprofessional to tell a user or manger that he/she is stupid, but that's not what's happening here. An online Q&A for sysadmins to help each other out is not the same thing as a written report you file for the suits, or a customer service conversation with a user, or a meeting with the boss. It's akin to a discussion amongst technical peers... technical peers, who, let's not forget, have a well-earned reputation for being insensitive and using sharp language. So, who are we worried about offending here, and for what reason should we have our internal filters set to maximum? After all, it's not like we're seeing f-bombs flying all over the place, or vulgar sexual references - we're discussing a relatively common idiosyncratic phrase used to describe someone's ignorance.
It's one thing to apply the filter and worry about offending other groups of people at work, when you're A) paid for it and B) actually around others who don't share the mindset and priorities of techies, but it's entirely another thing to do it absent those factors. (Again, why, and for whom?) I also can't help but wonder how ServerFault expects to attract sysadmins if they're expected to do the things that generally drive techies nuts (prioritize politics and tact over factual statements, filter/censor their thoughts, and mince words).
And finally, if there's really no place for mild expletives (as seems to be the prevailing point of view, based on the votes and comments), implement a simple word filter and be done with the drama. As I said earlier, having a discussion over whether or not "ass" is ever appropriate strikes me as far more unprofessional and juvenile than actually seeing the word "ass" used.
