Why are Bad Words bad?

There are good reasons to use them. Why, then, is that lewd and not just normal fucking language?

They're not. But it's complex. Because, they offend some people, so that's the only reason one might not use them (and here, it is against the T.O.S.). But inherently there is nothing rude or offensive or hurtful about them -- it depends on how they are used.

For instance, "it's so (blank) windy today", where (blank) is an expletive -- that could offend an insane person, because you are just saying it's very windy.

Hope this helps.

@EarlyLight Actually, swearing is not a TOS violation.

Bad words are “bad” because they relate to things that we, as a society, want to shelter future generations from. This is why you never hear adults invoking the term “bad words” to one another—they just use normal language.
On this site, the common perception that certain words are “bad” results from the obscenely high number of naughty children who break lichess rules by creating accounts, then feel as though everyone should be subject to the rules that their parents made.

@clousems said in #4:
> @EarlyLight Actually, swearing is not a TOS violation.

I stand corrected. I had thought it was, under "harsh speech" or so, but neither 'swear' nor 'harsh' shows up anywhere on the T.o.S. page.

I may have to start using the D word occasionally, lol. Just kidding for the most part.

Still even if it's not explicitly stated, enough people feel pretty strongly about it that it's probably not a good idea to use the f-word etc. A lot on here. I think in general, people who do sooner or later get chat banned.

@moralisconundrum said in #1:
> There are good reasons to use them. Why, then, is that lewd and not just normal fucking language?

You can use them while speaking, but remember this website may include kids under 20 and thus, try at least not to use the crazy schi-fi stuff.

I can actually speak to this issue, no. 6—I helped write the part of the forum etiquette relating to respectful behavior.
The issue arises when language becomes abusive—I can’t tell someone to “fuck off”, for example, but I can say that someone’s knight move was “fucking brilliant”. I did once have a post deleted for use of the “f-word”, but was later assured that the deletion was not in accordance with lichess moderation policy.
Basically, swearing is allowed, but it’s a line so thin that even the mods sometimes have trouble knowing what’s ok

Yeah right :)

Makes sense to me... that's why I stay way clear on this side of the line.

#8,
Another point which may be mentioned is that, policy or not, some moderators may feel differently and more strongly than you and I, who seem to have a fairly neutral or in some cases positive view of it. Just another reason to be careful.