[sw-l] Guidelines for Dictionary Editors ;-)

[dparvaz at MAC.COM]

Dictionaries are in a way a language repository. Before the kind of
collaborative work we have through systems like wikipedia and
signpuddle, they represented language museums, but now they can be
thought of as living, dynamic representations of the state of the
language. And the state of the language includes words not normally
used in polite conversation.

> Profanity arguably has no redeeming social virtue

Lexicographers are not out to redeem society. Noah Webster did not die
for your sins.

Now, if we wish to place an optional "filter" on the dictionary so that
folks do not see the more scatological entries unless they are
specifically requested, I think that would be fine. That way, the
decision to see (or not) is in the hands of the users.

-Dan.