Swearing in Giant Bomb News Articles

I've been noticing a trend in news articles - (this is a good example) - in which there's swearing used in the article text. I think I've seen this for the past couple of months, and every time I read it, it makes me cringe. The Giant Bomb crew always puts their own personality and spin on news, and while I'm okay with swearing in the personal blogs and podcast, swearing in news articles and reviews just looks unprofessional. It comes off as aggressive and immature and could possibly put off new readers, and for a site that has such a wealth of experienced writers, it really doesn't need that schtick. The podcasts and live shows seem to be targeted more at existing fans who are accustomed to Giant Bomb's unique personality, and so doesn't come across as so aggressive, but new users will probably come across the site via the news articles and reviews. I can't see the language employed in some of the articles as a great way to introduce Giant Bomb to casual readers.

Incoming...

I disagree.

Yeah I have started noticing this too... and I have to say that I agree.

I like angry Alex articles.

I'm an adult and I can deal with this.

 It comes off as aggressive and immature 

To be honest I don't really think a site like Giant Bomb is where a "casual reader" will end up. If profanity were being used for the sheer shock value alone, then a word like "aggressive" or "immature" might apply, but for me a casual use of profanity (or for that matter, a creative use of profanity) speaks of nothing but honesty. A journalist willing to put his or her true feelings out there without waltzing behind a mask of politically correct bullshit just seems more real to me.

Swearing? Honestly I don't really give a damn.

I agree completely. One critique I notice whenever it happens is when the game is rated for children E or E+10 the article/review/quicklook and they curse in it.

@BrainSpecialist said:

 It comes off as aggressive and immature 

I disagree! Swearing is a totally legitimate way to express yourself, it doesn't weaken your argument or severely alter your tone, or make you sound immature or unprofessional. Seriously, you have to stop thinking of swearing as "swearing". It's only another way to express yourself, and when used in the right place, it only makes the article better.  If anything, i'm uncomfortable with journalists who claims to put their own personality in their writing, yet refrain from swearing once in a while when the topic totally warrants a fuck or a shit based on their point of view of it. That just feels fake

They are adults using language that adults use. And who are you to determine what is considered unprofessional in video game industry journalism? I'm sure they consider their words carefully and cut their losses for people that can't handle it.

I fail to see any swearing in the article you linked to.

Edit: Oh wait, the word shitty. Not bothered one bit.

@BrainSpecialist said:

 It comes off as aggressive and immature 

Not at all! Swearing is a totally legitimate way to express yourself, it doesn't weaken your argument or severely alter your tone, or make you sound immature or unprofessional. Seriously, you have to stop thinking of swearing as "swearing". It's only another way to express yourself, and when used in the right place, it only makes the article better.  If anything, i'm uncomfortable with journalists who claims to put their own personality in their writing, yet refrain from swearing once in a while when the topic totally warrants a fuck or a shit based on their point of view of it. That just feels fake

I didn't notice. I suppose I swear too much and have become too accustomed to swearing, when with friends, at work and pretty much everywhere else in my life that the concept of 'swearing' isn't something I think about to any great degree anymore.

So I guess I disagree.

op is a .........

Individual swear words don't bother me a lot, but the tone of many articles do. Many of Alex's articles are off-putting to me, but the guy's personality plays perfectly to the angry nerd segment of Giantbomb so I suppose that's not going to change. Now, if there were two Patrick Klepek's...

I think this is more an insecurity on your part about your hobby, Games can be seen as juvenile so I can understand why you'd worry things like that can tarnish it's reputation as a legitimate pastime. An example of somebody in the mainstream who swears is Charlie Brooker who writes incredibly elaborate sometimes foul mouthed articles for a broadsheet newspaper.

Don't worry about it, especially on a website that's all about personality and real human beings.

What the fuck is up with everyone worrying about Giant Bomb's professionalism when it comes to news today?

He said "shitty." It's not a big deal. This isn't the Wall Street Journal or New York Times.
Your mind would fucking explode if you went over to Destructoid.

They should age gate articles.

@supermike6 said:

What the fuck is up with everyone worrying about Giant Bomb's professionalism when it comes to news today?

Because we care.

That just how GB rolls. If you can't handle it go to IGN...

op is a .........

@supermike6 said:

What the fuck is up with everyone worrying about Giant Bomb's professionalism when it comes to news today?

Because we care.

Why are there all these topics complaining about GiantBomb today?

@Dany said:

@supermike6 said:

What the fuck is up with everyone worrying about Giant Bomb's professionalism when it comes to news today?

Because we care.

why don't you try caring about things that are actually important

@supermike6 said:

@Dany said:

@supermike6 said:

What the fuck is up with everyone worrying about Giant Bomb's professionalism when it comes to news today?

Because we care.

Stop it. Caring is for pussies.

Yeah, and nobody likes pussies. Wait ...

I agree, it is slightly off putting if you're new to the site and don't know how GB rolls

I like angry Alex articles.

While I think that Alex is informative while entertaining and witty, he occasionally does cross the line into pure "Kotaku sensationalism" territory, which is just shitty.

@BrainSpecialist said:

 It comes off as aggressive and immature 

Not at all. Swearing is a totally legitimate way to express yourself, it doesn't weaken your argument or severely alter your tone, or make you sound immature or unprofessional.Seriously, you have to stop thinking of swearing as "swearing". It's only another way to express yourself, and when used in the right place, it only makes the article better.  If anything, i'm uncomfortable with journalists who claim to put their own personality in their writing, yet refrain from swearing once in a while when the topic totally warrants a fuck or a shit based on their point of view of it. That just feels fake

I think that Patrick's actual reporting-oriented articles really put all the other crud to shame.  Sometimes I wonder if the Giant Bomb team knows anything about journalism.  Swearing in "news" articles doesn't do my rambling mind any favors.

@Hailinel: and that is my issue with some of his articles

@Laketown said:

@Dany said:

@supermike6 said:

What the fuck is up with everyone worrying about Giant Bomb's professionalism when it comes to news today?

Because we care.

why don't you try caring about things that are actually important

Critiquing a website I pay for is not that time consuming.

@NeverDave said:

An example of somebody in the mainstream who swears is Charlie Brooker who writes incredibly elaborate sometimes foul mouthed articles for a broadsheet newspaper.

Like I mentioned in the OP, I'm not against swearing in blogs or comments like how Charlie Brooker writes for the Guardian, but I am against it in news articles.

I tend to agree. Swearing everywhere else is perfectly fine, but when you are reporting the news you want to be a professional as possible. Who knows someday that article might be used on a much larger scope than just a game website. By no means am i saying anything bad about giant bomb they can run the site how ever the fuck they want to. But if it was me this is one area where I would be as professional as possible.

If someone is going to be put off Giant Bomb based on a swear in an article, what are they going to think as soon as they start a Quick Look? Or listen to a Bombcast? If they can't handle swearing they're really not going to enjoy Giant Bomb.

This blanket view of how the news 'should be' is strange, what about consistency in what they do?

However much it doesn't bother me, I still think it shouldn't happen. If us users aren't allowed to curse in thread titles because it is on the front page and people may see and it be turned away (or whatever) those people who don't know the site are more likely to view the news articles than they are the forums.

But hey separate rules for the leaders than the peons.

You know what Giant Bomb needs, it needs more people like Jim Sterling. Just look at his professionalism

@BrainSpecialist said:

 It comes off as aggressive and immature 

Not at all. Swearing is a totally legitimate way to express yourself, it doesn't weaken your argument or severely alter your tone, or make you sound immature or unprofessional.Seriously, you have to stop thinking of swearing as "swearing". It's only another way to express yourself, and when used in the right place, it only makes the article better.  If anything, i'm uncomfortable with journalists who claim to put their own personality in their writing, yet refrain from swearing once in a while when the topic totally warrants a fuck or a shit based on their point of view of it. That just feels fake

Man life is gonna kick your ass if this bothers you.

This site is about a fun community for adult gamers. It is clear through all the content that it is not directed at immature kids or women that can't handle a little language. The podcast alone is evidence of that with the classic Vinny C bomb and I for one find this site one of the most relaxed and friendly game sites out there, hell the only one.

I simply enjoy the atmosphere here, shits, fucks and all.

Also the news is the LAST thing that will draw people here.

It's fucking videogame news.

If they were writing about earthquake casualties in a third world country, I'm sure they would be suitably sombre. However, when the most dire 'news' being reported involves a kerfuffle over pre-order bonuses, I think they can lose the news reader decorum, no?

But they aren't. They are writing, recording, and filming content on games, and doing so with a universally humorous, personality-driven way. Why is this any different to a QL?

Honestly, it's like some of you people completely miss the fucking point.

I honestly never notice swearing in text anymore, though I guess it could be a bit shocking to someone used to a much more homogenized Internet. But I like that they give themselves the freedom to do that. GB should be at least a little bit niche. I mean, look at how they introduce themselves to people clicking over from the TIME feature.

Giant Bomb is one of TIME's 50 Best Websites of 2011 and we're into murder, dirty magazines, and viewers like you.

I do not mind the swearing myself, but as always, swearing is low form of word replacement. There are so many words out there to express a person feelings towards a certain object or person and we narrow it down to a few simple words because the mass isn't educated enough to grasp a larger vocabulary. I am not representing GiantBomb in this scenario, but a people in general who cannot find a word similar to a curse word, so they just go with it.

Honestly I doubt many of the potential userbase for Giant Bomb are going to be scared off by a little colourful language. I also agree with Ahmad that swear words are a perfectly legitimate part of the English language to use for writing and don't convey anything about the maturity or professionalism of the person using them.

  The fuck you talkin' about?

@Gamer_152 said:

Honestly I doubt many of the potential userbase for Giant Bomb are going to be scared off by a little colourful language. I also agree with Ahmad that swear words are a perfectly legitimate part of the English language to use for writing and don't convey anything about the maturity or professionalism of the person using them.

Except that it does, particularly in certain professional settings. The office I work at prefers that everyone keep the cursing out of their vocabulary while at the office. Many businesses are very much the same. And frankly, it can be rude when people cuss for the mere sake of cussing and lame when someone attempts to be funny by just inserting curse words. Are curses part of the English language? Yes. But that doesn't mean that people should expect to use them wherever and whenever they feel like it without consequence.

Also one thing that's getting overlooked is that news readers and reporters aren't putting their own opinion on anything which is why they don't swear, they're just repeating facts. It's been said a whole bunch but it's true this website is about personalities, therefore they act like human beings and don't just parrot out a list of facts, if you don't wan't that then why are you here?