Ensmurfenising
I am one of several moderators on a discussion forum. Like forums everywhere, things can get a little heated, usually because people are overly aggressive.
Many people are familiar with BoingBoing’s disemvoweling moderation technique. I like it. I’ve used it. It works to defuse situations.
Yesterday I invented (at least, I can’t recall if I’d heard of it before) a new, similar, technique: ensmurfenising.
The Smurfs have a strange way of speaking, replacing many normal words with “smurf” or some variation thereof. “I went rafting of the river yesterday. It was great,” becomes, “I went smurfing on the river yesterday. It was smurfy.”
In the case of an aggressive post on a forum, usually replete with swearing, ensmurfenising works by replacing at minimum all profanity with “smurf” or a derivation thereof. This can be extended as the need arises. “You’re a fucking idiot,” becomes “you’re a smurfing smurf”.
Like disemvoweling, ensmurfenising works by leaving the edited post intact but making the poster look foolish. It’s also quite funny.
