Should you say it?
Along the forums, especially in the Player Behavior section, you will find people trying to justify why they shouldn't be banned. One argument I see come up many times is that the community needs to get thicker skin. Another frequent one is people comparing to real life situations. So I'm going to take a page from the second part, the real life aspect, and hopefully help people learn if they should say something or not.
Now, I want you to picture yourself at school; not College though. Elementary, or perhaps Middle (Junior High). Some of you may even be able to picture High School, but not College (many College Professors tend to be very lax. Although they too have a point.)
So we are in school and the teacher is doing their lesson. We know the rules of the class and wait until we are in a discussion about the subject. The are two rules: 1. Be mindful of what you say, and 2. Take turns speaking.
You wait for your turn and right before it is, one of you class mates says the thing you wanted to say. You begin to get upset and are about to shout out in rage at this other student, when you suddenly remember the rules. What are you going to say? Do you use foul language in front of the teacher, knowing you will be punished for it? (By foul I don't just mean curse words, but also inappropriate name calling/slurs.)
You ask to pass so you can come up with another answer. As you think you listen to your next classmates answer. They don't agree with your views on the subject. You immediately interrupt to say that they are wrong. You look around and see everyone looking at you, embarrassment setting in. Do you apologize and sit down? Do you instead keep yelling at the student for having a different point of view or opinion? Offering no argument, just using foul language to belittle them?
If you took the Foul Language path chances are you got in trouble with the teacher, and depending on how often it happened; you may have been sent to the principal.
"OP, we aren't in school though!" You are right, but I want you to think about this before you type in chat next time. If you were a student, would you say it in front of your teacher? If the answer is no, then chances are Riot and the community looks down on it too.
"OP, this is a competitive game!" It can be, you are right. Then change the idea of teacher to a referee. Are you going to say anything exceptionally foul in front of a referee? (by which I mean can hear you as well.) Which will risk you getting removed from the game?
I shouldn't need to do this but: Disclaimer: These are purely my thoughts on how to avoid saying something you aren't sure you will get banned for. My method of determining the examples is that I am a teacher.
If you have any ideas how to improve this post, please share. If you dislike the post, please explain what you don't agree with.
See you in the comments below. [slayer-jinx-wink]