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I just had this edit rejected, where someone was using the nonsensical syntax of "f***ing around" instead of "fucking around". Two of the three reviewers rejected the edit with the following rationale:

This edit does not make the post even a little bit easier to read, easier to find, more accurate or more accessible. Changes are either completely superfluous or actively harm readability.

How is using real spelling not making readability, and more importantly, findability? If you were looking for questions about alternatives to the various ways in which "fuck" can be used, you would want to find this question. But you won't, because without my edit, the word "fuck" doesn't even occur anywhere in it.

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    Offensive terms are generally avoided, especially in titles, but are more accepted in texts if their usage is clearly and strictly related to a question about English. On the other hand we might have many titles with fully written terms such as f..., s...., m... etc.
    – user 66974
    May 22, 2020 at 6:14
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    @Hachi I don't even know what "m..." is supposed to be.
    – Cactus
    May 22, 2020 at 6:17
  • @Hachi isn't offensiveness a property of the pairing of a word and a speaker? So different speakers might find different (if any) words offensive.
    – Cactus
    May 22, 2020 at 6:18
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    Yes, it is a question of the culture of the site which suggests you avoid writing offensive terms in full in titles.
    – user 66974
    May 22, 2020 at 6:27
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    It is a network wide policy not to allow swearwords in titles. We must abide.
    – Matt E. Эллен
    May 22, 2020 at 8:01
  • @MattE.Эллен so is it a fair summary that the question should be a. not edited in the title (i.e. leave the "f***ing" spelling of "fucking") and b. edited in the text itself for searchability?
    – Cactus
    May 22, 2020 at 8:03
  • Yes, I think that makes sense.
    – Matt E. Эллен
    May 22, 2020 at 8:06
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    In your particular edit, the OP asked for a more polite way of speaking to an uncle, rather than a more explicit wording. So that view could argue against the edit.
    – Yosef Baskin
    May 22, 2020 at 13:10
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    @YosefBaskin: I'm not sure I follow. The question is "what is a polite alternative of 'fucking around'". and I was editing the question, not changing an answer to contain a less polite alternative.
    – Cactus
    May 22, 2020 at 13:44

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While editing the body of the question does make sense, we are not allowed to have swearing in the title.

The title rule is covered here: What words are offensive in titles? What are the rules?

The discussion of offensive words, and including those words in the text of the discussion, has been acceptable here for a long while: Referencing the existence of words that may be offensive

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