I thought that cp*p is some kind of ugly cuda pointer declaration :D And being non-standard C++ syntax it wouldn’t compile.

Because I know it is not technically crap, a lot of competent people worked on it, most with good intentions. I suppose it is better described as a cleverly designed Trojan horse than can infect your software and make that software become crap, in the sense that it becomes harder to maintain, increases code duplication, messes with your build system, ties your build system to platforms that have their toolchain binaries available, etc., etc., without bringing any long-term benefits over learning things the hard way.

Normative behavior has shifted due to pervasive censorship and surveillance.

* is used to give emphasis and show that they are using the word as curse word rather just calling it bad

Platform may retroactively make up and enforce rules that makes your content violate terms (and remove them)

See YouTube.

It may be to bypass censorship, rather than self-censorship. Some platforms block or shadowban comments with curse words. Not sure about this platform.

cause you might go to the eternal flames if you say a no-no word online

IMO cr*p and crap are both valid but separate swear words. People have a wide option to choose from when they want to swear, and people like variety (much much more than LLMs do). People also tend to influence each other with their usages: cr*p is popular because it is popular.

Otherwise cr*p is just as good as crap, shit, horseshit, poopoo or such.

edit: * replaced with \* as HN interprets asterisks as formatting for emphasis. Thx latexr for informing me

What if a toddler is browser HN and sees the curse word?

His kids were probably watching him type over his shoulder and he didn’t want to hear, “Daddy, what does crap mean?”

My guess is that jacobgorm will not reply. I would love a reply, because I want to understand how others think.

I believe we'll be left to wonder.