ok in all seriousness

i think when people type obscenities in their posts and get it replaced with **** it tells them "hmm yeah that doesnt look very good, i just won't swear in my posts in the future." if it's replaced by then they go "WOW ING AWESOME I'LL SWEAR ALL THE ING TIME." but **** looks lame. and it makes it obvious that there was something there to begin with. whereas with you have no clue anything was there.

at the very least, i'd like to have it all replaced by      or ____ so you can TELL that something was there

but bleh, it looks as if you guys are already decided on the issue. it just seems to me that if someone sees **** they'll realise that they're not supposed to use that language anyway.