The intent behind the rules is to create an environment where everyone - sailors and the softskinned pussies alike - can be comfortable and have an enjoyable time playing a game. They are not there to infringe on your rights or enjoyment, but to be
considerate of all types of people playing the game. The filters are there for personal preference from the user's side. The channels are not moderated thoroughly or full time, the filters are put in as a backup - to see it from the other side's standpoint, filters do nothing for phrase and context.
It is rare (if it happens at all) that someone gets banned/suspended/warned for cussing in tells, guild chat, group or raid chat unless there's blatent harassment going on, so your rights to express yourself in whatever manner you choose, verbally, are not quite corked.
Here's the thing with public channel moderation:
GM's are the only ones that can see up to the high level channels. Issues and GM complaints aside, given their other duties, and how many are online at one time, there's no way they can moderate all the channels on all the servers at once and be there to warn people. So, it comes down to whether or not they are online at the time or, if the person is reported. The alternative to this is a bot moderator that, as you found with the spam filter, does not have the ability to discern "testing limits" with actual rule breaking behavior. I doubt there would be a 3 strikes/warning system implemented if a bot moderator were in place.
Game Guides can only see as high as their own level and their level varies according to tenure and position in the guide program - so one guide may only see up to 30-39, another may see as high as 40-49. Norrath is not overflowing with Guides as it is, but further, Guides are player volunteers who are often on their own, learning the ropes, and left to their subjective opinion as to what is too much - some may report it, some may let it go, some may not even watch the chat channels while they're interacting with folks in front of them.
What is that quote? "the rising tide that floats all boats drowns those strapped to the pier" - such is the case for subjective situations where one person is a bit out of line, and one person is way out of line. You could get full time moderation that doesn't allow for any leeway, and drowns the folks who just slip up - or part time moderation that misses a few things.
I swear quite a bit, myself. It doesn't offend me - unless, granted, you're screaming and swearing in my face. Heck, language is contagious to me & after 2 seasons of Deadwood, I have a hard time not calling everyone a cocksucker (I <3 Calamity Jane). But, I think there are more important battles to be fought than whether or not you can swear or be explicit in *public* chat channels.
Being curtailed on whether or not you could voice your opinions about the game (to the point you could not even compliment a GM or Guide publicly) was, IMO, a much more worthwhile fight to take on. We've seen from these forums that being able to voice those opinions can change the game experience for all of us for the better and, even better, has hobbled a few really crappy changes before they could go live.
OTOH, I don't think you're really going to bring about any worthwhile changes if you can call someone a whore - likely if they're so aggravating to you, they don't care what you think about them, so freedom to insult or not, you're still stuck with 'em unless you /ignore *them.*
So, just to clarify, I'm not on a soapbox chastising people who swear or want to fully explore their freedom of vocal expression.
I am suggesting, though, that it's more worthwhile to choose your battles and pick up something that will ultimately change your game experience for the better. Your sense of self is not going to decay and fall away if you choose to be considerate of people less jaded than yourself in a public chat channel - you're not going to be less of a person and the "thin skinned pansies" are not going to 'win' any great battle. After all, if they're overly sensitive about you swearing, they probably completely unravel at the drop of a hat outside the game. And heck, they'll probably end up in a group with you one day & you can button push all you like. ;)
The idea there is not to - again - infringe on your fun and enjoyment, but to try to create an atmosphere where church folks and naughty satan worshipping necrophiliacs can coexist in some sort of wacky harmony. I actually think it's really pretty cool that so many diverse personalities can co-exist in one place and hold one common interest.