Edited by author 08-29-2002 06:06 PM
I thought "pr0n" was created way back when to get around filters. I could swear back in 1995, a friend showing me usenet on campus computers said it was the only way to get to certain groups, around the campus lockdown word filter that blocked those groups.

I was under the impression it became so widespread it was just sort of a running joke. That you'd say "pr0n" instead of "porn" in email to get around your company's stupid abusive language filter, and eventually it just became a way to hint at the absurdity of controlling things based on simple word matching.