The rules are constantly reviewed and are here to ensure no-one is offended, upset or otherwise. We have a mixtures of ages, races, religions, etc here. One word may not be offensive to one person but it may to another, the forums are run to be as accommodating to everyone as possible. There is never a need to use language that could be deemed offensive and that is the main reason for it being restricted within the forums.
As for "cotton-wooling" the forum, we don't. If we did, we'd be a lot tougher than we are, given the number of members we have it's quite obvious people are happy with how it is run and we have a suggestions board for exactly the reason it suggests. The forums are run by the community, all staff members were community members long before they became staff.