The monk silenced you must have been on the Power Users list. Generally, these people are are there because they are trusted not to abuse this authority. To date, I believe I've only used this ability twice. Both times I gave warning to the offending party that I was going to silence them if they didn't watch their language. Personally, I am very tolerant of offensive language. I have only stepped in when profanity starts getting directed at another user in anger.

Cheers,
Ovid

New address of my CGI Course.
Silence is Evil (feel free to copy and distribute widely - note copyright text)