The purpose of writing is to communicate, and a writer has to be realistic (i.e. worry) about all aspects of how their writing choices will be interpreted.

My natural preference or habit might be to swear all the time, but when I write an HN comment I'd suppress that in order to be taken seriously. Semicolons aren't as strong as swearing, but it's hard to argue they aren't associated with a certain level of pretense in the general public's mind.