Swear filter
 

  You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more

[Closed] Swear filter

71 Posts
27 Users
0 Reactions
116 Views
Posts: 0
Free Member
Topic starter
 

I like the old swear filter on forums, I can rant away and know that the robots will clean me up for the prewatershed crowd. However having recently been moderated here for a low level swear word I have some questions:
1) Is it Ok to just rely on it or should I put some effort into not swearing, is there like 3 filters and you are out?
2) Why was my low level word (its like twit but with a different vowel, and it had ted on the end, twitted if you like) moderated and not filtered? Was that just a filter oversight that has been corrected?


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 6:16 am
 Drac
Posts: 50352
 

**** would not appear as the filter would catch it, if you use techniques to try and get around the filter you will get a warning. That includes replacing the a single letter or more with a symbol. I can't see a warning for you so not sure what you offence was.

If you must swear type the word whole, if it's allowed it'll be filtered. If it is it'll get through or it's a word that hasn't been added yet.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 6:37 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

The swear filter is ********


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 6:42 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
Topic starter
 

**** would not appear as the filter would catch it

Mine was Twitted but with a different vowel? Have you added that now then?


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 6:44 am
Posts: 10474
Free Member
Posts: 43345
Full Member
 

Is "twitted with a different vowel" even a swear word? I just thought it referred to hitting something, e.g. "I twtied that tree"


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 6:47 am
Posts: 13192
Free Member
 

I propose a vote to end the use of the ****ing swear filter. We're ****ing adults for ****s sake we should be able to swear as much as we ****ing well want. It's disgustingly draconian.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 6:48 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
Topic starter
 

Scotroutes, that is what I thought, but I would have expected it to be filtered anyway. However it is at the end of this post so perhaps Drac can have a look and enlighten us?

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/2am-party-pooper#post-8497933


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 6:50 am
Posts: 10474
Free Member
 

Bother!


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 6:50 am
Posts: 3845
Full Member
 

A forum I'm on has a semi-comedic swear filter. It changes the F word to "fark", A**-hole to "peanut" and the Anglo-Saxon for female genitalia to "Daffodil" .
It is however far from infallible, as you can type in compounds of "Daffodil," thanks mainly to a town in North Lincs; Sdaffodilhorpe. 😀


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 6:51 am
Posts: 13741
Full Member
 

[img] [/img]


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 6:52 am
Posts: 12329
Full Member
 

Ere Jekyll, I've got a bike named after you.

Shit bollocks piss cock fart face?


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 6:54 am
 Drac
Posts: 50352
 

Mine was Twitted but with a different vowel? Have you added that now then?

Mods can't change the filter but the answer is no.

Is "twitted with a different vowel" even a swear word? I just thought it referred to hitting something, e.g. "I twtied that tree"

Good point. Also it can mean to be very drunk.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 6:55 am
Posts: 0
Full Member
 

So, so you prefer to use swear words rather than the beautiful English language ?
Neat.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 6:56 am
 Drac
Posts: 50352
 

However it is at the end of this post so perhaps Drac can have a look and enlighten us?

Sorry I got bored. 😀

Not sure who modded that one and your context was being drunk. I think you were just unlucky but you got no warning so no black balls against you.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 6:58 am
Posts: 13164
Full Member
 

no black balls against you.
Racism or something else? 😆


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 7:02 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
Topic starter
 

Sorry I got bored.

No need to apologise, as Cougar said chat forum=sarcasm, I was happy to pass it back...

Not sure who modded that one and your context was being drunk. I think you were just unlucky but you got no warning so no black balls against you.

No objection to the moderation, just wanted to know why. So in essence it wasn't a real crime, just tidying up?


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 7:12 am
 Drac
Posts: 50352
 

No objection to the moderation, just wanted to know why. So in essence it wasn't a real crime, just tidying up?

Yeah seems to be that because it's a borderline swear word unlike the shortened version.

Racism or something else?

Pool.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 7:18 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

I'm going to start going for the Firefly tactic of swearing in Mandarin.So you are all ????????????? ?( Liou coe shway duh biao-tze huh hoe-tze duh ur-tze ).


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 7:21 am
Posts: 1975
Free Member
 

01010011 01110111 01100101 01100001 01110010 00100000 01100110 01101001 01101100 01110100 01100101 01110010 01110011 00100000 01100001 01110010 01100101 00100000 01100001 00100000 01101100 01101111 01100001 01100100 01110011 00100000 01101111 01100110 00100000 01110100 01110111 01100001 01110100 01110100 01101001 01101110 01100111 00100000 01100010 01101111 01101100 01101100 01101111 01100011 01101011 01110011

Even better considering the demographic on here?


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 7:27 am
Posts: 22922
Full Member
 

I just thought it referred to hitting something

It sweary-ness has a bit of regional variation to it - in some parts of the UK* its considered a pretty high-grade swear.

*The Nether Regions perhaps


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 7:31 am
Posts: 1975
Free Member
 

.--- ..- ... - ..-. --- .-. .- .-.. .-.. - .... . -... . .- .-. -.. -.-- .- -..- . -- ..- .-. -.. . .-. .. -. --. ... ..- .-. ...- .. ...- .- .-.. .. ... - ... --- ..- - - .... . .-. . ·-·-·- -... --- .-.. .-.. --- -.-. -.- ...


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 8:46 am
Posts: 22922
Full Member
 

[IMG] [/IMG]


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 9:03 am
Posts: 10474
Free Member
 

I've just seen bearnecessities' response to my edited post and I can't stop laughing. I really need to grow up. I may have left it too late...


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 9:41 am
Posts: 5559
Free Member
 

fun fact i got banned for swear filter avoidance for writing piss but as pi55 bit piss gets through so just trust the filter and be careful with your spelling.

I once did typo a swear filtered word but reported myself and they were ok about it.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 9:47 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

I just used a word from local dialect which got past the filter, no deliberate avoidance and still got in trouble. I conclude that the Mods are filthy racists.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 9:55 am
Posts: 5559
Free Member
 

TBH its fair they have leeway can you imagine this place with no moderation and constant avoidance of the rules

SHUDDERS

As always i do not agree with every decision but i am happy we have them here.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 9:58 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

It'd be a lot like Mums Net but more whiney?


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 10:01 am
 Drac
Posts: 50352
 

It'd be a lot like Mums Net but more whiney?

And less topic sections.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 10:13 am
Posts: 1014
Free Member
 

I called cougar a fud last week....

Maybe it makes a fanny of detecting Scottish....


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 11:23 am
Posts: 77347
Free Member
 

Fear, uncertainty and doubt?


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 11:29 am
Posts: 43345
Full Member
 

A guy called druidh once got a ban for referring to the residents of the village of Nigg in Scotland. If it's so offensive a word, perhaps that should be included in the swear filter too.

Other nominations would be;

Katie Hopkins
Piers Morgan


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 11:30 am
 Drac
Posts: 50352
 

Never heard of him.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 11:33 am
Posts: 77347
Free Member
 

Not sure who modded that one and your context was being drunk. I think you were just unlucky but you got no warning so no black balls against you.

I'm sure - it was me. I edited the post because it's something which isn't in the filter but (arguably?) should be. The filter uses an exact match which nicely avoids the S****horpe Problem but means that it's ineffective against variations that haven't been explicitly added (*er, *ed etc)
or portmanteau swearing. Which is fine, we can manually police the ones that slip through the net.

And yeah, it wasn't intentional on your part, so would've been churlish to give you a warning for it.

fun fact i got banned for swear filter avoidance for writing piss but as pi55 bit piss gets through so just trust the filter and be careful with your spelling.

I suspect that a) I know who did that (though it's unlikely to have been a ban rather than a warning unless it was the latest of several warnings), and b) it was a long time ago. We've had a discussion around this and it shouldn't happen now.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 11:37 am
Posts: 25815
Full Member
 

Drac - Moderator

Never heard of him

Piers Morgan? - he's editor in chief of the ****t and S****horpe Herald


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 11:40 am
 Drac
Posts: 50352
 

Piers Morgan? - he's editor in chief of the ****t and S****horpe Herald

I hope he's not from Nigg.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 11:42 am
Posts: 77347
Free Member
 

A guy called druidh once got a ban for referring to the residents of the village of Nigg in Scotland.

I don't remember that incident and can't immediately see it in the history either so can't comment. However,

If it's so offensive a word, perhaps that should be included in the swear filter too.

We discussed this at length a little while ago. It's a swear filter, not a censorship tool. Whilst "****" might well be offensive, it's not a swear word in and of itself. Moderating such usage is best left to the bobbies rather than an automatic speed camera.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 11:45 am
Posts: 13134
Full Member
 

It always amuses me that the behemoth that is mumsnet allows such fruity language seemingly without excluding some of the more easily enraged (judging by some of the responses that Mary Whitehouse would have been proud of) yet here at STW most are so well behaved and twitted (with a vowel exchange) is worthy of a modding.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 11:47 am
Posts: 5559
Free Member
 

nah he is from the countryside


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 11:48 am
Posts: 11605
Free Member
 

And yeah, it wasn't intentional on your part, so would've been churlish to give you a warning for it.

We've had a discussion around this and it shouldn't happen now.

Hope so, I got a 3 week ban without even getting any opportunity to defend myself after "deliberately" avoiding the filter (in fact I was about to edit the portmanteau I wrote when I realised it got through but the hammer had been swung before I even got a chance). I think out of three warnings only one was deliberate.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 11:49 am
Posts: 77347
Free Member
 

I just thought it referred to hitting something

It sweary-ness has a bit of regional variation to it - in some parts of the UK* its considered a pretty high-grade swear.

There probably is a good deal of regional variation and it's a very difficult call. Places like the aforementioned place in the Scottish Isles (there's two IIRC, one in the Shetlands and one in the Orkneys) and the place in Austria that keeps getting its signs stolen just muddy the water. Should we be censoring place names? That seems madness to me, but then, give an inch and you lot will take a light year. (-:

So, the rule of thumb I apply is manual swear moderation is "would I say it in front of my mother?"


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 11:54 am
Posts: 1014
Free Member
 

@cougar, nope fanny and fud are pretty much interchangeable. Indeed with the word as per OP.

Oh, and there's a ****t in Shetland too, out the Bixter/Walls Road way.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 11:58 am
Posts: 22922
Full Member
 

A guy called druidh...

There isn't a filter for illeism yet 🙂


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 12:00 pm
Posts: 5559
Free Member
 

So, the rule of thumb I apply is manual swear moderation is "would I say it in front of my mother?
she is clearly way politer than mine then 😉


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 12:00 pm
Posts: 22922
Full Member
 

"would I say it in front of my mother?"

I think theres a fair bit of regional variations in mothers too 🙂

You just have to mention Winston Churchill to my mum and the air turns blue 😆


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 12:03 pm
Posts: 77347
Free Member
 

Hope so, I got a 3 week ban without even getting any opportunity to defend myself after "deliberately" avoiding the filter (in fact I was about to edit the portmanteau I wrote when I realised it got through but the hammer had been swung before I even got a chance). I think out of three warnings only one was deliberate.

This one I can see. It was over a year ago and it was your fourth warning in a many months (one of which wasn't swear filter avoidance (but was still sweary)).

If you felt it was unfair you could've explained and we'd have reviewed it. The majority of post-ban emails we get are people throwing their toys out of the pram and so get ignored, but if anyone goes "hey, look, sorry, it was a mistake, I was going to change it" it'd probably be overturned.

Despite common complaints to the contrary, people very very rarely get a ban for a single offence unless it's gross misconduct.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 12:05 pm
Posts: 77347
Free Member
 

@cougar, nope fanny and fud are pretty much interchangeable. Indeed with the word as per OP.

Fair enough.

TBH, 'fanny' is an innocuous enough word, it's akin to 'bum' and 'willy'. In the US you can buy fanny packs, which initially amazed but then ultimately disappointed me.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 12:07 pm
Posts: 77347
Free Member
 

I think theres a fair bit of regional variations in mothers too

Perhaps a better rule might be "would I say it in front of someone else's mother?"


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 12:08 pm
Posts: 13134
Full Member
 

. Places like the aforementioned place in the Scottish Isles (there's two IIRC, one in the Shetlands and one in the Orkneys)

One near Aberdeen and one on the Cromarty Firth. I one lost my heart to a girl from Nigg (the Cromarty one). You can fill in the rest.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 12:09 pm
Posts: 11605
Free Member
 

If you felt it was unfair you could've explained and we'd have reviewed it. The majority of post-ban emails we get are people throwing their toys out of the pram and so get ignored, but if anyone goes "hey, look, sorry, it was a mistake, I was going to change it" it'd probably be overturned

I did, and I got nothing in reply, quite polite too. Guess I annoyed someone.

At the end of the day we're all adults and it's not like this is either a workplace or school so it does come across as heavy handed. You can say that people shouldn't have to see that sort of thing but then the childish bickering and conflations of pedophilia with other transgressions is also completely unnecessary but then nothing gets done about that. Of course a better technical solution would be to ban words containing and then make exceptions from there but that would require some technical thought and effort and we all know how likely that is 😉


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 12:51 pm
 Drac
Posts: 50352
 

TBH, 'fanny' is an innocuous enough word, it's akin to 'bum' and 'willy'. In the US you can buy fanny packs, which initially amazed but then ultimately disappointed me.

Don't forget it's also a name from a long line of Fannys.

I think out of three warnings only one was deliberate.

Way more than 3. 😀

I did, and I got nothing in reply, quite polite too. Guess I annoyed someone.

Are we were busy doing other stuff.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 1:02 pm
Posts: 77347
Free Member
 

I did, and I got nothing in reply, quite polite too. Guess I annoyed someone.

My mistake, so you did. And you did get a reply, I've just read it.

it does come across as heavy handed.

It has been in the past, certainly. As I said though, it's been discussed since, so hopefully should have improved now.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 1:10 pm
Posts: 43345
Full Member
 

If it's so offensive a word, perhaps that should be included in the swear filter too.

We discussed this at length a little while ago. It's a swear filter, not a censorship tool. Whilst "****" might well be offensive, it's not a swear word in and of itself.
Ah, that makes sense, but then why the ban for use of the word (I appreciate you may not know the answer)?


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 4:18 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

[quote=Cougar ]The filter uses an exact match which nicely avoids the S****horpe Problem but means that it's ineffective against variations that haven't been explicitly added (*er, *ed etc)

Good job - wouldn't want to get into ho****er for using a totally innocent word.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 4:26 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

I find the word **** significantly more offensive than the word ****, anybody that thinks otherwise is a bellend.
.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 4:30 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
Topic starter
 

Cougar-cheers for the explanation, I shall continue to rely on the filter....


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 8:21 pm
Posts: 11605
Free Member
 

Did I? Seriously, didn't hit my inbox. It's done now in any case, just glad there's some room for common sense being given these days.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 8:41 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

I swear a lot and am not easily offended, but I would like to point out that "twit" with a different vowel is on a par with the "c-word" in some areas of the country.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 9:07 pm
Posts: 43345
Full Member
 

And in some parts of the country the "c-word" is a term of affection.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 9:12 pm
Posts: 77347
Free Member
 

I find the word **** significantly more offensive than the word ****, anybody that thinks otherwise is a bellend.

But as I said, it's a swear word filter, not an offence filter.

And in some parts of the country the "c-word" is a term of affection.

Context is king. I'm cheerfully happy to be called an effing cee by a good mate, it is indeed a term of endearment in that context. However, it's still swearing and I'd wince if it happened in front of my mother.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 9:15 pm
Posts: 77347
Free Member
 

This is the previous discussion:

http://singletrackmag.com/forum/topic/is-it-racist

It's a 25-page mini-epic but pages 9 through 11 pretty much cover what I'm trying to convey here. I'm not going to repeat myself over another two dozen pages of squabble, go read it.


 
Posted : 29/05/2017 9:20 pm
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Perhaps a better rule might be "would I say it in front of someone else's mother?"

Given that I'm in my mid 30s, most most of my female friends are somebody else's mothers. Some swear even more than me.

TBH having a swear filter on an internet forum is about as effectual as trying to use a sticking plaster to plug a hole in the Three Gorges Dam, especially one as ineffectual as STW's. But, it seems to keep you mods happy and sort of protects you from naughty words I suppose.


 
Posted : 30/05/2017 4:22 am
 Drac
Posts: 50352
 

And yet some how it works.


 
Posted : 30/05/2017 4:35 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Who is it for? The average user here seems to be a grumpy mid 50's Scotsman.


 
Posted : 30/05/2017 6:13 am
Posts: 24498
Free Member
 

I think you'll find it's a grumpy mid 50's IT working Audi driving scotchman.


 
Posted : 30/05/2017 6:28 am
Posts: 7812
Full Member
 

Who is it for? The average user here seems to be a grumpy mid 50's Scotsman.

It's here I would guess because

Not everyone fits that demographic

Anyone can read the forum without registering (I think?), which would include minors (as opposed to miners)

Because there's a decent, nicely written magazine behind all this and the owners presumably don't want it cheapened by mumsnet/Facebook group swearathons that detract from the content.

Have you read the content of some of the Facebook MTB groups? The unfiltered language, uninterrupted and casual throwing around of F's and Jeff's just makes most of the comments unreadable vile garbage. Not swearing forces you to write properly (well most people) and this place is imo much better for it.


 
Posted : 30/05/2017 7:12 am
Posts: 34376
Full Member
 

At the end of the day we're all adults and it's not like this is either a workplace or school so it does come across as heavy handed

Admittedly I've been here for a while, but I've always known what the swear filter will, well, filter...them's the rules. It doesn't seem to distract from the forum's utility, or popularity, and hasn't ever really changed much (apart from the application nuance admitted by the mods up there). It's only heavy handed if you're continually determined to circumvent it.


 
Posted : 30/05/2017 7:25 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

And yet some how it works.

How so? The filter has been demonstrated as very easy to defeat, and there's actually far more offensive guff written that isn't picked up because it isn't a swear word. I just simply don't understand its purpose. Who are you trying to protect by stopping us from writing synonyms of
[img] [/img]

or

[img] [/img]


 
Posted : 30/05/2017 8:19 am
Posts: 43345
Full Member
 

Because there's a decent, nicely written magazine behind all this and the owners presumably don't want it cheapened by mumsnet/Facebook group swearathons that detract from the content.
The magazine contains swear words that would be filtered by the forum software. You can even link to the articles from the forum.

TBH it's just fine the way it is. Not being allowed to use a few words hopefully causes folk to raise their writing standards.


 
Posted : 30/05/2017 8:29 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

Not being allowed to use a few words hopefully causes folk to raise their writing standards.

I think that hope is very much in vain


 
Posted : 30/05/2017 8:34 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

As mentioned a few posts up, you should check out the writing standard on some other forums. Personally I have no problem at all with the swear filter - maybe it could be improved, but on the whole it works just fine. I reckon those complaining about it are mostly the ones who would pollute the forum given the chance.


 
Posted : 30/05/2017 10:55 am
Posts: 0
Free Member
 

pollute the forum given the chance

What with? Words from the English dictionary? FFS*

*For Ferret's Sake


 
Posted : 30/05/2017 12:23 pm

6 DAYS LEFT
We are currently at 95% of our target!