Pre-submit profanity filter

[slugg]

I recently got an infraction that started with an altercation about the use of an allegedly profane word. That got me thinking - why leave it up to the mods to decide what is and isn't profane when a computer can do it for us? And what if we aren't native English speakers, such as myself, that may not know that a particular word is considered profane?

I say remove the human element from the equation. Make the submit button kick off some JavaScript that checks your text for bad words.

Now here's one very important feature: it must be defeatable. You *need* to be able to override it because we can't guarantee such a script to be absolutely perfect.

So that comes to the next feature: there should be some kind of flag on a post that shows that the poster circumvented the profanity check. Why does this matter? Because for example, if I say the word "poop" without turning off the profanity filter, I should not get an infraction, warning, or whatever. If later, the mods decide to change te rules, the blacklist of words should be changed, then I would no longer be allowed to submit the word "poop" without explicitly turning off the filter. Mods would then know which posts went through with and without the filter and be able to swing the ban-hammer with confidence.

Thoughts?

 

[ViRGE]

Keep in mind that profanity is allowed in the social forums. So a blanket ban would not work.

 

[slugg]

Keep in mind that profanity is allowed in the social forums. So a blanket ban would not work.

Yes. So another requirement would be per-forum configuration. So for example, ATOT's filter would have nothing in its blacklist, while the politics forum would have quite a bit.

 

[olds]

I've always though the present system worked fine.
Which forum were you in when you used profanity?

 

[MongGrel]

I've always though the present system worked fine.
Which forum were you in when you used profanity?

Myself also.

You have to watch where you are posting at sometimes.

 

[slugg]

I've always though the present system worked fine.
Which forum were you in when you used profanity?

I didn't use profanity. The moderator made a mistake. So what I'm proposing here would basically eliminate (or at least come close to it) human error.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

I didn't use profanity. The moderator made a mistake. So what I'm proposing here would basically eliminate (or at least come close to it) human error.

Me neither, you dad blasted snooch kissing hamster gobbler. I hope your shmeg licking weasel humping fish lips rot in camel spit! Tis the season for seasoning. Let's leave the digital deadbeat diirt bag binary butt wads out of this!

 

[ViRGE]

I didn't use profanity. The moderator made a mistake. So what I'm proposing here would basically eliminate (or at least come close to it) human error.

So in other words you're whining about getting infracted. Gotcha.:|

What you probably want is Moderator Discussions where you can bring up the issue with the mods.

 

[slugg]

I can see how you'd think this is me whining about the infraction. I'm whining in the moderation forum about that already, but you can't see it because it's pseudo-private.

This thread is about an enhancement to the forum. It will help both moderators and honest users.

 

[slugg]

Me neither, you dad blasted snooch kissing hamster gobbler. I hope your shmeg licking weasel humping fish lips rot in camel spit! Tis the season for seasoning. Let's leave the digital deadbeat diirt bag binary butt wads out of this!

I love you. Lol

 

[MongGrel]

I can see how you'd think this is me whining about the infraction. I'm whining in the moderation forum about that already, but you can't see it because it's pseudo-private.

This thread is about an enhancement to the forum. It will help both moderators and honest users.

You usually shouldn't start things related to that in public.

But you've been here much longer than I, so will probably get a lot of leeway there.

 

[Dude111]

Keep in mind that profanity is allowed in the social forums. So a blanket ban would not work.

Some SW (SMF) has an option the user can select to disable the filter FOR THEM ONLY so they would see swearing on every message base while everyone else would only see stars instead.....

Is that possible on VBB ViRGE?

 

[SparkyJJO]

Just use the simplest and foolproof solution - maintain a cleaner dictionary.

I don't understand why people see the need to swear constantly :|

 

[slugg]

Just use the simplest and foolproof solution - maintain a cleaner dictionary.

I don't understand why people see the need to swear constantly :|

Don't assume that swearing is done constantly. And besides, sometimes a swear word is more fitting than the alternative.

As far as the software/enhancement to the forum, I'm basically just trying to automate one of the responsibilities of both mods and users. Just trying to make it easier for the honest people.

 

[ViRGE]

Is that possible on VBB ViRGE?

AFAIK, no.

 

[DrPizza]

Don't assume that swearing is done constantly. And besides, sometimes a swear word is more fitting than the alternative.

As far as the software/enhancement to the forum, I'm basically just trying to automate one of the responsibilities of both mods and users. Just trying to make it easier for the honest people.

It's kind of hard to automate it, because we usually take quite a few things into consideration. For a member in good standing, such as yourself, we'd probably just either send a PM requesting you to edit it (or what I and some others do, simply edit it out, and leave a mod note of why it was removed to serve as a reminder to others to watch their language.) But, if the foul language was used by someone who has been warned over and over, including formal warnings and infractions, it might lead to a different response, such as a vacation from posting for a little while. Or, maybe a first time offense could receive a stiffer punishment if they decided to let out a tirade of f-bombs.

So, the automated method would need to have different levels for different words, different reactions to different posters, taking into account their past history, etc. It would wind up a bit more complex than the simple system we currently employ in which language that shouldn't be present is (usually) fairly trivial to deal with.

And, in case you felt that some word, let's say, "doody" isn't really a swear word, (and I'd agree, for doody), then you can simply make a thread in moderator discussions and we'll take care of it if we agree with you.

So far, this has generally worked quite well without too many people getting upset over it.

 

[slugg]

Suppose "doody" we're banned. Regardless of the poster's standing, it will be edited out, right? So what does the case-by-case enforcement have to do with it? I still see this as a blacklist per forum. It shouldn't be difficult to implement, plus it'll help avoid annoying situations for both mods and normal users.

 

[DrPizza]

Suppose "doody" we're banned. Regardless of the poster's standing, it will be edited out, right? So what does the case-by-case enforcement have to do with it? I still see this as a blacklist per forum. It shouldn't be difficult to implement, plus it'll help avoid annoying situations for both mods and normal users.

Well, one of the difficulties in implementing it is that vBulletin doesn't have a forum by forum blacklist capability. So, it's a dead end from the start.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Something like that would have to be implemented with a custom code modification. If you haven't noticed by now, apart from the moderation, these forums are pretty much on autopilot. There aren't a lot of technical resources behind them.

 

[slugg]

Well, one of the difficulties in implementing it is that vBulletin doesn't have a forum by forum blacklist capability. So, it's a dead end from the start.

Isn't VBulletin extensible? Can't we add it?

 

[IronWing]

I kind of liked the approach taken by one forum I used to frequent where naughty words were automatically substituted with really silly phrases.

 

[Dude111]

Yes I remember one like that along time ago I was on

(I forgot which site it was)

 

[norseamd]

I don't understand why people see the need to swear constantly

(NSFW swearing)

http://images7.memedroid.com/images/UPLOADED30/53efba219ecee.jpeg

 

[balloonshark]

I know with phpbb it is somehow possible to use a blacklist and give the user the option to allow or disallow adult words. The blacklist could be set to on as the default setting.

Giving users options is always a good idea imho. I see something like this as win win. People get to choose what they read and there should be less need for moderation. Heck, it would be even greater if the user could modify the blacklist to suite themselves.