The Nannybot is driving me nuts...

A few inconsiderate,ill mannered morons ruin it for everyone. Or as I like to put it: One guy #&*$@ his pants, and we all gotta wear diapers.

Although I am for the censorship of certain nasty words, I am against the censorship of terms such as N**i and H****r as they are historical terms from WW2 and ade in the discussion of WW2.

Once I said n**i and it made it ***, only three stars, so it's like I said something worse...

Is H****r even censored? I wouldn't be surprised...

Also, that picture with H****r, M*******i, and the Japanese General guy from WW2 is pretty cool.

"I don't give a fig" 

I dunno... its annoying when someone says 'butthole' (but not using butt) and it bleeps out hole, not butt.

BUT 'im sick and tired of these monkey fighting snakes on this monday to friday plane!" was the best line substitution ever and made that movie worth watching

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What’s worse than censoring on websites is the censoring of words on TV shows!!!!! This drives me nuts Tony Soprano isn’t a tough guy when he says mother sucker lol all they gotta do is run a disclaimer at the start of the show like is that so hard? Instead they ruin all the shows and movies

Unfortunately many people that have used these forums have proven time and time agiain that they lack the common mannors not to include offensive words in the post so this is what it has come to. A handfull of people ruining it for everyone just like always. The bigger the company the more politically correct they have to be. Get use to it. People in general have proven that they can not be trusted to follow simple rules so we end up with goofy computor programs editing our posts sometimes in confusing ways. I myself have no problem with it.

Soulcrusher

Aaron Skinner

Hans,

I just tried the three words you mentioned and they all except for ___ Tracy worked for me:

channel

Uranus

I'll check again here, but are you sure it's not a setting on your computer that's causing the censorship?

Cheers, Aaron

Oh Yeah, I'm sure alright...  Like I said, I can read the words I type, but not what others type should they use the same ones..  Glad the 'bot no longer inserts (report me!) in place though...

Think the Nanny's tryin' to do more than English?

Heaven forbid people be exposed to uncensored WORDS!  Think of the mayhem that could occur!

On another forum I frequent, it changes "bad" words into some random phrase!  For instance, the short version of Richard, starting with a "d" becomes devilsquid!  No joking!  So here I am trying to post the link to http://www.dickblick.com/ and it gets changed to devilsquid!  Needleess to say, that doesn't help.

For sports fans, remember the Patriots safety Randall Gay?  The NFL's censors wouldn't let you order his Jersey with his last name on the back because it was being censored as a "bad word!" 

I think this is getting silly.  Let people post how they like, and if their language is offensive, or violates the user agreement, then the mods can take appropriate action.

Chris

Censorship may appear in small fashion on forums and such, but ti wont get furthur then that, not for a while.  Remember, AT&T and Verizon both tried to put a ban on 4chan so those that use their services couldnt access it, they had to remove the ban both times

bbrowniii

 

Sprue-ce Goose:

 

 

bbrowniii:

 

 Beyond that, I think you are swimming against the tide.

 

 

bbrowniii

Better get used to more nannybots / censorship on the web.

It is a growing trend for a variety of reasons.

 

 

I hear ya...  doesn't mean I have to go quietly though....

Well said, Bill.

I agree with you 100%... well, since it is you, I'll go 98.6% .  I hate the idea of a nannybot, and I think some of the words it blocks are ridiculous.  I think it actually contributes to a deterioration of our ability to communicate clearly and effectively.  But, as I said to Aaron in a PM exchange, it is not something that I really feel the need to crusade about.  I might female dog and complain about it from time to time, but as you say, it is a pretty minor inconvenience and, as recent history has shown us, we'd have to put up with some pretty bad 'stuff' if it were absent....

Boyd, stop mucking about and coming off as a real punt!

The Victorians carried this concept to the extreme, and put little dresses on their piano legs so as not to inflame certain desires, and called a certain plump (and pretty tasteless!) part of a chicken "white meat" instead of, well instead of "that" word which cannot be "uddered" here.

I can appreciate wanting "clean" language, and mostly comply (having resorted to $%^& on occasion, to make a point), and have made crude attempts at enforcing that rule, but I can't talk about my wife's cancer here without resorting to a trick to bypass the nannybot. Nor can I render my gun to be in an operational mode, or to go off half-roostered, if you catch my drift.

I believe that no censorship is better than censorship that prevents clear communication, but I also appreciate FSM has to err on the side of caution. I certainly appreciate that they have less issues to deal with on the forum because of the nannybot, and it's a shame that they feel it necessary to have the program in effect, but I have also seen the negative side and don't want that either. If I have to be unhappy about something (and I DO! ) I would rather be unhappy about some misguided censorship, than be subjected to obscenity laced rants. So I suffer the nannybot, not in total silence, but pretty #$%^ing close!

Aaron Skinner

bbrowniii:

 

I think you are swimming against the tide.

 

Seems to me a tide worth swimming against.

Cheers, Aaron

You do?  Really?  I mean, look, I can make ANY word offensive, if used in the right context so, where do you draw the line?  If you are already willing to ban anatomical terms, what will be next.  And is it just anatomical terms that are linked to reproduction?  Are bunt and punt and puck and muck in dire straights since they are perilously close to offensive terms?  This reminds me of an article I read to my students to start a discussion over race.  The article focuses on how people have used the word 'niggardly' and gotten in serious trouble, even though the definition and etymological origins of this word, and the word that sounds similar but is a racial slur, are completely different.

I know this is turning into more of a philosophical discussion now, but I really am interested to understand your perspective, being that you are 'in the business'.

Sprue-ce Goose

bbrowniii:

 

 Beyond that, I think you are swimming against the tide.

 

bbrowniii

Better get used to more nannybots / censorship on the web.

It is a growing trend for a variety of reasons.

I hear ya...  doesn't mean I have to go quietly though....

bbrowniii

 

 Beyond that, I think you are swimming against the tide.

bbrowniii

Better get used to more nannybots / censorship on the web.

It is a growing trend for a variety of reasons.

bbrowniii

 

I think you are swimming against the tide.

Seems to me a tide worth swimming against.

Cheers, Aaron

Aaron Skinner

Boyd: In all honesty, penis should probably be on the forbidden list.

The truth is, if we could trust all  users to use language appropriately, we wouldn't need to have a lst of forbidden words. Unfortunately, history shows that is not the case. Too often, posters resort to swear words, even inserting symbols to get around the censor. Long-term users can probably remember some of the extreme offenses that have occurred over the years with trolls and others using language that would make a Marine blush. That's why the system is the way it is and will stay for the foreseeable future.

Cheers, Aaron

Aaron,

I understand that, I really do.  However, as you said, plenty of times users (myself included, I'll admit) have just inserted symbols to get around the nanny-software.  Or, like I did with b reast, just insert a space.  So, if it is so easy to get around the software, it seems like expanding the software is not the answer.  Again, I could understand having the 'seven deadly words' banned, maybe with severe penalties for their use.  Beyond that, I think you are swimming against the tide.

At the same time, I also get that you guys are in a tough spot there at FSM, because it ultimately falls to you to sort this stuff out...

And that's why they provide us with this guy:

Boyd: In all honesty, penis should probably be on the forbidden list.

The truth is, if we could trust all  users to use language appropriately, we wouldn't need to have a lst of forbidden words. Unfortunately, history shows that is not the case. Too often, posters resort to swear words, even inserting symbols to get around the censor. Long-term users can probably remember some of the extreme offenses that have occurred over the years with trolls and others using language that would make a Marine blush. That's why the system is the way it is and will stay for the foreseeable future.

Cheers, Aaron

OK, that's just weird, Aaron.  I can't say b reast, but I can say penis??  How is one any better or worse than the other?

B reast is censored?  B reast???  C'mon!  It's the anatomically correct word!  What is wrong with b reast? I mean, everyone has seen one, at least (well, two technically...).

How about penis?

Aaron

I know that the nannybot is here to stay, but Hans has a point.  You never know what word is going to get zapped.  I was surprised to see that you were able to type Nazi in your reply, because I have seen several posts in which it seemed to get the dreaded *** treatment.

Why not just censor out the seven deadly words and leave the rest?  Can you give us an idea of what words are deemed so offensive that they get screened?  For example, can a ship *** the storm on FSM?  And what is wrong with *** Tracy, *** Nixon, and *** Cheney (well, you know what I mean...).

Hans,

I just tried the three words you mentioned and they all except for ___ Tracy worked for me:

channel

Uranus

I'll check again here, but are you sure it's not a setting on your computer that's causing the censorship?

Cheers, Aaron

Thanks for the reply, and I u'nerstand about profanity, but I think that it must be set on "Stupid"... I'm even getting the word C H A N N E L censored... All of it's there except the two "n"s...  When I replied to the guy via PM, my word was there on my screen, but he used it also and it was censored... 

The point is that if you type some of these words, they don't get censored on your own screen, they gett censored to everyone else who reads what's posted... So you're unaware if you've typed anything "bad"..

On the military site I admin, we came up with a specific list of words that would get censored by the 'bot (but censored for the members who elect to turn off their censorbot settings in their control panels which were ON by default).   

But you can't type the words that CONTAIN a "bad" word, like planet Ura nu s, D i c k Tracy, and other harmless words without getting whacked by the 'bot here, unless you space the letters like I did here.....

Hans,

I'm not sure what the problem is. As far as I know Nazi is not a banned word. As for some of the other issues, I'm afraid the Nanybot is here to stay because too many people have caused problems in the past because they can't follow a basic rule about offensive language on the forums.

Cheers, Aaron

Censorship is a stupid idea. People are not corrupted by words, and if they are, then the problem is with the person and not the word.

A friend of mine works for a local winery, and they were sending out email newsletters, which were getting blocked by their own nanny program. Apparently it didn't like the word chardonnay, which if you think about it is quite funny.