MOUL Forum Auto Censor

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Tai'lahr
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MOUL Forum Auto Censor

Post by Tai'lahr »

This post is identical to one posted on the MOUL forums except that no words have been changed by a Word Censor program here.

Apparently, a new Word Censor program was added to these forums approximately two years ago. It was around the time that the new Cyan forums were created and other changes were taking place. It was likely meant to reduce the need for forum moderation and that’s completely understandable. It prevents certain words which are generally considered to be offensive (i.e., body parts and bodily functions) from appearing by changing them to less offensive words. So, if you refer to someone as a “boob,” you will end up calling them “mammary gland.” :lol:

Now, that’s all fine and dandy for body parts and bodily functions which we really have no reason to discuss on these forums. But, when the word for a body part is part of another word which is not a body part, then it becomes a gray area. “Donahoo’s Cocktail Party” has been a weekly event since the Until Uru days and has been frequently posted about on these and past Cyan and game publisher forums. It’s never been an issue, but suddenly with the new system, it’s become “Donahoo’s expletive Party.” :shock: For anyone who knows sweet, squeaky clean Donahoo, this is a bit of a shocker. She’s been a community member since the Exile days and deserves more respect than this system allows her.

Then, there’s the word which, IMO, has no business being in the Word Censor list: “God” which is changed to “Atrus.” If that's intended to prevent people from taking the lord's name in vain or being blasphemous, then it has accomplished the opposite, IMO. If it must be in the list, then it should be replaced by “Yahvo,” not “Atrus.” Despite years of joking about Rand being God (maybe that’s why it’s in the system ;) ), he is not and neither is Atrus.

Some of the more savvy forum posters are getting around this restriction by adding to the word (gods, god-like or –god-), but others who are innocently posting the word are being made to look foolish, IMO, and in the context in which it was used, it’s disrespectful to all involved. For example,

in a thread about Hurricane Sandy:
Atrus bless you and protect you all ...

when offering sympathy/condolences on the loss of a community member's husband:
May Atrus Bless.

when offering sympathy/condolences on the loss of a community member's wife:
My condolences to you and your family. Atrus Bless.

in a thread for a community member who’s passed:
May Atrus bless you and your loved ones.

in a thread for a community member who’s passed:
Atrus Bless everyone.


And, there's no distinction between the capitalized version and the lower case version. There are many uses for the word not involving preaching or cursing - for example, discussing Gehn's god-like complex. If I want to write "Gehn fancies himself a god, it would come out as "Gehn fancies himself a Atrus" which is not only silly, but also poor English - it should be "an Atrus." :wink:

Personally, I prefer to use "Yahvo" in cases that would normally be "God" to avoid offending anyone and I think it has worked out quite well. So, that's my suggestion - if it must be changed to something, but I don't think it should be changed at all.

I’m posting this in the Technical section in hopes that perhaps someone can offer a better solution that will work for both Cyan and the forum posters.
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janaba
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Re: MOUL Forum Auto Censor

Post by janaba »

I am also cross-posting my stance to this subject matter here as I've just posted it on the MOUL forums as an answer to Tomala's statement:
Tomala wrote:
Apparently, a new Word Censor program was added to these forums approximately two years ago.
Actually the word censor is built into phpBB directly and not installed separately. They only chose to start using it about two years ago when they made the switch from phpBB2 to phpBB3.
That's exactly what I have assumed to have happened, they just left a predefined filter activated for the sake of convenience or so, without looking deeper into it (except for the 'Atrus' lol). I'd never think of anyone at Cyan to personally support such a travesty, this is all just ridiculous, really lol ... :P

As for the chosen 'subjects' to be replaced and transformed into nonsense, while most probably being only a few of them, they have already been vividly demonstrated by Tai'lahr, and I commend everyone who has already spoken up in another thread to end this silliness, and I'd prefer and appreciate this to be eliminated entirely ... :D

-------------------------------

I'd like to add what I've just posted on the MOUL forums in response to Mac:
Mac_Fife wrote:There is no "predefined filter" in phpBB - the substitution list is entirely defined by the system administrator as the tables are blank by default.
Incidentally, there a few English place names that can't be posted here because they'll appear as either "expletive" or "body parts" - try Googling "England's worst place name" for an example...
Haha, I just really 'wanted to know it' lol, as you've mentioned, Mac, that those tables are blank by default, and so I've tried to write some 'really, really crude and obscene' words here, I'd really never like to think of or even write those again lol ... :P

So, whoever filled those blanks in did make good, means appropriate choices and the replacements are mostly funny, some even lovely lol ... What this all has to do with 'England's worst place names' lol, is beyond me, because then you could apply this to the whole world, but maybe I didn't really get what you meant and why this would be considered as necessary to be implemented into the choice of filters ... :)

However, it seems that would leave us with just a few 'odd or inappropriate terms' to be eventually removed from the filter system ... :D
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Mac_Fife
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Re: MOUL Forum Auto Censor

Post by Mac_Fife »

Just to answer the question about place names, it is because the wildcards can cause a word to be replaced if it contains one of the banned words, usually it seems to be only if it begins with the banned word, so these legitimate place names would be changed:
  • Shitterton
  • Penistone
Strangely, "Crapstone" (which I've passed through) would be accepted OK on the MOUL Forums even though it seems very similar to the first example.

I'm sure there are countless more examples if you start to consider non-English words and place names, but it's the indiscriminate substitution due to wildcards that cause the problem with "Cocktail" mentioned by Tai. The wildcards need to be used more selectively.
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Re: MOUL Forum Auto Censor

Post by Mac_Fife »

Just as additional information: Your post or PM is stored in the forum database the way you submitted it and the word substitution occurs when the page is being assembled for display. What this means is that if a word is removed from the list then all existing posts that use the word will immediately display the original word; the same applies if the substitute word is updated or a new word is added - existing posts will display with the new rule applied.
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Tai'lahr
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Re: MOUL Forum Auto Censor

Post by Tai'lahr »

Yes, let's stop letting a program edit our posts and have the words be judged by the context in which they're used.

The Cock of the Walk cockatoo cocked his head, sipped his cocktail and let out a hearty "Cock a doodle doo". ;)

The embedded links are meant to demonstrate that these words are commonly used in a non-vulgar context.
Tai'lahr
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Re: MOUL Forum Auto Censor

Post by Tai'lahr »

Update: God has returned to the MOUL forums. No other changes have been found, yet, but this was the big one, IMO.

Thanks to Mac_Fife for discovering the change and letting me know.
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Re: MOUL Forum Auto Censor

Post by Mac_Fife »

I just happened upon it :)
I was looking back on the MOUL forums to see when it was that the "new" forum style (the phpBB2 one that preceded the current phpBB3 version) was applied and I was reading this post from TomahnaGuy: http://www.mystonline.com/forums/viewto ... 854#p69854 when I suddenly realised what it said!
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janaba
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Re: MOUL Forum Auto Censor

Post by janaba »

What a beautiful 'happenstance' ... and as you've said
Mac_Fife wrote:Just as additional information: Your post or PM is stored in the forum database the way you submitted it and the word substitution occurs when the page is being assembled for display. What this means is that if a word is removed from the list then all existing posts that use the word will immediately display the original word; the same applies if the substitute word is updated or a new word is added - existing posts will display with the new rule applied.
... which makes such a change at least very convenient ... :P

So, as Tai'lahr said on the MOUL forums, many thanks, or maybe I better now say 'may God bless' that gentle forum fairy for handling that so promptly and elegantly ... :D
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