censorship gone too far ??

tim_81coupe · Post by **tim_81coupe** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 8:26 am

There was a thread about ****roach trap ideas a while ago in the off topic area.

I wasn't inferring that we might use the exact words in our conversation, just that its piss weak that the word **** is censored while others slip by.

Ozzy_Steve · Post by **Ozzy_Steve** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 2:25 pm

But then it does have automotive applications as well... what about the drain **** on the fuel filter of diesel vehicles? I must say from one point of view this is hilariously funny - (the use of profanity aside) have we as a race become so snivelly that we can't even talk straight anymore? My wife works in childcare, and you can't sing 'baa baa black sheep' anymore - it's not politically correct. Now it's 'baa baa rainbow sheep'... I couldn't believe it when she told me that.
Then there's blackboards and whiteboards... oops, my apologies. I mean 'chalkboard' and 'penboard'. I wonder how long it will be until the two shades get renamed... I didn't know white was so offensive.

tim_81coupe wrote:There was a thread about ****roach trap ideas a while ago in the off topic area.

I wasn't inferring that we might use the exact words in our conversation, just that its piss weak that the word **** is censored while others slip by.

Yes. Read five words back from the censored one to prove your own point. However it's like any form of politics (i.e. censoring and political correctness). Rather than wade through the Macquarie dictionary to search out all the offensive words that contain a particular string of letters and separate them from the non-offensive ones, it is quicker and easier just to block the lot.

EDIT: Just so everybody knows, I wasn't complaining about this site in particular, just making an observation about censoring in general. Unfortunately, like Stinky says below, it is quite challenging to design a system to filter offensive words from non-offensive words. I'm certainly not up to the task...

stinky · Post by **stinky** » Mon Feb 12, 2007 3:07 pm

If there's any words we've missed, point them out and we'll block them.

as for words like shuttle****, well if we allowed words that contained **** in them, then we'd also be able to write ****head, ****face, ****lips, and on and on.

Unless somebody is willing to write a contextual lookup, probably in the form of a bayesian algorithm to block offensive words while allowing inoffensive words that just happen to carry the offensive word inside of it, then I'll be happy to run it.