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Auto-censor in content forums

Should Foul Language be Filtered in the News and Review Sections?

  • Yes, Foul Language Should be Filtered

    Votes: 37 48.1%

  • No, Foul Language Should not be Filtered

    Votes: 40 51.9%
  • Total voters
    77
  • Poll closed .
btarunr

btarunr

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We are contemplating an addon that automatically censors swear words, for content forums (such as news, reviews, articles), to keep the those forums clean of swear words since they're most visited by site visitors reading comments of news, reviews, etc.

While TPU isn't for any concrete word censorship (besides those which violate the forum guidelines), some amount of cleanliness, at least in content forums, isn't that bad.

BTW, what the addon does is: [swear word] -> ******* automatically.

What are your views?

Productive discussion please.
 
+1 on that.
 
i think it's a good idea in principle, although to be honest, the moderators are so on the ball here that people generally know how far they can take it and respect that. I used to look at the FIFA 10 forums for the xbox 360 and they used a swear filter, annoyingly however their replacement text was "lala" for every swear. It got very annoying reading constant posts with lala this and lala that along with the ZOMG's,LOLs and all the other internet jargon that is used so widely nowadays. In conclusion I don't feel this forum needs it :)
 
Now, how does this really go down, for what I am saying is this.

If you write the word Sh1t.. will it still **** it?
 
add ons can be tweaked to block forms like that too. It just depends on how pumped the higher ups get to insert all that stuff.
 
Cold Storm said:
Now, how does this really go down, for what I am saying is this.

If you write the word Sh1t.. will it still **** it?
Click to expand...

Yes, unlike some famous forums that use the "banana" smiley and as lifeonmars pointed out "lala", you can make the addon replace a blacklisted word with anything, we understand how annoying a banana smiley can be, so it will only get replaced by asterisks.
 
Yeah, the asterisks would be a better look then a bunch of banana's moving about.
 
As long as it doesn't turn "Fun With Dick and Jane" into "Fun With **** and Jane" and "my window is cracked" into "my window is *******," I don't have a problem with it.
 
If it's case-sensitive, Dick (as in the name) starts with D, while the other thing starts with d.
 
Sounds good to me, especially with reviews.
 
I just want to make sure that I understand correctly and confirm that this would only be for the news and reviews sub-forums.

While I see the hypothetical benefit of content filtering in those sub-forums I don't believe the rest of the forums would benefit from it. Even the occasional cursing is relatively rare and excessive cursing hardly occurs at all.

I would like to re-iterate that I see the benefit hypothetical.You may want to consider whether other major review sites filter curse words on their forums. If they don't then occasional cursing by forum members may be a non-factor in receiving reviews when compared to the size of the community and the quality of the review writers. It is also worth considering that blanket censorship may or may not serve as a irritant to community growth, and forum population definitely has a large impact on what reviews we receive.

I may investigate some other forums if I get the time and ambition.
 
I think it's a great idea, especially for the forums in question. The other forums are policed very well I believe so it's not truly needed there at this time.

I'm also very glad that you're using asterisks instead of any other graphical representation. :toast:

Kei
 
Will we have the option to turn this off? I don't like censorship, and it would be there if people chose to use it. Not really a fan of it, you get into the debate of what's a bad word and what isn't as people have different views.

Also take not of things like fúck, I used that to pass a filter on another forum, which had a crap ton of words censored, it was pretty stupid.
 
Comments with news make it to the front-page, review discussions get a big share of visitors too. While TPU doesn't restrict using swear words, it could affect site quality for visitors.
 
DaveK said:
Will we have the option to turn this off? I don't like censorship, and it would be there if people chose to use it. Not really a fan of it, you get into the debate of what's a bad word and what isn't as people have different views.

Also take not of things like fúck, I used that to pass a filter on another forum, which had a crap ton of words censored, it was pretty stupid.
Click to expand...

This addon can't be toggled on/off for specific users because of the way it works.

How it works: Each time you submit a new post or save an edit, the text is parsed for blacklisted words, those words are converted to "*******" (each character of the blacklisted word is replaced with a *) and written to the database. When it is read, the system only displays those "*******". Once it's saved, the parsing is done even when you save an edit. Now that you pointed out we'll remember to blacklist "fúck", if and when this addon is installed.
 
What if im a farmer and i ask someone if he wanna see my cock? It doesnt mean that i will show him what ive got in my pants :P
 
MohawkAngel said:
What if im a farmer and i ask someone if he wanna see my cock? It doesnt mean that i will show him what ive got in my pants :P
Click to expand...

I would just infract you for being off topic in a news/review thread. ;) Unless, of course TPU decides to implement a farming/gardening section, then you can talk about your and your friends cocks all you want. :toast:
 
MohawkAngel said:
What if im a farmer and i ask someone if he wanna see my cock? It doesnt mean that i will show him what ive got in my pants :P
Click to expand...

Why would you need someone to show his cock in the middle of a discussion about "GeForce GTX 380 Review" or "EU sues Intel for a few atoms of Lead in packaging" (basically reviews and news threads), in the first place?
 
Yeah go for it. If it improves the site I'm all in. That said half my posts will be just lines of *'s
 
I say it is a good idea
 
as long as it is only the harsher words. the F, C, and the W ones. I mean, if i'm really pee'ed off at something i would tend to use bloody. Now to some that is swearing but to me it just a word that shows how annoyed i am at something.
 
Sounds like a fair idea. From what I have heard, TPU is heavily sponsored, and thus needs to maintain a level of professionalism since thousands of visitors come here and read the great news articles and reviews that we have here. Censorship isn't great, but swearing isn't needed in the news and reviews sections, especially if it affects TPU's image. If you need to swear, take it somewhere else. I have barely used swear words here because I can control myself.
 
I am all for it in the reviews and news sections. Sometimes I find it a little off putting when I just want to chill and read some reviews and some fool seems to feel the need to mark his opinion with swearing.

Although for some reason when ever I see astrix's I always try and figure out what the word is. Dam you curiosity!
 
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