Message filter for language

This is a suggestion in the light of a recent post that was made which got to my email inbox. Someone had registered to SRP and started to post offensive, filthy sex stories. This post was in a thread that had been inactive for a while so the thread became reactive and the post was emailed to anyone who had subscribed to the thread.

I have since spoken to a mod and it has been deleted (thank you ByronTodd) but the fact remains this could be easily rectified. Simply create a filter which auto blocks posts which contain key words. If you need examples of words to block just check out the post that was deleted. Its littered with them.

This would also remove some of the work from the shoulders of our busy mods. I'm not talking about heavy censorship here, but if you had this message in your inbox you'd doubtless feel the same as I did.

Personally, I would lose all interest in this forum if such a device was installed! It may protect the delicate feelings of some, but it would likely change the content without concern for the context of our own posts!
Mindless censorship? no thank you!

To avoid hurt feelings and any amount of tension, I will simply respond with a nod and a "thanks" application. Do as you will, but we are all grown people.

:ziplip:

Adam

the biggest problem with filters is that they are in practice a blunt instrument. There are forums I use where people have words censored because they have what could be seen as a *swear* (and how this is defined is in itself open to contention) word aspart of their spelling- assessment, for example, was censored.

The post I refer to was completely unrelated to the thread, was simply a new user spamming the forum for the sake of it and was pornographic. Every second word was derogatory. If anyone could get away with posting that here I wouldn't be here. Fortunately the mods do a grand job of deleting these posts as soon as they are made. You may not notice it but they do. In a sense that censorship is already in place. A filter would only make it easier for them.

But if you want to make the mods work as hard as they do at the moment then i'm sure they'd appreciate your sentiment ;)

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Originally Posted by sidneykidney

But if you want to make the mods work as hard as they do at the moment then i'm sure they'd appreciate your sentiment ;)

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I didn't realize that I was such a wicked overlord! I shall repent of my ways immediately!


Wheres my whip so that I may flagellate myself...hmm...20 lashes ought to do it!

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Originally Posted by JMS

I didn't realize that I was such a wicked overlord! I shall repent of my ways immediately!


Wheres my whip so that I may flagellate myself...hmm...20 lashes ought to do it!

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Quite right. :D In fact, best take 50 just to be on the safe side. Do you need a hand with that whip? :rolleyes:

I thought you might think 20 was too few, so I gave myself an even 100 lashes! I hope you approve!;):rolleyes:

A filter that prevents users from posting certain words really wouldn't be a terrible thing if it was limited to words that really have no place in public. Just filter the worst out... pick 5 words and limit it to that. You know Zeepk, Kriegar, etc...

I wouls also say to put a filter preventing members from posting links until they have 10 or 20 posts just to ward off the spammers.

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Originally Posted by Mike_ratliff

I wouls also say to put a filter preventing members from posting links until they have 10 or 20 posts just to ward off the spammers.

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Now this makes sense to me!

BTW, did I mention that I sell m3dz 4 mAk1ng yr p3n1s b1ggr? :P

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Originally Posted by peas_and_corn

BTW, did I mention that I sell m3dz 4 mAk1ng yr p3n1s b1ggr? :P

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Hey Sydney! This man makes a great point! And if you take him up on his offer your point will be even greater yet!:roflmao

well, if you shave around it, it will look bigger...

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Originally Posted by Mike_ratliff

A filter that prevents users from posting certain words really wouldn't be a terrible thing if it was limited to words that really have no place in public. Just filter the worst out... pick 5 words and limit it to that. You know Zeepk, Kriegar, etc...

I wouls also say to put a filter preventing members from posting links until they have 10 or 20 posts just to ward off the spammers.

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:roflmao Love the banned word list. Possible future SRP post?

title: Need some help

"Gee guys, I need some help here, I just bought two razors off e-bay, a Z***k and a K*****r, but they don't seem to shave right. Can anyone help me? Maybe I should just go back to my di$p0$@ble B*c."

The main problem with a word list is that every post containing the banned word will be blocked/deleted, even if the post is perfectly innocent, like

- He was a sex offender and was jailed for the next ten years
- My Bulldog bitch had three babies yesterday, and they are lovely
- When speaking about heart disease, Viagra could be a good med to help your blood be more liquid and thus save your life

And won't block post like - so beautifuly - written by peas_and_corn... Do you have a previous experience in that field ? :roflmao (everybody can think of many other examples from their Inbox)

I know this means more work for the mods... I'm sorry about that (and believe me, I know what I'm saying, I have also a personal site to take care of with me wife), but why not trying to have more mods by forum, at least two (one US time, one Europe time) ?

Or you can try to use a script (or plugin) which will compare words in the post with those in the link (for instance, *sex* in the post AND in a link), but I don't know if such a script exist...or maybe something like:
- activating email verification: [Any Version] How to Reduce Spam and Registration Bots - vBulletin Community Forum
- queuing the suspected post - need to be approved by a mod: Prevent Spam Posts - Page 3 - vBulletin.org Forum

Just my two cents

BTW with a word blocker, this post would have been deleted...

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Originally Posted by Mike_ratliff

I wouls also say to put a filter preventing members from posting links until they have 10 or 20 posts just to ward off the spammers.

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you're on to something: let's just prevent members from posting until they have 10 posts :rolleyes:
:roflmao

The problem with word filtering is also that you're assuming
a) only english words are used
b) they are spelled correctly.

I will curb my juvenile desire to post examples (I am a mod after all) but word filtering is useless.
Even numbers can be used to spell words in 1337-5p3ak (leet speak aka elite-speak. used by nerds around the globe in an attempt to look cooler than the basement dwelling dorks they are).

Our approach to dealing with to first-offence spammers is to make sure there is no second offense.
Having more mods is not going to solve anything either, because we can't just be sitting here, looking at the screen, waiting until we get a report.

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Originally Posted by sidneykidney

but if you had this message in your inbox you'd doubtless feel the same as I did.

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i AM offended, but for opposite reasons!

why don't *I* get any filthy sex stories in my inbox??? i feel so left out, my inbox is lacking in lascivious lore and lewd lies!

seriously, though, word based filtering is useless unless language is static, and if the internet has taught me one thing, it's that language is NEVER static.

I detest any form of censorship. I spent four years in the U.S. Navy defending our right to free speech. I also have a tendency to use profanity when I speak and when I write. I am under the impression this is an adult (as in grown up)community. Although I feel I should be able to use whatever words I like provided they are not hurtful to anyone else, I have received a request to delete a word from one of my posts. Not wanting to argue, I did delete the word. Although I was disappointed that anyone would really care what words are used if the meaning is successfully conveyed. I do however agree that sexually oriented spam should be deleted.

I am much more offended by mispelled and misused words. I would think a spell check or grammar check would have much more value than some deviice to remove or prevent a list of arbitrarily chosen words that for some reason some people are sensitive to.

I wouldn't check any box that says "send something from an internet forum to my email address" for that reason. I prefer to let the forum be whatever it will be while I do what I can to keep my email inbox clean. It's a personal preference for me - I can see why you'd want the filter

I'm just saying a filter that ***s out the more ruthless swear words like F**K and C*NT wouldn't hurt anyone. The plain and simple truth is that some words have no place in polite society. I'm not offended by crap or ass, but I normally won't post them. anything worse has no place here.

And I didn't say prevent people from posting, I said posting links. If new members aren't allowed to post images, links, or anything else that requires code, they will have a much harder time spamming.

This isn't a permanent, or even a long term thing, 20 posts in they get full access.
Most spammers I've seen never make it much past 5 posts before they move on.
If they can't post their garbage, they will move on faster. :shrug:

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Originally Posted by Mike_ratliff

Most spammers I've seen never make it much past 5 posts before they move on.
If they can't post their garbage, they will move on faster. :shrug:

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I think they get forced to move on before they can post more than 5 or 6 :)

even late at night when the mods are sleeping, they usually leave after 5 or 10 posts... Unless reporting posts prevents them from posting...

That's okay, I think next time I catch a spammer I'll just fill their inbox with spam or hot link some high resolution images and porn sights so that little "you have a private message" box keeps popping up on them... I'll have to think on that one.

Now there's an idea...
Talk to the web admin, and see if he can give the moderators a spam button that will cause the spammer to be linked over to some of those porn web sites that do the whole death by popups thing...
You get busted, banned, and next time you click on anything in the site, 50 porn popups jump up on your screen, and you can't close them down.
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...liff/Devil.gif
I'm sure it can be done... It's basically the same code as the popup window for PMs... but instead of a message that says you have PM, it could say you have spam, or you're banned. They click okay, yes, or no, and it redirects them to the target site, which won't object because they make money off the popups...:roflmao

Also if you pick the right sites to send them to, they might have to reboot before they can start spamming elsewhere...

Okay!

Honestly I'm fed up with this thread. I'm closing it.

Sydney, we'll work on the problem.