swear filter

[soulsolution]

my question is do you think the swear filter is over used..by meaning some words are not allowed that shouldnt be..for instance..me and anon were having this discussion about the word "ga.." it has lots of meanings ..like lame,stupid,retarded etc..in my view..it should be allowed because its not used in such a way to make others feel bad for their sexual ways..now onto suggestions..ive noticed that when new players come in they tend to wanna cuss and it makes them say something other..then they keep trying to cuss and have it say more sayings and they laugh and joy about it..isntead of them haveing them saying other things..why not just take the say part out..so if they say the F word..it doesnt send to chat..frees up the spam and the distractions..also GRITS you might want to think about putting a spam filter on..so no binds over and over

[g-boy]

First, I agree about getting rid of the messages that are sent to chat. Many other servers in other mods that have a filter that does something like this: you say a word that's filtered, and it sends a personal message only to your screen that is perhaps in a csay or tsay style that says you said a filtered word, don't say it again. If you say it like 3 times, you get kicked. All the while, when you say that word, your entire chat message is not displayed to other players, it's like being gagged. That not only means no one else notices, but also if they say something over and over, they get kicked and problem solved.

About that certain word... I personally completely agree that it shouldn't be filtered, I say it quite a bit, along with a certain f word that also refers to someone's sexuality. In most cases, I don't say it to mean anything about sexuality. I think the word has had an evolution... started to mean happy, then homosexual, now it still retains some of the first two, but also means "that sucks" or "you're an idiot" kind of a thing. *However* I have never argued about it being filtered, because I can respect the view that GRITS doesn't want a word like that used in any way. Besides, I never say either of those words in public, mostly just with private convos with a few friends. And, I've gotten very used to it, because I do have plenty of alternate words that aren't filtered for ones that are... damn, shit, retarded, sucks, moron, ######, etc etc. So I can live with it being filtered.

[soulsolution]

yes i dont mind the swear filter much..it just gets annoying at times..i was just making a suggestion on what maybe she could do or whatever...i use that word along with any other word you could think of..there are alot of worse\harsh words that are not filtered that she didnt filter out..for instance jew or j00..for j00 that can go either way "you or jew" but saying jew is being racist and i dont think that word is filtered...there are many many more that she must take into consideration

[Wha?]

The only problem with filters is that all they use are string comparisons, and don't have any means of determining context. Therefore, in order to keep people from abusing vulgarities, the word is blocked, and it's usage stopped regardless of alternate, acceptable uses. That means that using words like g** and f***** can't be allowed, since the majority of occurances are unacceptable.

Problem two lies within the connected populace. With the allowance of cusses which can be used to attack somebody, come many verbal attacks. If you allow the f word (either one, actually), then people will begin using it to bash others more often than anything else. Since socially acceptable conduct is one of the server rules (whether written or implied), bashing others can't be permitted, or you end up with logs that look like an argument (on AIM, of course) between an ICP fan and an Eminem fan.

Auto-kick filters pose a miniscule risk of kicking somebody falsely. Back on one of PIX's servers, the filter had "CS" in it's dictionary, to get rid of everybody who said "this game is g**" coupled with one of either "cs is better", or "why don't you play cs?". I found the admin_slap accompanying the infraction to be quite annoying, however, when I tried to say "discs". Don't get me wrong here, the filter worked perfectly well, but the dictionary has to be slightly thought out to keep from messing up game dialogue.

[g-boy]

One of the most annoying ones I have found is a particular word for a female body part... no, not that one, I mean the T one. Some words may have those letters... I've gotten talking and said "constitution" and it gets filtered. The auto-kick thing I don't think would be a problem on the holdout's servers... they don't have things like cs and god filtered. You'd probably figure out what you said before you say it too many times. So like after 5 times perhaps it kicks you. Otherwise, just no kick feature is probably just as well. As long as we don't see it in chat. It not only saves us from having to see a bunch of asterisks or a filter message, it also gets rid of the explanation for newbs who wonder why they are saying something that they didn't type. It doesn't send the message to chat, in the center of the screen in red or something it says that they said a filtered word, boom, they know what happened.

[[CAKE]rUsh]

I'm sorry guys but i don't think you're going to get g** unfiltered.

Firstly often enough it's usage does belong in the racist section none of whose words are actually filtered i believe. But then racist comments are generally met with perma ban.

Secondly you can vocalize any thoughts you might be trying to express through this word with other non-filtered words.

and finally the negative asociation of the word can lead people to negativly perceive that lifestyle and those that live it especially younger people who happen to make up a fair share of the half-life population.

[jabbahunt]

The words are filtered because of their negative use and abuse. If you are white and straight, you can't even hope to ever know how it feels to hear or be abused by the other names. Now if you are homosexual or black for example then that is your peragative to use those words because it carries a different conotation. Just because the person using it doesn't mean it as rascial term doesn't mean the person hearing it doesn't, and I've never heard any of the words that are banned used in a positive way.

[soulsolution]

ok then..what about other words like jew or chink..those are 20 times worse then g**..how come they are not filitered

[[CAKE]anonymity]

jew for example can be used as a short form for jewish. Many teachers will say jews, in a discussion about their treatement in WW2, and its not being used negativley at all, they're just too lazy to be politcally correct.

side note, can u have jew filtered and have jewish be un filtered? chances are if someone says jewish its not going to be in a derogatory sense.

[Guest]

I don't believe that the filter for Admin Mod is actually clever enough to handle that.

[evil_admin]

SS, how do you decide that jew or chink is 20 times worse than g**?

G** has been used as a pejorative since I have been involved with Half-Life and I suspect it is used in other online games. To cop out and say it has different meanings, as g-boy stated, is only an excuse to use g** in place of racial/culture slurs becasue they are now longer acceptable.

Any of the players who would like to drop g** from the langauge filter go to your local G** and Lesbian Community Center and ask what they think.

You might all actually learn something.

[GRITS]

guess I should put in some input although there are quite a few of you that understand my reasoning already....some of you know more of the story than others...I do not want and will not have people name calling...it is childish, antagonistic, unsportsman-like....and just out and out mean.......name calling hurts...sometimes you don't realize just how badly you have hurt someone with your 'innocent' name calling....if it were up to me I would put lardass and naphead and a bunch of other mean terms on the filter.....but it slows the chat and thus the game if every word has to be filtered through so many choices. I do add words sometimes....kike was one that was requested and the c-commander will now have to come up with some other body part to commandier.
I take every request seriously and weigh my options. I appreciate the input. As g-boy pointed out you have to be careful what words go in there....Freakzilla can tell you how picky the filter is when she tried to say ......of a game.... it kept thinking she was saying f a g so no I can not put in jew and it not pick up jewish...rush pointed out the racist/bigotted words get you an automatic permanent ban so say it once and 'see ya'..
I am Polish and have heard my share of polish jokes and while they may not offend me directly they may offend another pole that hears the same one....I will not perpetuate the stereotype and maybe that stereotype will die out in time.
spam filter we definitely need....I will speak with evil_admin about adding one...but I love the swear filter replies...it gives me something to play with when qued up and some noob is trying to figure out which words he can say...when I am not in the mood I stop them short and say...you can say shit damn and ass and crap...that usually stops the "testing" but sometimes leads to more direct questions.

Since socially acceptable conduct is one of the server rules (whether written or implied), bashing others can't be permitted

wish I had of said that....socially acceptable conduct....yeah I like it

[Sockhole]

Does the filter take phrases? The words might be just stored as strings before the comparisons are done. So having " jew " as one of the triggers might work.

Actually that wouldn't always work anyway =(

[soulsolution]

SS, how do you decide that jew or chink is 20 times worse than g**?

G** has been used as a pejorative since I have been involved with Half-Life and I suspect it is used in other online games. To cop out and say it has different meanings, as g-boy stated, is only an excuse to use g** in place of racial/culture slurs becasue they are now longer acceptable.

Any of the players who would like to drop g** from the langauge filter go to your local G** and Lesbian Community Center and ask what they think.

You might all actually learn something.

because calling somebody a jew or a chink is considered racist..like "you stupid jew" or "you stupid chink" in game worlds those words are refering to something mean or racist

[Power and Glory]

Hey I'm Polish too never knew you were too GRITS. Anyway speaking of the word "jewish" I kicked somebody for saying that yesterday. It was someone named Player and he/she used it like this saying "That is so jewish". As a matter of fact I think some form of that sentence was how Diablo got banned. All of this meaning the word "jewish" can be used in a bad way just as the word "jew" can.

[evil_admin]

because calling somebody a jew or a chink is considered racist..like "you stupid jew" or "you stupid chink" in game worlds those words are refering to something mean or racist

...and what do think calling someone g** means?

[soulsolution]

calling somebody g** ingame is refering to stupid,lame,retarded..doesnt mean they are actually a g** person..for instance "rws was g** for leaving" in the gaming world ppl dont use words like that in a sexual way

[Power and Glory]

So why not just say stupid then instead of g**? Why is this hard to do?

[soulsolution]

because g** makes it sound worse :\

[jabbahunt]

but you are implying that ######'s are dumb, stupid, or lame. If that is what it stands for that is what you mean. Someone may believe that the lifestyle is indeed dumb, stupid or lame for theirselves, but that doesn't mean that the person is.

[Wha?]

because g** makes it sound worse :\

This is where the defense usually rests their case. That sums it up perfectly.

'<blank> makes it worse. It's more of an insult to refer to somebody by such a term.'

[FreeFall]

leave the filter alone.. if someone makes a racial slur or a comment on someone's religion or sexual preference then that comment should be edited out.. I agree with SS's original statement about just deleting the unwanted phrase rather than make it say "I am Llama, hear me Oorgle!" because that way no one will be able to abuse the filter. As for this whole g*y argument, using g*y in a negative form is demeaning and mean. It's just as bad as using racial slurs. If you say "this game is g*y" meaning it's stupid you might as well say "being g*y is stupid" .. but then again THAT would result in a ban, and we wouldn't want that.

[evil_admin]

My sentiments exactly...thank you FreeFall

[Sockhole]

I just watched a Simpsons episode where Nelson is kissing Lisa, and then Jimbo shows up and says: "Eww, you're kissing a girl. That is so g**".

And so, yet again, The Simpsons have solved all of our problems.

[[CAKE]anonymity]

Its a saterical examination about how stupid the use is, or for the common cser its g*y to call someone g*y.

[g-boy]

Wow... I have never considered the word "jew" as being racist at all. It's not politically incorrect either, it's a term to refer to a jewish person. It's a noun... jewish is not. It's like saying that Muslim is politically incorrect as opposed to "Islamic person." Anyway, I know LOTS of jews, they refer to themselves that way, we refer to them that way. Of course it depends on how you use it... if you say someone was "jewed" as I had seen soulevan put it, I consider it extremely bad, because it refers to the holocaust. If you say someone is a "dumb jew" it's not the jew part that's bad... it's the dumb part. It's like saying "you dumb american." American isn't a racial slur... but the dumb part makes it bad. Anyway, so there's no reason to make jew that way. Chink, on the other hand, is a slur on its own.

[Sockhole]

"don't be a jew" like don't be cheap or greedy is what I've heard.

[Wha?]

I sure hope the filter can take phrases. Or we don't run out of admins. Either will do.