19 replies to this topic

[D34K]

So, in the introductions thread I tried to post the name of my old guild. ****'s Elite Legions.

Is H E L L profanity? Really?!

[Mr Smiles]

That's going to get awkward if we ever have to fight Clan H ell's Horses. In H ellion OmniMechs. On planet Hunan, nicknamed H ell.

I think they probably should tone down the filter, considering this fictional universe isn't exactly PG-13.

This is a universe where nations are segregated by race using Cold War era stereotypes, the Clans are going to invade and slaughter millions, and all it's going to be done on the Internet in a free-to-play context, meaning anyone with a foul word in their head is probably going to show up and find a way to say it in-game.

Having said that, this forum is the company's OFFICIAL medium with which it communicates with customers, and which customers will turn to when wanting to talk to developers. It's their professional face to the world. They can't exactly have it covered with profanity, because that's unprofessional.

I think there should be a compromise of some sort. One idea might be that each person can turn their language filter off--this would double the amount of space required to host the forum (since each post would have to have a 'clean' version and a 'dirty' version) but it would make everyone happy (parents of children on the forum, and us adults who are fine seeing an H-E-Double-Hockeysticks now and then). I think even more clever webwork could be done, but I don't know enough programming to know how

The other alternative is simply, yeah, tone it down. Censor anything that you couldn't put on daytime television (starting with George Carlin's list), but let everything else through. Hypothetically, this is not a game for those who would be scarred by an occasional mention of p enises.

Edited by mr. smiles, 01 November 2011 - 08:49 AM.

[Stahlseele]

Hellbringer.
Hell Hound.
*** is probably forbidden too . .
Which means the Assassin is a bit problematic . .

Ah, there it is, the opening we need . .
As part of other words, they are not forbiden . .
********.

[Mr Smiles]

@stahlseele let's not introduce ways around the word filter into a discussion of how to make the word filter LESS zealous

[Stahlseele]

*shrugs*
It comes naturally to me ^^

[CoffiNail]

haha

stahlseele, on 01 November 2011 - 08:59 AM, said:

*shrugs*
It comes naturally to me ^^

Too true

[Dragonlord]

D34K, on 01 November 2011 - 08:34 AM, said:

So, in the introductions thread I tried to post the name of my old guild. ****'s Elite Legions.

Is H E L L profanity? Really?!

You think that is bad?
What about *** then?
Thats D-A-M as in say hydroelectric ***.
Wheres the profanity in that?

I'm not saying we should remove it altogether or find ways around it, it just need some tweaking.

Edited by Dragonlord, 01 November 2011 - 09:12 PM.

[T A R D I S]

Oh, Yeah?
Say B L O O D Y !
Well, go on...
******
I rest my Case!

Edited by T.A.R.D.I.S., 01 November 2011 - 09:14 PM.

[Aidan]

And I tried to use the word B-U-M and that was removed.

Sheesh ... an exception list needs to be started.

[Skoll]

I agree, this filter is way too over-zealous. Perhaps there should be a Maturity option that can be enabled and disabled on profiles?

[D34K]

Most forum software offers some configuration options for its profanity filtering. I'm sure an admin could sort it in 5 minutes.

[The1WithTheGun]

Mr. Smiles, on 01 November 2011 - 08:39 AM, said:

This is a universe where nations are segregated by race using Cold War era stereotypes,

That's innacurate. It's segregated by culture - not race. There are plenty of black samurais in the Drac Combine and plenty of white Capellans in the mustered soldiery.

And even then the lines are kind of blurry - i.e. the Dracs are not quite "Japan in space" - any more than the Steiners are "Germany in space" - though these infuences are strong.

In any case, yeah - unless they plan on introducing "Clan Heck's Horses" down the road, they could stand to loosen the filter a little at least.

Edited by The1WithTheGun, 02 November 2011 - 05:31 PM.

[Mr Smiles]

The1WithTheGun, on 02 November 2011 - 05:29 PM, said:

That's innacurate. It's segregated by culture - not race. There are plenty of black samurais in the Drac Combine and plenty of white Capellans in the mustered soldiery.

And even then the lines are kind of blurry - i.e. the Dracs are not quite "Japan in space" - any more than the Steiners are "Germany in space" - though these infuences are strong.

In any case, yeah - unless they plan on introducing "Clan Heck's Horses" down the road, they could stand to loosen the filter a little at least.

I would say you're correct about the racial divide not really being a racial divide except for a few problems.

First, in some books, racism is a major plot point. Specifically, Justin Allard is treated like dirt by his nation because he looks half-asian, indicating his parents might be from both sides of the fence.

Second, while it's true that there is a lot of integration in the nations, this fact is rarely brought up. This is more a problem of the setting and medium: in visual mediums like games, everyone's obscured behind a Mech. In books, well, I could probably spend a few pages describing why getting this information across is nearly impossible. The short of it is: there's no way to write something in a book without drawing attention to it. If you're drawing attention to a character, he's an important, unique person. If he happens to be black even though he's a samurai, you've just drawn attention to how unique his race is. And the setting also poses a problem: if race is such a non-issue, neither the narrator nor the characters would ever bring it's non-issueness up, which means it would go unexplained.

And since we all bring our knowledge of the real world to fiction unless told otherwise, the fact that we never see otherwise, read descriptions otherwise (except with unique characters who are of course the racial exception!), or are told narration otherwise, means that we assume that BattleTech is just as racially divided as the real world.

Nevermind that, in the case of Justin for example, some authors simply don't realize there isn't such a divide. Maybe only some authors consider the BattleTech future integrated, and some consider it segregated? This would pose quite a conflict of canon, and it's something that would get past editors.

It also doesn't help that in the few images we do have of the BattleTech universe, people typically look like their origins would indicate. Clans typically look Slavic. Steiners typically look Germanic. Dracs typically look Japanese. Capellans typically look Chinese. Probably, this is a problem with both publishers and artists: publishers don't want to confuse the audience as to what the book is about ("Is that a black samurai? Is that a man with African piercings holding a laser-gun in a British-like naval uniform?"), and artists have their own prejudices ("Okay... I'm drawing a samurai, but he has African origins... I'll draw him looking Japanese, with darker skin and tweaked facial features!")

In any case, yeah. Some of these censorings are getting ridiculous. I revisited this thread because sometimes when I use a mild word, it censors it, making it look like I'm saying some REALLY terrible stuff. You **** ****.

See? That wasn't so terrible. But it sure looked like I was being really vitriolic!

And the profanity filter is only getting tighter. Certain workarounds no longer work, they're just loosening the rules more and more until there isn't possibly any way for even something that might remotely be considered profanity to appear on the page.

Come on, guys, we're supposedly adults here. Let me call something **** ****ing if I want, and if I want to call the AI in most games ****, that's not actually even a swear! It's just a word! But since I might be directing it a person and hurting someone's feelings, it has to get censored!

(Incidentally: I was describing the issues of AI in game development, and how if it's done very quickly the AI can appear... I Diet, Ick (see if you can unscramble that phrase!) and it censored it. I facepalmed for a while, since it just made it seem like I said quickly-done AI is ****.)

Edited by Mr. Smiles, 03 November 2011 - 08:50 PM.

[Mr Smiles]

In a similar vein to how extreme this profanity filter is getting, and what the result of censoring every other word is...

[CoffiNail]

This video makes me chuckle everytime I see it XD

But yeah it is kind of what it is getting to though.

[CoffiNail]

allowing of hell would primarily be due to Clan Hells Horses

[Ratu]

I would agree that the censorship is a bit heavy handed. Treat us as adults.

[Owl Cutter]

+1 for replacing the filter list with a more common one, or reconsidering the software vendor choice if that does not in fact take just a few minutes.

I think I understand the motive behind it, though, which might help make it easier to bear until some one gets around to fixing it. If you're selling forum software, it's probably safer to avoid offending the nutters who go all ballistic and threaten to sue if "you" recklessly allow their site's users to use terms like the one that looks like "HeII," by not pre-loading the easily-accessed filter list with half of the **** dictionary for their lazy, self-righteous *****. I find that attitude far more offensive than any "bad word" could possibly be when used by well-meaning people. Censortron is no substitute for adulthood, and any one who thinks it is even worthwhile is a stuck-up fool IMO, since any one who wants to spout bigoted nonsense will just work around it and get banned anyway.

Edited by Owl Cutter, 09 November 2011 - 09:42 AM.

[CoffiNail]

This is like Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs where he started saying **** and it got bleeped, then he said **** and a bit after that was bleeped, then ****, which is not allowed, so he can say poo, i wonder if poo will star up as well, as poo he was allowed to say on public television.

*edit* HAHA just like Mike Rowe we are aloud to say poo.

Edited by CoffiNail, 09 November 2011 - 10:35 AM.

[Kyle Polulak]

If there is any words that you feel should not be filtered, please private message me with the word and I will determine if it's over reaching.