Unintentional Obscenity


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Liberty's Edge

Ever notice that the Paizo auto-censorship software is a bit overr-sensitive? Ordinary words get all twisted about. For example:

- from Conan the Barbarian, the Ku%&*@es
- Greis Rashire's 'obscene head gesture' (c&*#@ing one's head to the side)
- graduating Summa C*@ Laude
- the reappearance of the Ivory-Billed Woodp*#@%*
- Vice President D#*@ Cheney

Any comments?

Shadow Lodge

Maybe those are ordinary words to you, Mr. Pottymouth, but some of us like things clean around here!

:P

Paizo Employee Senior Software Developer

OK, let's try this again actually running your post through the filter:

The Eldritch Mr. Shiny wrote:


Ever notice that the Paizo auto-censorship software is a bit overr-sensitive? Ordinary words get all twisted about. For example:

- from Conan the Barbarian, the Ku%&*@es

(OK, on the Conan example, I don't know what word you think is being filtered.)

The Eldritch Mr. Shiny wrote:

- Greis Rashire's 'obscene head gesture' (cocking one's head to the side)

- graduating Summa Cum Laude
- the reappearance of the Ivory-Billed Woodpecker
- Vice President Dick Cheney

Any comments?

The filter has been relaxed over the years. Originally it was super uptight.

Next time I roll the site you'll be able to talk about graduating Summa Cum Laude without further incident.

Dark Archive RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

The Eldritch Mr. Shiny wrote:

Ever notice that the Paizo auto-censorship software is a bit overr-sensitive? Ordinary words get all twisted about. For example:

- from Conan the Barbarian, the Ku%&*@es
- Greis Rashire's 'obscene head gesture' (c&*#@ing one's head to the side)
- graduating Summa C*@ Laude
- the reappearance of the Ivory-Billed Woodp*#@%*
- Vice President D#*@ Cheney

Any comments?

The problem is that the software can't discern when an obscene word is part of something else. It simply looks for a certain series of letters and obscures it.

I understand the need for such a filter, but, if it were my call, I would say that censoring "The Big Two" should be sufficient (especially since you never see them as part of another non-profane word to my knowledge). The two in question are, of course, "f#~%" and "s%%#."

Paizo Employee Senior Software Developer

Fatespinner wrote:
The problem is that the software can't discern when an obscene word is part of something else. It simply looks for a certain series of letters and obscures it.

Actually that's not how it works. The profanity filter has always been aware of word boundaries.

I must admit that it has some strongly held opinions about words that I don't think ever have or ever will appear on paizo.com.

Dark Archive RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

Gary Teter wrote:
Actually that's not how it works. The profanity filter has always been aware of word boundaries.

Really? Wow. I just figured that was the reason for censoring the 'profane' parts of non-profane words, such as the instance of 'cocking' one's head, as demonstrated above. Interesting.

EDIT: WTF?!? It didn't censor it this time. Now I'm REALLY confused.


The Kleshite example for Conan is also problematic for Forgotten Realms afficianados when they try to type Calishite, i.e. a denizen of Calimshan.

Dark Archive RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

KnightErrantJR wrote:
The Kles%*@e example for Conan is also problematic for Forgotten Realms afficianados when they try to type Calis%*@e, i.e. a denizen of Calimshan.

Ah, yes, I had forgotten about that one! I've had to choose my words carefully in my play-by-post game since it is set in Calimshan. Most of the time, I just use the term 'local,' hehe.

Paizo Employee Senior Software Developer

Fatespinner, it didn't censor any of what The Eldtritch Mr. Shiny wrote in his post. He typed the cartoon-swearing punctuation himself.

KnightErrantJR, Thanks for the clear example -- I'll see if I can't come up with a solution to the Conan thing.

Dark Archive RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

Gary Teter wrote:
Fatespinner, it didn't censor any of what The Eldtritch Mr. Shiny wrote in his post. He typed the cartoon-swearing punctuation himself.

Ohhhhhhhhh. I'll just be over here feeling stupid then. Thanks!

Paizo Employee Director of Sales

Unintentional Obscenity is funny... but not nearly as funny as Jimmy Kimmel's Unnecessary Censorship!

(Warning: While not exactly NSFW, it deliberately seems like it is.)

Paizo Employee Senior Software Developer

Moved thread to Website Feedback forum.

It's a first, a thread that's actually off-topic for the Off-Topic forum!

Liberty's Edge

Gary Teter wrote:

Fatespinner, it didn't censor any of what The Eldtritch Mr. Shiny wrote in his post. He typed the cartoon-swearing punctuation himself.

KnightErrantJR, Thanks for the clear example -- I'll see if I can't come up with a solution to the Conan thing.

I think the actual example from one of Shiny's was when Greis wrote : "Cocks his head" which was filtered. Cocking his head may not have been.

EDIT: And in fact wasnt!


Well, I'm glad you cleared all this up. I was afraid to talk about my best friend, Dick Cockpecker.


Chalmers: Laugh it up, you punks, 'cause you and Jan Murray here just cost our town the Olympics.

Bart: Hey, Chalmers, where are you from?

Chalmers: Well, I was born in Queens, went to Ball state, then made the move to Intercourse, Pennsylvania. Uh, why do you ask?

[Bart is about to say something when Skinner Quickly puts his hand over his mouth]

Skinner: Uh, don't worry, sir. I'll teach these children some respect for their town. I'm assigning each of you 20 hours of Community Service.

[the children walk offstage, groaning and moaning]

Ralph: Intercourse?

Chalmers: Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to my vacation at Lake Titicaca.

[to Bart] Let's see you make a joke out of that, Mr. Smart guy.

[Bart looks at Skinner to see if he can, and Skinner waves his hands "no"]


[Animaniacs]
Lake Titicaca,
Oh Lake Titicaca,
It's between Bolivia
and Peru!

Lake Titicaca,
Oh Lake Titicaca,
Oh why do we sing
of your fame?

Lake Titicaca,
Oh Lake Titicaca,
'cuz we really like saying
It's name!

Titicaca!
[/Animaniacs]

Liberty's Edge

Gary Teter wrote:
Fatespinner, it didn't censor any of what The Eldtritch Mr. Shiny wrote in his post. He typed the cartoon-swearing punctuation himself.

Yes, I did. I just thought, well, s+&!, why f~%%ing bother letting it censor itself, I'll do it for them.

Liberty's Edge

Mothman wrote:
Gary Teter wrote:

Fatespinner, it didn't censor any of what The Eldtritch Mr. Shiny wrote in his post. He typed the cartoon-swearing punctuation himself.

KnightErrantJR, Thanks for the clear example -- I'll see if I can't come up with a solution to the Conan thing.

I think the actual example from one of Shiny's was when Greis wrote : "c#%@% his head" which was filtered. Cocking his head may not have been.

EDIT: And in fact wasnt!

Yeah, I think all of my cited examples were from before the whole 'list pared down to the Big Two' thing. The woodpecker thing was from almost a year ago.

Oh, and by the way, I was never irritated or taking umbrage. In fact, the reason I started the thread in Off-Topic was because I thought it was funny.

I guess it got out of hand. S*&+.

Paizo Employee Senior Software Developer

Testing the slightly-less-uptight profanity filter:

The Kleshite example for Conan is also problematic for Forgotten Realms afficianados when they try to type Calishite, i.e. a denizen of Calimshan.

Liberty's Edge

windnight wrote:

[Animaniacs]

Lake Titicaca,
Oh Lake Titicaca,
It's between Bolivia
and Peru!

Lake Titicaca,
Oh Lake Titicaca,
Oh why do we sing
of your fame?

Lake Titicaca,
Oh Lake Titicaca,
'cuz we really like saying
It's name!

Titicaca!
[/Animaniacs]

Is it sad that I remember that episode?


~wistles~ Damn, Gary! You are using such big words!

Paizo Employee Senior Software Developer

Actually that was KnightErrantJR who wrote that, I was just copy-pasting to see if the filter worked properly.


Gary Teter wrote:

Testing the slightly-less-uptight profanity filter:

The Kleshite example for Conan is also problematic for Forgotten Realms afficianados when they try to type Calishite, i.e. a denizen of Calimshan.

That's 'KUshite', by Crom!

Time to put in a Hyborian filter...:)

Dark Archive RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

Yay! I no longer have to worry about all those damn Calishites ruining my PbP campaign! Three cheers for Gary!

Contributor

The funniest example of this I ever saw was on the WotC boards. Someone started a thread called "Inex*****ve miniatures." I couldn't figure out what the heck it was supposed to be about.

The initial post talked about the poster's inability to find cheap minis. Eventually I deduced that the thread title was supposed to be "Inexpensive miniatures" but he had accidentally transposed the 's' and 'i' in 'pensi'.

That gave me the chuckles for at least a week.

-Amber S., the easily amused

Dark Archive RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

Medesha wrote:

The funniest example of this I ever saw was on the WotC boards. Someone started a thread called "Inex*****ve miniatures." I couldn't figure out what the heck it was supposed to be about.

The initial post talked about the poster's inability to find cheap minis. Eventually I deduced that the thread title was supposed to be "Inexpensive miniatures" but he had accidentally transposed the 's' and 'i' in 'pensi'.

That's hilarious! It would've taken me awhile to figure that one out.

- Fatespinner, bad at word games

Paizo Employee Director of Game Development

This is from an email sent to me by one of the four guys I work with.

> The following domains are real, though some change automatically after
entering.
>
>
> First, there is Who Represents?, a database for agencies to the rich and
famous:
> <http://www.whorepresents.com>
>
> Second is the Experts Exchange, a knowledge base where programmers can
exchange advice and views:
> <http://www.expertsexchange.com>
>
> Looking for a pen? Look no further than Pen Island:
> <http://www.penisland.net>
>
> Need a therapist? Try:
> <http://www.therapistfinder.com>
>
> Next we have the Mole Station Native Nursery, based in New South Wales:
> <http://www.molestationnursery.com>
>
> Finally, there's Powergen Italia, (formerly) bringing Italy specialized
battery products at:
> <http://www.powergenitalia.com>
>


*gasps for breath*
Laughing...too...hard! :D


yep oscenity filter is obscenely rediculous on my untitled posts.

Dark Archive RPG Superstar 2013 Top 32

In response to Daigle's post, I went looking at a few of these sites and I think the management of "Pen Island" is definitely onto the joke (and might have possibly set up the site as a joke since they seem to be out of stock on their items).

Here are some DIRECT QUOTES from their website:

"No request is too boring or too off-the-wall. Don't be ashamed if all you want is a normal skinny white pen, they get the job done and they are infact our biggest seller!"

"Whether you're looking for a long and skinny pen, a thick pen, a fountain pen that squirts ink, or even a black pen, we have just the one for you."

Now if that doesn't look like someone "in the know" I don't know what does!


Michael Moorcock is my favourite old-school fantasy author.

Cool beans...could never say Moorcock without it turning into "Moorrooster" on the old Wizards.COMmunity site.

"Do you cock an arquebus?"

I guess it's all based on context...

Paizo Employee Chief Technical Officer

Fizzlestick wrote:
Cool beans...could never say Moorcock without it turning into "Moorrooster" on the old Wizards.COMmunity site.

Does that mean you'd have to talk about battling roosteratrices?

Liberty's Edge

Daigle wrote:


> Finally, there's Powergen Italia, (formerly) bringing Italy specialized
battery products at:
> <http://www.powergenitalia.com>
>

I have heard of this one before. It was in one of Richard Lederer's 'Anguished English' books. He's also one of the guys that exposed BabelFish to the masses.


Vic Wertz wrote:
Fizzlestick wrote:
Cool beans...could never say Moorcock without it turning into "Moorrooster" on the old Wizards.COMmunity site.
Does that mean you'd have to talk about battling roosteratrices?

The obvious words with naughty words within were out of the filters. Eventually, even "Moorcock" was deemed acceptable.

In this day and age, a "roosteratrice" is probably a real thing in some OGL adventure.

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