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Lyft’s algorithm is trying to block people with names like ‘Dick’ and ‘Cummings’

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Re: Lyft’s algorithm is trying to block people with names like ‘Dick’ and ‘Cummings’

#221

Post by AdrianB1 »

koyote wrote: post #148
AdrianB1 wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forbidding a name like Cummings because it is not "polite" is neither secular or logical. Also in non-Catholic Christian countries sex and nudity are not a big deal (example: Germany), so you are partially right: not a Christian connotation, just particular forms of it.

It's ironic that you specifically mention Germany. Although you are correct about nudity not being a big deal there, they actually have specific laws about the names that newborn children are allowed to be given.

That is a different matter: state control over citizens. We have the same laws, inspired from Germany (we are geographically close).

Re: Lyft’s algorithm is trying to block people with names like ‘Dick’ and ‘Cummings’

#222

Post by Larrikin »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #112
cortesoft wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a nonsensical argument. A word has meaning, which is why it is a word and not a sound. If I yell insults at you, you are saying that doesn't mean anything? And if you get insulted, it is your own fault? No, words have meaning based on a common understanding between the person saying the word and the person hearing the word. If I insult you and you understand it, it is me who did the insulting, it is not 'your…

> If I yell insults at you In such a case I would just assume you are stupid or something and keep on my business. If you don't have capacity to ignore that kind of noise you probably need treatment. Threats, however, are a different story. You shouldn't care much if some random people express their opinion which is you're a moron (unless you meet such people often - then it might be a good idea to actually make sure…

This is very much the same argument I hear online on why it's ok to use the word, nigger, and even why it is ok to call black people that word. Words have meaning and swear words have meaning and history to their usage.

Re: Lyft’s algorithm is trying to block people with names like ‘Dick’ and ‘Cummings’

#223

Post by IgorPartola »

feanaro wrote: post #200
zulln wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Drivers? Cannot imagine it being a big problem people having really offensive names though, after all you are actually meeting the driver irl and expect them to.. well, drive you.

Or, perhaps people just shouldn't be offended by names. There are more important things in life.

If your driver’s name was Hitler Did Nothing Wrong Nazis Rule, would you want to drive with them? I think name filtering like this is incredibly dumb and have never seen a good implementation of it. But “don’t be offended” is rarely the blanket answer people seem to think it is.

Re: Lyft’s algorithm is trying to block people with names like ‘Dick’ and ‘Cummings’

#224

Post by coldcode »

spacechild1 wrote: post #214
danso wrote: post #16

Besides the humor of how Lyft's filter flagged traditionally Caucasian names like "Cummings" – in addition to the usual issues with non-Western names, e.g. Pimpong and Poon – I'm fascinated/confused how this made it into production? The user database already exists and was currently being used by the live application. Before deploying this new filter onto the production database, wouldn't you do a dry run to get not…

> traditionally Caucasian names like "Cummings" It always amazes me when US Americans talk in terms of human races like it's the most normal thing in the world. And no, “Cummings“ is not a “Caucasian name“ (whatever that is supposed to mean), it's an English name. I don't want sound too harsh, it's just that as a Central European with all our recent history, things like this really rub me the wrong way.

Caucasian is a funny word to apply to Europeans since its a part of the area around present day Georgia and is a highly diverse ethnic mix of people which most people would classify as Central Asian (like Turks and Armenians for instance). Not exactly what you would think would be "white" which is what many Americans assume it means.

Re: Lyft’s algorithm is trying to block people with names like ‘Dick’ and ‘Cummings’

#225

Post by gridlockd »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #46
danso wrote: post #16

Besides the humor of how Lyft's filter flagged traditionally Caucasian names like "Cummings" – in addition to the usual issues with non-Western names, e.g. Pimpong and Poon – I'm fascinated/confused how this made it into production? The user database already exists and was currently being used by the live application. Before deploying this new filter onto the production database, wouldn't you do a dry run to get not…

This is all bullshit anyway. A word is just a word and whenever it insults somebody it's their own problem. I would rather change my actual name to Fuck if I wasn't too lazy to deal with problems like that. I once read a story of a Vietnamese man named Hui. He had to go to the court to protect his right to be named this way in Ukraine where the word is used widely and has only one meaning - a dick.

> A word is just a word and whenever it insults somebody it's their own problem.

That's what you think the world should be like, not the way it is. If your name is Adolfhitler Smith, a perfectly legal name in the US, then you will have trouble getting hired.

That's a made up example, but there's evidence[1] that unusual (not necessarily obscene) names will lead to less success in job applications.

If you have a "bad" name, it's your problem well before anyone else's.

[1] https://www.nber.org/digest/sep03/w9873.html

Re: Lyft’s algorithm is trying to block people with names like ‘Dick’ and ‘Cummings’

#226

Post by bigtunacan »

danso wrote: post #16

Besides the humor of how Lyft's filter flagged traditionally Caucasian names like "Cummings" – in addition to the usual issues with non-Western names, e.g. Pimpong and Poon – I'm fascinated/confused how this made it into production? The user database already exists and was currently being used by the live application. Before deploying this new filter onto the production database, wouldn't you do a dry run to get not…

As someone already pointed out here, Fuck is a real last name. Fucker is also a real last name. You need a credit card to pay for Lyft; I don't quite follow why they can't just match people up with their credit card data.

Re: Lyft’s algorithm is trying to block people with names like ‘Dick’ and ‘Cummings’

#228

Post by microcolonel »

spacechild1 wrote: post #214
danso wrote: post #16

Besides the humor of how Lyft's filter flagged traditionally Caucasian names like "Cummings" – in addition to the usual issues with non-Western names, e.g. Pimpong and Poon – I'm fascinated/confused how this made it into production? The user database already exists and was currently being used by the live application. Before deploying this new filter onto the production database, wouldn't you do a dry run to get not…

> traditionally Caucasian names like "Cummings" It always amazes me when US Americans talk in terms of human races like it's the most normal thing in the world. And no, “Cummings“ is not a “Caucasian name“ (whatever that is supposed to mean), it's an English name. I don't want sound too harsh, it's just that as a Central European with all our recent history, things like this really rub me the wrong way.

> It always amazes me when US Americans talk in terms of human races like it's the most normal thing in the world.

It's just progressives and a smattering of yokels. Everyone else seems to be right in the head, relatively.

Re: Lyft’s algorithm is trying to block people with names like ‘Dick’ and ‘Cummings’

#229

Post by gdy »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #46
danso wrote: post #16

Besides the humor of how Lyft's filter flagged traditionally Caucasian names like "Cummings" – in addition to the usual issues with non-Western names, e.g. Pimpong and Poon – I'm fascinated/confused how this made it into production? The user database already exists and was currently being used by the live application. Before deploying this new filter onto the production database, wouldn't you do a dry run to get not…

This is all bullshit anyway. A word is just a word and whenever it insults somebody it's their own problem. I would rather change my actual name to Fuck if I wasn't too lazy to deal with problems like that. I once read a story of a Vietnamese man named Hui. He had to go to the court to protect his right to be named this way in Ukraine where the word is used widely and has only one meaning - a dick.

"A word is just a word"

Good luck using the N-word in the US.

Re: Lyft’s algorithm is trying to block people with names like ‘Dick’ and ‘Cummings’

#230

Post by SilasX »

spacechild1 wrote: post #217
userbinator wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

positives (anyone named "Fuck", ostensibly). This guy would disagree: http://mw.eco.br/ig/prof/ReinhardtAdolfoFuck.htm Along the same lines, https://www.nie.edu.sg/profile/chew-shit-fun

In Austria, we have many people called “Fick“, which literally means “Fuck“. BTW, isn't it insulting to those people to suggest that their names are insulting?

And, of course, there’s the town of Fucking:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fucking,_Austria

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