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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’

#241

Post by WAHa_06x36 »

noelsusman wrote: post #235
spacechild1 wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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.

Race is not a uniquely American concept. The Germans were the ones who first came up with the idea of a Caucasian race back in the 18th century. You're not wrong though, we should use White European instead since that's what it means today.

That really doesn't resolve anything, and just further demonstrates the really weird relationship with race and nationality that Americans have.

Namely: Why would it be called "white EUROPEAN" when basically none of the people it is applied to are European in any reasonable sense of the word? They may have great-great-great-grandparents who were European, but that does not make them European.

Americans do this all the time - they call themselves "german", "irish", or "italian", even when they are not born there, do not speak the language, have never even visited the country, and have zero exposure to the culture of that country.

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

#242

Post by knolax »

GrantZvolsky wrote: post #193
saagarjha wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

…which of course is a valid reason to deny him access from your service, too.

My point was not to defend the blacklisting of expletives. I remember a CS prof giving us dozens of legitimate uses, including people with Scunthorpe domain email not having their mail delivered. My point was that Mr Fucks is not as helpless as he seems and probably spells his name Fuchs when entering his name into a computer because he can't tell which system is poorly designed and which is not.

Until another computer system denies him service for not spelling his name exactly as it is on his ID.

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

#243

Post by kps »

isquared23 wrote: post #238
coldcode wrote: post #224

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It does mean white/of European origin in American English. Just like entree means main dish. Both don’t correspond to the original meaning of the words. You can find similar shifts in meaning in other languages too (e.g., German calls a mobile/cell phone “Handy” which makes no sense to a native English speaker). I question the wisdom of telling native speakers that their language uses a word wrong/that doesn’t mean w…

‘Handy’ comes from the WWII ‘handie talkie’, a transceiver small enough to hold in the hand¹, which followed the ‘walkie talkie’, a transceiver small enough to walk around with².

¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Portable_radio_SCR536.png

² https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Scr300.png

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

#245

Post by manquer »

IgorPartola wrote: post #223
feanaro wrote: post #200

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It is not the same for drivers though. Drivers have to use their real name as in their driving licence . I doubt that a registered legal name is going to be that kind of offensive.

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

#246

Post by JaRail »

andrewbarba wrote: post #60
reaperducer wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since a credit card is required to use Lyft, why not just validate the name on the card with the card company and make it the issuer's problem?

A credit card is not required to use Lyft. You can use credit from gift cards or promo codes, as well as 1 time payment methods like Apple Pay which are completed at time of ride booking and do not expose names

Are you sure about that? I don't have Lyft where I live. But, about a year back, I was given a Lyft code for an interview. When I got the code, the instructions made it clear that I needed to register a credit card for liability. I had my account created with my personal credit card and redeemed the code. I thought I was good to go. When I got to the destination city and tried to order a ride at the airport, it said I needed to enter a SECOND credit card for verification. Unfortunately I traveled light and didn't a second card on me.

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

#247

Post by isoskeles »

pferde wrote: post #220
jrockway wrote: post #175

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you and the driver are supposed to exchange names. This is probably awkward when you name yourself "suck my balls" or something, which people undoubtedly do because people are terrible. The Simpsons figured this out decades ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1EjcWU6sEk

No, you and the driver are supposed to exchange a keyword to make sure you got into the right car. That keyword happens to be a name by default because it's very... human, I guess, but it does not have to be your name. For taxis, I frequently use two or three random names common in my country.

> No, you and the driver are supposed to exchange a keyword to make sure you got into the right car.

I've never heard of this. Where did you learn this? I'm not saying you're wrong either, as it makes sense. I've just never heard of it.

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

#248

Post by dtwest »

WAHa_06x36 wrote: post #241
noelsusman wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Race is not a uniquely American concept. The Germans were the ones who first came up with the idea of a Caucasian race back in the 18th century. You're not wrong though, we should use White European instead since that's what it means today.

That really doesn't resolve anything, and just further demonstrates the really weird relationship with race and nationality that Americans have. Namely: Why would it be called "white EUROPEAN" when basically none of the people it is applied to are European in any reasonable sense of the word? They may have great-great-great-grandparents who were European, but that does not make them European. Americans do this all th…

This is a debate about language conventions, I can assure you that 0% of Americans claiming to be European in this sense actually think they live in Europe or are actual Europeans. There are some that speak the language and have exposure to the culture, but that is not what they are saying in this context.

In America, a nation of immigrants, people are often proud of where their family came from. This can trickle down a few generations. There is an increasing number of people that identify as "American" instead of where their family originally immigrated from, particularly in Appalachia and the South, so this could eventually change.

I understand the frustration from a European point of view, but I just wanted to provide some context to the phenomenon.

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

#249

Post by kps »

joostdecock wrote: post #174

This sort of thing happens to me all the time. (Bad) Spam filters are a big problem too. And how do you even try to fix this? I ended up taking my name off (the emails and website) of an open source project I maintain just to please the spam filters: https://twitter.com/j__st/status/1210559583934189568?s=19 I can appreciate the funny side of it, but it's also profoundly saddening somehow. I was born with this name, w…

If you want to have fun with the English slang, change it to ‘Joost De Tip’. https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Just%20the%2...

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

#250

Post by [deleted] »

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…

[deleted]
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