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The naughty username checking system used by Twitch

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Re: The naughty username checking system used by Twitch

#191

Post by chx »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #167

We used to call this the "Scunthorpe problem" - how do you filter for obviously rude names while still allowing people to have their actual names? Bearing in mind that some people's names are actually rude. I worked on the application form processing for the Nectar card launch in the UK back in the early 2000's, and we had several cases. Luckily we had human data-entry clerks in the loop, so all we had to do was flag…

That this system is so primitive doesn't surprise me at all. After all, people with a family name "Null" often get database errors -- despite even Oracle, which can't tell null and empty string apart, decidedly has IS NULL vs == "NULL" comparisons... https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20160325-the-names-that-b...

Re: The naughty username checking system used by Twitch

#192

Post by noneeeed »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #167

We used to call this the "Scunthorpe problem" - how do you filter for obviously rude names while still allowing people to have their actual names? Bearing in mind that some people's names are actually rude. I worked on the application form processing for the Nectar card launch in the UK back in the early 2000's, and we had several cases. Luckily we had human data-entry clerks in the loop, so all we had to do was flag…

It's getting particularly problematic for international sites. What constitutes offensive language in one country might be a perfectly normal name, or product, in another country that uses the same language, let alone in another language.

There's been a running joke on the UK Reddit subs recently about people getting short bans for using the term "faggot" as it's now on some automatic, site-wide blocklist. The bans are completely context free, so people are supposedly getting banned for discussing the food product, a kind of large meat-ball made primarily from minced offal. The same happens with "fag", meaning a cigarette.

Re: The naughty username checking system used by Twitch

#193

Post by rsynnott »

ithinkso wrote: post #134
EvanAnderson wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I removed the letter U from a random password generator for a Customer's app after a password was generated containing the "C-word".

Both of you are allowed to swear on the internet

And yet, not _required_ to if they don't want to.

Re: The naughty username checking system used by Twitch

#194

Post by mgdlbp »

Agentlien wrote: post #121
mgdlbp wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's one that does/doesn't! https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speciaal:Filter/10

Unfortunately it seems I don't have access to that page. Do I need to be a Wikipedia editor?

Ah, that's right—need to have had an account for four days and... to have clicked the 'Edit' button at least once?

That's what the linked page says (I'm not familiar with Dutch Wikipedia specifics), but that seems like such a strange statistic to track instead of minimum edit count.

So weird that I looked up how to configure MediaWiki autoconfirm requirements. They probably mean a minimum of one edit. Auto-confirmation considers only age and edit count, and I don't see why clicking 'Edit' is so meaningful a condition to warrant developing an extension.

https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Autoconfirmed_users

Searching about extensions did lead to discovering an obscure feature: there's now a built-in URL shortener: https://w.wiki/Q8

Edit: interestingly, the single-character ones seem to have been pre-planned: https://w.wiki/e, https://w.wiki/E, https://w.wiki/4

Re: The naughty username checking system used by Twitch

#195

Post by ggrelet »

buildsjets wrote: post #73

My wife used to name her RPG characters “Isis” after a cat we used to have. Used to have to explain to vets that we named her Isis years before Bush and Cheney created Isis by starting their illegitimate war in Iraq.

Are people not familiar with the Egyptian goddess, though?

Re: The naughty username checking system used by Twitch

#196

Post by LadyCailin »

geoduck14 wrote: post #64
sorenjan wrote: post #55

Reminds me of the guy that streamed a talking banana on Twitch, where viewers could make it say things. People submitted variations of the n-word and got him banned, and after trying to filter out all character combinations he could think of he wrote a phonetic filter. That apparently worked much better than trying to think of every permutation of characters that sounds like bad words. https://youtu.be/bJ5ppf0po3k?t=…

>the guy that streamed a talking banana on Twitch Of all the ways I expected a talking banana to backfire, I didn't expect this one. Thanks for sharing

Wait, now I’m extremely curious what failure modes one would expect from a talking banana.

Re: The naughty username checking system used by Twitch

#197

Post by dynamite-ready »

qwerty456127 wrote: post #173
marcus_holmes wrote: post #167

We used to call this the "Scunthorpe problem" - how do you filter for obviously rude names while still allowing people to have their actual names? Bearing in mind that some people's names are actually rude. I worked on the application form processing for the Nectar card launch in the UK back in the early 2000's, and we had several cases. Luckily we had human data-entry clerks in the loop, so all we had to do was flag…

People should just be taught (I would consider this is an essential skill which should be put in basic school curriculum to psychologically prepare people for the life, many support/sales professionals learn it quickly but the rest of the people don't) words are just words and they don't have to take them seriously. No word is rude until you consider it rude. No word can actually harm you directly. It's you who is in…

I disagree. Language is very often used as a way to include and exclude people in and from various social groups. You're right in that there's never any direct harm in the sound of the words themselves. But you can say the same thing about verbally threatening physical harm (or even psychological harm) to someone, and would be very wrong in your assumption.

Re: The naughty username checking system used by Twitch

#199

Post by globular-toast »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #167

We used to call this the "Scunthorpe problem" - how do you filter for obviously rude names while still allowing people to have their actual names? Bearing in mind that some people's names are actually rude. I worked on the application form processing for the Nectar card launch in the UK back in the early 2000's, and we had several cases. Luckily we had human data-entry clerks in the loop, so all we had to do was flag…

If nobody ever implemented a rude word filter, nobody would ever need to implement a rude word filter.

Re: The naughty username checking system used by Twitch

#200

Post by raxxorrax »

marcus_holmes wrote: post #167

We used to call this the "Scunthorpe problem" - how do you filter for obviously rude names while still allowing people to have their actual names? Bearing in mind that some people's names are actually rude. I worked on the application form processing for the Nectar card launch in the UK back in the early 2000's, and we had several cases. Luckily we had human data-entry clerks in the loop, so all we had to do was flag…

Seems like a rude name might give you some privacy advantages in the 21st century. To the price of being excluded by random services maybe.

Old math prof of mine was named Dr. Cock, and he wasn't the only one, the name was common. Students called him Dr. Octocock.

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