Bluesky now checks against this array of slurs when creating a username • Hacker News Board

Re: Bluesky now checks against this array of slurs when creating a username

#51

Post by frantathefranta » Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 1:48 PM UTC

whstl wrote: post #41

jazzyjackson wrote: post #30

R.I.P. my sauerkraut fan club Let me be the first to bring Jung into this, "What you resist, persists", in trying to avoid the usage of slurs, you had to go and commit them to a public branch of source code to be saved in the arctic vault for eternity.

Funny enough I went to a Krautrock mini-festival a few weeks ago, here in Germany. Nobody I know cares about the term "kraut". At this point it is just outdated WW2 lingo that never caught on here. I feel like "Kartoffel" is often used in a more offensive way. Although I've never really seen someone getting really offended.

I think that is one group of people where English-based slurs haven't stuck. But on the other hand the languages around Germany have still plenty of slurs for Germans, which funnily won't be caught by the bluesky filter.

Re: Bluesky now checks against this array of slurs when creating a username

#52

Post by fundad » Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 1:48 PM UTC

anonymoushn wrote: post #37

A pal's surname is on the list, guess he just has to change his name in real life

Last week, while on Long Island of all places, I got an alarming text from a friend of a friend whose name is pronounced Key-Kay.

Re: Bluesky now checks against this array of slurs when creating a username

#53

Post by traspler » Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 1:49 PM UTC

Luckily only one language is spoken on this planet, english, or they would need to introduce many more such lists ;)

Re: Bluesky now checks against this array of slurs when creating a username

#54

Post by xdennis » Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 1:49 PM UTC

hirundo wrote: post #29

I think that the reappropriation of slurs, like yankee, whig, tory, queer, etc., is a positive thing. But this practice serves to lock them in place, helping to insure that they remain slurs. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reappropriation

Yankee is a slur? I thought it was just an endearing name for Americans. (I know in the US it only refers to North Americans.)

Re: Bluesky now checks against this array of slurs when creating a username

#55

Post by fundad » Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 1:51 PM UTC

_fat_santa wrote: post #32

Forgive my naïveté but isn’t bluesky open source and decentralized? So wouldn’t say some group just spin up an instance without these restrictions?

If you want to use the words that badly, then yes.

Re: Bluesky now checks against this array of slurs when creating a username

#56

Post by CrzyLngPwd » Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 1:51 PM UTC

That's gonna end up being a HUGE array.

Re: Bluesky now checks against this array of slurs when creating a username

#57

Post by donatj » Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 1:52 PM UTC

It’s strange to me that the block is username specific. Having it in your username seems like you’re self identifying as such, potentially owning it and “taking it back”.

Like I guess your username could be “BobHatess” but that just self identifies you as an idiot.

Re: Bluesky now checks against this array of slurs when creating a username

#58

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 1:54 PM UTC

msla wrote: post #50

jazzyjackson wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but they're currently prefederation (can't run your own instance yet ) and still making architectural decisions about how moderation will work. they're balancing onboarding new users with keeping up with high expectations of their current userbase. I'm not sure how the federation story compares with mastadon, I've mostly heard talk of composite block lists (everyone you block is public on bluesky so you could ha…

> Yes, but they're currently prefederation (can't run your own instance yet) What's stopping you?

[deleted]

Re: Bluesky now checks against this array of slurs when creating a username

#59

Post by KennyBlanken » Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 1:59 PM UTC

phito wrote: post #44

> add more words that should be cought I hope they have fewer typos in their slur list than in their code comments :) I started reading the list from the bottom up, and saw the N word written with a W a first letter. I first thought they were going to do a .replace("W", "N") to avoid spelling the word in plain text. They'll have issues once github bans slurs from source code! ;)

It's not a typo. Google it. It's a derogatory term for white people who adopt black culture and mannerisms.

Re: Bluesky now checks against this array of slurs when creating a username

#60

Post by KoftaBob » Thu, Jul 13, 2023, 2:01 PM UTC

_fat_santa wrote: post #32

Forgive my naïveté but isn’t bluesky open source and decentralized? So wouldn’t say some group just spin up an instance without these restrictions?

Pretty much. To clarify, Bluesky is a client that uses the AT Protocol. The instance that Bluesky the client uses is bsky.app, but anyone can create their own instance that doesn't refer to this slur list when someone creates an account.

What'll happen though is that the bsky.app instance (which is the largest one and basically the flagship right now) will probably de-federate with instances that have usernames that include those slurs.