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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’

#231

Post by gdy »

dottedmag wrote: post #208
qwerty456127 wrote: post #116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Transliteration is almost always a mess, rarely yielding good results. If I were him I would just demand the authorities to spell my name as Simon. Or, perhaps, keep it as Semen and make fun of that myself. I could even sue someone who would ban me for this.

Have you tried demanding something from Russian authorities? They have a transliteration table and Семён is Semen, no changes allowed.

The changes are allowed.

Proof: https://www.transliteratciia.ru/transliteraciya-imeni-i-fami...

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

#232

Post by dylan604 »

coldcode wrote: post #224
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.

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.

> Not exactly what you would think would be "white" which is what many Americans assume it means.

Because that's exactly how some people teach the definition to mean.[0] I've always been told that to the people in Persia, the people that came across the Caucasus were much more pale skinned. Teachings also say those same people helped populate Europe. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_people

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

#233

Post by iddqd »

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.

Don’t know much about Lyft in particular, but with the amount of reports and cancellations you get with a name like that you’d get booted of the platform pretty quickly, no?

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

#234

Post by ravenstine »

Doesn't Lyft know the real names of these drivers by the time they're on the road? If people are offended by other people's given names then they're the ones in the wrong, not the people named "Dick Cummings".

When are we going to grow up and realize that the mere appearance of words like "dick" and "cum" don't hurt anybody?

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

#235

Post by noelsusman »

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.

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.

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

#237

Post by def_true_false »

AdrianB1 wrote: post #66
copperx wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Polite language is secular. Where do you get this religious connotation from?

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.

Half the Christians in Germany are Catholics.

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

#238

Post by isquared23 »

coldcode wrote: post #224
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.

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 what “they assume it means”. Stuff in AE (and other language) means exactly what AE speakers (and speakers of other languages) assume it means.

Cau·ca·sian /kôˈkāZHən/ NORTH AMERICAN white-skinned; of European origin.

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

#240

Post by clouddrover »

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…

> anyone named "Fuck", ostensibly

How very dare you. I'll have you know I come from a long line of Fuckers.

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