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

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61–70 of 307 posts

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

#61

The US has a serious problem with saying normal things like fuck, cunt and shit. I find it extremely offensive to hear beeps in series and even the verge author self censors his article. Fucking stop being hypocrites.

You're offended by the beeps? Well now you now how the people offended by those words feel.

Edit: People seem to think I'm offended by those words. I'm not.

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

#62
post #26

Its funny to me how they try to apply christian values like avoiding vaguely sexual sounding words while also making significant amounts of money off late night debauchery, picking people up from clubs at 3am.

> while also making significant amounts of money off late night debauchery, picking people up from clubs at 3am I'm not Christian but I don't think most Christians consider a night out a club to be debauchery.

that's sort of the point

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

#63
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…

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

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

#64

It seems like tech companies have been doing DIY profanity filters. Apple has a profanity filter for engraving text onto a device in the online store ( https://twitter.com/minimaxir/status/1213188371452841984 ); intended to be your name, so terms like "Dick" have to not be filtered. I learnt that Apple has a validation endpoint. Since the engraving service was recently updated, I took a profanity wordlist and checked…

A bit of a tangent but you reminded me-- and maybe, I'm totally full of shit or like my memory is wrong, but the iPhone predicting profanity was my favorite feature. For YEARS it would never write "duck" instead of "fuck," and generally was great, but then (and this is the like maybe I'm totally wrong part) after Jobs passed away that stopped completely... and now I get this bullshit I have to fucking correct all the time (I have had to set up shortcuts to prevent it from fixing my profanity).

I can't imagine Jobs putting up with trying to swear at someone over text and repeatedly getting "ducking."

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

#65
post #10

A german user was banned on Twitter for writing "Die Boomer" = "the boomers" https://www.dw.com/en/german-grammar-in-ok-boomer-tweet-gets... Also my all time favorite when Facebook banned people posting about faggots which is a traditional food in the UK Midlands https://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/10419598/Man... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faggot_(food)

I have to say, when I first moved back to the U.K. after a long time in the states, I absolutely could not control my shock followed by giggling when people asked if they could bum a fag off me at a pub or suchlike. (Fag is slang for cigarettes for those outside the U.K.)

I've always known the word "fag" to also mean a bundle of sticks, like you'd use to start a fire. I expect the meanings are related.

Life seems to be peppered with problems with people with limited vocabularies who would rather make themselves "offended" by something, rather than think.

See also: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_about_the_word_n...

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

#66
post #51
post #26

Its funny to me how they try to apply christian values like avoiding vaguely sexual sounding words while also making significant amounts of money off late night debauchery, picking people up from clubs at 3am.

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.

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

#67
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…

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

Yeah, no name filter is going to be perfect for all edge cases. But presumably, it's a lot cheaper to have the Lyft support team handle email tickets from the relatively few Professor Fucks, than to have them also deal with every Cummings and Dick.

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

#69
post #19

It seems like tech companies have been doing DIY profanity filters. Apple has a profanity filter for engraving text onto a device in the online store ( https://twitter.com/minimaxir/status/1213188371452841984 ); intended to be your name, so terms like "Dick" have to not be filtered. I learnt that Apple has a validation endpoint. Since the engraving service was recently updated, I took a profanity wordlist and checked…

The profanity filter in the Apple App Store was [0] amusingly wrong, but fortunately also a soft filter rather than a hard filter. What happened was, the German localisation of the app description included the word “Knopf”. Knopf is not a rude word, according to any German I’ve discussed this with — it is one translation of “knob” in the sense of “button”, but Apple’s naughty word detector clearly thought it was “kno…

I've seen "schwanz" (tail) more commonly used as the euphemism for the body part.

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

#70
post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does this directly relate to “Christian” values? Could “Islamic” values be applied? Afterall, the Prophet Mohammed made his opposition to crude language clear in the Hadith. Follow up: Also appears there are some misgiving regarding crude language within the Hindu religion as well. [0] [0]: https://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?...

Ok, let's call that puritan values of abrahamic religions.

And I bet someone named Shooter[1] has no problems signing up.

1. https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/extreme-boys-names

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