Sailor Moon Forum

Besides the fact that I personally think they're annoying, and it didn't work when I tried to disable them in my control panel...

1) They're pointless. It's one thing to sensor out certain swear words (still annoying, but I can see how it's necessary, as this is a Sailor Moon forum and we probably attract some young users). It's another thing to censor words like "e p i c," "c o f f e e," "l o l," "s c o u t," "o m g," and possibly others I haven't discovered yet. I mean...why those specific words? They're not offensive, they're not "bad," and they're just...well, pointless. Especially the "c o f f e e" filter.

2) The words they're replaced with are stupid. Scyphate? Rantipole? Cookie? Cup of joe? What? Why? ......Why?

3) They look silly in context. It's weird that we have a thread about "cup of joe" in which everyone talks about "cup of joe." I know that the phrase is some kind of euphemism for c o f f e e. That's not the issue. The issue is that there's a thread all about a word we can't use, in which everyone uses said word and it gets filtered, and the thread (if I recall) was started by a mod/admin! WHAT'S THE POINT THEN. And not to mention (though I'm mentioning it), the grammar is off with this example. You don't say, "I'd love some cup of joe!" You say, "I'd love a cup of joe!" The "c o f f e e" becomes the "joe," and the cup is just the cup, not the c o f f e e itself. But this is just me being nitpicky. >_>

4) They drive away potential users. Before I started posting here, I was lurking for a few years, and I was always put off by how everyone was talking about rantipoles, puppies, and using the phrase "cor blimey" all the time. I thought it was some weird Genvid forum lingo and I was totally confused. I had no idea what was going on. It was only until I started posting here that I realized a word filter thing was going on.

5) This ties in with #4 about driving away users, but honestly, the filter makes the board seem like it's run by a bunch of pretentious snobs. I'm worried because I *know* that this isn't the case. This board is run by good people. But the filter makes it seem like the people here think themselves as "too good" for simple Internet phrases like l o l and o m g. In addition, the filter for the word "s c o u t" comes across as dub-hating, which can be alienating for some of our members who are forced to space their words out, censor themselves, use a different name than what they're used to, or be content with posting about "Sailor Cookies" all the time. I mean, really guys? Really?

6) Not to start sounding like a "Team Quality" member (never thought they were of much quality, though I digress), but the concept of a word filter (for things beyond swear words) makes this place seem very oppressive. I get that this isn't a country with a government here. I understand how it's just a message board. But it contributes to an oppressive atmosphere is all I'm saying.

Like I said, I tried to disable the filter on my own just for my own user experience, and it hasn't worked. Maybe I need to try again. But the point is, even if I remove it for my own board experience, that doesn't change the fact that OTHER people will still see the filtered words and the issues themselves won't be solved.

This is a very minor problem, I think, l o l. But I'd like to bring it up because I feel like a lot of people have an opinion on it, and I want for there to be a safe place where we can express these opinions.

In short: I feel that the word filters for things beyond swear words are utterly pointless and they do more harm than good.

Anyone else? Agree? Disagree? Thoughts?

The filter stopped being funny to me about two years ago. It's not that good of a joke, seriously. If some moths really think it should be spared, it could as well be reversed so that it'd be off by default and if someone "funny" wants to see "funny" words everywhere, s/he could turn it on.

Adding one reason: dutiful moderators who edit posts to silence the swearing by star censoring make the filter unnecessary.

I've no strong opinions on whether they should stay or not, but I personally have turned them off long time ago, & in any case have long got accustomed to them & don't feel them irritating at all. l o l BTW, I've never added any new ones myself.

I also feel quite irritated to write about normal things like co'ffee, other people who have the word filter turned on don't get what I mean. I can't express myself in the way I'd want to, if I'm forced to say "cor blimbey".

There're various ways to get around them if you don't want them showing up to other users.

I am doing that already, I'm just kinda perplexed and frustrated over the fact that I have to do it because of a stupid, completely unnecessary joke that has got old years ago and which happens to be alive only because those who think it's still extremely funny are authorities on the forum.

I'm not sure whether anyone of the "authorities" really think so nowadays - it could be simply that no one has regarded it as an issue, like myself, tho I've never asked about that.

They don't think it as a problem because they've made it and it's under their controll.

Anyway, I'm open on this issue, & am fine whether the filters stay or not. So continue to post your opinions here, everyone.

I pretty much forgot they existed since they were in effect for quite some time before I took admin powers back. Don't really care one way or the other. Continue posting thoughts everyone.

I demand a poll.

The OP could edit his post to incorporate that.

I have very few sources of entertainment in my ronery basement...

I do think the S cout one should be getting rid of for sure.. i think some dub fans may not find it funny.

and they others do get annoying.

I remember your filtering all full stops into "desu". And I think that's fun, especially for the forum members' responses back then.

I'm pretty used to the filters now, but they're still irritating sometimes I don't care for the s c o u t filter. I remember talking about Girl S c o u t cookies and obviously came out as "Girl Cookies cookies". People figured out I meant the GSA but still

Yeah, filters can be stupid & can't take a/c of the context of word usage, tho that could be hilarious in itself.

I don't care one way or the other. I guess all the mods don't care and the users do - personally, I think we should do what the users like the best. Democracy vote and all since none of us have strong opinions anyway.

I agree w/ that - if most users want it to stay or be scraped, so be it.

was funny in the old days but now it's old, that's why I just turn it off besides I hardly ever swear here if ever

Added a poll!

So I finally figured out how to turn the thing off. Turns out I was doing it wrong before. >_>; Must've pressed the wrong button or something. But I still feel it should be removed since new users might be just as perplexed/confused as I was about why everyone's talking about cookies and rantipoles...I mean, I still feel the need to censor myself (with words that shouldn't be censored in the first place) just so that everyone, including unregistered guests, won't have to see that stuff.

And to whoever changed the f i l t e r for the word f i l t e r itself: very cute. I don't really appreciate it =P but I guess it's just a joke, so I'll let it go. I just think it helps prove my point, though...

Very surprised to see these opinions. I thought people would exclaim their love for it, or the mods would rally against me or something. I'm also afraid most people will just think to turn it off and ignore it, but that still makes things weird for guests/new users...

Another con: the laughing smilie doesn't work for those with a word filter.

EDIT: How many votes do we need to scrap it/keep it? Or should the poll be set a time limit?

We'll do a week long poll and base our actions on the results.
Sound fair?

Yep.

So vote away everyone - the more votes the better!

And I'm gonna globalize this thread for that.

I don't mind that s c o u t gets censored, because I'm a potential dub hater. But as for the other words, I think there should be an option to turn the censorship off.

Well, there already is an option to turn it off in the "Moonie Control Panel" link at the top of every page. But that only turns it off for you, and other posters like new users, guests, and people who don't know how to turn it off/haven't turned it off, will still see those filtered words. My issue is that it might confuse people, drive them away, or just look really silly.

And even though you dislike the dub, having that term censored creates a somewhat alienating feeling for people here who DO like the dub. It's important to consider the feelings of others. =)

The filter is totally stupid, confusing, and unfunny. I give eliminating it an emphatic YES for all the reasons John described. I remember googling "rantipole" because I couldn't for the life of me figure out why everyone kept saying it.

It's dieing, it's dieing!

Hi, new here and like John said, while I was lurking I was really confused what "rantipole" was supposed to mean. I came primarily because of the new anime but this post inspired me to use my first post to vote against the filter, it's unnecessary, confusing and not funny (mainly because I never realized it was supposed to be a joke).