Filter circumvention

aryannamage

As you probably all know Filter circumvention is rife on this forum. Frankie and also most of us Mods send warnings out everyday. For a while now we have been thinking how to stop that.

After talking it over with Frankieraye a new rule has gone into effect as of last night.

Posts which have a filter circumvention in it in any form will get deleted. It doesn't matter how long the post is or what the point was in it. 1 filter circumvention and the post is gone instead we Mods will put a little note in those posts stating that it is still a banable offence. If it is the first post in a thread the thread will then also get closed.

It maybe harsh but it really doesn't take much not to go round the filter.

Rule of thumb:

If you think the contents of your post are insulting don't post it!

Remember that! b:victory

Myrtle - Raging Tide

i promise i won`t post insulting post anymore !
Promise.

Sacredxstar - Heavens Tear

aryannamage wrote: »

Rule of thumb:

If you think the containts of your post are insulting don't post it!

Remember that! b:victory

Containts? Did you mean "contents"? b:surrender

Alliptica - Raging Tide

me too

/10char

aryannamage

Sacredxstar - Heavens Tear wrote: »

Containts? Did you mean "contents"? b:surrender

Fixed sorry! b:sad

BeingHope - Raging Tide

b:laugh Love it and thanks for explaining, was wondering about it recently rofl b:chuckle

DragonPyre - Raging Tide

It was about time too. You guys should also take care of posters who keep bashing others constantly in their posts.

BeingHope - Raging Tide

DragonPyre - Raging Tide wrote: »

It was about time too. You guys should also take care of posters who keep bashing others constantly in their posts.

I'd love that too b:surrender I'll post just one thing to participate and next thing I know I have people swearing at me to kill myself and stuff b:cry

Maragon - Dreamweaver

thanks.

I vote this gets duplicated or moved int he rules of conduct section as it will inevitably get lost in general discussion

Alliptica - Raging Tide

BeingHope - Raging Tide wrote: »

I'd love that too b:surrender I'll post just one thing to participate and next thing I know I have people swearing at me to kill myself and stuff b:cry

well you can block them

aryannamage

We will see how this works for now and go from there. This may come into effect for bashing and other broken rules as well. Just wait and see for now.

Anyone saw yet that my first post in this thread was the magical 4000?

Psytrac - Dreamweaver

4444 is magical, not 4000 :P so only.. 442 to go lol

aryannamage

Psytrac - Dreamweaver wrote: »

4444 is magical, not 4000 :P so only.. 442 to go lol

Spoilsport! b:cry

Always you! b:angry

BeingHope - Raging Tide

aryannamage wrote: »

Spoilsport! b:cry

Always you! b:angry

b:laugh omg LOL

And yeah I could block them but most of the time its different people or alts QQ

Sangodoc - Dreamweaver

Honestly, I'd love to see the "inb4lock" and "cool story bro" posts go as well. They're annoying and contribute nothing.

aryannamage

Sangodoc - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Honestly, I'd love to see the "inb4lock" and "cool story bro" posts go as well. They're annoying and contribute nothing.

I for one have already started moving those to LD so they at least don't count towards the overall postcount. And if I see repeated offences those people do get a warning for spam.

Konariraiden - Heavens Tear

Sangodoc - Dreamweaver wrote: »

Honestly, I'd love to see the "inb4lock" and "cool story bro" posts go as well. They're annoying and contribute nothing.

Cool story br--*gets punched*

...okay, okay...I'll be serious-face.

Kudos, Ary and the rest of the Mod Team. Glad to see the forums'll be seeing a cleaning up, no matter how slight this may be.

b:victory

MANray_ - Sanctuary

I really don't see how this would help reduce filter bypassing. As a Lawyer i've come to the conclussion that "tough" stances or measures are usually counterproductive to regulators of all kinds.

Delia - Harshlands

I think this is a good idea. Thanks!

MANray_ - Sanctuary wrote: »

I really don't see how this would help reduce filter bypassing. As a Lawyer i've come to the conclussion that "tough" stances or measures are usually counterproductive to regulators of all kinds.

Usually, "tough" stances aren't enforceable. On a forum such as this, they are (more so, at least). I'm willing to give this a try at least.

MANray_ - Sanctuary

Delia - Harshlands wrote: »

Usually, "tough" stances aren't enforceable. On a forum such as this, they are (more so, at least). I'm willing to give this a try at least.

Filter bypassing cannot be easily automated, and even then not fully. This means labor intensive enforcement which will lead to some form of bias, as mods trying to save themselves trouble will start looking more closely through threads more likely to result in flaming. It could also mean some form of censorship, as not only this attention may not focus on filter bypassing alone, but because deleted posts are likely to be critical postures.

I do consider it a thing of principle to say something whenever liberties are restricted, even if it doesn't directly affect me. As much as it would be fair to say i've been downright obnoxious in some past threads, i have rarely if ever resorted to filter bypassing.

Ishmah - Sanctuary

It's great to see that the moderators are making an effort to clean up these forums. Thankyou.

Although these quotes are relating to different 'offences' (highlights added);

aryannamage wrote: »

...Posts which have a filter circumvention in it in any form will get deleted....

aryannamage wrote: »

We will see how this works for now and go from there. This may come into effect for bashing and other broken rules as well. Just wait and see for now.

aryannamage wrote: »

I for one have already started moving those to LD so they at least don't count towards the overall postcount. And if I see repeated offences those people do get a warning for spam.

could they be enforced consistently by ALL moderators ALL of the time? b:thanks

Aadi - Lost City

Glad to see this b:victory

This should be stickied or put into the rules of the forum.

Delia - Harshlands

MANray_ - Sanctuary wrote: »

Filter bypassing cannot be easily automated, and even then not fully. This means labor intensive enforcement which will lead to some form of bias, as mods trying to save themselves trouble will start looking more closely through threads more likely to result in flaming. It could also mean some form of censorship, as not only this attention may not focus on filter bypassing alone, but because deleted posts are likely to be critical postures.

I do consider it a thing of principle to say something whenever liberties are restricted, even if it doesn't directly affect me. As much as it would be fair to say i've been downright obnoxious in some past threads, i have rarely if ever resorted to filter bypassing.

However much I dislike many of PWE's business practices, I do think the GMs and especially the moderators of these forums are generally fair. I respect your concerns though, and if this results in censoring negative posts then I completely agree with you.

However, I think Aryanna worded it in a reasonable and impartial way, and my impression is that if someone is clearly bypassing the forum filter and the post is seen, it will be deleted.

Slivaf - Dreamweaver

Sounds like a stricter law is going in place for those who break rules, I am guessing you all will have more work cut out for you on the sticky subject that a few people are strongly against, or strongly in agreement with.

While this new 'law' is nice it will undoubtedly make a few people angry, but I really think that this idea is far less stressful/time consuming in the short run then figuring out every single word variation that should be put on the 'ban' list. There is just far too many ways to avoid the filter.

While I haven't ever really intended my posts to cause drama/to flame someone, people have undoubtedly taking my posts as such, and just add more fuel to the fire, by trying to discredit my opinion.

Either way good luck to you aryanna, and the other mods, which are just far too many to name by name, in enforcing this new 'law.'

Godspeed, and may your patience stay in tact.

Psytrac - Dreamweaver

aryannamage wrote: »

Spoilsport! b:cry

Always you! b:angry

you know you love me b:victory

Dustins_ALT - Harshlands

Good rule!

People, name calling on the Internet is called cyber bulling an it is a law in America lol, I think!b:victory

Of course that would pretty much be taking away the whole freedom of speech law in America, lol.

MANray_ - Sanctuary

Delia - Harshlands wrote: »

However much I dislike many of PWE's business practices, I do think the GMs and especially the moderators of these forums are generally fair. I respect your concerns though, and if this results in censoring negative posts then I completely agree with you.

However, I think Aryanna worded it in a reasonable and impartial way, and my impression is that if someone is clearly bypassing the forum filter and the post is seen, it will be deleted.

A mod may be fair but must follow guidelines. Let's use the example of a commonly used acronym; the stronger worded variant of WTH. Would this be considered filter bypassing or generally accepted web speech? The more i think about it the less i like it, especially since, as Konari stressed, they may now be using different criteria for other forms of forum violations as well. Most laws and rules are phrased in such a way as to avoid liability by regulators, meaning they're subject to a wide range of interpretations. Enforcement is to all practial purposes the real standard of law. Anyway i'm not trying to argue here (hope you don't think i've been aggressive) but i have genuine reasons to be concerned, especially since whatever will be the new code we will only discover through seeing it's use.

aryannamage

Delia - Harshlands wrote: »

However, I think Aryanna worded it in a reasonable and impartial way, and my impression is that if someone is clearly bypassing the forum filter and the post is seen, it will be deleted.

Thank you. Alot of thought went into this before it went live so to say. We Moderators still get closely monitored by the GM's so as to make sure this privilege isn't abused. We went with the bypassing of the filter at this point because honestly it gives us far too much work in the old version. I couldn't even count the amount of warnings I alone send out some days. When you sit here for several hours every day trying to get one thing done and it isn't happening you start thinking of what to do. Each CM had their own way to try and deal with it. At one point people got banned everyday for it, didn't help either. We are now trying a slightly different approach.

I know I would be annoyed if my text dissapeared just because I went round the filter if it was me. But I wouldn't even be able to complain all that much because there is a reason for it. So instead I would find a way so my posts don't get deleted ie not go round the filter.

For now we will go just with filter bypassing though if a post goes too far don't be surprised if you find my name again despite no filter.

Konariraiden - Heavens Tear

MANray_ - Sanctuary wrote: »

A mod may be fair but must follow guidelines. Let's use the example of a commonly used acronym; the stronger worded variant of WTH. Would this be considered filter bypassing or generally accepted web speech? The more i think about it the less i like it, especially since, as Konari stressed, they may now be using different criteria for other forms of forum violations as well. Most laws and rules are phrased in such a way as to avoid liability by regulators, meaning they're subject to a wide range of interpretations. Enforcement is to all practial purposes the real standard of law. Anyway i'm not trying to argue here (hope you don't think i've been aggressive) but i have genuine reasons to be concerned, especially since whatever will be the new code we will only discover through seeing it's use.

Small rule-of-thumb. Don't use me to substantiate your argument, as my views are subject to totally 180, depending on my mood.

b:cute

...thanks for the mention, though.

Slivaf - Dreamweaver

aryannamage wrote: »

Thank you. Alot of thought went into this before it went live so to say. We Moderators still get closely monitored by the GM's so as to make sure this privilege isn't abused. We went with the bypassing of the filter at this point because honestly it gives us far too much work in the old version. I couldn't even count the amount of warnings I alone send out some days. When you sit here for several hours every day trying to get one thing done and it isn't happening you start thinking of what to do. Each CM had their own way to try and deal with it. At one point people got banned everyday for it, didn't help either. We are now trying a slightly different approach.

I know I would be annoyed if my text dissapeared just because I went round the filter if it was me. But I wouldn't even be able to complain all that much because there is a reason for it. So instead I would find a way so my posts don't get deleted ie not go round the filter.

For now we will go just with filter bypassing though if a post goes too far don't be surprised if you find my name again despite no filter.

Makes it sound like abbreviations... acronyms are ok... as long as they are NOT directed towards anyone, which I think is the best way to try and enforce this new rule.

For example the letters "F" and "U" said together and if they are meant for a specific person, then I do indeed believe you all should step in.

However acronyms like "w" "t" "f" shouldn't be under this new revised law, (which is what I think manray is partially concerned about, which rightfully so, it is sometimes a lot less stressful for us players to use acronyms like 'wtf' to really feel like we got our point across.

Though yes you don't have to always use 'wtf' to get your point across, you could easily just say what in the name of jesus, just happened, and people will be smart enough to figure out something is just not right about the situation.**

EDIT: Though even so people are pretty smart when it comes up to new acronyms for things, so if they can't say it one way, they will find another way to get there 'anger' out, so mods would have there work cut out for them. Keeping up with every single acronym just sounds... crazy. =x

aryannamage

I doubt any of us will do anything in a case of wtf. This rule is about clear violations of the filter. Normally we just edit the violations and then send a pm. That is what we are changing. You all know the words I believe those particular once which everyone thinks but only some actually post on forum. And then it takes another brand people entirely to actually go round the filter. Wtf has never been in the filter it is known by all in the Mod and GM team we never filtered that. We won't start now either.

I have seen it with alot of users that they occasionally get this:

******

In their post. Whatever that person typed originally is in the forum filter. Some people try to go round it by adding a "." in the middle others with an l instead I. Those kinds.

Also just so it is clear for everyone.

We Moderators get closely monitored by PWE staff who do not know us personally. If we do something wrong we do get treated as staff also. While it has to my knowledge never happened on this forum on another PWE forum there was at one point a Mod who abused his powers. He got banned faster then he could apologise by the CM there and was then independly rewieved. While he is now unbanned ingame he never did return to the Mod team or the forum.