NSFW/profanity adult filter?
EDIT: Post-locked topic
I didn't get the chance to reply or explain myself, ironically, as I posted this topic last night and then woke up this morning to 42 comments this topic being locked.
In short, I didn't want to block swearing from Tildes, I just wanted to find out if there was a NSFW filter, as I had my first one pop up in the feed yesterday. Reddit and other sites allow you to block NSFW content from the get-go. And yes, it is the minority by far on Tildes.
As for the swearing, I don't know why I assumed that the NSFW would remove that, I must have been tired when posting this topic. (And yes, I know that this is the internet and it's filled with non-friendly content, so it is naive to expect otherwise, sadly.)
I guess it would just be nice to have a place where you can have both great quality posts (such as on Tildes), as well as the comments be free of some unnecessary, low-quality words. I think Twitter and others allow you to block some words or topics.
I apologise for @Deimos that he had to step in to bring the peace, I didn't mean for this to happen. And apologies to the community for bringing any unrest. This was never my intention.
Hi everyone, only been on Tildes for a few weeks now.
First off, I love the quality of the content and the community's camraderie.
The only question is whether there is a way to filter NSFW, adult or profane comments. There is such great content on here, with amazing contributors, but sometimes you just get the people who like to use profane language like it's an adjective, and it has no place in the topic or discussion. I know we can't block people, but is there a way of filtering out such content, comments, or users?
You can filter out content tagged with
nsfwby adding a line to this page that says "nsfw"https://tildes.net/settings/filters
You can't filter comments or user pages.
I didn't even know nfsw content was allowed on Tildes. I've simply never seen it and I believe it's at least against the rules to post.
I think an "ignore user" function is inevitable as the site grows and user habits become more varied. If not natively than through 3rd party means.
Just plain old pornography is banned. But you could have a post that links to something with nudity in it that isn't pornography. In that case
nsfwmakes sense.This is an example of the sort of thing that is allowed but someone might want to filter.
https://tildes.net/~life/18r0/not_all_porn_is_created_equal_is_there_such_a_thing_as_a_healthy_pornography
I think the curious part of your request is not just asking to see if there's a feature but taking it a step further and saying "[profanity] has no place in the topic or discussion". I think that's the part people are getting caught up on.
In a semi formal place, sure profanity probably doesn't have a place and from what I understand, tildes likes to be a cut above the rest, but even here it's semi casual as well. There's going to be adult and mature content and expression comes in many forms from devil's advocate to unpopular opinions, contrarian views, and even profanity.
Nothing wrong in an add on though whether that's through the browser or some kind of enhancement suite. It wouldn't be hard to script either, just need to pass all text through the script to find and replace words with whatever you want instead.
Trying to make Tildes child safe though? Seems futile. It's not the profanity that will make them difficult to raise, it's the varied ideas that require maturity to parse.
OP, I hope you find a solution that works for you. I am one of those that sometimes uses profanity for emphasis or to better show my meaning about something. I will try to be more mindful of users like yourself. On the other hand, this is more like a comfortable pub than a Sunday school. I was severely punished for profanity in my youth and using it sometimes is for me one of the perks of being an adult.
I don't believe it's already been mentioned so I want to highlight the apparent links between neurodivergence, intelligence, and swearing.
Here is an interesting, profane, and well sourced write up on the subject https://www.joelrieves.com/swearing-and-neurodivergence-fuck-yeah/
It's up to any individual if they want to limit their exposure to certain words, but it's only sensible to be aware that may also limit their breadth of exposure, thereby creating a filter bubble. Also, paradoxically, the objection to "people who like to use profane language like it's an adjective, and it has no place in the topic or discussion" may also limit exposure to some high quality contenent.
The filter bubble is an interesting concept. Whether intentionally or not, some people enjoy it and seek it out. Take the mass reddit exodus for example. One of the major criticisms of the site, and there are many, is the inclusion of the downvote button. Something that gets used as a dislike button instead. This dislike is triggered by any manner of biases and cultures and subreddits become bubbles because of people's sensitivities, their culture, or by design in how they want their subreddit to operate.
People want to stick their head in the sand for one reason or another. These people are everywhere and they're here too. The downvote wasn't always a thing on reddit but it became one. Tildes will eventually have to make the same decision as the site grows.
Thank you for an interesting comment.
As you might be already aware but I am repeating for the benefit of people who don't yet know, Deimos worked for reddit and designed automoderator. Many of the design choices and rules here are meant to improve on reddit. I am not convinced that the down vote button specifically is an inevitable development for Tildes.
I very much hope not. It wouldn't be Deimos that implements it by choice but rather by pressure or force from the community from an overwhelming majority.
As he is a benevolent dictator, I think and hope that that outcome is unlikely. : )
My more general hope is that folks who strongly want a downvote button will either live with minor frustration here or choose a different platform.
ππππ₯'π€ π ππ£πππππ' πππ£π π‘π£π ππππ π₯π π€π ππ§π π―π πΉπ’ΟπππδΉ Οο½ Ο ΕδΈ¨βπ α΅Ρ. ππ½ And would likely end up in an arms race. You could always shadow censor the text, but eventually people would catch on.
Or you end up making the clbuttic mistake of overly-broad content filtering.
Spoilers
πΈ
Funnily enough, the prudes at Microsoft censor this with (I think) ligatures if it isn't adjacent to any other hieroglyphics, doing what OP wants!
I'm going to lock this, since the OP's question has been answered as much as possible, and this is now all just entirely off-topic discussion.
I was curious so I looked it up and looks like there are extensions for firefox for censoring words such as this one. If you don't use firefox I'm sure theres an alternative on other browsers.
Nothing built into Tildes, but your browser of choice will have an extension that allows you to replace words across the web by creating your own filter. So that a word like "ass" is replaced with "posterior".
That sounds like it may never be a native feature, but one that would come about if we ever got a "Tildes Enhancement Suite" analouge to Reddit's own extension.
There probably are some more general profanity filter extensions, however. That may be worth looking into and seeing how granular you can go with.
We have a "Tildes Enhancement Suite": Tildes ReExtended
Oh perfect, thanks for letting me know!
I guess it may be a potential feature request depending on how/if the creator is doing on the extension. They were very niche uses but I did like the ability to be able to filter comments/posts based on more complex queries than simply a tag or flair.
I am more curious what about profanity makes you feel lowers the bar of discussion quality. I've been trying to retire my use of it, but recently my mind has been occupied with whether it truly matters, so I'm curious for your perspective.
I use it for the fucking emphasis. ;)
But I am also not native english speaker so I can't come up with most flamboyant beautiful language all the time.
Edit: This post here with the link to the ND swearing post made me realize so much more about myself, lol https://tildes.net/~tildes/18um/nsfw_profanity_adult_filter#comment-9x8y
I'm a native speaker, sometimes being inarticulate and vexxed at something by swearing just works.
Also, I'm British. I can string a series of insults together to hilarious results.
I find that censoring words is indicative of low quality or has a chilling effect on discussion. You need look no further than the spread of weird self-censorship of innocuous words like "sex" due to fears of the almighty TikTok/YouTube/Instagram algorithm banishing their posts to the void.
It's dystopian.
I try to use it mostly to color my comments but maybe I should just expand my vocabulary. There's a bunch of fun words so I could take the few seconds to think of something more clever. Though it might just come off as annoying, like I'm showing off or something. I really hated the trend of using weird words as insults and I don't want to be a two ton septic tank.
I honestly agree. I believe profanity allows us to convey emotion in a way that normal words can't (without elaboration). It's a shortcut, and I can see why OP might be averse to it's presence in serious discussion topics, but might disagree with filtering it's presence entirely (not that I don't think they should have the option if they so wish, just that I can't see myself doing it).
Here's a link to a comment of mine. I honestly don't know what other word is a better fit to describe those people:
Don't click if if dislike swearing: https://tildes.net/~tech/18l8/why_is_elon_musk_doing_what_he_is_to_twitter#comment-9t63
They asked for tools to filter out things they do not want to see. They said nothing about regulating language. Simply because you donβt mind certain things doesnβt mean other people must not mind them, too. Your attack of them for a fairly basic question is problematic, in my opinion.
Coming into contact with things I don't like is an unavoidable part of life. For example, I really hate perfume. I think it's objectively rude to make strangers smell you from five meters away. Nobody is that important. But it's really not a big deal. I can accept that other people need to smell. Maybe it's very important to them for some reason I can't think of and couldn't even understand if they explained it to me.
I also don't really understand where OP is coming from. I can't remember a single time I saw bad language on Tildes.
OP isn't asking people to stop swearing. OP merely wants a client side fix to filter those words out. They asked politely.
I swear a lot[1], but I see nothing wrong with OP's question.
[1] I'm British, we swear copiously.
I have no problem with the OP's request until the sentence:
"There is such great content on here, with amazing contributors, but sometimes you just get the people who like to use profane language like it's an adjective, and it has no place in the topic or discussion."
Stating that profanity has no place in a topic or conversation is an opinion that I believe many people would disagree with. Asking for a NSFW filter is fine, expressing an opinion like it is fact rubs me the wrong way.
OP hasnβt given any clarification. But for all we know they want to give a child of theirs an account here as itβs one of the better, safer, and cleaner parts of the web. But with some guard rails on.
Or maybe they donβt like the content themselves. Existence is an exercise in filtering. Getting upset just because someone is asking about help in filtering doesnβt make sense.
Please don't act aggressive and judgmental towards people that are asking a question.
Not only that, but censoring words is so odd to me. You still know exactly what it says. Nothing calls attention to a swear word like a black bar or a bleep. In fact, shows like South Park and Family Guy used this fact to great comedic effect. Hilarious to hear a 30 second rant where you can only make out one of every five words. Half the episodes are funnier with the censor bleeping. My hypothesis is that the bleep makes it more like a joke. Your brain has to reach for the word in the same way it would reach for a punchline. It's not "right there" so it makes you think for a split second until you get it.
Censoring is great for comedic effect in writing too. I found that having the comic-style %&@# swears made one scene I wrote far more amusing than just writing out swears or even trying to get creative with curses. Like you said, it lets your brain fill in the blank, or just laugh at the idea of someone getting so worked up they can't even speak in English.
Outside of comedy though, censoring can just be jarring. I give a pass to words that people consider somewhat triggering and/or feel uncomfortable even typing out (particularly certain crime-adjacent words, I'll let you guess which ones I mean), but it gets weird to see it for words as simple as "damn". Interestingly, some YouTube channels I follow about true crime and such have recently started just muffling the sound or cutting words entirely rather than censoring words that can get them de-monetized or in trouble. It still draws attention, but I find it far less jarring and more fitting for a serious topic than bleeping.
What do they do to words like the town name "Scunthorpe"?
I don't use them, but I'd assume it would vary by the extension. Language filters can detect either a whole word or partial word, and from there it can censor either the whole word or just the part that's listed in the filter (though I don't know if I've encountered the latter). So depending on how a specific filter works, the word "peacock" could show as "peacock", "peableep" or "bleep".
I think
(hope)most try to go for only censoring whole words, particularly if the list of blocked words includes words commonly found inside other words like "ass" or "hell". There's plenty of fun stories out there of language filter fails blocking super-basic words due to that beyond Scunthorpe.There's no automated way to get it all right. If your regex is "\<$badword\>" then you don't censor "Scunthorpe", but what about when folks get creative and start talking about cuntosauruses and ubercunts?
Profanity is a "sentence enhancer"