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Yahoo Reverses Allah Ban
damnal writes "Yahoo's ban on "Allah" in users names, has been reversed. The ban was instituted due to a number of people registering for IDs using specific terms with the sole purpose of promoting hate. Yahoo's comment on the reversal: "We recently re-evaluated the term 'Allah,' and users can now register for IDs with this word because it is no longer a significant target for abuse.""
Considering the fact there were problems over a caricature of a Prophet, I'm amazed it's taken them this long to reverse it. Well, at least it was Yahoo and not Google.
I wouldn't say it's been reversed so much as removed... If it was reversed they would be requiring the string Allah in usernames, then again maybe i'm just nuts.
While I don't recall Yahoo! performing any heroic deeds in the past, I don't recall them not having a spine, either. However, latetly I've seen the do some pretty spineless things - disclosing information to the Chinese government (twice!), this etc.
Is this because of Yahoo!'s change of focus? They're trying hard to become a media company rather than a technology company.
And of course, considering the fact that someone like Terry Semel (a media executive with little to no technology experience) is leading them, such policies would not be surprising. Ever since Semel's been on board, Yahoo! has taken great pains to build a brand-name, and a lot of tech folks have been replaced by older media people, and Semel has indicated that Yahoo! would "diversify" the way Warner Brothers did.
So, that probably explains why Yahoo! is afraid to ruffle any feathers. While companies like Microsoft and Google are still technology companies at heart, Yahoo! is probably attempting to get into the media, and having bad publicity in the media industry has worse consequences than it would in the high-tech industry.
Just a thought, that's all.
So you can't use Allah, but you can use hallA?
You can't handle the truth.
but you can't have a pic on your profile.
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
and users can now register for IDs with this word because it is no longer a significant target for abuse.
Now that it has hit the front page of slashdot, it is once again the target for abuse.
Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
Hey, its my right to choose who i like or dislike..
---- Booth was a patriot ----
Now they've realized the idiocy of what they did, and again, rather than admit "Wow, we didn't realize how many words contain the letters 'allah'" they put out some garbage about how "Allah is no longer being used abusively on our sites."
We recently re-evaluated the term
Looks to me like a typical management-induced knee jerk reaction to a minor problem and the subsequent FUD to try and hide the fact that management were in error.
I drink to make other people interesting!
Allah-eluiah
...what is Google's take on this development?
I hear they are releasing Gislam beta with full text searching of the Gooran next week to try to solve yet another problem.
with these stupid screen names puns...
"Waste not one watt!" - CZ
"Osama" and "bidladen" are still banned from usernames. Their explination as trying to qwell "hate crimes" seems very onesided, as they still allow usernames like "Hitlerhatesjews". I don't see why they think only hate crimes happen with Muslims. I mean anti-semitism is still as much a hate crime as any other.
http://a.as-us.falkag.net/dat/bgf/200506/10/hojoh
Not sure if it's relevant, but the coincidence is worth mentioning.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
In other words, they've had some time to disallow a boatload of specific usernames like "ilikeallah", "allahistehl33t", and negative ones like "allahsux"? Just a theory - I haven't actually tested it.
A post a day keeps productivity at bay.
You, sir, said it best!
-hats off-
This proves our Jihad was successful defeating the EVIL!
We should raise our eyes now at the equally evil practices of MSN Search!
In the name of the holy Google, A beatiful mind
It takes a man to suffer ignorance and smile
Be yourself no matter what they say
Yahoo Reverses Allah Ban
I think I've finally snapped from all the loonie news lately. My first thought was: "What!? Now you are required to have 'Allah' in your name? That's even worse!"
--MarkusQ
And before you give me grief, in just the last few weeks:
Well, now it probably is.
Leave it to Slashdot to fan the insignificant into flaming stupidity.
+5 INCITEFUL
Geminatron
Nab Halla?
Religion for nerds. Stuff that really matters
Here's a likeness of Mohammad: :-)
No, no look here: @:-)
I have a better one , insert underscores
Allah bailar la bamba
Para bailar la bamba
Se necesita una poca de gracia
a Una poca de gracia para mi para ti
ya Arriba y arriba
ay arriba y arriba por ti sere
Por ti sere
Por ti sere
Yo no soy marinero
Yo no soy marinero
Soy capitana
Soy capitana
Soy capitana
Bamba la bamba
Bamba la bamba
Bamba la bamba
Para bailar la bamba
Para bailar la bamba
Se necesito una poca de gracia
a Una poca de gracia para mi para ti
ya Arriba y arriba
Para bailar la bamba
Para bailar la bamba
Se necesito una poca de gracia
a Una poca de gracia para mi para ti
ya Arriba y arriba
ay arriba y arriba por ti sere
Por ti sere
Bamba la bamba
Bamba la bamba
Bamba la bamba
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
"We recently re-evaluated the term 'Allah,' and users can now register for IDs with this word because it is no longer a significant target for abuse."
Now that this hit slashdot, that will change.
It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.
because right now even using the word for a shrine can get you killed. ...
...
oh, wait, they are.
whatever.
Good thing The Flying Spaghetti Monster doesn't care if you use his/her/its name
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
First off, I am NOT a muslim. Secondly, Allah is a name of a god, not a name of something bad. If they ban Allah, they need to ban all of the other gods. I'm glad they reversed the ban. However, every ban is somewhat unfair. Let's say someone is setting up accounts of a small company and uses yahoo for email. The IS department wants to set up an account with abcisecurity@yahoo.com it is banned, or the netadmin wants to setup an account as abcnetadmin it is also banned. Each ban is can cause problems with legit uses. Allah does not.
sudo mod me up
But at least he doesn't post as an Anonymous Coward.
Not a rant about U.S.A. in general; simply a rant about people that take P.C.-ness too far, to the -ironically- point beyond the level of being "Politically Correct".
P.S: I Just finished watching Kenneth Brahnag's(sp?) version of Hamlet, and the little security image at the bottom of the page says "Hamlet", how weird is that!?
Nobody's gay for Mole-Man.
Nobody's gay for Mole-Man.
No that was not Flame-bait , it was a joke .If i were to be making a flame it would involve the idiocy of people being murdered over cartoons IE:the real life Tom and Jerry. Nothing I said there was in the least bit flame-bait.
The only things certain in war are Propaganda and Death. You can never be sure which is which though
That's the difference between us and them. In our society, we can protest all we want, but in the end we're still civilized about it.
With them, you post a cartoon and next thing you know all hell breaks lose and there's a bounty on your life.
eTrade SUCKS
We recently re-evaluated the term 'Allah,' and users can now register for IDs with this word because it is no longer a significant target for abuse.
/Going to hell already...
O RLY?!?!
Mod parent up. Not flamebait.
it's popular enough already.
How we know is more important than what we know.
This individual was afraid of violence if a Harvard published those cartoons. Guess what, the Muslims got all bent out of shape because she suggested that there may be violence. WTF?!? Cartoons are shown and there's violence. Unbelievable. I'm sure there's going to be some eloquent excuse posted here about how it's not right to make the connection betwen Muslims and violence.
There can be excuses (offensive material, insensitive, or something else that implies that those people have are entitled to riot) till the end of time for their acts, but, unfortunately, their actions are not condemned. Funny isn't it? There's always an excuse for the Muslim riots, but never any condemnation from them.
Saturday is April 1. Slashdot will be shut down. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Allah is just the Arabic word for God. Arab Christians use it to mean 'Jesus' and Arab Jews use it too, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah#Usage
He's being witty - its a smiley with a Danish on his head.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
I'm disgusted by some of the responses I've read to this story. Grow up.
it is no longer a significant target for abuse.
Wow! It stopped being that the day after the complaints!? What a coincidence!
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
I have a better one , insert underscores
:-(
Allah bailar la bamba
Para bailar la bamba
Se necesita una poca de gracia
a Una poca de gracia para mi para ti
ya Arriba y arriba
ay arriba y arriba por ti ser
Al__lah _bailar ___la ba_mb__a_
__Pa_ra bail___ar _la b__am_ba
God that got boring quick.
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
Only here.
They reversed the order of the letters. So they are now only banning the string Halla in user ids. It's a reference to the bread used on the sabbath by Jews, more commonly spelled challa. Either that, or it is short for the Norse home for martyred warriors. I believe they are hoping that the outcry from the Jewish and Old Norse communities will drown out criticism they have received from Muslim activists.
Are they gonna keep banning terrorist nicknames? Osama is sometimes called Abu Abdullah; should that name be banned too? How about abumusabalzarqawi_iz_a_rockstar@yahoo.com? Or aymanalzawahiri_suckz@yahoo.com... abunidal@yahoo.com... somebody quick register SeifAlAdl@yahoo before it gets banned too. When they run out of Islamist terrorists will they move on to banning bomb-hurling anarchist nicknames? louislingg@yahoo.com... ravechol@yahoo.com... when does the silliness end?
yes, you hit it right on the head. That is precisely the difference between slashdot and yahoo.
"The policy reversal, announced Wednesday, came too late for Linda Callahan of Ashfield, Mass., who set up a Google Gmail account after being rejected by Yahoo Mail because of the presence of "allah" in her name, said her son, Ed Callahan."
... many other Callahans will likely not know that they didn't know, as the saying goes, and wind up with Yahoo accounts :-( Poor Irish bastards ... (I'm of Celtic decent, so I can say that ;-)
I think they meant that the ruling came too early for the rest of the Callahans, who will be denied the opportunity to be made aware that Yahoo sucks, and discover G-Mail as a result. Linda Callahan has a bit of the luck of the Irish going for her on this one. She narrowly escaped a bullet
Guns don't kill people; Physics kills people! - John Lithgow as Dick Solomon on Third Rock From The Sun
It doesn't make a lot of sense to ban "Osama" and "binladen" to me, unless they were taking a much more aggressive approach on the issue of hateful usernames.
Now, if I were running Yahoo, I would certainly see the value of blaocking "Allah," assuming I wasn't even willing to set up an actual review of usernames. The words that are probably the most subject to abuse in Yahoo screennames and on the internet generally would all make my list, if I were going to have one. Probably (assuming I made such a list at all), it would look like this: nigger, fag, dyke, kike, allah, raghead, retard, spic, wetback, hitler, chink, gook.
Of course, I am not familiar with all the common racial slurs etc. out there, but I think including all those would make sense, based on the kind of morons you see on yahoo games.
The best system, however, if they want to limit user names, is to create a somewhat larger list, and force anyone who wants a username with a wide range of potentially offensive words in it to wait a day while their name is reviewed. This would of course end up causing a huge scandal, because people like to get pissed off about stuff, but it seems that it would be the best way to go.
Oh, and by the way, "anti-semitism" (which despite sounding scientific still bizarrely has the built-in assumption of Jews as the only Semites) is no more a hate crime than "anti-Muslim feeling" is. Beating someone up because of either of those two things would be a hate crime, being guilty of those things is just in bad taste (and unethical, I think, but that is my personal judgment).
Although the moon is smaller than the earth, it is farther away.
So i'll get Allah'sWinckle?
It's never as funny once you explain it, but thanks. :)
"I'd rather be a lightning rod than a seismometer." -Ken Kesey
There are more than a few sites that I've been to that wouldn't let me use Cassie (or my long name) in a login. I think Orqut was one of them (although it is useless anyway), and gmail may have been as well.
Apparently the word 'ass' in the middle of my name made it invalid. Sort of pathetic.
"Hate" is a strong word.
There are people who want to "promote hatred" in the world, no doubt. The organizers of the KKK (especially present-day ones; the originals might get at least some product-of-their-times credit), recruiters for angry, retributionist separatists of any stripe, etc, qualify as intending to promote hatred. But that's a pretty harsh and specific charge, and not everyone will qualify (to our great benefit).
A lot of other people though, no matter how repugnant their views might be to you or me, have no interest in spreading emnity, even if you think their views are offensive, insenstive, chauvenistic, etc; not all negative opinions are *hatred* -- not even mocking or otherwise depracting opinions. Some rivalries are genuine but often friendly, and are the basis of a paradoxical bond based on a continuing series of mutual competition (Aussies / New Zealanders); some are primarily political -- or socio-political / social-religio-political / whatever (like Greek v. Cypriot student groups on U.S. campuses arguing the proper government of Cyprus), where opinions are strong, contentious and incompatible, but not necessarily resulting in the personal emotion of hatred; some are true, real-deal group HATRED. And of course, there are the various "pride" groups representing skin tones light or dark, some of which seem outward-directed ("we don't like *them*!") and some more inward-directed ("We like *us*!), and into which some people read hatred just in their existence, even if roundly denied.
It's especially hard to evaluate intent when all you've got to go on is something as ambiguous as an email address, chosen often on the spur of the moment and for reasons that could include memorability, humor (which might be obscure or contrarian), uniqueness (jsmith876548 is no fun), obscurity (so as to provide a useful gap between online and real-life names), which way the wind is blowing, etc.
Some email addresses might also be taken by other than the "side" that a glance might suggest, too -- in the same way that some web sites with names that sound like those of outwardly, frankly racist groups are instead parked by folks who'd rather sit on them or redirect to anti-racist sites instead.
Anyhow -- back to procrastinating!
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
No kidding. OP was refering to that fact that it is forbidden to depict Me-hammered in any pictorial form whatsoever.
Repeat after me: depicting Mohammad is forbiden only for Muslims (just like Music and Chess seem to be). Non-muslims can depicting Mohammad all they want without fearing eternal damnation; instead, they just have to fear for their lives.
Uttering logically derived and empirically supported truths to the disciples of the orthodox establishment.
Wow, you can't really read can you?
Scroll back up through the thread here and read some of the comments.
I'll give you some time...
OK, now count the number of dirty comments about muslims and Allah.
Tehn count the number of comments that are "pro-Islam"(that meaning, of course, that they say that not all muslims are riotous and violent)
Now notice, other than the fact that the vast majority, if not all, of "pro-Islam" comments are in response to people generalizing about how all muslims are violent, that there are far, far more negative comments about Islam.
A blog about stuff.
You forgot the bomb.
I was just thinking how funny it would be to register the name Allah_Sucks_Balls@yahoo.com. Wow, sick minds think alike.
Transistors and Beer!!
Thats not even true. From this article by Amir Taheri:
"The defense of freedom requires the advance of freedom" - George W Bush
I said this in the previous article and I'll say it again: The prospect that Yahoo banned the use of "Allah" in fear of being blown up is utterly absurd. Not even Yahoo is that stupid.
According to your theory, recent events have led Yahoo to believe that muslim extremists aren't really that violent after all. Gee, I would think that the cartoon riots would give the opposite impression.
I'll restate something I said in response to the previous article: If Yahoo were to ban "Jesus" the christians would throw a fit. They would find it intolerable that their figure of worship was being banned. So explain to me again how refusing to ban "Jesus" is giving in to terrorism; it sounds like a simple matter of pleasing the customers to me.
Ah yes. You must be one of those people who has "conclusive proof" that the moon landing was faked. Ofcourse, yor evidence is almost non-existant, and whenever anyone challanges whatever little evidence you DO have, you simply ignore them and continue saying that your point of view "has been proven". Right?
Kind of ironic, coming from somebody that is objecting to the contents of a speech he didn't hear and can't find a transcript of, isn't it? But I'll bite.
My claim, which you are objecting to:
My proof (or at least a sampling thereof--there's lots more):
There is, of course, a lot more where that came from.
Now, can you please back up your claim that Gore told the Arabs to attack us?
--MarkusQ
Are Pictures of Muhammad Really Forbidden In Islam? Several examples are listed at the link above.
No, he's just waiting for someone to set him up the bomb...
To reign is to serve.
Instead of making stupid rules that will always have this problem, why not have some guidelines and pay someone $10/hour to just check peoples' ID's when they register to make sure it's not hate-filled or obnoxious? I mean, if people start registering with "Allahsucks" again, will the rule come back?
Currently hooked on AMP
Why is it that when you believe something it's an opinion, but when I believe something it's a manifesto?
Yahoo has a significant team working just on handling issues related to registrations, including managing all kinds of different types of abuse as well as spammers attempting to automatically register tons of accounts.
Sometimes adding blocks is the only way of effectively deal with problems like that, and then you can remove the blocks when the idiots they were meant to stop have gotten tired and gone to play other places instead.
Ah, but no. Danish (umm... is that the plural form?) are no longer allowed in Iran. The correct term is "a smiley with a Rose of the Prophet Mohammed on his head", thank you very much. Just like this is a smiley with a quartet of Freedom Fries atop the dome: #:-)
How are sites slashdotted when nobody reads TFAs?
Just a suggestion.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
I don't know how many they get per day, but they could set up a filter with some keywords, and names that don't pass the keyword can get looked at by a human. It's better than just a dumb ban, and seems workable. But it would cost labor to do, and there's probably no demand for such a "service," nobody is going to cause that much of a stink most of the time, I guess. I'm just dreaming.
Currently hooked on AMP
HOOYA!!! Any US Marines out there named "Allah"?
HOOYA
A(o)Hlla-ten-HUT!!!
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
it in Japanese/Japan, too...
After all, there are PLENTY of Japanese legitimately named "Osama", Usama, and variations. Now, if they attend school in an english-langage nation, will Yahoo! ban THEIR birth names, too?
This is a valid question, since if "All the Callahans" of the world can rejoice, then SO can all the Japanese Osamas rejoice, too.
C'mon Yahoo!, get it TOGETHER!!!!
Ever hear of "don't disparage peoples names"? This isn't a GAME. Just ban the expletives, if anything, and call it a day.
Have some backbone and stop being a corporate sensitivity case for the government. Or, are you gonna have a flexible backbone like in China? Or, is this the United States-of-Ban-like-China?
Osamas of Japan (and, the rest of the world) REJOICE!
Previously: "Linux... Toward the Sunrise..." Now: "Linux... Toward the-- No, now, part of Every Sunrise"
Now they just need to reverse their Tali Ban.
The ______ Agenda
(((:~{>
Muhammad wearing sunglasses
(((B~{>
Muhammad as a pirate
(((P~{>
Muhammad on a bad turban day
))):~{>
Muhammad with sand in his eye
(((;~{>
Muhammad with a bomb in his turban
*-O(:~{>
Muhammad sees a Danish cartoonist
((((8~{o>
Muhammad after going quail hunting with Dick Cheney
(:(:(:((8~{>:::::::::::::
Source: Transterrestrial Musings
"We recently re-evaluated the term 'Allah,' and users can now register for IDs with this word because it is no longer a significant target for abuse."
Yeah, how long does it take GNAAllah to get that ban reinstated?
Or allahMyAss could do it as well?
Or AllahLovesIsrael.
(I didn't reserve any of those but someone will probably.)
Emacs is good operating system, but it has one flaw: Its text editor could be better.
that "god is great" gets modded flamebait...
How pathetic are you that you follow me from topic to topic and waste all your mod points at once modding me down?
The person you responded to didn't make that claim. I sort of did, but if you had been paying attention you'd see that I was implying he said and using generalized "quotes" from his speech.
You can't even keep track of with whom you're talking, why should I even bother pointing these things out to you?
That was a pretty weak dodge. I'm not asking you to point these things out to me, I'm asking you to substantiate your assertion, which you still have not done. My failing to clearly distinguish between two interlocutors on a message board is hardly more pressing a concern than a prominent US official committing treason by telling a foreigners to come kill us. And I understand that you were implying Gore said these things using "generalized quotes" (i.e. putting words in his mouth).
So the question still stands: can you substantiate your claims in any way?
--MarkusQ
Scunthorpe is a town in the east of England. Yahoo rejects names containing Scunthorpe. They must be employing really powerful algorithms to check if you are using swear words.........
The FBI new about it before hand, at warned them to stop it.
--MarkusQ
Should check out the "Battle Pope" comic books where Jesus is a retarded hippy that normally fucks things up and stops the Pope from getting laid!
you're getting your prisons confused. the article you posted talks about gitmo, not abu gharib.
Before you start calling people names, you ought to at least check your facts. From the linked article:
Feel free to apologize whenever you like.
--MarkusQ
For the mod: /rant
If you are going to consider something as topical and timely as the recent Muslim backlash 'flamebait', then what is available for discussion-talking about how teh M$ sux0rs?