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.""

Comments

reversed?

[TheUnknownOne]

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.

Re:reversed?

[TubeSteak]

Slashdot is considering requiring Allah to be appended to all User Names.

Yours will soon be: AllahTheUnknownOne
Mine will soon be: AllahsTubeSteak

Yahoo!'s transition to a media company

[metlin]

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 has taken great pains to build a brand-name, and a lot of tech folks have been replaced by older media people, and Semel has indicated that Yahoo!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.

Re:Yahoo!'s transition to a media company

[Otter]

I agree on the China end, but the Allah thing seems to have been a stopgap measure put in to block some idiot and reversed once he got bored and went away. No one would have noticed it if some blogger hadn't picked that brief interval to try to register some *allah* name, flipped out and hit the blogopanic blogobutton.

Given that Slashcode is full of features designed to thwart some specific jackass who hasn't been here in five years, at least Yahoo deserves credit for cleaning this up afterwards.

You can use Mohammed in your name

[winkydink]

but you can't have a pic on your profile.

You might want to take that back

[eclectro]

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.

What a bunch of dorks

[pclminion]

They don't have the balls to just come out and say "Yes, we banned Allah because we were afraid of terrorists blowing up our office." This line about the word being used abusively is a load of horse shit. Last I checked Jesus Christ was not a banned term. And we all know that "Jesus Christ" is never used as an expletive or in an offensive way. Whatever.

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."

Re:What a bunch of dorks

[Distinguished Hero]

If a gay man molests a little boy would you say "So how's anyone going to tell us that homosexuals aren't sexual predators?" If an African American commits a crime would you say "So how's anyone going to tell us that African Americans aren't a bunch of criminals?"
And if a member of the KKK kills a "black" man would you say "So how's anyone going to tell us that the KKK don't hate black people?"
Islam is not a race, or a sexual preference. Islam is an ideology, and deserves to be scrutinized as such.
Furthermore, the statement "Islam is a religion of peace." is a hypothesis, and deserves to be treated as such. At the moment, the experimental evidence (including the Quran) seems to contradict that hypothesis.

Huh?

[thegrassyknowl]

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.

All I can say is...

[DemingBuiltMyHotRod]

Allah-eluiah

Re:Considering recent riots...

[Jozer99]

Callahans of the world rejoice!

Re:Reversed it?

[Otter]

No, it's a grave offense to Jews to use the name of our bread that way.

I think I've snapped from all the loonie news

[MarkusQ]

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:

• Hundreds of people have killed each other over a bunch of cartoons.
• The vice president of the US shot someone
• Bell South wants to charge Google for using its bandwidth when Bell South's customers use Google's services for free and already pay Bell South for the privilege.
• We are engaged in a huge debate, not over the fact that the control of our nation's ports has been turned over to foreign governments in the first place, but rather over the fact that it may be racist to suggest that a nation that funded Bin Ladin, passed sensitive information to him, had top level meetings with him, recognized the Taliban, and was home to two of the 9/11 hijackers might not be trustworthy
• People have been caught distributing free software in accordance with the license, and had their CDs seized to protect the rights of the Authors who gave them permission in the first place

Well, NOW it is.

[rdmiller3]

"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."

Well, now it probably is.

Leave it to Slashdot to fan the insignificant into flaming stupidity.

Re:Risky business

[Anonymous Coward]

Here's a likeness of Mohammad: :-)

No, no look here: @:-)

Re:Considering recent riots...

[Anonymous Coward]

1. Find images
2. Make t-shirts
3. Prophet

Allah=God, hate who ??

[Bahrani]

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

Re:Risky business

[ReverendLoki]

He's being witty - its a smiley with a Danish on his head.

Re:Considering recent riots...

[Distinguished Hero]

Allow me correct that for you:

1. Find images
2. Make t-shirts
3. Suffer at the hands of those who may not agree with what you have to say, and will fight to the death to suppress your right to say it.

Note: the link is an article about someone who did Steps 1 and 2, and has reached Step 3.

Calling your bluff

[MarkusQ]

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:

This is now known to be false; the treatment was in fact authorized (by redefining torture) and Bush has yet to recant his position. It looked for a minute as if McCain had cornered him into showing some sense, but his signing statement makes it clear that he still endorses torture. The only thing that clearly wasn't authorized (and what the Bush administration has actually objected to) is taking pictures of the torture and leaking it to the media. The "perps" who have so far been charged are (last I heard) only the low level grunts who got caught.

My proof (or at least a sampling thereof--there's lots more):

• The Bush administration redefined 'torture' to permit techniques such as used at Abu Grabe
• The Bush administration defends the need for torture
• The Bush administration has a system of secret prisons in which such torture is conducted
• McCain pushes to have torture outlawed
• Bush dodges with a "signing statement" saying he isn't bound by the ban
• The Bush administration primarily objects to the fact that pictures were taken
• ...and blames the leakers
• Only the low-level grunts who got caught have been nailed, and they got slaps on the wrist

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

Real Muhammad Emoticons

[chato]

No, no look here: @:-)

Muhammad
(((:~{>

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