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Facebook Says It's Filtering Comments For Spam, Not Censoring Them
bhagwad writes "Apparently Robert Scoble tried to post a long comment on Facebook only to have a message pop up saying 'This comment seems irrelevant or inappropriate and can't be posted. To avoid having your comments blocked, please make sure they contribute to the post in a positive way.' If true, this is huge. For one the self-moderating system of comments has always been the rule so far. And with countries like India rooting for the pre-screening of content and comments, is Facebook thinking of caving into these demands?" Facebook says there's a more innocuous explanation: namely, that the comment triggered a spam filter.
Not sure how old this story is, but from among other things from TFA (well blog entry) that appear to be have updated over time:
2. My comment included three @ links. That probably is what triggered the spam classification system.
I don't use Facebook / Twitter but that along with other a few other characteristics of the message in question sound like a pretty reasonable way to set up a spam filter.
The article says they are rewording the message. On the other hand they wouldn't want to give too many hints on how to side step the spam filter. Spammers versus spam filters is a constant arms race
Try exchanging even private messages using the term 'xtube'. Yes, they censor.
I'm not paranoid - everyone really is out to get me.
First post since 1999 to say...
Delete your fucking Facebook account, idiot.
Problem solved.
And actually, the guy who tried to post, is the reason why FB has so much power anyway. The blocked comment itself says he can't be bothered to read blogs anymore and he just watches FB, G+ and twitter. If you want to go swimming with sharks don't be surprised if you get eaten.
Oh, you must not remember the goatse ascii stuff the trolls made prolific here in the early days of Slashdot.
To illustrate Slashdot's own comment filtering system, Try pasing the following into a Slashdot comment three times and hit preview.
@}-,-`-
You'll get:
Filter error: Please use fewer 'junk' characters.
Try typing something like "OMG PONIES OMG OMG OMG" without quotes and you'll get:
Filter error: Don't use so many caps. It's like YELLING.
Yet, a quarter of the people I know on FB use both forms *extensively*. If only they'd filter those out.
Perhaps a poorly-worded attempt not to insult users by calling them spammers.
In this information age where data-mining, credit/reputation ratings, etc. are the norm, why do people who are aware of its draconian privacy aspects, potential for misuse and the time sink that it is, continue to use FB? This is a serious 87 billion dollar question.
Prolific spammer Facebook allegedly implements an anti-spam mechanism? In related news, Exxon has announced that henceforth its offshore drilling platforms will be called "environmental enhancement modules".
I’m so glad I didn’t start a media business. It’s actually really tough to get new and interesting stories and to avoid falling into drama. People forget that Techcrunch was built step-by-step as a new publishing form was taking shape. PandoDaily doesn’t have that advantage and, is, indeed, facing competition from social networks that is quite good indeed. I no longer visit blogs. I watch Twitter, Google+, and Facebook, along with Hacker News, Techmeme, Quora. These are the new news sources. Plus, Pando Daily actually doesn’t have enough capital to compete head on with, say, D: All Things Digital or The Verge, both of which are expanding quickly and have ecosystems behind them.
There's nothing worth censoring in that comment, a guy made a post, the system flagged it as spam, it was a simple false positive. The fact that it's the first that we know of is pretty damn impressive, means that their system is probably working quite well.
I wish that the editors would quit with the sensationalist crap already, can we please use some common sense next time?
Good comment! I truly love how it is easy on my eyes and the data are well written. I’m wondering how I might be notified whenever a new post has been made. I’ve subscribed to your RSS feed which must do the trick! Have a great day! P.S. MicrosoftUggLiveBoots!
#naabhaprzrag, #sverubfr-000, #agi-fcbafberq, negvpyr[pynff*=' negvpyr-ary-'] { qvfcynl: abar !vzcbegnag; }
The message he tried to put really looked like the sort of thing bots post. I'm not surprised at all an automated spam filter blocked it. He did mention 11 different 3rd party websites in it, so its not too amazing that it flagged.
But as usual facebook is run by evil commies who want to oppress our free speech and all that.
What'd be the difference between "filtering" and "censoring"?
How would you tell spam and non-spam apart?
Will I still be able to read what you filtered out as spam?
Why don't you leave the users themselves to trash what they consider useless on their own?
Sent as ripples into the electromagnetic field. No single photon has been harmed in the process.
No, just you.
Caveat Utilitor
Why do you ask? Are you trying to drum up business for your psychologist friends, trying to make us all think we're paranoid? Isn't this exactly what the government wants, making us all think we're sick in the head for thinking certain thoughts or expressing certain opinions? You're probably a paid shill, working for the international industrial-military cabal. Either that, or you're a liberal know-it-all that is happily walking to his own shearing.
I'm warning you people - it's a cookbook!
How come Slashdot never gets Slashdotted?
Or, in slashdot terms, "a lameness filter".
Also FatPhil on SoylentNews, id 863