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Instagram Rolls Out 'Keyword Moderation Tool' That Will Filter Out Offensive Comments (macrumors.com)
In an effort to "promote a culture where everyone feels safe to be themselves without criticism or harassment," Instagram has introduced today a "keyword moderation tool" that anyone can use to block offensive or inappropriate words. Mac Rumors reports: Referred to as a "keyword moderation tool," the feature will let each user type in words they find to be offensive, effectively hiding any mention of them in the comment section of their posts. The comments containing the harsh language will still be available for other Instagram users, but the company believes that allowing each user to determine which words to hide from their personal collection of photos will cultivate a "positive and safe" environment. To deal with abusive accounts, Instagram already lets users swipe to delete comments, report inappropriate comments and block accounts.
Sounds like all this will do is allow the Instagram users to wrap a virtual towel around their heads.
I am Slashdot. Are you Slashdot as well?
I've already noticed on other forums a tendency to construct a cocoon where nothing disagreeable gets in, but the people try to do it by driving out or shutting up anyone with a contrary opinion. This tool will allow them to create their own little universe without having to eject or muzzle the meanies who insist on saying things they don't like. Everyone can now have their own customized online "safe room".
And other substitute bad words that were used on TV before it became accepted.
...like Niggardly? ...or Pussy (as in pusillanimous)?
Because nobody's ever figured out how to get around filters before.
-Styopa
don't bow down to communist gov blocks.
The hypersensitives seem to be encroaching on the internet at an ever-increasing rate.
I would love to have it filter out all prepositions to see what it comes up with.
Look, you dumb bastards, humans have always chosen "safe spaces" in the sense that they have elected to join social groups that gel with them and exclude people who act in a way they consider to be cuntish.
The Internet has simply given a global audience to things that previously were wayyyy more restricted in view / opportunity to give your thoughts.
The ability to ignore others hasn't caught up with the ability for others to spew their boring crap. All that's happening is that this is being corrected for.
(This is a little bit similar but not the same as the "safe space" thing in colleges, which is a rather different thing stemming from the fact that colleges used to be places for a liberal elite minority, but opening them up to a much wider proportion of the population has seen many different cultures throws into the melting pot - people again, people just still want their safe spaces. Unfortunately, the extremists at both ends are - as always - simultaneously the loudest and most unhelpful contributions to the debate.)
It's instagram. The idea is for 99% of people to post garbage pictures of themselves for fun. It's not about learning some life lesson about dealing with a world full of anonymous assholes who now can say what they want without looking someone in the face to do so.
. . . at no extra charge.
Somebody explain to me, just when words, of and by themselves. became objectionable and people started claiming trauma for just SEEING them ?
The Internet was SUPPOSED to bring free and unlimited communications and information to all. Instead, it's becoming a psychological minefield with individually-set DMZs.
The Sweet Meteor of Death can't come soon enough. . .
It isn't enough that I can decide what I can see, I want to decide what everyone can see! *TANTRUM*
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I don't use twitter, but I'm sitting here trying to imagine some words that I'd never want to read, and I can't think of any. Maybe today I'm not feeling like hearing "Donald Trump" or "Hillary Clinton" or "Politics", but then maybe tomorrow I will want to hear a bit.
I know there are words that others find vulgar or offensive, but I don't care about words, I care about ideas. And how the hell do you filter out ideas? For an example, I don't care about any of these words: "I can't wait to shred your daughter's vagina", but when put in that order, I do. Another example: "Black lives matter".
Or are other people's lives so simple that they merely excluding certain words makes the pain go away? I'm interested to know which words people find, under all circumstances, offensive.
Politics; n. : A religion whereby man is god.
It is not a government imposed censure, but a company which decided on their private turf to censure it (as an aside I think personally that that argument misses that some speech will be censored by most if not all private company and the effect is as good as government censorship).
In the very end this is a private entity which can do whatever on their turf, including censoring swear word, sex stuff, certain political parties, or heck any instagram not starting by a vowel.
C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
visit randi.org
****triggered****
'We are trying to prove ourselves wrong as quickly as possible, because only in that way can we find progress.' RPF
I can compile my own dicktionary. Please cuntinue the good work.
-- Make America hate again!
Why does this censorship article use the censorship icon, while the previous Facebook censorship article uses the facebook icon? Why not use the censorship icon for both?
"A plan fiendishly clever in its intricacies"- Homer Simpson
That's nice, now we can comment on and discuss people's images in private among ourselves, without them seeing our comments.
All we need to find out is what offends them.
While I am in the camp of those who would never filter out anything, I am not offended easily, I see this as the best possible solution to let those who find certain words or concepts "offensive" to opt out and stop trying to force their values on the rest of us. Putting the onus on the individual rather than the company to decide what she/he sees has to be the way forward if we are going to protect freedom of expression.
While I agree this may cause "bubble" syndrome and allow for self-imposed isolation of various groups from each other, I think it could also provide some interesting life lessons. Think of a person who does a heavy self-censor without realizing the consequences, then hearing from friends that she missed out on a fun post because of it. Might cause people to start to question why they don't want to hear certain things or think certain thoughts.
I can see the next big celebrity/athlete protest of intentionally using hashtags of broadly censored words just to draw attention to the fact that people shouldn't hide from realities they may disagree with or find scary.
The same people that will get up in arms about their "freedom of speech" to show up and call someone faggot/nigger/etc will also get up in arms about other people's freedom to ignore them.
If you show up at someone's house and shit on their rug, they're not infringing on your freedom if they start locking the door.
A world without critisism is a world without meaning.
The summary says that the tool doesn't prevent the posts from being made, it just prevents the user who started the discussion from seeing them. It's no different from a user-adjustable spam filter, really.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
Quite the contrary. See my other reply a bit further down ("Nice feature").
This idea is ing stupid.
Weaselmancer
rediculous.
for starters block.
kardashian, west, jenner, swift, spears, grande and.......
essa merdinha da helena não quero nem pelada na minha frente.
I think it would get very quiet here...
Nae king! Nae laird! Nae yurrupiean pressedent! We willna be fooled again!
Sounds like you're describing a feminazi.... the distorted version of feminism (pride in your female gender) that's blames every failing on men (a despising the opposite gender), usually with a lot of hitting and screaming. One is a positive trait, the other is a negative one.
The word pretty much sums up the issue with its contraction of feminism and nazi. Is is the meaning that's a problem or the word itself? Is it (the word 'feminazi') a magic spell that I am casting or is it an unpleasant truth that some people disagree with?
Because here they're banning words, not banning meaning. As though words ARE meaning not describe meaning.
Perhaps people who say things, so get a thicker skin, and perhaps the way they get a thicker skin is to get a few insults thrown at them and learn to shake it off.
at Instagram.
Censorship is running wild across the Earth... Those participating in it, are PC Control Freak, ANTI-Freedom, NAZIS! If your "Poor Wittle Feewings" get hurt by some stuff some jacka$$ typed on the internet about you, and want to /wrists... DO IT!
Don't Hesitate! :-D
F-u-c-k Censorship!
Now how do I know that's your reply? You could just be saying that it's yours while you're really complaining that allowing Instagram to filter is another example of the SJWs being out of control.
You are welcome on my lawn.
...from Scunthorpe to Penistone, and Arsenal to Cockfosters...
Welcome, citizens, to the Age of Mass Censorship! Are you triggered constantly by rude, boorish people on the Internet who post rude, boorish things about politics, race, and religion? Does getting all stirred up and being so thoughtlessly yanked out of your comfort zone just plain ruin your endlessly happy, unnaturally positive, SSRI-induced mood? Is hearing about people all over the world and just down the street from you being oppressed, harassed, beaten, cheated, and killed just too much of a downer for you, and curdle the milk in your tea? Well fear not, citizens, now you can just block out all that nasty thought-provoking content with the click of a mouse button! Imagine the serenity of never having to deal with the Real World ever again! Refugees? Deleted! Protestors? Deleted! Terrorism? Deleted! Mass shootings? Deleted! Race-related police shootings? Deleted! Oppressive regimes bombing their own citizens? Deleted! Injustice in your own back yard? Deleted!
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
Fuck that
Good bye free speech; nice knowing ya.
Whatever happened to people who had the courage to deal with the world as it IS ?
Of course instagram, Twitter, and Facebook are all used by idiots, so I reckon
it all makes sense in a sort of twisted and ironic way.
Kill files based on keywords and users would be a boon. It's not so much about being "offended", it's more about killing a lot of crap.
I'm fine with this. The idea of freedom of speech is about allowing people say what they think, even if it is unpopular. However, there is no mandate that people have to listen to you. Creating tools to help people filter out speech they aren't interested in hearing in such a way that it only affects the listener is a great idea. If some people want live in their own little bubble /safe-space let them, it doesn't hurt anyone else. This is a much better solution than other sites (cough twitter cough) use that would remove the post altogether. A mechanism we've seen abused again and again to stifle speech that is unpopular.
What if being critical and harassing others is what makes me feel safe to be myself? /s
This is a clbuttic mistake that a lot of people buttume will improve things, but when the people from Slabiamajorishorpe, England try to use their service, things tend to go haywire. And heaven help you if you play a buttbuttin in a game and get asked to buttbuttinate your target.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campaign_for_%22santorum%22_neologism
Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
But more importantly, I'm betting John has never been threatened with and felt the very real fear of rape and murder for the crime of being a woman on the Internet.
This doesn't look much different to business as usual to me - can't see where the outrage is coming from.
Honestly, this looks no different to Usenet kill files, which I personally have been (lightly) using for around twenty-five years. On Reddit I've also got a fairly extensive kill file-alike set up, via RES and the Alien Blue app. Really don't see the issue in them introducing this, sounds more like a nice-to-have feature that some people will use, some people won't.
FTFA:
Referred to as a "keyword moderation tool," the feature will let each user type in words they find to be offensive, effectively hiding any mention of them in the comment section of their posts.
The comments containing the harsh language will still be available for other Instagram users
A few thoughts.
First, Instagram wants a list of each users "triggers", presumably for marketing purposes. They want to know how to avoid offending the user, but also want to know how to provoke the user. This seems dangerous.
Second, Imagine a word so offensive you feel it should never be used. Words like "nigger" or "faggot" are commonly held in this regard. In order to tell Instagram you don't want to see $TRIGGER in any comments, you first have to send the $TRIGGER to Instagram. The user is required to explicitly invoke the terms he never wants to see, hear, or use.
And in the end, they're not going to block users from using $TRIGGER in comments on your photos. They will just block you from seeing the comment, forcing anyone who wants to call you $TRIGGER to do so behind your back. Everyone will know who called you a $TRIGGER, except for you.
Will the user still see sub-comments, or will it censor the whole thread? Will Joe User see comments like "What a vile and contemptuous thing to say about Joe User! What did he ever do to you?" without knowing what they're talking about?
What happens if you use $TRIGGER in your own comments? Will it hide your own words from yourself? Will it de-list $TRIGGER?
However, in spite of these concerns, I recognize the need for something like this. Personally, I use Facebook, but always with FBPurity. I make use of its filtering feature to censor terms like "buzzfeed.com" and "game of thrones" from my news feed because I don't want to see clickbait or spoilers. I don't think users should be blocked from spreading clickbait or talking about GoT, I just don't want to see it. I have recently added "kaepernick" and "pipeline" to my blocked terms list. While I think these are important issues which merit spirited discussion, I've grown tired of reading all the vitriolic, uninformed bullshit that FB users have to say about them.
shit piss fuck cunt
I believe this is a fundamental Internet right and that it should extend to Web pages and advertising and products as well
We should be able to share our block list with each other. This is how markets work, with our focus and attention as currency
Jeoin
So if I used Instagram, I'd be able to block anything with emojis? Cool. No more vapid bullshit from women and children.
Will be the first thing the people at EA will type into the the tool.
Who decides what is offensive? In 2012, the DHS released a "trigger" words list for identifying 'dangerous' people. The list didn't contain the words, 'gun', 'pistol', 'revolver', 'knife' or 'kill' but did include words that detected when the DHS was being criticized.
We don't need to stop people calling you a slut or misogynist. We do need to stop people promising to kill or rape you, or even identifying your workplace and home address. Censorship doesn't achieve this.
Language evolves. Those internet keyword-searching algorithms will be out-of date within hours of a new version being published.
Fsck, how do "educated" people remain so gullible?
Can I filter out anything with the word "triggered" in it so I don't have to look at all the stupidity?
What the hell do middle easterners have to do with this? You'll use any subject to criticize Muslims, won't you?
I wonder if the German gov knows that here in America Konig wheels are a favorite amongst minority compact car enthusiasts?
Twat did you say? I cunt hear you! I have a ear infucktion. Tits ok. The Dicktor said everything would cum out fine. He gave me peniscillan....