Discuss Scratch

CodeLearnerSai
Scratcher
100+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

It is not unfair because it literally means “female dog,” but because some uses that “split” the word (add spaces or other barriers in between) are appropriate. This is not like uses of the word in an idle way where people won't even look at context. The word should still be censored when there is more than one splitter, such as space or punctuation.

For example, what if someone needed to use a word ending in any of the first letters of the B-word before a word beginning with the rest of the letters which was appropriate for Scratch for people who take the word inappropriately. Currently you can get muted for that.

Last edited by CodeLearnerSai (Feb. 7, 2024 03:22:23)

The_Game_
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

No, it's fairly censored as it is a swear and is commonly used as an insult.
Scratch137
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

Indeed, this is known as the Scunthorpe problem and Scratch's filter falls victim to it quite frequently.

Unfortunately, it's not something that can be fixed very easily.
They could implement a whitelist of every “good” word combination that unintentionally spells out a swear word, but that would be a tremendous undertaking considering just how many such combinations there are.

It would also leave the filter more open to potential abuse, which I'd imagine the Scratch Team is willing to risk some false positives to avoid.

Last edited by Scratch137 (Feb. 7, 2024 04:09:01)

hydrofungus
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

Like rabbit——child?
(I can’t do normal spaces because then the filter will start acting up)

But there are like very many combinations, and some may use it as a bypass.

Last edited by hydrofungus (Feb. 7, 2024 05:08:09)

donotforgetmycode
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

hydrofungus wrote:

Like rabbit——child?
(I can’t do normal spaces because then the filter will start acting up)

But there are like very many combinations, and some may use it as a bypass.
or “the weather is a bit———————————-chilly”
gdfsgdfsgdfg
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

its censored on purpose
ajskateboarder
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

gdfsgdfsgdfg wrote:

its censored on purpose
Yes, but if you read the OP:

CodeLearnerSai wrote:

For example, what if someone needed to use a word ending in any of the first letters of the B-word before a word beginning with the rest of the letters which was appropriate for Scratch for people who take the word inappropriately. Currently you can get muted for that.

donotforgetmycode wrote:

hydrofungus wrote:

Like rabbit——child?
(I can’t do normal spaces because then the filter will start acting up)

But there are like very many combinations, and some may use it as a bypass.
or “the weather is a bit———————————-chilly”
RecessFailsOffical
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

It's censored because it's commonly used as an insult - I'm also sure that it's informal, but please correct me if I'm wrong. If you need to use it, just put “female dog”; the actual definition
gdfsgdfsgdfg
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

Guess what humans mostly use the word for:
an insult

Last edited by gdfsgdfsgdfg (Feb. 7, 2024 14:29:01)

GlitchedThrough
New Scratcher
1000+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

RecessFailsOffical wrote:

It's censored because it's commonly used as an insult - I'm also sure that it's informal, but please correct me if I'm wrong. If you need to use it, just put “female dog”; the actual definition

gdfsgdfsgdfg wrote:

Guess what humans mostly use the word for
Can you two reread the OP again. They’re referencing what happens if you comment anything like bit -bypass- cheesy
gdfsgdfsgdfg
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

GlitchedThrough wrote:

Can you two reread the OP again. They’re referencing what happens if you comment anything like bit -bypass- cheesy
fine, its how the filter works
it removes spaces during filtering and re adds it to prevent
space bypasses however it does have flaws
like some words with a bad word in middle
rabbit——child
will be muted
ajskateboarder
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

gdfsgdfsgdfg wrote:

GlitchedThrough wrote:

Can you two reread the OP again. They’re referencing what happens if you comment anything like bit -bypass- cheesy
fine, its how the filter works
it removes spaces during filtering and re adds it to prevent
space bypasses however it does have flaws
like some words with a bad word in middle
rabbit——child
will be muted
The OP knows this already.. was this meant to be a suggestion to fix this issue?
jumpship
Scratcher
100+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

Bro is just mad he can't swear.
gdfsgdfsgdfg
Scratcher
1000+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

ajskateboarder wrote:

-First part- was this meant to be a suggestion to fix this issue?
probably
AnotherTwentyFour
Scratcher
100+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

I think this belongs to suggestions? Asking a moderator to move the topic.
Paddle2See
Scratch Team
1000+ posts

Unfair censorship of the B-word

It's unfortunate - but that's the nature of the beast with filters. Sometimes there are false positives. That has to be weighed against the value of the true positives - and that has been done here. If you find a particular phrase getting muted wrongly a lot - you can let us know through the Contact Us link.

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