Hi David,
Unfortunately, I feel the need to bring this issue to the front again. I just noticed a couple of postings from a person who calls themself scottish-bastard. I think that oversteps the bounds even though it is their user name. Would it be possible to block potentially offensive user names during the registration process? That way we wouldn’t have to worry about this anymore.
Aside from this minor issue I must say that the users in these forums have been excellent in terms of common courtesy and helpfulness. I think we can be very proud of the comraderie and the overall professionalism that is being displayed in this community.
Ray
Rest assured Ray…David and his excellent crew will nip this one in the bud.
Absolutely no need for that here.
Yes, the “language issue” applies to usernames. Out of curiousity I did a search against the list of members for some of the more common profanity words and only came up with one that was in bad taste.
The problem with attempting to block/filter out offensive names is that
- it could cause more problems than help
- there are so many ways around filters - many creative combinations that it’s near impossible to catch every combination
You’ll have to trust me about this because I would prefer not to give out any examples and risk being banned myself. [;)]
For now, unless things change or anyone disagrees, I think we can in effect police ourselves without trying to rely upon filters and censorship scripts. This can be accomplished by everyone continuing to post responsibly in a civil and mature manner. When the situation arises and things like this are brought to our attention, we will deal with it in a quick and efficient manner.
What this means is that yes, it is possible that you may see something offensive every now and then, but it will only be for a short time. If you do come across anything that you find offensive, send me and/or Lawrence Hansen an email through the forum - day or night, any day of the week. I can’t promise it will be taken care of immediately, but it will be taken care of.
Thanks David.
I appreciate the way you are handling these issues and I can definitely understand the complexities that would be encountered in trying to implement filters, etc. I know that this community as a whole has been excellent at policing itself and I’m sure that this will continue. This has been said before but it bears repeating. Thank you for all the time and effort you are putting into this site to make it such a great place to hang out.
Ray
Hmmm… PC is driving me back towards AH-ville (Another forum that begins with “H” and ends in “yperscale”).
Fade to Black…