Friday Protip: Advanced Filter Usage

by Sanya Weathers

Anyone can use a filter on their forums and in their chat to…well, not keep people from using bad words, but at least they’ll have to work a little harder to use bad words. And you can put any problematic word into a filter, which is useful in terms of signaling what kinds of conversations you don’t want to host.

This is an argument for not putting certain words into the filter.

I believe certain words simply shouldn’t be used, and having a filter doesn’t stop people from using them. In fact, it encourages usage. More people type the letter “f” followed by the three stars than would ever use the actual f-bomb, because, well, it’s not the actual f-bomb.

The same goes for various slurs that simply cannot be used in a community that you want to be inclusive. It’s not that you want to get rid of the word – you want to get rid of the kind of person who uses those words, because they won’t ever make the community a better, more inclusive place where everyone can be accepted.

So don’t put everything into the filter. You need to know which people are inclined to hate speech. Figure out where your line in the sand is, and enforce it. Everyone gets one warning, and after that, toss the scum out. What you lose in jerks, you’ll make up for in people who realize you won’t let other people be demeaned on your turf.