Greetings everyone, I'd like to discuss a suggestion, as well as a concern, that I have had since returning to MCCentral this past July. This topic is regarding the word censor plugin on MCC (blacklist). I, as well as many other users I have spoken with, including many staff members, feel as if the current system is broken and in need a repair. Overview: Currently it seems that the word censor plugin works by blocking and message from being send in chat, private message, local chat, etc.which is configured on a predefined list. This sounds great and helps to maintain chat in a way that is more appropriate for users of a wider age range and diversity. When the message is blocked, you also receive a message in chat letting you know the word is blacklisted as well so you know to not try to use it again in the future, also helpful! Lastly, users who bypass a blacklisted word can be issued a severity one chat offense punishment per server in-game rules. Again, fantastic. Dilema: So the overall intended functionality of the feature sounds great, however there are a few flaws I want to specifically discuss with everyone. The points are as follows: 1. Many of the censored words are pointless when put into context with other words that are not. I will provide an example because I feel that it is important that everyone reading this see my point of view on this. - The word F**k is a non-blacklisted word. Many users say this word often on the server. The word is used to describe frustration, surprise, carelessness, & more. The actual definition of this word, need I describe, is a physical act. Two blacklisted word, which are related to f**k are: d**k & p***y. Many users use these words in a similar way to f**k. The actual definition of these two words are physical body parts. Again, it is noteworthy that these two words are very related to the non-blacklisted word f**k. This is only one example of how it seems as if a lot of thought wasn't put into selecting which words should and should not be added to the in-game censor. 2. There is no way of knowing before hand what words are and are not blacklisted. This creates a big problem. Due to this flaw, users can purposely censor their words, and then be punished because they censored their words. A great example of this are my fellow teammates on my SkyBlock island. The island is all ex-staff, so it should be known that we mean well. However three ex-admins and one ex-srmd on my team have been muted by accidentally bypassing the filter. I will provide an example of how easily this can be done. - By use of slag, blacklisted words such as b***h can be accidentally bypassed by typing b*sh 3. My last point is the lesser of the above, however, there is no option to be able to disable the word censor feature. Many users would not care if the blacklisted words were mentioned in chat or not. Having the option decided for them creates the issues mentioned above. Resolution So what are some ways we can improve this system? I would love to hear everyone's thoughts on this! Listed below are just a few options I have thought of, along with help from members of the community & staff team. Require a warning before a punishment is given for filter bypass. This is easy an requires no modification of the feature itself. I also feel it important to stress that a warning be included even if the bypass was submitted via chat report! Discuss which words should absolutely be censored and re-think the current list Create options for the feature to be enabled or disabled per-user (enabled by default) Further develop the feature so that it isn't as easy to bypass censored words Thank you for taking the time to get this far in my post, any support and feedback is appreciated!
Hey Evin! I agree with the overarching things you want to try and achieve through blacklist filter improvements, and definitely would like to see further refinement of the feature. I do have disagreements with a few points though. I struggled to think of commonly used phrases where the words regarding genitalia could appropriately replace the use of the F word in server-acceptable contexts. As someone who was both a staff member back in 2015-16 when there was no filter, and then as a staff member now, explicit chat and disrespect were (and continue to be through FB) their most dominant use. I can personally see why they're blacklisted given this experience, and see it as a net positive; its a conscious decision by the server to keep chat clean at the minor expense of very specific more appropriate expressions. However, I'm open to having my mind changed, as I may be missing something here. Although I don't disagree with the idea of warning for FB when witnessed, I do disagree with making it the one exception to the general CR rule for muting (no warning required even for sev 1 offences which require a warning when witnessed). What is the difference between accidentally bypassing chat filter and accidentally spamming (assuming this suggestion is for the benefit of players who bypass the filter/break the rule accidentally like the ex-staff did)? I do generally agree with the rest of the post. I'd like to see the filter expanded to the more common bypasses (such as the B word example you gave), and think this would be a fantastic step in reducing accidental FB. I don't think any of us relish muting people who are unmaliciously breaking the FB rules, and I'm keen to see the ideas others come up about what can be done to fix the few holes in the current system.
Hi Evin! First of all, really cool for new-ish players like me to see ex-admins coming back to MCC. I have some responses to the issues you bring up and how they can be fixed. (Re-iterating your warning, some strong language) First of all, you bring up three words which seem to be related, but only two of which are blacklisted. While I wouldn't have a problem per se with blacklisted the f word, I see the rationale behind leaving it unblacklisted. While the d and p words you mentioned are both inherently sexual, this is not the case with the f word. As you mentioned, it can be used in frustration and surprise, so if the server's goal with blacklisting those other words is to eliminate explicit conversation, blacklisting the f word (while achieving this end in some cases) would have the added side effect of disallowing other possible uses of this word which may be 'okay' or appropriate for MCC. Secondly, you claim "there is no of knowing beforehand what words are and are not blacklisted." This isn't true, the /blacklistcheck <word> command will tell you whether a word in question is or is not blacklisted. It can be a hassle to check before trying to respond to a message, but if you think something might be on the list making sure is not all that difficult. Getting muted for accidentally bypassing the filter sucks, but I think the fact that it's a Sev 1 offense reflects the possibility that accidents happen and the mute is less of a punishment and more to learn you committed an offense. Finally, I 100% agree that it is laughably easy to bypass the filter. Changing one character or adding a space to any word makes it go through, and this feature of the filter is absolutely in need of an overhaul. As for blacklisting more words, this debate could always be had; one person thinks it's too strict, another thinks more words should be allowed. In general, I'm pretty happy with how the blacklist is right now (I would, however, be in favor of blacklisting the r slur), but that's just my opinion and others may differ, and I wouldn't be necessarily opposed if other words were added. A discussion about what words should be or not be on the filter would certainly be welcomed. Right now, though, I think the biggest problem is making the filter catch more attempts to bypass it. Sorry this post is a little long, hope you can read and tell me if you agree/disagree.
This post is well-written, Evin. I'm not surprised either as it's coming from you. The current blacklisted words system on the server is quite effective in some ways but can be a bit annoying to deal with when your intentions aren't even to bypass the server. I think that's where this post primarily comes into play? We've chatted about this before privately, so I have a pretty firm understanding of where you're coming from. My main thing about the blacklist and rules, in general, is understanding the context of the situation. The blacklist system blocks you from saying a specific word. It doesn't matter how you use it. That's what I find to be most important in the majority of cases. With that said, the blacklist system should be context-based. I'm sure there are APIs out there that can determine the severity/explicative of phrases. MCC could utilize that API so messages can properly be filtered. Instead of blocking when the word is used, test the phrase against an already collected data set. This set could either be provided by the API or by the server. This example would help make the blacklist system a lot more efficient at its job. It's quite outdated and easy to bypass. If you know how the system works, then you're not going to struggle to bypass it. This system worked well for the time being, but I think it could be performing a lot better. Something we both agree on. I hope a good conversation can come from this, and a reliable solution can be brought into play by the admin team. Again, it's a well-written post, so I"m sure it will rightfully get the attention it deserves.
Hey Swinger, nice seeing you! Thanks for the feedback, it's great to hear from someone who has a duel perspective on the topic (being staff before & after the feature was added). I may have gone into a bit too far detail with the relationship of the words used in my first point. My overall meaning behind this is that there are worse words (in opinion) that are currently allowed to be said in chat than words that are blacklisted. Just dosen't seem to make sense ya' know? Also pardon me doing this again, but I will be clear in what I meant for the alternate meaning behind the blacklisted words "d**k" and "p***y." D**k is very commonly used to also mean someone who is rude or otherwise obnoxious incorporative person. P***y is commonly used to describe when one is unwilling to do something such as a dare, or can also be used to call someone a coward. The relationship I was making with the non-blacklisted work f**k was that they are all used in a common way in slag. My, for lack of better words "argument" was that if f**k is not blacklisted then it is confusing that the blacklisted words I just mentioned are. Again my apologies again, just trying my best to be concise. Also, just to be clear I am not trying to be rude or otherwise impolite about this topic at all. This system has caused me concern for some time now and I just think that the flaws in the system call for a bit of work. :)
Hey Evin wonderful point you brought up because even with the /blacklistcheck command that command isn't fullproof because it'll tell you the basics but then the words that are in the gray area will stay unknown unless you fully get punished for it like saying pfp but then you forget the f and you end up with a 3 day mute because of it cause youre tryna say pfp also when you /blacklist check a word and it says it's not blacklisted you can still get muted for filter bypass which doesn't make any sense tbh like saying the synonym for a certain word will get you muted even though that word isn't blacklisted and doesn't come up with /blacklistcheck I agree that you should be given a warning so you can know in the future what to say and what not to say rather then getting angry because you get muted for 3 days due to the fact that you used a word that you didn't even know would get your muted
Beautiful forum post Evin, and I 100% agree with this. It is so easy to accidentally bypass the filter as well with not even realizing it, to the point where I think since the system is so flawed, that a mute from this should require a warning first hand. Countless times have I checked words using the blacklist command, or accidentally say something with punctuation at the end of it, and then instantly being muted because of proper grammar next to a blacklisted word. This is something that should be so easily fixable, if they really care about preventing these words from being said, but it is so easily bypassable, they shouldn’t question the need to fix this. The system they have now worked for a bit, but I feel as if it is definitely outdated, especially with the amount of problems it has now. Definitely am a plus one to this idea being implemented on MCC. +1
Yes I agree with what you’re saying, the system definitely needs to be revamped. I really like the idea of individually enabling and disabling the chat filter, that seems like a good solution for everyone. I also think that the system that disallows you to send chats with blacklisted words is far too simple and is way too easy to accidentally bypass. If you truly don’t want people to use a certain word, you could include a lot more variations of that word to the blacklist instead of just muting players for it. Lastly, I also agree that a warning should be required even if it’s from a /chatreport. I feel like it’s a little annoying how you’ll get muted instantly as long as there are no staff members on that particular server or in that game. I don’t really see the point in not giving out a warning since /chatreports usually are taken care of within a few minutes anyway, meaning the player is most likely still online to see it.
Hi there! I am on the side of many people in agreeing that the filtering systems needs a re-vamp. I think it should be edited so that blacklisted phrases/words also include many of the variations and work-arounds people typically use For example "bishh, "bi-atch," etc. This way, if someone truly is trying to find a way to filter bypass is it more clearly evident that it is intentional. I also like the idea you (and others) suggested of having your first filter bypass offense give you a warning rather than going straight to muting. Of course, exceptions to this would be when someone has used the bypass word multiple times in chat, or repeatedly does it on other occasions if they had been warned previously. I don't like the idea of being able to toggle the blacklist in any way though, because I feel like the blacklist is very helpful in keeping the chat clean (most of the time). I've also had the idea of the /blacklistcheck command being shorter so I don't have to type the whole thing (for example /blc), but that's mostly because I'm lazy. Have a lovely day! :)
This is something that has needed attention for too long now. You made some excellent points about how the blacklist should be improved. With the way the blacklist works now it’s way too easy to get yourself accidentally muted. I think that changing the in-game rules requiring a warning before issuing a punishment would definitely be a good start for now, but further work would need to be done to make it actually desirable.
I think we can all agree that the system needs a lot of modifications; there needs to be a toggle command to enable or disable the chat filter just like you mentioned, some people (including myself) do not care if blacklisted words are displayed in the chat or not. I'm sure a lot of people would like to have this feature as well. This is just one of the issues present with the plugins out of many other issues; I really hope this gets looked into as it requires a lot of attention if it wasn't as obvious already. Great thread!
