Words that trigger automatic "hidden" posts

[Brefugee]

I found out recently, via one of the Archers threads, that a word that means "old style gym shoe" or the line on a ship that shows how much it can be laden before it is dangerous, automatically triggers the post to be hidden until a mod can check.

Just recently i have seen a lot of posts use a word that in common parlance often means "tantrum" but in fact is a slur against the Irish. (I don't want to write it, but could if requested by MN)

Is it possible that we could also have this word added to the list? I know a lot of people use it unknowingly, but it may be a help?

Why on earth would the first word you mention trigger a post to be hidden?

Because there was a troll who repeatedly posted about them. I'm assuming daps is fine.

Because there was a very persistent troll who posted continuously about the 'gym shoe' fetish.

Ah right, must have missed that one.

Is it possible that we could also have this word added to the list? I know a lot of people use it unknowingly, but it may be a help?

But 'throwing a paddy' is a phrase, not a word so I don't see how they'd be able to do that?

😮 every day is a school day. Gym shoe troll!!! Didn't know that.

So anybody starting a nice thread about how much they enjoyed a TV or radio programme featuring Messrs McGuinness or O'Connell, or praising them for their broadcasting abilities, would check back later to see the replies and be left scratching their heads in wonder as to where their thread disappeared to?!

Nooooooo. If people start requesting works are on an auto 'hide the thread'. Theyll all get hidden!!

the daps one was reasonable because the troll was a very persistent twat. The P one you want, no. As others have said it'll impact a lot of threads mentioning people with that name AND it's a slippery slope.

The thing with the gym shoe issue is that the troll now surely knows about the automatic rule, and can work around it easily - if you type a capital 'I' ('eye') instead of 'l' ('ell'), nobody would even have a clue.

Meanwhile, parents innocently asking for recommendations for a good brand of quality gym shoes for their kids will be left puzzled!

Joking aside, you can't ban a word that is sometimes used offensively, but which is also a legitimate common name.

Just like auto-banning any mention whatsoever of the word Karen would be grossly unfair to any woman who happens to be called that.

Imagine a lovely thread about the immense joy that the Carpenters' wonderful songs bring us - with every post that only mentions the brother being allowed to freely stand, but the moment somebody mentions the sister, their post gets auto-deleted!

It could also work in the opposite way intended as a cheap substitute for a superinjunction.

Supposing a well-known person were being massively criticised for their behaviour on MN - I can think of one in particular, but I won't say any Moore.

They could simply start flooding MN with loads of troll threads based on their own name - maybe insisting that it's actually a common slang term for eating poo or something - and asking others for their similar grubby experiences. Job done in an instant!!

Joking aside, you can't ban a word that is sometimes used offensively, but which is also a legitimate common name.

And yet the gym shoe word is indeed a trigger

The gym shoe word is a trigger because a troll spammed the fuck out of MN with it, along with photos of said shoes.

That's completely different to using the name Paddy in a derogatory way and getting deleted and I say that as an Irish woman!

The problem was/is that MNHQ weren't deleting the phrase 'throwing a paddy', but hopefully they definitely will in future.

Noooo! Auto-hiding [edit] is a nuclear option to wrongfoot the extremes of bot spamming and aggressive trolling.

Using it to protect our ears from offensive speech (especially accidental offensive speech) would be the height of prudishness and very undermining of normal talk.
It is already a nuisance not to be able to use the word that in my schooldays had the synonym 'daps'. It would be crazy to make more traps for the unwary. What about people who want to post about a "flooded field of arable land used for growing semiaquatic crops, most notably rice and taro" [thank you google]??.

(Just to be clear, of course I agree that it would be reasonable to delete the offensive phrase "throwing a ***" in the usual way that offensive posts get deleted. It is just the nuclear option of automated hiding of trigger words (that can be used in innocent ways in addition to the offensive usages) that is OTT)

True, but at least it's just the name of a thing; no person is actually called that!

There are so many variations, though, that I don't see how they could be identified automatically.

Throw/throws/threw/throwing etc. Plus all the same for synonyms like chuck. Then if there is also any number of different adjectives inserted in between.

Exactly.

If people spot the phrase being used, they need to report.

And hopefully HQ will take the report more seriously than they have been, and actually delete it.

Gotta draw the line somewhere, Paddy Power might throw one if the right horse crosses it first.

As everyone has said the shoe one is because it's a particular troll and because it's an unusual enough word for automatic deletion to work.

Wrt "throwing a paddy", I've been agitating about it recently because of an unspoken change in the moderation policy. Previously it was deleted when reported but now it's being left to stand and MNHQ refuse to explain why.

Automatic deletion wouldn't work because the word "paddy" is perfectly legitimate in lots of cases.

Hi OP

Thanks for the suggestion - we're discussing this in the office.
In the meantime, please do continue to report concerns to us so that we can take a look.

The gym shoe one is absolutely ridiculous.