I was once tasked with filtering user comments so nothing that “might start a bar fight” got through. In any language. After about 2 seconds of thought, I said “no!”… and when asked to explain, pointed out that I’d have to filter out any reference to any football (or other “important” sport) team or player, positive OR negative. And I’d have to filter out any reference to religion, politics or celebrities. Then there are various deadly insults in various languages and cultures. How in the heck could I catch “Yeah, and your mother wears combat boots!” Or “Well, the dress doesn’t make you look fat!” Or “FSM is better than Jahweh.”
I didn’t have to quit: The boss decided to go with my fall back suggestion: Let the bar hire a real-time bowdlerizer (he’d never heard of Thomas Bowdler, so of course, had now idea how much of a kerfuffle he kicked up).
I was once tasked with filtering user comments so nothing that “might start a bar fight” got through. In any language. After about 2 seconds of thought, I said “no!”… and when asked to explain, pointed out that I’d have to filter out any reference to any football (or other “important” sport) team or player, positive OR negative. And I’d have to filter out any reference to religion, politics or celebrities. Then there are various deadly insults in various languages and cultures. How in the heck could I catch “Yeah, and your mother wears combat boots!” Or “Well, the dress doesn’t make you look fat!” Or “FSM is better than Jahweh.”
I didn’t have to quit: The boss decided to go with my fall back suggestion: Let the bar hire a real-time bowdlerizer (he’d never heard of Thomas Bowdler, so of course, had now idea how much of a kerfuffle he kicked up).