We love comments here, good or bad. Comments are feedback and writers love feedback (they even love to hate feedback) Feedback lets the author know someone read his piece. So, please comment.
Sometimes the comments are even better than the piece, so always be sure to check them out. Comments are writing too.
Some words are going to trigger the Spam Algorythms. Inclusion of certain words are a sure bet to get your comment dropped in the spam file for later review. That doesn’t mean it’s gone forever, it just means that an admin will go through the hundreds of spam comments to hopefully find yours and “un-spam” it.
Here are the words to avoid:
nazi
fuck
tits
cunt
pecker
twat
pussy
Imoti
Varna
The last two are there because we had a virtual attack of phony messages that included “Imoti” and “Varna”. I recently removed the word “Nigger” because it was stopping comments to a legitimate posting. It may or may not go back on the list.
It’s important to note that if you include a word that contains the same sequence of letters as one of the words on the prohibited list that comment will get “spammed” as well. For instance if the word “car” is on the list then “carry, carcinogenic and carpenter” would get the comment flagged. Sorry, that’s the way the algorithm works. As I said someone does go through the flagged comments almost every day, so sooner or later your hard-worked comment will show up. If it doesn’t, email me and I’ll look for it. Although I’m not perfect and as the flagged file is often hundreds of comments long, sometimes I miss one.
More on comments
Often comments turn to controversy. This is normal and is part of SWI, arguments often enlighten. Please keep them civil. Try your best not to insult your fellow contributors or their points of view. We are looking for “civil discourse” not name calling sessions. I’ve been guilty of this so make sure you call me out or any other contributor when you see this happening.
Posting
Post on anything you like. Write a poem, an essay on the vagaries of nature or the nasty dude you saw on the subway this morning. It’s all welcome and makes for varied and interesting reading. If you’re a regular poster, think about doing something different once in a while. That way the readers here will be surprised and always wonder what your writing about this time.
Please don’t re-post the work of others unless you plan to illustrate, comment or enhance it. This is a forum for you to “Speak Without Interruption” not spam the net with the latest message from the Flat Earth Society.
Almost nothing is censored on this site, that is the point. In my three years I have only seen one post withdrawn and that was with the permission of the author. However, we count on our authors to approach this freedom with thought and civility. Bob Grant pays for the site out of his own pocket, he wants it open and free. Please don’t abuse his gesture.
On including video or pictures
Video, audio and pictures spruce up your posts. The Internet is a visual medium so think about including something extra. If you have trouble figuring out how to include a video or picture ask Bob or me and we’ll try and help you out. Mostly, media can be inserted by putting the cursor where you want the media to go and then clicking on the “Star” symbol at the top of the editing page to the right of the words “Upload/Insert”. It looks like this:
Except we don't have the grey circle at the end, that's to create polls
A menu will then pop up as ask you where the audio, video or picture is going to come from. You then upload or identify the source and you are ready to insert the piece of media you want. A longer, better explanation is available here: How to insert media in a WordPress blog.
Last Thoughts
This is your site. Bob funds it, I help out where I can, but the site survives and grows because you take the time to be involved. Without your “speaking” there is no “Speak Without interruption.” It’s a unique opportunity that is worth sweating and fighting over, a unique right if you like. If you want to change something, ask. If you don’t like something, say so. Most important if you do like something say so. Many great innovations have died because they are taken for granted.
You will quickly notice that a great deal of the authors here use their own names, there was a discussion about that early on, but it comes out that the people here stand behind what they say and don’t hide behind cute penames. It also is very useful to authors to spread their names around so google searches show their entire body of work. It’s good marketing, and cuts down on the irresponsibility of the Internet. Think about using your own name when you post, it’s much more sincere and shows that you are courageous enough to “Speak Without Interruption.”
Copyright Prentiss Gray 2011
Prentiss Gray is a writer and columnist and currently writes the Domesti-Tech Blog for Gannett. He can be reached through his website at www.prentissgray.com
Prentiss Gray
Prentiss Gray is a writer/columnist/blogger from New Jersey. After 27 years as a Information Systems consultant and the death of his wife of 21 years, he returned to his roots as a writer, creating the national column Adventures of the Lone Dad/ Daddy chronicles. He now Blogs for Gannet on domestic technology, and writes feature pieces and stories for general publication. He is a member of the American Society of Journalists and Authors and contributes to Bloomberg News, Daily Record, Gannett and the Tribune Syndicate.
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Thanks for the head up Prentiss. I was a little concerned about what language to us or not to use. As a rule for me, curse words are fair game in fictional dialogue if they are particular to a character or a world where your characters inhabit. But they should be used sparingly in other venues. As to ideas, well I hate pop up adds on other sites but if it would help pay the frieght, I wouldn’t mind them here.
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I concur 100% – thank you for the posting.
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I’m curios why Nazi is prohibited. The Nazi party exists in America and elsewhere. If someone in the Nazi party makes a comment or commits an action that is newsworthy for any reason, how would one refer to them. I think they are dispecible, but it might be something one would talk about if referring to a group that exists today or discussing pre WWII Germany.
My input is that this is a bad call.
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Well, I guess my comment about a word on the list was censored. The first word is I believe a bad call. They are despicable but, they exist, and did exist in history. How would one write about that period and give a “code name” others understood?
This entire issue is a slippery slope when you include words outside the crude sexual realm. I would tread lightly here and error on the side of tolerance, which is not endorsement.
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Put it back, please, the “N” word I mean. It needs to go back on the list right along with the other dirty word. It may sound hypocritical and self-serving (it is not intended to) but sometimes certain words need to be used to make a point to or to illustrate an idea of value and yes there is the proverbial slippery slope mentioned by Mr. Citrus. But the use of the word has served its purpose here and I understand an exeption was made but,it needs to be retired again. It really is a dirty word. There are a few others I could suggest to add to the list as well.
Oh and don’t forget to avoid the synonym for automobile, it will get you censored too. Just joking Prentiss well, being sarcastic is more like it.
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Holy @&%$! My favorite part of comics were always: @#$%^&*?..and such.
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Your wish is my command, Nazi is off the list (pending Bob’s approval) however, Nigger is still off because of Minette’s post. I think we want to let people respond to her post with out their comments getting flagged. I will discuss that with Bob, though Kaye.
If you have other suggestions for the list, please make them. Thanks for the heads up David, comment rescued. By the way it’s not “censored” it’s “flagged.” The difference may be hard to perceive, but the connotation of “censored” can get quickly out of hand. In this case the comment is flagged for review, if it was removed permanently that would be censorship and I would have a very hard time working for a site that did that.
I can’t really think of any comment that should be censored, can any of you? What about threats? We’ve had those in the past. Or perhaps the release of personal information? The problem with censorship is managing it, who could be the arbiter? I know it’s something that Bob finds painful he’s very torn about it and usually puts it before the entire community.
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Prentiss I was joking regarding the word “censored”. I understand the process and respect the necessity of flagging.
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Prentiss, can you explain what “Spam Algorythms” are? I only took Algebra I and II in school.
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Sure Algorithms are basically processes designed to do a job. In this case the WordPress Spam algorithm first compares the new comment to a massive list of “Known” spam.” Each of these known spam comments have been tagged as spam by administrators all over the word and contributed to the list. Each of the tagged comments are then broken down into easily identifiable parts, say the name that sends them or some word or phrase that occurs within them universally. This is often parsed (in this case reduced mathematically to a compressed sequence of numbers and letters) to make the checking comparison much faster.
Once a new comment clears the “known” list, it then gets compared to any restrictions imposed locally by the local administrators, in our case the “Dirty word” list. It’s also possible to eliminate comments that do not belong to actual members of the site, or eliminate commenters that have never had a comment approved before. Bob has both of those options turned off to permit free and open commentary.
After getting through all that, the comment is then approved and posted to the discussion. Comments which get caught in any of the layers of algorithm get placed in the spam file for later review by a local administrator.
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Prentiss I man sound like a hypcrite here as the last time I almost got in a fight which I’m too old to be doing, it was because somebody used the N word one time too many. It can get me almost ballistic as it has done on a few occations. But I’m with Kaye here it’s a word and words are out tools, all of them.
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