Great Western Coffee Shop

"The Coffeeshop" has grown quite dramatically in recent months, and a forum that I started with just a couple of moderators to help has grown quite a bit - to the extent that the moderator team is planning to meet up in the near future to discuss matters that arise, and how we can enhance the boards in the future. We've got a number of topics on our (informal) agenda already, but I'm posting this message up here to let everyone know that if you've any ideas or questions, asking them / making suggestions in the next few days would be a very good idea.   Post here, "pm" me, or email me via graham@wellho.net ...

I know of this on other forums, so is there any way to filter certain words automatically as bad language is becoming a problem IMO, and if it was filtered before anyone saw it it would be better.

Thanks - and exactly the sort of thing for us to look at.  Not only would that be helpful in the way you suggest, but it would also do things in such a way that there wasn't any suggestion of different rules for different people.   

But then you have to define bad language

In my working environment 4 letter expeletives are the norm - but that is at one extreme.

I had one forum where I was posting that I was roasting a chicken cock - I was, it was a cockerel - but was not allowed to post.

automatic filters do not take into account context.

The weight watchers boards dont allow the word cow but since laughing cow is a dieters favourite cheese subsitute it makes posting recipes difficult.

Maybe a system that flags dodgy words but then has human intervention to determine context would be better!

P.S. if anyone ever outlaws crap I'll be off since with FGW crap and S**t are synonemous with the service and it would not allow the forum to function

Ah yes - I'm glad that neither Penistone nor Scunthorpe are in our area, nor is Arsenal.  I have similar stories to yours - very appropriate at Easter, I can recall sitting round with a group of very upright reverend gentlemen, throwing naughty words around the room and trying to decide what should and what should not be allowed.


Yes - in fact I just commented on this fact in another thread; where it's used as an insult against people of a group of people it has to be outlawed, but I used it, just like you have intimated, to descibe my local train service.

There are certain words that if a system was introduced should be automatically filtered, and others just falgged to all moderators. There are some words that I have only seen used in the wrong context, one that paticuarly offended even though it was aimed at First.

Update from moderator's meeting ... current policy strongly endorsed, even if it means that the occasional member gets upset at being pulled up on his / her language or etiquette and even decides to leave us because of it.  But generaous warnings the first and probably the second time someone strays.

The reason behind our strong policy is that we have many users who are here, and many more people who read us, precisely because this is NOT a forum where personal insults are traded!

The f word probably could be "automatically" caught.

"First" ??

 ;D