German Badwordfilter problems
The german wayfarer community has noticed and collected some words which were banned for submission texts recently - for partially non understandable reasons.
I'll try to explain, why they are highly needed for wayspot submissions and should'nt be banned:
ANIMALS
- Vögeln: yes, it can imply some "carnal" (how to write neutrally, that this is not censored, lol) activity but mainly it's just plural Dativ of "Vogel" (bird) and even part of the official Goethe-Institut-Language-Certificate B1 -> https://www.duden.de/rechtschreibung/Vogel
- Schlange, Schlangen: which just means "snake" / "snakes" in english. Perhaps forbidden because it can be a swearword for a insidious woman (which is totally outdated and rarely used)? We have many information boards and signs about snakes and no different word to use for this species. "Warteschlange", too is an important word which contains the term Schlange and means queue.
THIRD REICH
Yes - third reich words can be misused. BUT - we have this dark history in Germany and try to remember its cruelties everywhere, so it hopefully will never happen again. There are many information signs, museums, buildings etc. which can just be explained with a special vocabulary, which is not in general forbidden to use in Germany, but important to verbalize those parts of our (horrible) history.
- Hitler
- Nazi
- Holocaust
- Führer -> even the compounds "Anführer" (leader), "Lokführer" (train driver) and "Führerschein" (driver's license) are forbidden?! "Führer" is a very common part of german noun compounds.
- Auschwitz - it was the name of the biggest concentration camp. So many innocent people were deported to Auschwitz, so it's very important, that we can retell history. For example, many memorial plates called "Stolperstein" report about individual Jews and other victims of the 3rd Reich and where they died (most of them in Auschwitz) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stolperstein
CAN-BE-SWEARWORDS
- Niger, Nigeria, ...isniger: the n-word is out of discussion, but - why is it impossible to write something about the country Nigeria or the river Niger? And in Germany we have for example the city of Leisnig (https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leisnig), which inhabitants call themself "Leisniger", which they can't in Wayspots.
- dick/e/n: the english swearword dick is a normal german word and means "big", bulky or thick. If "dick" can't be released, it would be nice if "Dicke" (which is a physical size) or "dicken" could be. For example: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dicke
CAN-BE-"CARNAL"
- Altthymen: Because of the word "Hymen" it is impossible to write texts for wayspots in the village Altthymen https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altthymen
- treibe/n, treibt: The word "treiben" mainly means to float/drift or to push/force in german. There are variations like "antreiben" and is very essential. https://de.pons.com/%C3%BCbersetzung/deutsch-englisch/treiben
OTHERS
- sodass: just means "so that", dunno why this is banned - because of the part meaning "bum"? -> https://de.pons.com/%C3%BCbersetzung/deutsch-englisch/sodass
- Schützengilde: Because of the part "zengi" (Zenci?) we can't use the term "Schützengilde", which describes typical german rifle associations, which are very very common clubs, even for kids, in the german countryside and are potential wayspots. (see https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sch%C3%BCtzenverein)
- nutzte: means "used" https://de.pons.com/%C3%BCbersetzung/deutsch-englisch/nutzen
Maybe @NianticGray is the right adressee for this one? Thanks a lot in advance!
Comments
Dear admins, please move this post to General Discussion, I think this might not be the right topic for my issue.
I’d like to add an odd case to this list:
”bitte” (German for “please”) is also a forbidden word.
At first I thought this ban was reasonable as it acts against useless pleading in descriptions and against abusive edits. BUT…
The English word “please” is NOT banned.
Where’s the reason behind that?
EDIT: As I found out via someone else, “bitte” is a bad word in the French language. It is a very normal word in German, however. Reminds me of the “dick” example that @Niye-ING has already mentioned.
There should be separate word filters for every language that PoGO and Ingress can be played in, instead of trying to make one global list for every language in the world.
Another word I would add to this list is the German word "bitte" or "Bitte" which might possibly been banned for being a bad slang word in French but in German it feels very awkward since it is a super common word which translates to "please" as well as "You are welcome".
Additionally it is also used as a noun meaning appeal or petition.
Example:
ENG: Would you please unban the word "bitte".
GER: Könntest du bitte das Wort "bitte" erlauben.
ENG: We just unbanned it. You're welcome.
GER: Wir haben es erlaubt. Bitte!
ENG: The German Wayfarer community made an appeal to unban the word "bitte".
GER: Die deutsche Wayfarer-Community hat die Bitte das Wort "bitte" zu erlauben.
There is also a corresponding verb to this noun which is "bitten" and could be translated to "to ask for something".
I don't know how popular the bad french slang word is, if it even is the reason for this ban but it feels a bit ridiculous from our point of view that a so common (and nicely meant) word is banned.
I actually feel quite disturbed that Holocaust and Auschwitz can’t be used.
I’m sure these words, like so many things in life, can be misused.
However it reeks of Holocaust denial.
Some of the other examples in this thread and in other threads are mix of annoying and funny as they highlight the differences between languages, but these words words are highly significant and important. It feels quite disrespectful that people should be expected to try and find other “acceptable” words to describe the Holocaust.
We found another forbidden word:
@NianticGiffard perhaps you could have a look as it seems General Discussion is "your" section? :) I've been waiting 14 days now and don't wanna produce more traffic in posting this thread again.
Thanks for surfacing this! I had already passed on your feedback to our concerned team to look into this along with similar discussions with the filtration issue.
So... I know it's summer holidays - but... anything new yet? 😅
While I was able to hand in a submission with the word "Krüppelwalm" via Ingress, I can't edit the submission in Wayfarer without removing the part "Krüppel" (German for "cripple"). It's obivouse why this word is banned, but it is confusing that the systems aren't consinstent.
A "Walmdach" (engl: hip roof) where not every side ot the roof is completly constructet to the same level is called "Krüppelwalm(dach)" (engl: half-hip roof)
It's sad that it doesn't seems to be possible to describe local architecture with the correct words, so mayby "Krüppelwalm" and "Krüppelwalmdach" can be unbanned?
Please compare:
DE: Krüppelwalm: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmdach#Kr%C3%BCppelwalm,_Schopfwalm_(Schopfdach),_Halbwalm
EN: Half-hip: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hip_roof#Half-hip_roof
„Bonner“ is blacklisted aswell though just refers to occasions that took place in the german city of bonn
It is currently being worked upon and you might see the changes soon.
Any chance you could share some insight into this matter @NianticGiffard? I especially don't really understand the ban of words related to the dark history of germany. I can't even write "Nationalsozialismus", "Hitler" or "Holocaust" in the title or description. While I understand some references like "Führer" are banned, it's not the only meaning. For example, "Lokführer" is the german word for train/locomotive driver and also banned, because it contains a forbidden word. Also, why are "Nazi" and "Nationalsozialist" allowed and the other words not??
In germany, we are very eager to remember what happened in the past and learn from our mistakes. This is why the topic is very important in our history. As a example, nearly every bigger village has "Stolpersteine", which are memorial plaques for victims of this age.
Isn't this whole reviewing process designed to filter out abuse and bad nominations? I understand why you want to be safe (legal reasons?), but as a reviewer we have the chance to reject nominations which include abuse right off the bat, before it is published in any Niantic game.
Moin, I was longer time absent. My account exists and I can play. Today received a message which I was not to open. It was linked to an external page, which told me that my nick TreffTMicHBittE does not comply with the rules. Can anyone help me with this? Please... Thank you
Remember that old Simpson's episode? Made me think of that scene. Yes, this sort of language filter Niantic is using has been complained about a lot.
Oh english - german translation issues are great.
Die -> the (female)
Gift -> poison
Bekommen -> to get
Werden -> to become
I think thats enough confusion for now xD
Seems to be fixed now. I was able, to see the message and also to reply. Best regards
The problem is not longer a german problem, but 'bande' is also on the german list of very bad words and a lot spanish words begins with bande. The drama of the bad word filter is getting out of control. It is simple a very bad bad idea to have bad word list and use it globally. There are 100 or more languages in the world.
Hello, everyone,
I wanted to make a suggestion today - but nothing worked. First I made a very long description. Then I clicked 'next'. Then I wrote the statement to the examiner - but no matter what I entered, there should always have been a censored word. I tried it in German, in English, I only made bullet points, then just wrote 'Unfortunately, the text doesn't work'. I didn't write any text at all, just a space, just one word, just two words - but no matter what I did, I always got the message that I had one or more words that were censored.
ping ...
October 2023 and the german word "Bitte" is still blocked :-( In my case it is a Wayside shrine with the title "Maria bitte für uns" ("Mary pray for us")