Why do americans have to spellcheck foreign poi's!

Why does the Americans believe that all other languages contains WOKED words that can’t be used when sending in a new POI?
If they had had some experience with foreign language or countries outside their backyard, maybe they could create something that at least could tell you which word they find bad. I would have no problem rewrite that word. But guessing for one word in a short text is not easy.

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So the language filter isn’t based on “woke” words nor is it based solely in English. The language filter takes many different languages into account when flagging potential profanity/slang/questionable words. For example, I recently submitted an updated description with the Italian word for bird. That word literally means bird but it can also be slang for a body part. I changed the word to the word for sparrow and was able to submit without any issues. I was also made aware recently that a common Italian word is a Brazilian Portuguese vulgar slang word. If you’d care to share what you’re trying to submit/describe, folks here can maybe help you to find alternative words that don’t set off the filter.

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lololololololololololololol

While your response does an excellent job of replying to the OP’s contention about how and why the filter triggers, it also illustrates how poorly it is implemented.

If your nomination is in Italy, and your title and description are written in Italian, how reasonable is it to block a single word that may be Brazilian slang? Italy cannot and should not protect all of its global visitors from exposure to the native language, why should Niantic attempt this?

Perhaps language filtering should only apply within the official or most commonly used languages in the region under consideration. It doesn’t really make sense to cater to hypothetical, easily offended visitors from thousands of miles away.

As we all become more global, we need to become more tolerant, or all communication will become impossible.

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I’d also like to note that Brazilian is not a language, as they speak Portuguese there. So, like other languages used in many different countries, there will be different slang words used based on the location. It’s like the slang used for cigarette in the UK that’s a slang for gay men in the US, both words being used in the English language.

Yes, the banned word filter needs some fixing, as even some places have names that are banned because of slang words in other countries. The worst I’ve seen is an Italian town that actually has 3 letters in it that is actually part of a medical term for a female body part in several Latin-based languages, and the town’s name is banned because of it (the slang can’t even be used here in the forums). Not great when people there are trying to nominate the town hall or town square, for example.

I think at this point it’s well known that the banned word filter needs updating, and the ambos have been keeping track of different banned words from different languages, and how they mean something different in other languages. The German word for stairs is banned, yet if I went to Germany and saw a Wayspot using the word, I doubt as both a non-German and non-Brazilian Portuguese speaker, I would see if as a vulgar slang from Brazil, nor would most German speakers.

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Treppe

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Was only a test. The german word for stairs wasn’t the Problem.

Not in the forums, but when submitting in-app, it’s possible that it’s an issue. There was a recent thread from a German user trying to figure out what words were banned in the title they used for a Wayspot nomination, and that was one of them. There was another possible banned word, but since the filter doesn’t tell you which words are of issue, we are left guessing.

I mean it had a problem with the german word for embarkment.
But nevertheless, the bad word filter needs a bit adjustment

That full word, rather than the 3 letter short option is also a kind of food in the uk - meatballs made with offal… Cigarettes and food, both :hammer:

I think a lot of us would be surprised as to what meanings some words have in different countries and/or languages. And I think some would be surprised that Urban Dictionary covers many different languages in different countries, not just English slang in the United States.

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I still remember the thread where we found out that in French, the UK has the River Boob :joy:

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Honestly the filter is really, really bad and not at all useful. It’s been discussed before that the word “Nene”, a major river in the UK is bafflingly blocked by the filter. I would personally prefer it to be turned off and leave it to human reviewers and/or Emily rather than a crude Scunthorpe filter - Scunthorpe problem - Wikipedia

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Yes, I see that, but then the stupid system must report the abused word. Then I can re-write the text.

Yesterday It happens to me too. I was submitting a panel with information about local birds and It said me i was using a banned world :upside_down_face:. I removed “birds in italian” and It worked. We can’t even use italian world for “hard, keys and cone”

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I have a list with 46 banned words in Spanish, justa few are legitimate to be banned.

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Bird in Italian, uccello, can also be used as slang for a male body part. I see it similar to how in English pecker is slang for this body part, but can also be a type of bird. Keys, chiavi in Italian, is related to the verb chiavare, which can be used as a s3xual slang; chiavare can mean “to nail or screw something.” These are both connected to other Italian words, not English ones, but they have other meanings than just bird and keys.

There are a few different words in Italian that can be used to mean hard, but nothing I found similar to English slang. Cone in Italian is another odd one, but it could be related to plant reproduction, which is baffling.

I know It very well ahah

I’m italian, but i don’t know how “Cono” can be offensive. Maybe it’s another regione slang or maybe another Word from another country includes It and is offensive

:person_shrugging:

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If I had to wager, I’d put it on being very similar to a vulgar Spanish word (although misspelled)…

It can be another word from another language. Like said earlier, there is a River Nene in the UK. Well, nene in French is a slang for br3asts. The word for stairs in German is similar to a Portuguese word used as slang in Brazil.