Developers tidy up forums with "StupidFilter"

 

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By Stuart Turton

Posted on 8 Nov 2007 at 10:46

A team of US software developers is developing a "StupidFilter" that will block unintelligible posts from internet message boards.

Once the software is installed on a webserver it will scan posts before they are published for nonsense terms including "OMG!!" and "LOL", blocking the worst offenders with a message that says "This comment is more or less unintelligible. Please try to restate it."

According to the team's frequently asked questions page, the filter will be targeting "comments with too much or too little capitalisation, too many text-message abbreviations, excessive use of 'LOL', exclamation points, and so on."

The FAQ does go on to note a few sticking points, including the fact that the filter is "blind to irony", making clever posts somewhat redundant, and that dividing stupidity from mere carelessness is always going to be a tricky proposition, a problem it intends to deal with by creating a rating system for each post.

Despite the inherent challenges the team clearly feels the project is worth the effort, noting that "effective textual communication requires at least some formal rigour, and we feel such rigour is worth encouraging and, at times, enforcing."

The team is currently asking users to visit its site and help them rate a selection of idiotic YouTube posts on a scale of one to five.

The filter is expected to be released in December, with a Firefox plugin for self-censorship to follow at a later date.