Censor system could use a tweak

[RockyMtnRay]

In discussing kayaks today, I discovered that with the default user preference of censoring enabled, the forum software substitutes "thingy" for certain letter combinations that have sexual overtones even though nothing sexual is being discussed. For instance, combining "flat" and "water" into one word causes the software to present "flathingyer"...it obviously doesn't like the t_w_a_t combination in f_l_a_t_w_a_t_e_r. Similarly the standard word for a airplane (or kayak) operator's area (c_o_c_k_p_i_t) comes out "thingypit". ::)

Kinda amusing but also kind of a nuisance and definitely not needed from what I've seen with the well behaved, mature crowd that posts here at TMO. Any possibilty that the dirty word filter could be tweaked a bit? (Yeah, I know that each user's preferences can be reset but that's not intuitive nor probably often done).

[arknoah]

Another problem solved! I could never understand when I was writing about a campground on Cape Cod known as "Sweet-w-a-ter Forest," and could never how I could ever have screwed up so much as to type "Sweetthingyer Forest."

Also, has anyone noticed when you type a message in Word then paste it here, quotation marks are replaced bya series of symbols. Is that part of the same filter?

[Chris]

I'll relax the filter. Stay on your best behavior though. ;)
Ct..

[efelker]

Chris:

Thanks, and I promise not to phonetically spell "Chattaqua."

Ed

[Chris]

flatwater flatwater flatwater flatwater flatwater flatwater flatwater flatwater flatwater
cockpit cockpit cockpit cockpit cockpit cockpit cockpit cockpit cockpit cockpit cockpit cockpit

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO I feel so nasty. ;)

[MawCraig]

Y'all are just too funny! Thanks for the good chuckle this morning!

[camperboy]

Thanks for the laugh everyone! I find this kind of funny.
Camperboy

[RockyMtnRay]

Thanks for the fix, Chris...looks like I wasn't the only one that was frustrated with it. Glad to have amused folks along the way too! ;D


Also, has anyone noticed when you type a message in Word then paste it here, quotation marks are replaced bya series of symbols. Is that part of the same filter?


Chris'll have to answer for sure but I doubt this has anything to do with the censor filter. My suspicion is that Word is inserting characters that aren't part of the forum's fonts. Characters aren't stored internally in a computer as text per se but rather as one byte (8 bit) ASCII code numbers (or sometimes as two byte UNICODE code numbers). The ASCII system supports up to 256 characters, those text characters that go with codes 0 to 127 are pretty much universal across all fonts. However, the characters that go with codes 128 to 255 vary dramatically between fonts. (Assuming that we're using Western European characters here, BTW).

Microsoft Word doesn't use the standard " quote character (ASCII code number 20) for word quotations, but rather one that's more typographically correct (the start and end quote characters tilt a bit toward the quoted words...in the Arial Font these are probably code numbers 147 and 148).

My guess is the forum (which has to translate into HTML) has other meanings for ASCII codes above 127. When you try to paste in text that contains "high" ASCII code characters, I suspect it displays them using the symbols it has for those codes, not the symbols that Word used for the codes in the font you were using in Word.

One technique that may reduce translation errors is to do your Word based editing with a font more similar to that used here...I believe that Times New Roman probably comes closest.

[Chris]

Ray has pretty much hit it on the nose. It's not the filter, but the ASCII code. I am working on a spell checker for the board. I haven't lost sight of that one. I am also working on a pruner for the boards as well - especially for the For Sale section. This board doesn't use a simple pruner, it goes across 3 different tables. :D
Thanks
Ct..

[Windbreaker]

A quick fix for the strange ASCII codes coming out of Word is to copy and paste into Notebook then copy and paste onto the board. Notebook codes follow the ASCII standard.

[Bill]

I tried this once, Windy. Perhaps you have a secret (tell it!) that let it work for you, but in my experience Notepad inserts a load of line breaks at unhandy places. It seems to depend on how wide the Notepad window is set, at the moment when you cut and paste.

Bill

[efelker]

Well on the spell checker side I just think of all those sharp raps on the knuckles from Sister Mary-Elizabeth....

Ed

[RockyMtnRay]

I tried this once, Windy. Perhaps you have a secret (tell it!) that let it work for you, but in my experience Notepad inserts a load of line breaks at unhandy places. It seems to depend on how wide the Notepad window is set, at the moment when you cut and paste.

Bill

That's an easy one to solve Bill. After you get all your editing done in Notepad, select all the text, then go the to "Format" menu and uncheck "Word Wrap". That will instantly remove the "soft" line returns that Notepad stuck in. With Word Wrap unselected, each of your paragraphs will probably become one, maybe two visible lines. Again reselect all text, copy to the clipboard, then paste into the Forum text editor.

The Word Wrap setting is "sticky" so you may want to reclick it when you use Notepad again so that you do get within-visible-margins line breaks for ease of editing.