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On Wednesday, November 7, 2001, at 03:26 PM, Erik Smartt wrote:
> Maybe I missed this one from an earlier post (I'm new to the list), but
> is the list of "profane" words going to be obfuscated somehow so that
> Fire doesn't ship with a plain text file of profanity?? I can only
> guess that the rational for such a filter is to protect the innocent
> eyes of youngster's, so it would be particularly bad if one of those
> young whipper snapper's just happened to open up that profanity file
> and learn a few new phrases.
I am Colter Reed, also known online as Sanguerent. I am the developer
implementing the profanity filter in Fire.
The current implementation of the profanity filter (available only
through cvs) is not complete. Several changes are yet to occur before
Fire ships with the profanity filter installed.
First, the file that stores your profanity list on your hard drive will
store the list the same way Fire stores your passwords for services. If
you want to see what it looks like, open up
~/Library/Preferences/Fire.plist and look at what your passwords look
like. It's gibberish.
Second, the mechanism to edit the profanity list from within Fire will
require authentication -- you will have to provide an administrator
password to edit the list. Hopefully, this will be enough to keep
youngsters' prying eyes off. Unless, of course, your eight-year-old
administers your Mac.
The version of Fire that is in CVS has the profanity filter installed.
If you want to use it, you will need to turn it on and configure the
list. Right now, the only censurable words are certain fruits.
(Because I don't want to be working with actual vulgarity while I debug
the code.) Also be sure to read the notes in Fire.README.
It is not our intent to automatically restrict anyone's free speech,
especially without their knowledge. The profanity filter will be off by
default. You will have to enable it if you want to use it. If you
don't enable it, you'll never know it's there.
The ability to substitute words ("colour" for "color") is not yet
implemented. It's possible. We *can* do it if we decide to. It's just
a matter of balancing the usefulness and the time it'll take to
implement it.
We are hoping to be able to provide a list of common profane expressions
for each language Fire supports. If you choose to use the filter, all
you will have to do is check a box and it'll turn on. So far, I'm
designing it to work how I'd want a profanity filter to work, and that
doesn't involve me having to enter in a bunch of profanity. Not having
to deal with such is why I'm using the filter in the first place.
It has been suggested that a filter is completely unnecessary. You know
the people you talk to, and you can just block anybody who's being
vulgar. To a certain extent, that's true. But I would find it
comforting to know that the filter is there if I want to use it. And
I'm sure some of you are parents who, as Erik mentioned, would like to
be able to protect what your children are exposed to. I am trying to
design the operation of the filter to be as easy and reliable to use as
possible, without interfering with the operation of Fire for those who
choose not to use it.
I hope that this helps clarify the function and intent of the profanity
filter. If anyone has questions or comments that you do not wish to
convey to the list, feel free to contact me directly.
Thank you.
Colter Reed
Fire Development Team
--
Colter Reed
AIM/MSN/Yahoo : Sanguerent ICQ : 113022030
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