24

I have read How does comment voting and flagging work?

Comments containing certain "trigger" keywords are deleted instantly after a single flag, regardless of upvotes. The list of trigger keywords is kept secret, and may differ per site.

Let's say a person's username contains these trigger words as a substring. For example, Akshit, Dikshit, and others. These are typical Indian names, I am sure there would be similar examples from other countries as well. Hope you got the idea! Considering the "s" word in bold is a triggered word.

If I mention them in comments and someone flags it, are these mentioned usernames also matched?

For example:

@dikshit some comment blah blah blah

Disclaimer: My intentions are not derogatory here. I don't mean to disrespect anyone having the names as in the above examples. Apologies for any coincidence.

Improve this question
1
  • 2
    In this case, I would probably classify this as a bug (CC @Glorfindel) - This behaviour isn't fair with such users, is completely unintended and can be abused.
    – Victor Stafusa - BozoNaCadeia
    Oct 1, 2020 at 16:25

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
18

It seems so; I've just flagged such a comment here as No Longer Needed with my sockpuppet and it was instantly deleted. I see no reason why it should be, other than that the username contains a dirty word.

enter image description here

To clarify:

  • M. Afrashteh is the author of the comment (and of the question); their username doesn't play any role here
  • @KshitijSingh is mentioned in the comment, and their username contains the 'dirty word' (and they're the author of the answer)
  • My sockpuppet, a regular user with 101 reputation flagged the comment, that's why the screenshot says 'deleted by'. This information is only visible to ♦ moderators.

When you visit the answer, you'll notice other comments have been deleted as well, because they were no longer necessary.

Improve this answer
5
  • OK, but the mod who did delete the comment, did so because the flag used was "no longer needed" not because the username was offensive. Maybe there were other flags? Does that mean anyone can flag a comment for being offensive and that gets instantly zapped.
    – Mari-Lou A Слава Україні
    Sep 28, 2020 at 19:38
  • 2
    Maybe there were other flags? Does that mean anyone can flag a comment for being offensive and that gets instantly zapped., exactly, if the trigger keywords is somewhere in the comment, regardless of how it's used. No moderator touched that comment.
    – Glorfindel Mod
    Sep 28, 2020 at 19:41
  • There is a Greek recipe called pastitsio would a user citing that dish, even if perfectly on-topic, find their comment deleted if got flagged? I'm not convinced a user with a perfectly inoffensive name risks having their comments deleted by the system because it is too stupid to realize that the username is innocent.
    – Mari-Lou A Слава Україні
    Sep 29, 2020 at 13:18
  • 2
    @Mari-LouA Its the Scunthrope Effect. (Try flagging this :D )
    – Journeyman Geek
    Oct 8, 2020 at 4:04
  • 1
    @JourneymanGeek As a fan of lower-division football in the UK, I would often read match reports on the library computers, which would render the name as "S horpe". We still refer to the team as S horpe to this day...
    – Нет войне
    Oct 22, 2020 at 10:21
7
+25

"Trigger words" is inaccurate; there is a regular expression that, if matched, will allow 1-flag deletion.

That expression does contain words, and some are included in such a way as to match if that word is matched anywhere within a comment's text - even in a name...

...However. It is a complicated expression, or at least it was as if the start of this year; I doubt it has been simplified, nor should it be. Most of the patterns matched by it require more than a simple string of characters; in fact, some depend on the length of the entire comment! More commonly, words are required to be delimited by a non-word character of some sort, greatly reducing the likelihood of clbuttic mistakes.

Improve this answer
7
  • 1
    //ignore classic, scunthrope and that town in england ...
    – Journeyman Geek
    Oct 8, 2020 at 4:06
  • 3
    I would like to know if it's true that a comment flagged, where the username is @KshitijSingh, would automatically be deleted as suggested in Glorfindel's answer. And if that were not the case, then what other reason could there be for a comment be immediately deleted by the system. Thanks.
    – Mari-Lou A Слава Україні
    Oct 8, 2020 at 10:16
  • Entirely possible that "shit" is part of the expression without boundary checks, @Mari-LouA. The original expression was something like 7 dirty words separated by |, and I assume that list remains in some form.
    – Shog9
    Oct 8, 2020 at 14:37
  • 3
    So an Indian or any person whose legitimate and inoffensive name happens to contain a vulgar expression, a joey word, risks seeing their comments deleted because one user knows they can flag the comments and see them magically disappear. The system is, therefore, flawed.
    – Mari-Lou A Слава Україні
    Oct 8, 2020 at 14:58
  • 1
    No, they risk seeing comments addressed to them deleted, @Mari-LouA. The check isn't run on the author's name, but on the text of the comment itself. Also likely to affect discussions of shitsu dogs on Pets and Wankel engines on Motor Vehicle Maintenance & Repair. Someone should probably sit down, do some analysis and refine the expression...
    – Shog9
    Oct 8, 2020 at 15:28
  • 1
    "Also likely to affect discussions of shitsu dogs on Pets" - not if you use the correct spelling, which is "shih tzu".
    – F1Krazy
    Oct 22, 2020 at 9:19
  • LOL... Got me there, @F1Krazy
    – Shog9
    Oct 22, 2020 at 12:35

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .