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   Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Tuesday, 12-Mar-2024 22:53:17 JST Anil Dash

   Has anybody written about the near-ubiquitous online trend of bowdlerizing text, either to avoid being penalized by the algorithm (real or imagined) or to avoid content being searchable by others? We have people who communicate about "s*x" instead of "sex" and... that's probably a very bad thing.

   • Embed this notice
     Eugen Rochko (gargron@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 12-Mar-2024 22:56:14 JST Eugen Rochko

     in reply to

     • かき@GNUsocialJP

     @anildash Would the usage of "unalive" instead of "dead" or "kill" be considered part of that same trend?

   • Embed this notice
     Resting Facebitch (monsoonrains@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 12-Mar-2024 22:59:38 JST Resting Facebitch

     in reply to

     • Eugen Rochko

     @Gargron @anildash I hope so because 'unalive'... omg I hate it viscerally.

   • Embed this notice
     schrotthaufen (schrotthaufen@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 12-Mar-2024 23:01:14 JST schrotthaufen

     in reply to

     • Eugen Rochko

     @Gargron @anildash Absolutely. All the newspeak/self-censorship to avoid algorithmic penalties should be included.

   • Embed this notice
     FeralRobots (feralrobots@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 12-Mar-2024 23:06:06 JST FeralRobots

     in reply to

     • Eugen Rochko

     @Gargron @anildash
     I'd argue it's usually not, since I mostly see it used ironically ("17 civilians were discovered to have been rendered unalive") or as a fine distinction ("there's something unalive about that painting"). I.e., not bowdlerization - it has a different purpose than that.

   • Embed this notice
     Eugen Rochko (gargron@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 12-Mar-2024 23:08:23 JST Eugen Rochko

     in reply to

     • かき@GNUsocialJP
     • Ben Ramsey
     • schrotthaufen

     @ramsey @schrotthaufen @anildash It is used primarily to avoid algorithms downranking you on TikTok and YouTube.

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     Ben Ramsey (ramsey@phpc.social)'s status on Tuesday, 12-Mar-2024 23:08:27 JST Ben Ramsey

     in reply to

     • Eugen Rochko
     • schrotthaufen

     @schrotthaufen @Gargron @anildash I’m not sure whether “unalive” is a way to avoid algorithms or just a way to avoid saying “dead.” Where I grew up, referring to someone as “dead” seems crude and disrespectful, so we would say “passed away” or “moved on” or “in heaven.” I wonder if “unalive” is in a similar vein.

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     schrotthaufen (schrotthaufen@mastodon.social)'s status on Tuesday, 12-Mar-2024 23:23:49 JST schrotthaufen

     in reply to

     • Eugen Rochko
     • Ben Ramsey

     @Gargron @ramsey @anildash I’ve heard people claim that using words like “killed”, “dead”, “rape”, etc can get accounts automatically suspended on tiktok. I don’t know is this is true.

   • Embed this notice
     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Mar-2024 05:35:06 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • Eugen Rochko

     @Gargron yes, very much. It's all algorithmically induced.

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     Cogito ergo mecagoendios (elrohir@mastodon.gal)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Mar-2024 05:38:28 JST Cogito ergo mecagoendios

     in reply to

     @anildash This is a ubiquitious topic on tumblr posts directed at newcoming users from tiktok and twitter: the usual points are 1) there is no algorithm here so there is no benefit 2) you don't have a responsibility to create an advertiser-safe climate for the network owner 3) in fact advertiser-safety usually results in minorities being silenced 4) and full words are successfully removed when people use safety filters but your asterisk is actually breaking their filter settings.

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     Anil Dash (anildash@me.dm)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Mar-2024 05:39:15 JST Anil Dash

     in reply to

     • Tim Bray

     @timbray one would hope!

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     Tim Bray (timbray@cosocial.ca)'s status on Wednesday, 13-Mar-2024 05:39:16 JST Tim Bray

     in reply to

     @anildash Let's assume that Fedi will get algorithms; the difference is that they won't have to cater to the sensibilities of advertisers, I assume. And thus should be able to avoid this silliness?