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HuffPo Goes PC+
It seems the good people at Huffington Post have updated their swear filter.
Reading about Michelle Obama on The View, the article tells how Michelle was 'touched' that Laura Bush came to her defense when the Repubs decided she was good fodder.
Attempting to post a light-hearted comment, I made the following reply:
<blockquote><p>I can see the Faux News headline now: MICHELLE OBAMA IN SEX SCANDAL - CLAIMS TO HAVE BEEN TOUCHED BY LAURA BUSH!!!</p></blockquote>
My post was blocked by the swear filter.
I find this extremely odd as 1) all comments have to go through an approval system, 2) topics on HuffPo regularly contain swear words and, 3) what could be considered even vaguely offensive about my comment? Sex? bush?
True, I'm offended by 'Bush', but it's not because it's a swear word. Hmm, wait a sec. Okay, so it has become a 'swear' word (grin), but not of the flavor which is generally blocked by swear filters. And so it was the word 'sex'??
Thank you HuffPo for inventing PC+, go you!
Comments (11)
Obviously some people have a different idea of "light humor" than you do. Falsely alleging that the wife of the presidential nominee and sitting president are tainted by a "sex scandal"... gee, I wonder why your post was rejected.
June 18, 2008 3:36 PM | Reply | Permalink
Oh that's right, because swear filters can read and understand content. Why didn't I think of that?
June 18, 2008 3:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hmmnnn...that isn't what he was alleging. He was being humorous. Did you not see the "I can see the Faux News headline now" part? Do you possess reading comprehension skills?
June 19, 2008 3:25 AM | Reply | Permalink
It's clear you were being sarcastic and the Faux News reference even more so, ESPECIALLY since HuffPo loves to take down Fox News...
So, I'm scratching my head on that one.
June 18, 2008 4:03 PM | Reply | Permalink
Huff Po has gone nuts. I also criticized Bush in a recent post, suggesting he is spying on Americans. Comment dropped.
And on the swearing, I used the word "fuck," which has been used a zillion times on HuffPo, and the comment was dropped. But the commentariat evidently have no rules, as one writer facetiously called Tom Daschle's wife a cunt yesterday.
Huff Po really sucks now.
June 19, 2008 3:28 AM | Reply | Permalink
Sounds very naughty! Can't wait for the doctored photos to show up on the National Enquirer or the faked video to show up on YouTube.
June 18, 2008 4:18 PM | Reply | Permalink
My IP got banned from HuffPo over a year ago, never figured out why (except I wondered why it was okay for Arianna to transform in 1999 or whenever, yet we're still kicking Hillary for health care in 1993.) I wrote several times, no one could resolve it, and I figure I'm better off.
June 18, 2008 7:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
I had a similar experience, Desi.
I have no idea why I got banned, but I did. I didn't curse, didn't engage in personal attacks...my comments were much more civil than many of the comments I saw there.
Emails I sent to HuffPo to discover what I had done wrong went unanswered. At first I was mortified; then I was angry.
I have to say I don't miss hanging out at HuffPo. The Drudge-style headlines and the shadiness of some of their bloggers is kind of embarrassing.
TPM's a much classier site.
June 18, 2008 11:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
You know, what's extraordinary is that they allowed an article to go up there yesterday - it's still there - by Alison Kilkenny on Richardson & Daschle as potential Obama VEEPs - in which Kilkenny actually called Dashcle's wife a c*nt.
I was stunned. I still am.
June 18, 2008 9:01 PM | Reply | Permalink
I was too. That article was a piece of shit. I commented on this same event above without seeing your post. The only reason to go to HuffPo is because it collects articles from other sources and serves as a good blogosphere daily tour guide in that regard. But the original work is, save for Sam Stein and Seth Colter Walls, crap. Tom Edsall is a liar, and so is Jay Rosen. And we don't even need to start on the uber-sleazy Mayhill Fowler.
June 19, 2008 3:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
I stopped posting along time ago @ huffpost.
They blocked me just because I criticized queen bee - Adriana - about her early smears of Clinton.
The are dead to me....
June 19, 2008 10:33 AM | Reply | Permalink
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