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You don't need to use weird spellings or algospeak for any topics on the Fediverse ("unalived", "seggs" etc). There is no automated moderation or algorithm on here, moderation happens entirely through human beings and posts are shown in chronological order.

In fact it's better that you use the correct spellings for difficult topics so that people with genuine traumas related to them can filter them more easily.

#FediTips

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in reply to Fedi.Tips

And #AudioMo starts tomorrow. So great to have audio in the mix. But definitely understand the topic you’re posting.
in reply to Fedi.Tips

I saw an article last year lamenting that "the young people! they're so delicate! they can't say "dead," so they say "unalive"?!" And like, five minutes of research would tell you why, you dolt. Really seemed like it was just a big lie.
This entry was edited (4 days ago)
in reply to Orion Ussner kidder

@OrionKidder

Yeah, the article totally misunderstands the situation if that's what they think is going on.

in reply to Fedi.Tips

I find it somewhat disrespectful when people try to outwit other users' filters by mis-spelling common topics.
People filter things for good reason and its not up to anyone else to determine what someone else should be seeing.
Also, good use of hashtags (accurate, descriptive, but not too many) is really valuable as it allows both follows and blocks so people can curate their timelines properly.
This entry was edited (4 days ago)
in reply to MostlyTato

I guess people have to use differnt behaviour when those imposing the filtersnare different to those effected by them.
in reply to MostlyTato

It's a good point but I don't think most people are doing it to fool human filters?

I think they've just picked up these habits from commercial platforms that use automated moderation that suppresses anything mentioning specific words.

This entry was edited (4 days ago)
in reply to Fedi.Tips

Maybe. Habits they don't need here though, especially when they do indeed fool human filters.
in reply to Fedi.Tips

@MostlyTato This, 100%. I was fairly active on Twitter before it sold out, and you *had* to twist your words like that if you didn't want their algorithms limiting your reach, suspending you, or outright banning you. Basically all of the popular commercial platforms are like this nowadays. And once you get used to typing like that it can be hard to break the habit.
in reply to Fedi.Tips

I honestly didn't even know that was a thing. Which means I'm (a) old and (b) spending the majority of my social media time on the Fediverse and I'm not unhappy about either of those things 😁
in reply to abeorch

@abeorch @operationpuppet

Yeah, lots of YouTube videos weirdly fade out the sound or distort it if certain words ("murder", "drugs" etc) are used. They are trying to avoid being demoted by YouTube's algorithm.

Same goes for Instagram, Tiktok, Facebook etc etc.

in reply to Fedi.Tips

considering "seggs" as a filter evasion always makes me pause for a moment since I was frequenting circles that sometimes replaces hard consonants with soft ones because it sounded funny.
For example "Gadse" instead of "Katze" (german for "cat") and I kinda took it for a much more widespread phenomenon than it probably was.
in reply to Primo

@Primo

Ah yeah I didn't mean the weird spellings for fun πŸ™‚ Just the ones on serious posts that want to avoid being suppressed.

in reply to Fedi.Tips

language constantly evolves.
100 years from now how we spoke in the 19th and 20th centuries will be viewed as quaint and antiquated.
in reply to Catherine is not giving up.

@CatDragon

Slang does constantly change, definitely! πŸ™‚

The post was meant to be about something a bit different through? It's not about slang but phrases that people don't really want to use, but feel forced to use just to avoid being suppressed by automated moderation.

in reply to Fedi.Tips

I usually add some common typos to my filters when I can.
Essentially its just a word blacklist
in reply to Fedi.Tips

also, if you want to use a nickname in your toot, remember to tag their names at the end so your mutuals can filter them out (i.e. some of my mutuals muted "Taylor Swift", so if I make a toot calling her Tay, Taytay or whatever, I tag her name properly at the end)
in reply to Fedi.Tips

it does stop creepybros searching for those keywords, although there's a lot fewer bots after you if you say "bitcoin cryptocurrency" here. let's see...
in reply to Fedi.Tips

I've taken to capitalizing "The Algorithm" in the sense of the manipulative sorts of algorithms referred to here. After all, people are referring to a very specific phenomenon with a very specific design goal when they say that, and not to algorithms generally, without which computers simply wouldn't function.
in reply to Pteryx the Puzzle Secretary

I think it's useful to treat technical vocab separately in general and technical contexts? Quite often technical terms migrate into a general use with a related but slightly different meaning.

When non-tech people say "algorithm" they almost always mean a manipulative opaque system that messes around with their timeline in unclear ways.

Another example is "computer", which almost always means a laptop or desktop but technically it could mean a phone, watch, microwave etc etc.

This entry was edited (2 days ago)
in reply to Fedi.Tips

The fact that some of the terms have gone from algospeak to full-on slang that people use is interesting, though.
in reply to Fedi.Tips

Weird spelling or the use of emoji may also impact screenreader use. I haven't tested out myself what "patr€on" sounds like, and while 🍏🍏 may be obvious to (some) sighted users, I'm not sure about anyone else. (Though honestly, it wasn't obvious to me without the context of the post.)
in reply to June T. Michael

@june_thalia_michael

It's a really bad idea to use non-standard characters for stylistic reasons, it does affect screen readers significantly.

I think patr€on would sound like "patr" "euro sign" "on".

in reply to Fedi.Tips

Yeah. I know about the "please don't use unicode for prettier fonds" thing, but it also affects on the smaller scale.
That's awful. (And really not necessary here, as posts containing the word are not shadowbanned or restricted or anything.)
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