Chat System Anomalies - Disecting the flaws.
 

The POTCO game has an elaborate chat system built-in as an integral part of the game. The chat system itself (when it works properly) is highly complicated.

Local chat has efficiency throttles, so that on a quiet server, you can hear someone on the other side of "Cursed Caverns" yet while on Tortuga/Abassa, you can't hear someone at the other side of the same dock. Local chat messages also appear in a cartoon bubble above the speaker's head.

Local chat messages that begin with ". " (a period then a space) will appear in a thought bubble over the speaker's head and will not disappear after 6 seconds. However, that thought-bubble is NOT visible to people who arrive later - only pirates who were present when the message was sent, can see that thought bubble over the speaker's pirate's head.

Whispers can be sent to people "nearby" or to people in crew, or people in guild, or people on friends list or people on player's friends list. If the person is not within line-of-sight AND not on your regular friends list, the message is delivered with a false indication to you that it is NOT sent (even though it really does get through.) Whispers sent to someone who is no longer nearby, or to someone who switches servers, or who logs out, are deceptively REDIRECTED to guild chat or crew chat to maximize embarrassment.

Crew chat has multiple "modes" of operation, where different keywords are restricted depending on the crew composition. If all crew members are "open chat" different things go through, that don't go through if there is a "speed chat plus" member in-crew.

Guild chat also has multiple modes, similar (probably identical) the the crew chat restrictions. Guild chat, however, has ENORMOUS complexity added, in that it is the only chat mode that reaches multiple recipients on DIFFERENT servers.

Privateering chat simply lets nothing meaningful through, only insults and taunts. For example, "They are surrounding Porc!" does not go through.

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In all chat modes, there is a primary-level filter that prevents blatant obscenities, from going through. Entering that in a chat line, prevents the line from going through and displays a warning on the person's screen, warning them that their account standing is in jeopardy. Further such attempts give sterner warnings. Ignoring those can automatically block an account.

In all chat levels, there is a strong distinction between "speed chat", "speed chat plus" and "open chat" - only open chat players can type (and read) game-relevant numbers such as "zero one two three four five six seven eight nine ten twenty thirty forty fifty 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 20 30 40 50" etc. Speed chat members can't type (nor read) any free text typed - only the straight preset speed chat phrases accessible from a mouse (clicking the icons left of the chat entry line.)

Note that "speed chat plus" is the default mode for children under the age of 13. Parents can restrict chat to "speed chat" through the DxD parental controls, but cannot enable "open chat" for their children, no matter what. Only accounts that have an "age of record" over 13 years of age can have "open chat." An "open chat" account can also be restricted by parents to "speed chat plus" or even down to "speed chat."

In all chat levels and modes, no 5 (or more) digit numbers are ever allowed, despite being extremely game-relevant. Any line of text that has 5 or more numbers present anywhere in the line (no matter what separates them) is completely blocked from going through. The person typing the line is given every indication that the line DID go through, even though it does not.

In all chat modes, there is a secondary server-side filter that eliminates entire lines of text if they contain words such as "number" or "telephone" or "phone" or "e-mail" or "account." While the sender sees their line of text as it was intended, absolutely zero of the intended recipients actually get to see that line of chat.

In all chat modes, putting someone on IGNORE will remove their text from your chat window history. Reporting someone to Disney using the in-game report feature will automatically IGNORE them and remove all their text. Local chat messages typed will still appear in thought bubbles over their heads, but will not appear in the chat window. Preset speed chat phrases, however, will get through.

In all chat modes, there is no local text chat log for parents to review. There is no way to check what time a line of chat was sent. While text archives are kept on the server-side, they are not necessarily reviewed unless someone is reported. (And the report feature currently does not work at all - instead, the person clicking report is ejected from the game to the "Report a bug" page.) Disney only sends lines of text (with timestamps in PDT) relevant to a suspension, when sending an e-mail to parents or account holders. So for parents concerned about their children's safety, there is simply no text log anywhere.

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In all of the chat modes, Disney complies with federal regulations for children's safety. While eminently reasonable to their lawyers, this usually results in a completely unplayable game when and children with "speed chat plus" are involved.

Almost every aspect of the game is about numbers. While lawyers have decided that "telephone numbers" (((and all variations))) need to be prohibited, they obviously never tried to actually play the game with such bizarre and random-seeming restrictions.

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It would be infinitely helpful in-game, to change how POTCO handles "super-restricted" or "legally-restricted" keywords. Currently, the line appears to go through (on the sender's screen) with no indication at all, that the message was filtered. I feel it would extremely helpful to the game overall, if Disney would add a message such as:

"The COPA regulations prevent us from allowing your message to go through. Please review the Terms Of Service. Adult topics may not be discussed with minors. Further attempts at this type of communication may be reported to local police or the FBI."

whenever a message is quashed. They of course, could have increasing severity levels with more explicit warnings, perhaps reminding people that topics regarding communication outside the game are verboten. Perhaps even, being more explicit about what else is prohibited.

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What other words have you discovered in-game to be "super-restricted"? Just to simply play POTCO, it would be very useful to have a list of known words that trigger the server-side silencer. Add words here on this thread and I will update this list as I confirm that they are blocked.

Restricted words:

• account
• and I start
• back up
• be your
• but it
• camera
• can use
• ****adoodledoo
• ****ney
• dog is
• e-mail
• for some
• get it
• get some
• hit it
• jack of (all trades)
• jason of all (trades)
• kiss
• number (note, not "numbers" plural!)
• phone
• porc
• shoot it
• take me
• take off your
• take off ur
• telephone
• test it
• web site
• website
• your black

Flirty... is not a red word xD But "Char" is a red word o_o

Wow. Thanks EE. Did you get all of this information from experience or is this actually posted somewhere in Disney user guides??

As I said in a previous thread, it sure would be nice to know when a chat does not go through properly so that I will know the recipient didn't see it rather than believe I am being ignored.

Thanks!

Dang, very well put together. Makes me realize a little more what we've got going on in chat. One word that's really annoyed me is "bit." Like I'll say, "I'll be back in a bit!" and the whole "words in red blah blah blah" comes up. I truly don't get it Disney.

I completly agree!!! Why can't I use the word bit? I have no clue.... Darn you Disney chat!

I believe that is because "bit" is past-tense of "bite."

Yah, but I don't think that "Bite" is a blocked word. Here lemme check......

Yup, it's not. So I don't get it

That urchinfist bit me! <---- how is this not game relevant?

Anyhow folks, thanks for pointing out that I missed the most visible annoyance - the conversion of MOST words in the English language to "Arrr" or "Yarrr" or "Garrr", but for "Speed chat plus" people only. Note that the list I'm assembling above is NOT words such as those. Instead, for the words that have "super-prohibition" on them - where the whole line doesn't go through.

And yes, I composed all this from experience. Be really neat if Disney had this same breakdown somewhere public, but as far as I know, they don't. (Maybe internally? Maybe the legal department? Who knows!)

I have always thought it was weird that one pirate can't tell another pirate how much a War Frigate costs...Nice post E. E.

Wow, thanks Ed! It IS very annoying that we can't say ' bit '. For example, a speed chat plus person comes around and you say, " I just lost a bit of my health. Can you heal me? " All the other player sees is " I just lost a arrr of my health. Can you heal me? " I think that D needs to have a grammar check. If you use the word 'bit' as I used above, it would go through. But if I say, " I just got bit by a bear ", it wouldn't. See what I mean? Grammar checks would be WAY better.

I find the various chat filters and restrictions perfect for a game geared toward 8-12 year old children. I have no expectation of Disney tailoring POTCO game content for more mature players and would actually be disappointed if they did.

That being said, I've never really had much trouble communicating to individual players with the unlimited chat option and only some for players with speed chat plus, but nothing that couldn't be worked around with a "bit" of creativity.

yes and that 'creativity' almost makes it pointless to censor us. How many times have you typed won, too tree, for, hive sticks, etc... honestly.. it's seems silly to me but I know why they do it.

While the word hell in the game goes through, I think it shouldn't. I know the word has been said in the pirate movies, but you'd be surprised how many people use it in ways they shouldn't.

Hell goes through but heck doesn't? Now that one makes absolutely no sense

Unless you *always* have two pirates on, or *only* talk to pirates that you know in real life and are actually talking to on some other medium (e.g. phone), you have no way of knowing how little of your chat actually gets through, in-game.

You will be shocked, as you learn just how many lines (with no italics / no red-text, mind you) do not get through. The fact that you haven't noticed yet, does not mean that other people can't hear you.

Actually, your wording "unlimited chat option" suggests you communicate through an alternate mechanism, such as the DXD site chat thing, which has its own rules. I was referring specifically to "open chat" to be explicitly clear that I'm talking about chat lines in-game. If you actually mean your in-game chat also, then it is clear you haven't noticed how often you actually are affected by the server-side filter.

For example, sailing in Salty Flats, your crew asks you to tell them before you land. So the next time you go to land, saying "I'm landing at Porc now" can mistakenly give you the impression that you actually are communicating with your ship mates. They, meanwhile, think you are simply being rude, landing with no notice, but they know it's just you, so they don't make a stink of it. That leaves you with the false impression that you communicated above and beyond the warning your crewmates just asked for, and at the same time leaves them angry at you for ignoring them. So maybe you think you've never really had a problem communicating (in that example, the ship did indeed land) and yet...

...and yet the only ones to credit in that example, are your friends, for being so forgiving of your transgression (caused by Disney.) They might realize that the chat containing the word "Porc" triggers the filter to block the entire line. They might then also notice where you landed. They might even ask why you didn't warn before landing. They might even talk back and forth enough to narrow it down to the word "Porc." Chances are, they they don't realize any such thing - they just forgive you for the sake of forgiving you (even though it is Disney's fault.)

ok....having relatives in the uk...there are words here you questioned...like bit...they banned git..as thats a slang for like idiot or something...and heck...sounds like the one with the f..which rhymes and thats one a no no here...and there...anyways...keep tellin em...its all we can do...

today I heard ghost voices in a couple of different jungles and caverns...I have a xi-fi extreme sound blaster card...and wondered if its glitching or am I picking up vent. or other type voice ones...I did use my headset as it has better sound quality....but Im not using those now on this game...mebbe it just picks out the base sounds they used for the special fx sounds?? wondered if anyone else hears it?

Shocked that words and entire sentences get filtered by the in-game chat system? Shocked by the inefficiencies in that chat system? Or shocked by the general bugginess of the build(s)? lol, no EE, not me. Not any of my long time in-game friends, either. You see, we have also noticed the various "anomalies" so we simply work around them. Transgression? lol, there is no forgiveness necessary since everything is pretty much what I have come to expect from Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean Online. This isn't my first time at the rodeo. So what you perceive as clear regarding what I am aware of is a misunderstanding on your part based on erroneous assumptions.

You are correct in that I run no type of empirical test to check which chat went through and which didn't. Couldn't be bothered as I have adapted enough to be able to communicate successfully in-game. As far as "unlimited" chat - I did misspeak. I should have used the term Open chat. Additionally, I don't use any third party chat client when playing POTCO. Isn't necessary since I play POTCO as a game, not a social networking site or a chat client.

One thing I don't want to be lost is how much I appreciate your dissecting of the chat system and some of its flaws, as well as the other areas of the game you have looked at. Well done. Which is exactly the opposite of the way I feel towards POTCO development focus: either the producers and development team are aware of these anomalies and are, at least for the time being, letting them be or they are unaware. Either way they earn a fail.

You said it was "perfect" when it is anything but. (Game is rated 10+, btw. It's a family game, except in the minds of the current development mangers, if they still work there.) And, FWIW, I'm talking strictly about game-relevant chat, not chat "for social networking."

I strongly agree.

ok but why would bite be a red word o_o

Well, what I said was that it was "perfect for a game geared toward 8-12 year old children" so I will stand by my statement.
EE, you are confusing the game's voluntary ESRB rating with whom Disney is targeting the game to.

Perhaps you misread what I wrote? Regardless, it is far from perfect, for 8-12 year old children, or anyone.

You specifically stated you never have "much trouble" working around the system, yet you don't use the speed chat (supposedly that you say that Disney says is the target audience of ONE survey commissioned by a new and clearly misguided team) that you also claim to be perfect, despite routinely not using it (perhaps never?)

And yes, you would be shocked to learn how many complete lines of your text are simply not sent at all to other open chat recipients (despite every indication to you that it is sent) even when there are no italicized words, nor any comment in the removed text that is not completely innocent and directly game related.

To fix the problem, the development team can issue a series of warnings to the sender, or issue warnings to the message recipients, or issue both warnings and the text, or flag the conversation for moderator review (auto-report) or any combination of those actions. Simply removing the game-relevant text silently, harms the game overall.

Obviously, this tactic is not in any way geared towards protecting minors. Technically, they do have the mechanism to save chat logs server side. Some text can occasionally be found in the client-side game logs. From a technical standpoint, client-side logs are comparatively very simple and lightweight. And yet, no provision is made for the easiest of logs - a timestamped client side text log of chat. Nor is any variation of it, available. This particular design choice is not a feature to protect children or even Disney - it is a feature to protect lawyers.

That is not a system that is "perfect for a game geared toward 8-12 year old children" at all. You yourself concluded "they earn a fail" and I certainly agree with that.

I believe that Disney uses a white list as the main device to control what words are used. What I mean by this is that they have a list of acceptable words and words that are not on it are flagged. Thats why so many innocent words get flagged, like "bit" or "poet". I remember reading that you could send Disney suggestions for words to add to the white list.

Not to be cynical or anything but the primary purpose of this censoring is to protect Disney from legal problems. If it protects kids too all the better.

BTW, I don't believe Disney has ever explicitly and publicly stated a target age range for the game so we really don't know. I do believe that it is intended, like the movies, to be "fun for the whole family" . How well they are achieving that is subject for debate.

Once again a very instructive post Edward. Many thanks!

Possibly, but after re-reading the posts I think I pretty much did get the gist of it.
Well if you mean flawless, then yes, it is far from perfect. Hope you aren't expecting anything near flawless from Disney's POTCO product lol...
I don't use Speed Chat? Wrong. I routinely don't use it? Wrong again! You really have no idea how I communicate in-game. I will say that my in-game communication style and technique varies and is situation dependent.
Hello? Still not shocked and won't be. Not sure why you would assume how I would/should/will react. Let me restate and expound on a few things: I know chat is messed up. I knew it before you started this thread. Learned it all by my lonesome and confirmed it with the help of some friends. Wasn't at all shocked or surprised when I figured out that there is no notification for filtered chat in certain situations. Pretty much what I have come to expect from Disney's POTCO product. I do find it mildly surprising that you would argue with me on what my reaction would be, especially since I specifically stated that I was not shocked lol...

Just so I make myself clear: I am not shocked in the least that any part of POTCO is glitchy, buggy, incomplete or lacking. To be honest, I am no longer even disappointed. If I want quality product I look elsewhere. Which is sad in itself for I truly did love this game. Disney fails not so much for these particular chat anomalies, but rather because this is how it goes with POTCO development: updates are put out without being fully tested; updates are put out with known bugs previously reported by Test server players; things are made to work but never truly fixed; playability, balance and/or fun often suffer as the present team of developers attempt to meet whatever production goals have been set by the game's producers or their bosses at WDIG. I see POTCO as nothing more than a product, where once I thought it truly had a chance at being a contender as a great MMO.

Edward didn't say the chat system was flawless. If it was flawless, we wouldn't be typing things about this right now.

Also, it would make communicating a lot easier if Edward knew what chat system you had. I have Speechat, although it's basically Open chat, which still hasn't been released yet.

I can type anything I want to, although most curse words and words that may be considered real threats get through.

And if this is a family game, why can I still say hell anytime I want to and not get a warning email? I don't use the word often, but it's annoying seeing others abuse the word.

Corrected list, added a few. "Shoot it", "hit it" and "get it" don't go through, but "stop it", "zap it" and "tag it" do. "Web site" and "website" block, but "web sight" goes through. "Calendar" used to block, but no longer does. (Yay!)

if only i had my chat log for a couple days ago i don't know what word set it off but i was trying to say
ME ahoy krewe would you mind helping me with somthing
BBK sure what is it
ME I just got new soft ware that records games (game cam) and i was wondering if you wanted to help me test it out on a boss battle
BBK what
ME my message didn't go through
its things like that that get me a bit ticked off

Been playing for a couple of years now and I can safely say that in all that time, I have never used, or tried to use, the word "calendar."

Just sayin'...

Every guild with over 100 members that I've been in, has had a calendar. Just got into the habit of calling it an "event list" instead, because "calendar" was blocked for so long. Last December, I tried to coordinate and schedule a scavenger hunt on the POF calendar - it was definitely blocked from in-game chat at that time.

Thank you - I'll add "TEST IT" to the list of prohibited keywords.

If i remember correctly, the chat started malfunctioning when the new islands and the mini player card kicked in early 2009.

It would be interesting if we could bug report it LOL.

Or even go on Live Chat and demand a straight answer as to why there is a "secret filter" in our communication and make the Live Chat rep give an account as to that (which I'm pretty sure they would not be able to answer it anyways, I think i could be a better Live Chat rep than them Lol)

The only way to combat this problem right now would be playing 2 pirates at the same time to ensure that chat flows. The other solution, highly popular but seemingly unapt for good mickey followers, is to chat on another communication platform. If the chat is flawless there wouldn't be a need to chat outside the game, so should Mickey tell us again why do they subtlely disapprove it?

Saying Your Black does the trick I think.

And I say it like, Did you get your black belt yet?

Nice job on this mate, this is very helpful to all of us pirates that chat in game. Must have taken you a while.

Another one to add is for some.

Added "your black" but baffled that "you're black" isn't filtered. What are they even trying to filter? Anyhow, forgot to verify "for some" when I was double pirating, so I'll add that when I double up again.

Preparing for a scavenger hunt last winter, we had to verify every line of text the weeks before. On the day of the event, some lines of text still didn't get through, as the filter seems to change from day to day. It also filters differently when a speed chat plus person is in hearing range.

Yes, figuring it all out has taken a enormous amount of time. Ironically, with a smoother design, they wouldn't waste anyone's time, nor endanger anyone, nor frustrate the broad majority of their customers. (Most, who don't even realize they are being undermined by the server side filter, instead left to assume this community is just rude.)

Unfortunately, I think they have more things to worry about than bad behavior from players.

They're taking WAY too long on a second story quest, and in only a few months, it's the third year of POTCO. That's it, and we still haven't seen a second story quest.

There's no excuse. There's just too many more things to worry about than some chat problems.

While it's a big thing they should worry about, they just can't. POTCO is almost down the drain, and if they can save it with another story quest or two, they will, and if that means letting the chat system stay unfixed, oh well.

Extremely good observations here. It's amazing what they let through and don't let through.

Mac,

I don't disagree. For POTCO to make a comeback, they need real content - the ever promised 2nd chapter of the story quest and the Kraken boss battle.

This thread, however, is about an entirely different, relatively minor disaster. Since no other thread discusses the chat flaws in detail, it makes perfect sense to me, to compile as comprehensive list as possible here. Will Disney spend time on it? That's up to them. When the time comes that they DO decide to review or revamp the chat system, my hope is that they will find this very thread and be helped by it. They still have the option of continuing to ignore it; given past history, they probably will do just that, instead, opting to work on whatever mini-game or cellphone thing they wanna. Fix the chat? Add the 2nd story? Those things probably sound too daunting for them to work on, any time soon.

In the meantime, this thread can perhaps help players compile other restricted keywords, so we at least know what words to avoid. E.g. the word "it" - replacing the indirect article with a specific object, greatly increases the chance of a line going through. "Hit the storm reaper!" instead of "Hit it!"

Are there any words in the chat that can be considered offensive but aren't blocked?

I know the white list and black list used to be maintained regularly. And yes, the white list seems to trigger based on Speed Chat Plus players being "in hearing range", both geographically and as part of a chat group (crew, guild). It appears that one of the bugs is that if a Speed Chat Plus player leaves, the white list is sometimes still used as a filter. Not totally sure though, as we never really bothered to see what all of the different scenarios are. Good luck on that EE, I feel for you lol
You know EE, while that may be your assumption (not getting a response so the player/community is rude) it might not be so safe to assume that it is also everyone else's assumption. For example, if I am in a conversation with someone and they seem to just stop responding, I assume they went AFK, found themselves busy with something else, or (more recently) maybe there is something buggy with POTCO lol. I am not offended and I don't categorize them as rude for something they apparently did not say. The only time I would ever consider someone rude for not responding is if they were like you, someone who is familiar with chat system anomalies and considers a non-response rude.

In real life, in a face to face conversation a non-reply could be construed as rude, in-game there are too many other possibilities for me to jump to such a negative conclusion.

"Hell" goes through because people often forget to put an apostrophe on "He'll" so it comes out "Hell" if you notice, all other contractions are the same way, you can say cant, didnt, im, and wont.

Added "for some" and "get some" - ironically, "four some" and "got some" go through just fine in open chat.

Can use me doesn't go through I believe.

"I can use another gunner" does not go through. Wow.

That's because what you should say is " I could use another gunner. "

It is not my assumption. Your implication that I assumed anything of the sort, is insulting. I'll assume that was not your intent.

The impetus for all of this, was someone thinking I did not respond to their question. The fact that their question(s) never went through, was lost on them. Within this game, similar scenarios play out daily for me - but I'm one of the few people (probably less than 5% of people playing) that notice what's happening.

Based on your bad assumption that my third person statement was somehow a first-person comment, your ire is misdirected.

That's fine for you, but the broad majority of players in this game, in fact, do assume they are being ignored. Particularly true, when the person is right in front of them, fighting their enemy (for example.) In every way, the chat is meant to imitate normal human communication as best as possible. How often, does "silence denote consent?"

For myself, the only time I assume anything about in-game communication, is when I already know the person I'm talking to, very well. With crew matching, lookouts, public boarding and invasions, I estimate less than half my in-game communication is with someone I know well. Maybe you only interact with a small closed group of people, but most people in this game, do not.

With each example above, more light is shed on just how absurdly extensive the "black list" filter is. For most of the isolated words and phrases, it is not clear at all, what the black list is even trying to prevent.

Again, if Disney were to indicate to EITHER the sender or the listeners (or both) that the chat line did not go through, this thread would be moot. Since Disney does not give any such indication, most people are left to assume the worst.

I seriously doubt their intent is to promote proper grammar.

"Swift Foot II drank" ORLY?

"Sink 5 Navy Predator ships" ORLY?

If they are going to begin giving grammar lessons, perhaps they ought to hit the books themselves, first. A thread to catalog the game's bad grammar, would be a hundred times longer than this.

At any rate, "You can use my ship." does not go through, today.

no no no EE, not at all trying to insult you. No ire, either.My apologies again for assuming that you were assuming how other players react in situations. I didn't want to assume that you were making an assumption, lol, but I couldn't find this information after an extensive web search. Where did you get this fact from?

Thanks again for all the time and effort you have put into this and all the other contributions you make.

Try ' be your' Ed. It filters it for me.

Yup, added it; thank you. That one, I can at least understand - it must be a popular (annoying/problematic) phrase on tugabassa.

Ok found another one. 'But it' filtered me, I'm not sure if it will for you.
EDIT: I found aonther it's 'Dog is'

Where did you get this fact? Or is it an assumption on your part?

Hey ed did you ever try but it or Dog is?

I've hit a series of mishaps - all Disney's fault (e.g. unbelievable lag, plus 3 to 30 second game freezes, even after significant hardware upgrades, playing a single pirate only, not even double pirating; no other applications nor non-OS services running - even windows explorer terminated.) Apparently someone must have tried "improving game performance" some more.

I'll try verifying those (and others) again tomorrow.

Added a bunch more. Trying to describe a particular British accent, ****ney, filters the entire line (understandable to filter IT but not the entire line.)

"Use right mouse to pan the camera" filters, why?

"Back up the ship" filters, why?

"Take me to Tortuga please" filters, why?

"Take off your hat indoors" filters, why?

More to come, shortly.

Not sure which part of this sentence got filtered, but, when I was explaining a book I was reading to a friend, the sentence " He made her the head mistress " got filtered.

i dunno what niog means buty i said there was a nig storm bye accident and it said innaproppriate word and i might be banned but i didn't get banned.

Forgive me if someone's posted similar, I skimmed and didn't see it but could have been overlooked. Anyways, the word 'bit' used to never go through for me. (Stopped using it altogether unless I know I'm around Open chat peeps.) All I'm wanting to say is "Turn the ship a bit to the left" or "A bit further", something stupid like that. =/

Tell me about it I seen GUILD names with "hell" on there! I dont know if pirates online doesnt want to be slammed by religious playes. But yea no offense it should be blocked I mean there are 10 yr old playing on there maybe younger! Plus if there Unlimited access there going to lose money!

As I mentioned earlier ( I think in this thread) I'm 95% sure that the reason he'll is in here is because it is a contraction of he will without the apostrophe. Most contractions are allowed if you leave out the apostrophes, I'm not sure which ones aren't, but you are allowed to say things like couldve or wont and hell.

Thanks. In the OP, I said,
The "short list" of bad words is actually quite short - about a dozen words and maybe 5 dozen variations of them. Since most of those same terms are censored here, there is no reason to try listing those here. Furthermore, those give a perfectly clear warning.

Of interest to me (and the purpose of this thread) is to identify the "mystery" terms, that give no warning whatsoever, that DO give an indication the chat went through, when in fact, the server side filter eats the entire line of text.

I think it was mistress it means lover.

It was mistress. I have another Edward. It's My Asp. Got filtered for me.

It is no assumption: 100% of the time chat filter has been an issue resulting in a dispute within numerous large guilds, the person filtered was offended at being ignored and said so. This is not merely dozens of times, but over a hundred times in my indirect experience. Try being an officer and mediating situations; you will find this chat filter being partly responsible almost every time.

I don't know why you would insist on your repetitious implication of the opposite. Since you have said you use other communication, you obviously can't appreciate just how frequent this is, for normal players in this game. I am assuming, based on your militant insistence, that the entire guild you are in uses some external communication method. So in-game chat anomalies do not affect you nor your guild, at all. Talking (chit-chat) as you type, it is very clear when something doesn't go through. You know within 3 to 5 seconds from the time you press "Enter."

But for normal people playing the game, it is very different. Without any knowledge of the server-side filter, the most natural human assumption is that the message did go through (because the game indicates that it was sent successfully) when in fact, it did not. Every dispute I've mediated where this chat filter was an issue, people have said that they were being ignored. Not some, not most, not merely dozens: every one.

There are guild names with Hell in them, and it is perfectly obvious its not he'll. I do not think Disney cares too much about that word unless you are using it in an obviously rude way. And that's funny, because mistress does NOT go through italics. And I did notice one time, I was being filtered very heavily, my chat not going through even on my own screen, and even if it did, it was delayed by even minutes. And I hadn't been suspended/banned/given a warning in over a year. It is Disney's thing of targeting certain accounts. My friend got suspended for saying her other character's name. What did Disney say the reason? " We found a transcript from your account containing personally identifiable information." And I could say my other character's name, no warning at all. And I do notice, if something I say does get filtered, it may not get filtered for someone else. Even when the word is not in italics, it may be filtered. If they don't want us to say that word, they should have put it in italics. And at least give us a warning that the message got filtered. Disney should moderate everyone fairly, not target certain people, which is what seems to be going on.

sureshot, I realize that you have been with the game since its birth- but some of these arguments are simply splitting hairs and poking the bear (not saying anyone is a bear here, simply a figure of speech). i'm surprised that EE has continued to entertain you by giving response. and whereas you have come across much of this information by experience- as have i- many other players have not. this gathering of information is a great resource for those people. and yes, i have considered other players rude when they simply refuse to find their own enemy to fight instead of mine, and blatantly ignore a polite request to stop. now i realize that they may not have received any such plea and assumed (i know this word has become somewhat of a taboo in this thread but here it is) that i was fine with them taking my rep, or even thought they were doing me a favor by helping me out. this thread does give a new way to look at a situation in a game where not only communication is key, but also common courtesy.

lol EE, it took a month and a half for that?!! And you still can't give me a source for your "fact" that "the broad majority of players in this game, in fact, do assume they are being ignored." I want a source for your fact. Empirical data of the POTCO playing broad majority and their assumptions. Something from when you first posted your "in fact" statement. Waiting. Yawn.

"...over a hundred times in my indirect experience"!?! well, there's irrefutable empirical data on the broad majority if I've ever seen any /sarcasm LOL

Here's another one,

We were.

All I have to say is wow... that is an EPIC FAIL! I can think of ways that can be used inappropriately, but then again, any word can be used inappropriately.

I noticed that I have been being filtered even more lately, and I couldnt pick out what it was that was making my sentence being filtered. They really need to add a message saying something like: The chat you have sent did not go through because it contained the word(s) __________. Not that hard Disney! All I can say is that this is starting to get out of hand.

Is anyone feeling more filtered than usual recently? I certainly am. And a lot of the things on their "black list" are perfectly fine! Porc... K I dunno how you can use that word inappropriately...

Dog is... Dog is going to sail to Tormenta.

Now Dog finds that "we were" is filtered.... Thats just insane...

Disney focuses very much on their moderating, but, many of the things that get filtered are PERFECTLY fine to say. " We were " gets filtered? That's funny, it doesn't get filtered for me, but I have seen it get filtered for others, and they would have to separate their sentence so I would get the message. " We were ranking. " Um, yeah, that's a good sentence to filter /sarcasm.
Disney is slowly ruining their chat system, and sooner or later it will be nearly impossible to just talk about something in the game or ask questions. " Can you take me to Tortuga?" Filtered. For only some users, though. Yes, it does seem VERY likely that Disney does target certain accounts for more "extreme" monitoring.

Why is this? I would understand if the person has violated the terms of use recently, but, me, I haven't had an account violation for well over a year now. And yet, I still find sometimes, I am HEAVILY filtered, and my chat coming up VERY late from the time I entered it (Usually means FILTERING. My internet is great, thank you.)

Yes, and this may also be the reason why certain users are given violations for UNKNOWN reasons or UNFAIR reasons. For the unfair reasons, like talking about a weapon, (Yes, people have been suspended for talking about in-game weapons.) It is like the people who are moderating DO NOT play the game at all. So, perhaps the reason why my friend was suspended for saying her other character's name ( which was a perfectly piratey name ) was because the moderators DO NOT have knowledge of the game, they just look at the chats and decide whether to suspend or not. For the unknown violations given, that sounds like Disney changing their rules as they go along (which did happen.) Yet, we do not know if the moderators are HUMAN or not. (May just be a machine.) Maybe a more safe way to moderate a game is to actually get people to CHECK these things. It would be Disney's fault if someone didn't have test server because of an unfair violation that occurred. And even the violations that are pulled back due to the account contacting live chat, it will STILL count in guild competitions (In the first guild competition, the majority of members could NOT have violations, and the guildmaster could not have had a severe violation.) AND against test server sign ups.

For the sake of the chat system for this game, it sounds like Disney needs to pull things together. Their moderating is all over the place and is not executed fairly and equally to everyone. It does sound like abuse is going on here.
( Sorry if this seemed harsh.)

Perfectly said Slouyx. They have to get their act together and fix this, or players will get angry. As I said before, they should at least tell us when the chat doesnt come through, but still, why in the world to they censor PORC. I'm pretty sure its impossible to use that word badly....

And Slouyx, maybe the reason your friend was banned for saying her other pirate's name could have been considered personal info.... but thats kinda extreme....

Im pretty sure that I have been filtered more heavily lately, as I said before, and just for the record, I have absolutely no violations, and have never been banned. Its not just for the players who have had account violations, but for everyone.

Being a deck.

That filters me.

Dog, I'm looking at the things that we say normally, "being a deck" is not something someone would usually say. The things like "we were" are the things that shouldn't be filtered.

It can't be considered PERSONAL info because it's on an ONLINE GAME. "Slouyx" is not personal info. It's a name I made up. If it was really associated with me in life, then okay, it's personal info. But a character's name is NOT personal info. That violation is DISNEY, looking for an excuse to suspend a certain user, which it what seems like they do sometimes, which is considered them ABUSING their moderating powers. (Then again, it could be just a machine. But their still held responsible. They should at least CHECK these things if the machine finds something that might have violated terms.)
They say they have the right to give violations to any user at any time for any reason, but, does that seem fair to us users?

Actually slouyx, if you mess around with the word "deck" it can be considered inappropriate... thats probably why... and how did you find that out anyway Dog?

Remember! This is Disney we are talking about! Banning people for the dumbest things! Now I may be wrong, and I probably am, Im just sayings its possible. As I said, its extreme, but possible.

I was just saying like, great job being a deck hand on the ship, cause my friend was repairing and stuff.

It may not have been the phrase "being a deck." It may have been another phrase in what you said that got the sentence filtered.

I think it probably had to do with the word deck... but keeping in mind that the phrase "we were" gets filtered, it could just as easily have been "job being".

you should add "get off" to the list EE. My brother was on my ship and I jokingly told him GET OFF MY SHIP!!! and it didnt go through.

On POTC = filter.

get homework = filter.

and lost = filter.

Epic fail D.

Telephone alone goes through also by the way Edward.

The Hello = filter.

What... the.... heck.... POTCO I shall never understand you.....

Here are some more filtered words.

Slap

Fairly Girl

Welcome to POTCO comrade. :laughks2:

Seriously, I have noticed for a while that Disney has this Nazistic reign over chat. It has always bothered me, always irritated me to the max. As for why there is this secret filter, I dunno. I have spread the word to people in guild for as long as I could remember, and now I live in fear. Heck, maybe one day soon the POTCO secret police will arrive and carry me off to the Rambleshack again, where I shall be subjected to horrible torture and forced virus downloads onto my computer. Then my broken and sobbing pirate shall stay there for eternity.

Just sayin'. :P

Here is one I noticed today. Both accounts are open chat. So why does one show up as spamming? Only Disney knows I guess.
http://blunderworld.com/piratesonline/chatlogincon.jpg

Was the second one in a loading screen when he saw that? If so then the rush of chat at one time will cause a spamming message for one person but not for another.

I have actually noticed a delay in my chat before, then said "My chat is appearing slow. STOP MONITORING ME, DISNEY!" While I was just kidding, of course, it returned to normal after I said that. Weird....

Saying "but it seems I was here first" still is filtered to this day, probably for being so bitterly condescending.

try this : "but * it seems i was here first "

Thank you for taking the time for this thread ,Edward. Hadn't read it before, but was directed to it when I was questiioning my own chat being filtered alot as of late. Was having trouble with whispers, crew, & some guild chat. One specific incident was when I received the****spamming**** notice when I was trying to chat about a Seabeard in Menta that was broke. Guess that I was just choosing the wrong words to get across what I was trying to relay.