A list of all the swear words I can think of.
Jun 21 '01
The Bottom Line This review is the foulest of the foul - be forewarned!
Also included: every racial epithet I know, as well as some religious slurs and disparaging remarks about homosexuals. I will then include a pornographic story I wrote. Finally, to end it all, I'll work some very attractive keywords into some sentences ("stay at home mother", "Britney Spears", "WWF", "NASCAR", "Powerpuff Girls") so the search engines link right to me, bypassing the Epinions rating system.
Complain all you want, rate me NH, I don't care. Me and my article will still be here, waiting for some unsuspecting person (maybe your son or daughter) to find me, either by browsing Epinions or by a search engine. As long as I follow some very loose rules, I'll still be here. Do you know why?
Epinions won't touch me.
Ha.
Ok, I'm not really going to do those things. I just wanted to bring to your attention Epinion's policy on obscene posts.
Some background
I came across a member (I won't say who because I don't want to give her more hits than necessary but if you write me at my e-mail address I will give you the user's name) whose 35 opinions (as of this writing) are all rated NH with a few SHs thrown in. I read her most recent one because even the title was obscene. The opinion was worse. I couldn't believe this hadn't been reported (naive little newbie me). So I wrote Epinions.
My note to Epinions
Read the reviews from user (removed). Look at the Father's Day one. If that passes your standards of conduct and appropriateness then I don't know if I want to be a part of epinions. There is no redeeming value, just sickness.
To their credit, Epinions wrote back very promptly.
Epinions replies
Hi,
During the past few months, we have been carefully reviewing the issue of "offensive content" to determine the best strategy for us and all of you. After careful consideration, we have concluded that it is both inappropriate and legally imprudent for us to remove "offensive content" from the site.
Part of the problem is that no one can really agree on what constitutes "offensive content." Thus, it is impossible for us to always "do the right thing," since reasonable and smart people may disagree on what the "right thing" is. But even if everyone agreed that some content was offensive, there are serious legal implications for our site to "edit" offensive content by removing it from our site. The legal basis for this is very complex, highly technical, and constantly changing, but the risks to the company for ending up on the losing end of one of these suits could be enormous.
To be clear, offensive content should be distinguished from illegal content. Illegal content is prohibited on the site, and we not only will take action against illegal content, but we may be legally required to do so. So when we receive reports of users posting illegal content, we will continue to review the complaints and do whatever we think is
reasonable in the circumstances.
However, the real power of Epinions is the tools we offer you to tackle offensive content yourself. These tools include the ability to NR reviews and to distrust users. These tools, if used properly, can have a powerful effect on the content that you and your Web of Trust are exposed to.
So Epinions is afraid of being sued. That I can understand. But still, they seem to be excessively laissez faire in my opinion.
My response to Epinion's response
Thank you for your prompt, if anonymous and stock, reply. Let me say a couple of things...
--- Epinions Abuse wrote:
* After careful consideration, we have concluded
* that it is both inappropriate and legally imprudent
* for us to remove "offensive content"
* from the site.
* Part of the problem is that no one can really agree
* on what constitutes "offensive content."
Your User Agreement states:
"You agree not to provide any Content to Epinions that (c) is defamatory, obscene or child pornographic"
Why is "obscene" in there if you don't know what it means?
Looking over the user agreement again, I don't see anything that requires opinions be on topic. That should be in there for a number of reasons. The whole point of epinions is so that people can read opinions on a variety of products (ok, the real point is to make money, but you don't make money unless the site is used. The more often people run into objectionable content the less often they will visit). If someone is not sticking to the topic at hand it hurts all of us. Yes, they will get rated low and the "review" will fall to the bottom of the pile, but it's still there and it is still not a "review". Having a clause
in the UA allowing you to delete off topic (in your opinion) content could be a powerful tool.
Did you read this? If not, click below, please.
[link to offending opinion removed]
Tell me how that belongs here. Is that the kind of thing that should be part of the epinion archives?
I understand what you wrote; what I don't understand is why the agreement isn't structured to give you more power. How about a clause that allows epinions staff to remove an opinion without cause? Take a page from Amazon.com's playbook. If you review there you are bound by an agreement that states:
"Any review in violation of these guidelines will not be posted."
One of the guidelines: "Profanity, obscenities, or spiteful remarks." Hmmm...profanity. That's more clear cut than "obscene content".
Anyway, enough said. Thanks for your time.
Paul
(I haven't heard back yet. If I do, I'll update this opinion)
So, fellow Epinionated users, what do you think? I think if Epinions has no control over what is posted, as they seem to state, they need to rewrite the user agreement to give them the authority to keep the site healthy.
I'm no prude, and certainly not against free speech, but I also believe with the right of free speech comes the burden of acting responsibly. I'm surprised Epinions doesn't believe it has the right to regulate content. They are not an ISP; every site I can think of retains the right to remove inappropriate content from message boards and the like.
Epinions needs to step up to the plate and act in the best interest of the company and the users.
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Epinions.com ID:
pgifford
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Location: Elkridge, MD, USA
Reviews written: 29
Trusted by: 4 members
About Me:
Daddy, meteorologist, computer programmer, former game store owner, big kid.
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