Let adult users disable profanity filter with a button (and something about ToS)

[pizDuke]

My suggestion: please let adult users disable naughty words filter in the options. At least for the game reviews, if it is too scary to implement on the forums. I'm tired of seeing hearts there.

I think there are no good reasons for the filter to stay. Here are common counter-arguments.

Q: Users under 13 are using steam, gotta keep reviews/forums PG!
A: Letting adults disable hearts does not affect users under 13 in any way.

Q: Children could turn the filter off!
A: Parental control in a way of a password

Q: But slurs and naughty words are offensive!
A: People will use substitutes. Google "euphemism treadmill". Basically each new word that replaces the previous problematic word becomes offensive over time. F.e. words like "idiot", "moron", "cretin", "imbecile" (and a couple of others you know full well) were used originally as medical terms. Each subsequent term aimed to replace the previous one because it became too offensive, so each new word became offensive over time.
Same with "cripple", "disabled" or even "special". Just imagine, the nicest word in the world "special" became offensive because of the meaning.
Tl;DR: naughty words are not the issue.

Q: Swearing is agains ToS!
A: Yes, but criticising ToS is NOT against ToS (thank god), which is precisely what I'm doing. Although the more overly complacent people we have, the sooner the day comes when discussing ToS would become against ToS, even when it's blatantly wrong.
"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance".

Q: This universal filter is also used for blocking malicious sites, ponzi schemes, torrent sites, scams etc.
A: Then have 2 filters. One optional for swearing, and one mandatory for the rest. The mandatory filter will still have a lot false positives, but an occasional false positive is better than a malicious system that is programmed to hate people.

Q: You do know curse words filter and spam filter overlap heavily, as many links to adults sites contain curse words? Disabling curse filter will also make the spam filter work much worse, not to mention the amount of word it would take.
A: This....is a valid concern. Which is the reason I'm making this thread. This time, not only Valve needs to do something, but also we, as users need to change.
We, as users, need to send the message loud and clear -
"We are willing to give up some of our online safety for more freedom, we are responsible human beings and if we happen to be directed to a malicious website because filters now work worse - it'd be our own individual fault. And in case we're being offended we can always turn the filter back on. Being offended does not grant us any additional rights". Just an example.
A simple +1 would work too. No pointing fingers and no blaming anyone please, just the message within this thread.
Valve cannot read your minds - if you believe something is wrong, don't be the silent majority, speak up ...while you can.
What if there are already forces inside Valve that are tired of babysitting their users, and would love to hear from us that times have changed.

Q: Ok, maybe I'm sold, but why you want to change game reviews first and forums second?
A: Well, in order for a spammer to post a malicious link in a review - they have to buy the game first, so the spammer catching technology without cursing may even sustain itself monetarily. Also, the potential PR risk on the reviews is lower, it may prove to be a good place to test the waters.

Feel free to let me know if i missed something as I'm only human.
Even if I didn't change your mind this time, I hope I at least planted the seeds of doubt that will sprout and bloom someday in the future.

Peace.

EDIT: Apparently there's a way to disable the filter for reviews and forums as specified in the answer.

My new suggestion is: make this option a dedicated button as knowing of regex rules cannot be expected from the average user and remove the swearing part from the ToS for the reasons outlined in the original post. Thanks

[Start_Running]

Store Preferences.
Under CHatfiltering.

[fluxtorrent]

You already CAN disable the profanity filter, only the link filter cant be disabled... And steam already has family view for parental control

[pizDuke]

Originally posted by Start_Running:

Store Preferences.
Under CHatfiltering.

It's for personal chat. What I'm talking about is for game reviews primarily, I still see "♥♥♥" there regardless of settings

[Cathulhu]

https://store.steampowered.com/account/preferences

Go to the language filter and use this:
.*

Just those two characters for "Never filter these words". That is a regex rule that will simply say to never filter anything.

Won't affect the linkfilter, but there won't be hearts anymore.

[Castyles]

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

https://store.steampowered.com/account/preferences

Go to the language filter and use this:
.*

Just those two characters for "Never filter these words". That is a regex rule that will simply say to never filter anything.

Won't affect the linkfilter, but there won't be hearts anymore.

In theory. Mine always reset back to the default, censored, option. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ annoying.

[pizDuke]

Originally posted by Cathulhu:

https://store.steampowered.com/account/preferences

Go to the language filter and use this:
.*

Just those two characters for "Never filter these words". That is a regex rule that will simply say to never filter anything.

Won't affect the linkfilter, but there won't be hearts anymore.

Looooool. It worked for me! Thanks man. I didn't know about that.
Still sucks that it may not work for some, and that the way to do this is not obvious. I guess now we should treat this thread as "make this option a dedicated button"

[illy❀]

.* doesn't work for me. anytime I try adding it to "never filter these words" it pops up red and tells me to remove it

[pizDuke]

Originally posted by ILLY❀:

.* doesn't work for me. anytime I try adding it to "never filter these words" it pops up red and tells me to remove it

What if there's more going on under the hood.
Could it be age-based, or region-bases? Maybe even reputation-based. What if number of friends, or money spent affect that. Just a food for thought. Too convenient to be a simple bug.

Please keep the issues coming, we may notice a pattern at some point, or annoy higher-ups enough to make it a simple working button.

In the meantime, check if dot was from English alphabet, no spaces, try from browser/desktop app/mobile app, no other contradicting settings, launch as admin, access to system drive etc.

[davidb11]

Originally posted by pizDuke:

Originally posted by ILLY❀:

.* doesn't work for me. anytime I try adding it to "never filter these words" it pops up red and tells me to remove it

What if there's more going on under the hood.
Could it be age-based, or region-bases? Maybe even reputation-based. What if number of friends, or money spent affect that. Just a food for thought. Too convenient to be a simple bug.

Please keep the issues coming, we may notice a pattern at some point, or annoy higher-ups enough to make it a simple working button.

In the meantime, check if dot was from English alphabet, no spaces, try from browser/desktop app/mobile app, no other contradicting settings, launch as admin, access to system drive etc.

Don't be paranoid bro. LOL

[13119205187913161]

Originally posted by pizDuke:

Originally posted by ILLY❀:

.* doesn't work for me. anytime I try adding it to "never filter these words" it pops up red and tells me to remove it

What if there's more going on under the hood.
Could it be age-based, or region-bases? Maybe even reputation-based. What if number of friends, or money spent affect that. Just a food for thought. Too convenient to be a simple bug.

Please keep the issues coming, we may notice a pattern at some point, or annoy higher-ups enough to make it a simple working button.

In the meantime, check if dot was from English alphabet, no spaces, try from browser/desktop app/mobile app, no other contradicting settings, launch as admin, access to system drive etc.

works fine for me

i have spent little, have a low level (19) and have zero friends, so that would not be it