Skip to main content

So it finally happened....a rant about "bots".

 So I got banned from Facebook for 24 hours.


I violated community standards because of a post that was somehow taken out of context.   I don't know or really care about the technical stuff, but basically a "bot" that scans the world wide web looking for content that does not meet "community standards" tagged me.  I would be lying if I didn't say I was little bit upset about it; after all there is a lot worse things that are floating around on Facebook than "They are already here, kill them on sight."

A friend of ours had posted a picture of the spotted lanterfly, which is an invasive species. The department of agriculture here in Pennsylvania has requested that you kill them on sight.   He didn't think they were in this part of the state yet and this was his first siting of one..  

The problem that I have is that lots of news stories and articles have already been written about this problem.  Slate magazine even published a bit of a humorous story about the most satisfying ways to kill this little pest.  

So given the evidence, I should not be sitting in Facebook jail right now.  I get it though, all those little bots don't understand context, they just understand that certain words are bad.  If I had used smoosh, step on, exterminate or 1001 other words, I would have been fine.

The limits of technology are easy to understand.  A line of code is searching day and night over billions if not trillions of other lines of code for "hate speech" or "violent speech."  I just happened to get caught up in something that was taken completely out of context because of a single word.  If a human would have reviewed it, there simply would have been no ban.  No jail time.  No issue.

Yes, I do understand that I'm making a proverbial mountain out of a mole hill.   

I understand the need for this technology, I understand the needs for community standards and yes, I even understand that this tech will only improve with time and will, one day, understand context.  It's just not today.

What bothers me is that I've seen worse than this on Facebook and other social media sites.  I do tend to post a lot on political and news driven sites.  Yes, I am a proud "lefty" but I also have no issue calling out bullshit on my side too.  I consider myself to be "anti stupidity."  So, if your stupid, I'll call you out on it.

Sadly, I've seen and dealt with people and posts that are clearly hate filled or downright racist.  They have learned that it's all in how you word something; it's allowed them to escape the little Dalaks guarding the web.  I've even reported a few...only to see them still posting garbage.

OK, rant over.  I just need to vend and I thank you for letting me do so.  We now return you to your regularly scheduled program.  




Labels:
Location: Stoneboro, PA 16153, USA

Comments

Post a Comment

What all the cool kids are reading.

Maybe we need to rethink invasive species???

Hi. As the writer of the post and feel that I need to clarify something. I do not advocate the planting of invasive species. The point that I'm trying to make, and clearly didn't, is that perhaps we should be thinking about an invasive species in a different light. Apples, figs and other crops are clearly non native to America and Europe but are widely cultivated because they have use to humans as a food source, animal feed, etc. Kudzu is an edible plant and although it is clearly harmful can it be used someway by humans? It's a food source, it's been used as a cloth and is showing some use as a building material. All I'm trying to do is to create discussion on how we can use invasive plants in new ways.   It's mid April here in Western Pennsylvania and so far it's been warm and wet.  The buzz of lawnmowers fill the air as I gallivant through my back yard collecting dandelions to make some tea and bread with them.  I had always known that they w...
1 comment
Read more

Honoring the past - Thinking more about "invasive" plant species.

 Recently I've been giving some thought to invasive species.  I had received both positive and negative feedback on the blog post concerning kudzu and recently I came across a very well hidden, and very small, wild cherry tree while doing some yard work.  Since it's against the house it would have to be removed since the root systems could damage my foundation.   A buddy of mine at work was asking if I was going to transfer it, his logic being that it was a fruiting tree that would not only attract a variety of pollinator's but that the deer would eat the bark and cherries, keeping them away from the garden (which Sue and I swore we were not going to do this year).  It occurred to me that I was going to have to do a slightly better job of identification, since black cherries are native to America , where as other types of cherries are not.  Being able to make a precise identification would be helpful.   I used to be able to identify all these tre...
Post a Comment
Read more

Random Parts and Pieces - Let's pretend we're dead

 Before my mother passed back in October of 2020, she and my dad has basically consolidated their lives to a small 2 room apartment building.   In the brutal logic that both my mom and dad practiced it made sense.   Less to maintain as they grew older meant less to worry about. Their sons were married and had moved away from home a long time ago. They didn't need much or wanted much.  They lived simple lives and would rather spend their days on things they enjoyed like watching a family of deer romp in a field that their balcony overlooked.  Going out to dinner and spending time with loved ones and family. When she passed unexpectedly and Gary, my brother, and I cleaned out the apartment, we were still amazed by the junk they had accumulated.   Somehow, we managed to get through the days.  When my dad passed , it was a little easier to not only deal with his passing, but to clean what he had left in his bedroom. The original paint and d...
2 comments
Read more