Is Corona Labs Homophobic?

General (non-technical) Off-Topic
#1

I joined recently hoping to make an app focusing on gay rights, with a broader LGBT theme.

I posted my introduction thread and was stunned to find that not only was the word gay censored but NOT  lesbian, bisexual or transgendered.

My thread is here http://forums.coronalabs.com/topic/32871-kind-of-new-and-looking-to-make-a-rights-app/

When I say gay was censored I thought perhaps this was just some nutty right wing censorship gone mad company, but when I saw that other words, including lesbian, were not, I started to think the issue is one of only homophobia against gay men.

After repeatedly asking for an explanation I was given none and would like to say that even if this is some mistake on your part it is disgraceful to ignore a potential customer asking you why you would do that.

This has been very frustrating as I do not want to use software that the staff cant even tell me why they only censor the word gay as though it was obscene but not lesbian or others.

Your blog says your company has 20 employees, if that is true then statistically at least one of you is gay, so even if no one else wants to answer maybe that person could sympathise with how upsetting this is and please help me?

#2

Hello @johnphilip1974,

With all due respect, it doesn’t help to make accusations like “nutty right wing censorship gone mad”, nor to post several times in a few minutes with increasing frustration that you haven’t received an immediate answer. I can check into the specific auto-censorship of certain words on this forum, but rest assured, we don’t censor certain words as a “joke” or with some agenda to upset users.

You’re welcome in the community here, but please show a little respect to others if you expect the same in return. This includes keeping a civil tone and being patient.

Sincerely,

Brent Sorrentino

#3

I see that “all due respect” means “none”.

Firstly, I have waited almost four days for an answer in a forum with only 7 posts before calling attention to this, despite the fact it is incredibly offensive and upsetting.

Secondly, you are mistaken. I said very clearly that at first I though it was some ludicrous right wing censorship gone mad problem, however I realised it was not when I noticed that only gay men are discriminated against and not those who identify as lesbian or bisexual.

 

You talk about my not respecting others, but I have not said anything disrespectful to the members of this community. For that matter, who are you to tell me that I am welcome in this community? This reads as though you would like to keep me out if I question your homophobic policies.

I find your answer disrespectful and your attitude deplorable.

#4

johnphilip1974, the forum software we use has a built in list of words/phrases that it censors–primarily to stop people from being abusive. I don’t think their intent was to censor the word gay, but to prevent it from being used in a derogatory fashion. Either way, I deleted it from the list of censored words, and I’m sorry if it made it appear like we were censoring you in any way–I doubt Brent even knew the system did that. As a rule, I think we only censor posts where you say bad things about us, or good things about our competitors (just kidding).

-Scott.

#5

Sheesh JohnPhilip1974 - stop being so paranoid. I don’t know if you yourself are gay or not, but if you are, surely you know that when people have a problem with (and/or discriminate) gay men, they usually also have a problem with lesbian, transgenders and transsexuals. So I think it’s fair to assume that if these last three words are not censored, but the word “gay” is, it’s most likely not out of discrimination - in fact, my first thought on reading your post was: oh, good, they’ve tried to make sure noone uses the word “gay” as a derogatory term on this forum.

Regarding Corona staff not replying to your post within 4 days: really, as a “potential customer”, meaning that you haven’t even paid for the sofrware, can’t you imagine that there are plenty of paying customers who deserve to get preferential treatment (once again, as paying customers), and that having to wait a couple of days is not that bad?

Oh well, it seems as if you automatically interpret every “slight wrongdoing” (in your mind) as an anti-gay, totally respectless, morally deplorable feat. As a Corona customer, I DO find you disrespectful towards me. This forum is not a place to publicly spew personally motivated political or social opinions. If you have questions about the software, feel free to ask and I’ll happily chip in with some advice. Otherwise, conduct your own business in a private manner.

#6

John, allow me to clear the air.

I understand my message above may have sounded abrasive. By no means was I intending to insult you in any way. This has clearly made you upset, and I’m sincerely sorry about that.

I assure you that neither Corona Labs nor I have any intentions of censoring or any discriminatory intent towards your community.

My apologies,

Brent

#7

JohnPhilip1974 - relax a little! The majority of forum software comes with lists of words to block. I suspect Corona wasn’t even aware of all the words in the list they’re normally so long. It’s certainly not a homophobic action by Corona. See here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordfilter

#8

Yeah, it can get pretty strange in the forum software building world, which CoronaLabs is not in, of course- they have just implemented this on their site.

I once worked on a caravan/motorhome site which had a forum where the blacklist (technical term) included “Keith chegwin”. Go figure.

#9

The new forum software has plenty of new features to us including a bad word filter.  Scott can say for sure, but I’m guessing we started with their default list.  Unfortunately in the forum world, there is a lot of hate and the word gay is too frequently used in hate speech, so I can understand why it was in the default list.  In our case, our forums rarely go into the type of speech you might find on a news blog or political forum, so if you the community find words that are being censored that probably shouldn’t be, just email:

     support AT coronalabs DOT com

and ask that the word be removed and a brief justification as to why and we will evaluate it on a case by case basis and look to remove words that are interfering with communications here. 

#10

Hi what is a homophobic I know what a homophone is where the words sound the same but are different words and rob can you please help me with my sound problem because I still have sound problems where corona wont play sounds at all?

#11

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=define%3Ahomophobic

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=define%3Ahomosexual

You need to post in your original thread. This isn’t about sounds. :slight_smile:

#12

Since this has been resolved, and to keep things moving on, we are closing comments on this thread.   As mentioned above if you find other words that should not be blocked contact us off line.

#13

Hello @johnphilip1974,

With all due respect, it doesn’t help to make accusations like “nutty right wing censorship gone mad”, nor to post several times in a few minutes with increasing frustration that you haven’t received an immediate answer. I can check into the specific auto-censorship of certain words on this forum, but rest assured, we don’t censor certain words as a “joke” or with some agenda to upset users.

You’re welcome in the community here, but please show a little respect to others if you expect the same in return. This includes keeping a civil tone and being patient.

Sincerely,

Brent Sorrentino

#14

I see that “all due respect” means “none”.

Firstly, I have waited almost four days for an answer in a forum with only 7 posts before calling attention to this, despite the fact it is incredibly offensive and upsetting.

Secondly, you are mistaken. I said very clearly that at first I though it was some ludicrous right wing censorship gone mad problem, however I realised it was not when I noticed that only gay men are discriminated against and not those who identify as lesbian or bisexual.

 

You talk about my not respecting others, but I have not said anything disrespectful to the members of this community. For that matter, who are you to tell me that I am welcome in this community? This reads as though you would like to keep me out if I question your homophobic policies.

I find your answer disrespectful and your attitude deplorable.

#15

johnphilip1974, the forum software we use has a built in list of words/phrases that it censors–primarily to stop people from being abusive. I don’t think their intent was to censor the word gay, but to prevent it from being used in a derogatory fashion. Either way, I deleted it from the list of censored words, and I’m sorry if it made it appear like we were censoring you in any way–I doubt Brent even knew the system did that. As a rule, I think we only censor posts where you say bad things about us, or good things about our competitors (just kidding).

-Scott.

#16

Sheesh JohnPhilip1974 - stop being so paranoid. I don’t know if you yourself are gay or not, but if you are, surely you know that when people have a problem with (and/or discriminate) gay men, they usually also have a problem with lesbian, transgenders and transsexuals. So I think it’s fair to assume that if these last three words are not censored, but the word “gay” is, it’s most likely not out of discrimination - in fact, my first thought on reading your post was: oh, good, they’ve tried to make sure noone uses the word “gay” as a derogatory term on this forum.

Regarding Corona staff not replying to your post within 4 days: really, as a “potential customer”, meaning that you haven’t even paid for the sofrware, can’t you imagine that there are plenty of paying customers who deserve to get preferential treatment (once again, as paying customers), and that having to wait a couple of days is not that bad?

Oh well, it seems as if you automatically interpret every “slight wrongdoing” (in your mind) as an anti-gay, totally respectless, morally deplorable feat. As a Corona customer, I DO find you disrespectful towards me. This forum is not a place to publicly spew personally motivated political or social opinions. If you have questions about the software, feel free to ask and I’ll happily chip in with some advice. Otherwise, conduct your own business in a private manner.

#17

John, allow me to clear the air.

I understand my message above may have sounded abrasive. By no means was I intending to insult you in any way. This has clearly made you upset, and I’m sincerely sorry about that.

I assure you that neither Corona Labs nor I have any intentions of censoring or any discriminatory intent towards your community.

My apologies,

Brent

#18

JohnPhilip1974 - relax a little! The majority of forum software comes with lists of words to block. I suspect Corona wasn’t even aware of all the words in the list they’re normally so long. It’s certainly not a homophobic action by Corona. See here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordfilter

#19

Yeah, it can get pretty strange in the forum software building world, which CoronaLabs is not in, of course- they have just implemented this on their site.

I once worked on a caravan/motorhome site which had a forum where the blacklist (technical term) included “Keith chegwin”. Go figure.

#20

The new forum software has plenty of new features to us including a bad word filter.  Scott can say for sure, but I’m guessing we started with their default list.  Unfortunately in the forum world, there is a lot of hate and the word gay is too frequently used in hate speech, so I can understand why it was in the default list.  In our case, our forums rarely go into the type of speech you might find on a news blog or political forum, so if you the community find words that are being censored that probably shouldn’t be, just email:

     support AT coronalabs DOT com

and ask that the word be removed and a brief justification as to why and we will evaluate it on a case by case basis and look to remove words that are interfering with communications here.