New Project To End Stupidity Online

mrneutron2003 writes to tell us that StupidFilter, a new Open Source project started by Gabriel Ortiz and Paul Starr, plans to provide an intellectual prophylactic for memetically transmitted diseases. "Too long have we suffered in silence under the tyranny of idiocy. In the beginning, the internet was a place where one could communicate intelligently with similarly erudite people. Then, Eternal September hit and we were lost in the noise. The advent of user-driven web content has compounded the matter yet further, straining our tolerance to the breaking point. It's time to fight back."

oh shit ...

[thrillseeker (518224)]

... no wonder it's so quiet here.

Hmmm.

[fyngyrz (762201)]

Perhaps slashdot should implement a requirement for writing a cogent, unique paragraph before it allows a user to have mod points. Then, if they also change the moderation to be accountable (no longer anonymous, and no longer scarce -- see Kuro5in.org for moderation technology that actually works), it might have a chance at being useful in the sense that one could actually use it to filter messages, instead of being relegated to endlessly observe people use mod points in place of actually expressing a counter opinion.

Then again, slashdot could continue on with completely broken moderation. I could see that as a possibility, given the existing sample set.

Re:Hmmm.

[Watson Ladd (955755)]

I personally think that the slashdot moderations system works quite well. It avoids mod wars, and in my experience has generally promoted comments that deserve to be promoted and buried those that deserve to be burried, no matter what opinions they express. The fact that slashdot conversations are more lively then kuro5hin is worth the slightly less effective moderation system in my opinion.

I don't buy it.

[Valdrax (32670)]

see Kuro5in.org for moderation technology that actually works

Or one that promotes cliques. Accountability in moderation produces the same abuses it does in voting -- ganging up on people who see things differently from you. Unless something at Kuro5hin has radically changed in the past 2-3 years, count me as not impressed.

Anonymous moderation is subject to its own sets of abuses, but "accountable" moderation is no panacea.

kuro5hin.org is no solution

[kwerle (39371)]

I bailed on kuro5hin.org a couple of years ago. Basically, it had become popular enough and let people vote on enough things (what got published to what pages, etc), that it seemed that the teaming masses of idiots were running the place. And basically they were.

As much as some of the editors here are idiots. As much as they fail to edit. As much as they abuse their editorship (quips in the article, changing article text), they are also answerable to someone. And I think that's probably a good and important thing.

And as much as the mod system here at /. may suck, mostly the crap sinks to the bottom, and good responses float to the top. Especially if you change your modifiers so that responses marked mostly "Funny" are given -2 in your personal filter.

Re:

[ShieldW0lf (601553)]

This is how you get modded up AND bypass the idiot filter.

"I totally agree with you. Your points are both intelligent and compelling, and I think everyone ought to look at things the way you do. Anyone who disagrees is an idiot, and it's not even worth the time to expose yourself to anything they say."

Re:Hmmm.

[toadlife (301863)]

I totally agree with you. Your points are both intelligent and compelling, and I think everyone ought to look at things the way you do. Anyone who disagrees is an idiot, and it's not even worth the time to expose yourself to anything they say.

Re:oh shit ...

[alexhs (877055)]

If we were to exclude the fools, at the end of the day, one would end up all alone, like a fool!

S'il fallait excepter les imbéciles, à la fin du compte, on se retrouverait tout seul, comme un imbécile !

-- Raymond Devos

No, all you need is statistical grouping

[Colin Smith (2679)]

For example Collaborative Filtering.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collaborative_filtering [wikipedia.org]

A simple thumbs up or thumbs down for any particular link would be all that's needed to move the user further away from one statistical grouping and closer to another. Then everyone will be in a group of similarly intelligent people. Each page and each link on a page could be given and display for example, a likely percentage match [wikipedia.org] (12%) with your preferences [goatse.cz] (89%).

It would require a shit load of servers to run the backend and a preference bar which can integrate with the browser. However, with billions of people in the world it's highly unlikely that any individual would end up in a grouping of 1.

Recursive stupidity

[syousef (465911)]

1. This project is online
2. It's aim is to end stupidity online
3. But ending stupidity online would require the removal of this project.
4. Repeat, Recurse And Profit!!!

My brain hurts.

Re:You misunderstand.

[Kelson (129150)]

They call it a "stupid filter," but everyone else calls it an off switch.

And it didn't even make the top 10 list [slashdot.org]!

A recursion problem?

[mollog (841386)]

Yup. I thought that there might be a problem with trying to implement stupidity filters. I thought that if it actually worked at all, its first victim would be the stupidity filter itself.

'We have met the enemy...'

Re:

[Noexit (107629)]

No. Its' just u.

My favorite bit

[Kelson (129150)]

From the project FAQ:

Isn't filtering stupidity elitist?
Yes. Yes, it is. That's sort of the whole point.

It brings up an interesting question, though. On my blog, I have two layers of filtering against spam, and I'll delete any spam that gets through. I'll also delete the insults and obvious trolls. But sometimes I'll leave the dumb comments intact. I don't know if it's pity, or the kind of amusement one gets out of, say, lolcats, or what.

Re:My favorite bit

[LWATCDR (28044)]

Bigger problem is who decides what is stupid?
All too often on Slashdot people actually believe that "Smart==Thinks like me" and "Stupid==Doesn't think like me"

What is stupid?

[Kelson (129150)]

Bigger problem is who decides what is stupid?

In the case of this particular project, it's more about the manner of expression rather than the ideas expressed. A short comment consisting of OMGs, LOL's and emoticions, with "ur k3wl i lik ur site" would trip the filter, but (to quote the page again) it "will cheerfully approve an eloquent, properly-capitalized defense of mandatory, state-subsidized rocket-launcher ownership for all schoolchildren."

In theory, if the filter is trained properly, it should also be able to distinguish between non-native speakers who have only a smattering of English (or another target language) and those who write in 1337-5p3@k and SMS-style abbreviations. But that requires the people training it to make that distinction.

Re:

[ktappe (747125)]

All too often on Slashdot people actually believe that "Smart==Thinks like me" and "Stupid==Doesn't think like me"

That's definitely not confined to /. Consider the number of Republicans who continue to call Bill Clinton "stupid" when he's demonstrably not, having been awarded the Rhodes Scholarship. (And before you mod me "flamebait", yes, there are examples going the other way too.) It's simply the tendency of the human brain to think all our beliefs are obvious so anyone disagreeing with us is missi

Re:

[LWATCDR (28044)]

Here is a good example of what I consider stupid. Thinking that ones political opinion is fact. I am sick of both parties and all the "independents" as well. I have heard that people claim that Clinton was immoral, but I have never heard anyone say he was stupid. The real truth is it is very unlikely that you can be "stupid" and be elected president. Those that call Bush stupid are just as wrong. Stupid people can not fly a jet fighter which he did or graduate from Yale which he did. You may not like Bush

Re:My favorite bit - Bush is definitely not stupid

[sien (35268)]

There is a myth around that Bush is stupid. It's untrue and allows him to get away with pretending to be a regular joe.

To verify this:

First, the rumours passed around from urban legends [about.com].

Now his SAT scores from CNN [cnn.com] were 566 verbal and 640 math.

And from here we have a setup of pre-1974 SAT scores against IQ [members.shaw.ca].

His score of 1206 combined sets him up with an IQ of about 130.

Now, from the IQ we can look at a distrubution of IQ versus percentage of people with such an IQ [members.shaw.ca] to see where a 130 IQ puts you, a

Re:

[Smauler (915644)]

One of the reasons people call Bush stupid is his complete and total lack of eloquence. Like it or not, people often associate intelligence with ability to form coherent sentences most of the time. I'm not sure how intelligent Bush really is, partially because he never proves his intelligence with decent argument or debate. Others do.

Re:

[MrNiceguy_KS (800771)]

When it comes to dealing with stupidity, I prefer using the second amendment.

And when stupid people exercise the Second Amendment... well, that problem tends to take care of itself.

Oblig ISR...

[thegnu (557446)]

n savyet rusha, a chezbergur can has a lolcats!

Evil Dr. Noone

[xPsi (851544)]

From TFA: The net has vastly broadened the level of discourse in the world, noone can deny this.

What I want to know is who this evil Dr. Noone is and why she is allowed to deny things we mere mortals cannot.

For the uninitiated..

[Brian Gordon (987471)]

You AOL whores [wikipedia.org]

Poof

[greg1104 (461138)]

StupidFilter promises to leverage techniques such as Beyesian filtering

And with that mistake, I'm now filtering out FastSilicon.

Re: Awesome thread to ask a (stupid?) question!

[TaoPhoenix (980487)]

In a Moebius strip kind of way, this is on topic.

Why is there a big rectangle around parent's post? I don't recall that feature more than a month ago and I can't begin to figure out what FAQ it is under.

Never as now...

[RyanFenton (230700)]

Never as now, has the phrase, "Nothing to see here. Move along" been more appropriate.

Ryan Fenton

This was funny

[nunyadambinness (1181813)]

"the internet was a place where one could communicate intelligently with similarly erudite people"

First, BWAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

Second, it's not 1978 anymore.

From Portman et al

[explosivejared (1186049)]

This just in: Natalie Portman, on behalf of the Hot Grits Council of America and in conjunction with the Reversalmasters of Soviet Russia, has released a statement crying out to end this First Postian genocide. "They are comments just like all the rest. Just because they were born in the mind of a less intelligent person does take away their inalienable rights of commentality."

how it works

[Lord Ender (156273)]

So, basically, this is going to compare every post against 4chan, and if it finds a match, delete it.

Great idea.

tits or GTFO.

I for one...

[bonkeydcow (1186443)]

I for one welcome ..[FILTERED]..

ITS OBVIOUS .....

[3seas (184403)]

They are going to unplug the internet.

It should involve gradiated access

[smellsofbikes (890263)]

Imagine an outbound firewall that poses a series of questions to anyone who tries to use it.
If you can't solve a grammar problem that requires you to know the difference between "their", "there", and "they're" you don't get to use email.
If you can't choose the correct definitions from multiple choices for "intellectual property", "piracy", "flame", and "rtfm" you don't get to use the web.
If you can't solve a quadratic equation, your computer is set to inbound traffic only.

Problem solved.

I forgot the most important bit.

[smellsofbikes (890263)]

To one side of the 'getting online safely test' are a bunch of random Google ads. One is for a "See Natalie Portman Naked! Click here! (requires installation of viewer software)" link.
We'll be nice and give them the benefit of the doubt -- they have to click on both that *and* the subsequent screen, that says, "install natalie.exe? Y/N" and only then does the shaped charge in the keyboard go off and blow off both their hands.

Re:

[Idarubicin (579475)]

It should involve gradiated access

Would now be a good time to point out that 'gradiated' isn't a word? (Perhaps you meant 'graduated'....)

Re:

[smellsofbikes (890263)]

Actually, I meant "sorted according to a gradient [wikipedia.org]".
Graduated would work, but would imply that once passed, the test would not have to be taken again, which would allow for cheaters and nogoodniks. I think they -- well, we -- should have to take the test every time.

Taste the irony

[hurfy (735314)]

The server at www.fastsilicon.com is taking too long to respond.

Apparently not as fast as someone thought it was :(
Ok who is the wiseguy that is actually reading the article.

Nice, but...

[Godman (767682)]

... too bad it'll never be able to detect irony. As a sarcastic person, I rely on savage mockery to let my hatred of idiocy show.

OMG U CN'T BLOCK M3!!!!!!!1111 I R SMARTER THAN U GHEYFAGS

first godwin

[Lord Ender (156273)]

First they came for the cliches, but I didn't speak up because I wasn't a cliche. Then they came for the memes...

Good luck to them

[tulmad (25666)]

I hope they are very successful in their efforts. That's certainly a project I'll gladly contribute to.

Slashdotted

[exley (221867)]

Looks like they managed to filter themselves...

In other news . . .

[UnknowingFool (672806)]

Dvorak seen in New York City just outside Wall Street shoeless and holding a sign: "Will make wild, unsupported predictions for food."

It's a great deal, too!

[Dachannien (617929)]

Not only does the stupidity filter help you rise to a higher echelon of intelligence, but it'll save you money, too! Your ISP will be happy to install the stupidity filter on your connection, and it's easy to sign up. Simply stop paying your Internet service bill, and your ISP will add the stupidity filter to your connection in no time! (Allow four to six weeks for delivery.)

Flashback to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

[Crypto Gnome (651401)]

The existence of an Online Stupid Filter (as opposed to a stupid online filter, which would be an entirely different thing, perhaps) bears an amazingly (coincidence, I think NOT) strong resemblance to the "Proof That God Doesn't Exist" from Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy.

"I refuse to prove that I exist," says God, "for proof denies faith, and without faith I am nothing."

"But," says Man, "the Babel fish is a dead giveaway isn't it? It could not have evolved by chance. It proves that you exist, and so therefore, by your own arguments, you don't. Q.E.D."

"Oh dear," says God, "I hadn't thought of that," and promptly vanishes in a puff of logic.

(Oh dear, I wonder if any proponents of Intelligent Design have ever read Hitchhikers?)

If there were such a thing as an Online Stupid Filter, it would have filtered itself out of existence.

Due to many/most of its pages being references to suchlike aforementioned stupidity. A blue-light filter works by absorbing blue-light, a coffee-filter works by absorbing coffee (well, the grounds, at least) - any guess what a Stupid Filter absorbs?

Due to the vast majority of The Internet being not much more than stupidity, and in much the same way as a Black Hole will absorb all light and therefore be essentially invisible (we have never *found* a black hole, just a whole bunch of conditions which theory predicts would be "caused by black holes").

Seriously folks, The Stupidity Filter obviously doesn't work - the proof is in most comments on this page (present company excepted, naturally).

Hey, that's my project.

[7Ghent (115876)]

And you didn't link the actual website in the post. It's http://stupidfilter.org [stupidfilter.org]
Go ahead, slashdot me. I dare ya.

Re:Hey, that's my project.

[Soko (17987)]

Sorry guys, slashdot + mysql = tears. Randomized stupidity temporarily disabled until the load lightens up a touch.

Now, for the Irony filter...

Soko

It will never work

[MrKaos (858439)]

Stupid people are so ingenious.

Skipping the blogodreck, here's the real info

[Animats (122034)]

Skip the ad-laden overloaded blogodreck site and go directly to StupidFilter. [stupidfilter.org] The concept is straightforward - they're training a naive Bayesian classifier, like a spam filter, on a set of text excerpts rated by humans. You can look at random samples from the training set [stupidfilter.org] for amusement.

Wikipedia already has some 'bots that do somewhat similar things, looking for totally bogus edits and reverting them. Yahoo's "commercial intent" filter also does something like that, to separate commercial and non-commercial sites. We considered something like that for SiteTruth [sitetruth.com], where we need to distinguish non-commercial sites so we don't rate them by business criteria.

This approach to filtering will probably need domain-dependent filters. A political site, a social site, a sports site, and a game site all need different training sets. I'd go for a two-stage classifier, one that divided sites into about ten to twenty major categories, and then a stupidity filter trained for each of those categories.

Applying such a filter at blog posting time should be interesting.

And the characters in these books, and plays, and so on, and in real life, I might add, spend hours bemoaning the fact that they can't communicate. I feel that if a person can't communicate the very least he can do is to shut up. - Tom Lehrer.

Re:How can they claim to fight stupidity

[NDPTAL85 (260093)]

So who gets to decide whats funny or not? You? Or me? Lots of people find "MOAR" to be funny. Suddenly their opinions are worthless because you don't? Isn't thinking like that whats really stupid?

Re:Nooo

[morgan_greywolf (835522)]

I for one, welcome our stupid filt.......

[This post censored by StupidFilter v0.1 - Topic: Slashdot Memes.]