Filthy Phoenix

Today a colleague tried to send a copy of the Phoenix pdf out through the company email gateway. He was horrified to get this message:

(the email) ...was identified by our content filtering processes as
containing language inappropriate for business-like communication. It is
possible that the recipient(s) may not have received it if they run
similar filtering processes... A copy of this email has been redirected to an administration queue which is randomly scanned for inappropriate mail and objectionable material ... disciplinary action may be taken.

Then at the end was a list of the offending words:

List:Reputation Protection Badwords
Found the expression "slut" 1 times, at 3 points each, for an expression score of 3 points
Found the expression "porn*" 1 times, at 2 points each, for an expression score of 2 points.
Found the expression "gay" 1 times, at 2 points each, for an expression score of 2 points.
Found the expression "naked" 1 times, at 1 points each, for an expression score of 1 points.
Found the expression "kinky" 1 times, at 2 points each, for an expression score of 2 points.
Found the expression "homo" 1 times, at 3 points each, for an expression score of 3 points.
Found the expression "sex" 4 times, at 2 points each, for an expression score of 8 points.
Found the expression "sucks" 1 times, at 1 points each, for an expression score of 1 points.
Found the expression "stuffed" 1 times, at 1 points each, for an expression score of 1 points.

================================
Total Message Score: 23 points.

BINGO!


I had a look through the zine for the offending words. To my mind, all of them were in a context which rendered them completely inoffensive. At the very worst they might be considered slightly risque. But when these 'badwords' are jammed together in a list it makes them look much worse than they really are.

We've got no plans to censor Phoenix. It is an adult magazine - in the sense that all our members are old enough to vote, heh. So be aware, in this increasingly filtered world, if we send a pdf version of the zine to your work email address, it's possible you might never see it. Shame, eh.