Sorry, Elvis's birthplace!
March 15, 2021 1:05 PM Subscribe
(looks to the left) (looks to the right) (takes a deep breath)
"MEMPHIS!"🚫🚫🚫BANNED BY TWITTER🚫🚫🚫
Gizmodo, The Guardian, The Independent, Engadget, WREG out of... you know, that town.
"MEMPHIS!"🚫🚫🚫BANNED BY TWITTER🚫🚫🚫
Gizmodo, The Guardian, The Independent, Engadget, WREG out of... you know, that town.
But Elvis was born in Tupelo..? Or is this a joke I don't get? (That happens regularly.)
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:12 PM on March 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by Capt. Renault at 1:12 PM on March 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
We all knew they had a functioning blacklist of naughty words. If they didn't, they couldn't do business in Germany, and it would probably be dicey with the rest of the EU.
But actually seeing live enforcement of content moderation ad absurdum, while the MAGA nazis keep merrily chugging along and openly organizing insurrections... well, it does rankle a bit.
posted by Mayor West at 1:14 PM on March 15, 2021 [13 favorites]
But actually seeing live enforcement of content moderation ad absurdum, while the MAGA nazis keep merrily chugging along and openly organizing insurrections... well, it does rankle a bit.
posted by Mayor West at 1:14 PM on March 15, 2021 [13 favorites]
This is not a bug: they're testing new social engineering methods.
Can't explain in full here.
posted by signal at 1:14 PM on March 15, 2021
Can't explain in full here.
posted by signal at 1:14 PM on March 15, 2021
I probably got the Elvis's birthplace joke wrong Capt. Renault. Sorry 'bout that.
posted by JHarris at 1:15 PM on March 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by JHarris at 1:15 PM on March 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
Well, I’m walkin’ in Blemphis…
posted by Going To Maine at 1:22 PM on March 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by Going To Maine at 1:22 PM on March 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
And here I was, thinking 1980s Italian design was ready for a big comeback.
posted by gimonca at 1:29 PM on March 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by gimonca at 1:29 PM on March 15, 2021 [5 favorites]
"[The award for] The Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Memphis" in a Serious Screenplay. It's very prestigious."With apologies to the late Douglas Adams.
"The most gratuitous use of which word?" asked Arthur, with a determined attempt to keep his brain in neutral.
"Memphis," said the girl, "I hardly like to say it."
"Memphis?" exclaimed Arthur.
...
"Are we talking," said Arthur, "about the city in Tennessee, with Elvis and the pyramid?"
"What?" said the girl.
"Memphis," said Arthur.
...
"Have you ever been to Memphis in fact?" he asked brightly and she nearly hit him.
"I think," she said, restraining herself, "that you should restrict that sort of remark to something artistic."
"You sound as if I just said something unspeakably rude."
"You did."
posted by jedicus at 1:30 PM on March 15, 2021 [24 favorites]
Did I forget to mention, forget to mention Memphis? Home of Elvis and the ancient Greeks.
posted by letourneau at 1:34 PM on March 15, 2021 [12 favorites]
posted by letourneau at 1:34 PM on March 15, 2021 [12 favorites]
There's good points, some bad points.
posted by jclarkin at 1:34 PM on March 15, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by jclarkin at 1:34 PM on March 15, 2021 [7 favorites]
🎶 Long distance information, give me Memphis Tennessee / your account has been suspended, read our safety policy 🎶
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 1:50 PM on March 15, 2021 [35 favorites]
posted by Fiasco da Gama at 1:50 PM on March 15, 2021 [35 favorites]
Ha! Of course someone here beat me to Belgium.
posted by Mchelly at 2:11 PM on March 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Mchelly at 2:11 PM on March 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
Windows 98 is already out of support. You need to upgrade to Tenphis.
posted by CyberSlug Labs at 2:14 PM on March 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by CyberSlug Labs at 2:14 PM on March 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
Yeah, if you guys hadn’t already come in here with the Flyer’s “Blocking in Memphis” headline, I was going to post it.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 2:16 PM on March 15, 2021
posted by Huffy Puffy at 2:16 PM on March 15, 2021
Fiasco da Gama: For maximum tech dystopia vibes, sing that to the Silicon Teens version
posted by SansPoint at 2:25 PM on March 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by SansPoint at 2:25 PM on March 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
"Phantasia, a woman of Memphis, daughter of Nicarchus, composed before Homer a tale of the Trojan War and of the adventures of Odysseus. The books were deposited, it is said, at Memphis; Homer went there and obtained copies from Phanites, the temple scribe, and he composed under their inspiration."
The Phantasia Memorandum.
posted by clavdivs at 3:07 PM on March 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
The Phantasia Memorandum.
posted by clavdivs at 3:07 PM on March 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
We all knew they had a functioning blacklist of naughty words.Blocklist. It's blocklist and allowlist now.
posted by krisjohn at 3:33 PM on March 15, 2021 [20 favorites]
It's good that Twitter fixed the problem quickly; their appeal processes can be hit or miss. A month and a half ago, they suspended my account on occasion of a tweet someone hastily judged to be “COVID disinformation” (which was actually a reply to a thread, speculating about how Qanon conspiracy theorists would handle the death of George Soros, that contained the throwaway phrase “Covid-vaccine 5G nanochips”). It was a month before they unblocked my account, and that took contacting someone who worked there and getting them to give the support desk a nudge. I got the impression that there is no actual appeals process for non-high-profile individuals that does not involve finding some form of advocacy, as presumably that cuts down on costs, which must be high.
I did have the option of deleting the offending tweet and getting my account back, though had I done that, it would have involved conceding that Twitter is an airport security zone, where it is not acceptable to make jokes or banter that could be construed hastily to be controversial, which, given what Twitter is used for, would have defeated the purpose.
Anyway, I'm now wondering whether “Memphis” is meant to be some codeword for the latest batshit conspiracy theory and/or the location of the Illuminati lizard people's adrenochrome-harvesting tunnels or something.
posted by acb at 3:41 PM on March 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
I did have the option of deleting the offending tweet and getting my account back, though had I done that, it would have involved conceding that Twitter is an airport security zone, where it is not acceptable to make jokes or banter that could be construed hastily to be controversial, which, given what Twitter is used for, would have defeated the purpose.
Anyway, I'm now wondering whether “Memphis” is meant to be some codeword for the latest batshit conspiracy theory and/or the location of the Illuminati lizard people's adrenochrome-harvesting tunnels or something.
posted by acb at 3:41 PM on March 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
The two theories I've seen (reflected in the post tags) are:
posted by JHarris at 3:53 PM on March 15, 2021
- Twitter has a machine learning autobanner than ran amok for mysterious reasons, which seems unlikely considering that "Memphis" isn't adjacent to any controversies, although who knows, maybe 8channers have been using it as a code word for something? While less likely, this is funnier because lolrandom, and banning people via algorithm is such an obviously bad idea. IF this is true, it's damning of Twitter. I first found a tweet affected from a Twitter post by the account for 2600, the hacking magazine, so it's perhaps natural that I saw this explanation first.
- Some group is trying to dox someone, Twitter tried to implement a blanket ban on the personal information, entered it wrong, and as a result anyone mentioning the town of Memphis (presumably in the info) would just get banned. This seems more likely, and is further supported by some of the banned people being told not to spread personal information. I found this explanation on Reddit, for what it's worth.
posted by JHarris at 3:53 PM on March 15, 2021
Anyway, I'm now wondering whether “Memphis” is meant to be some codeword for the latest batshit conspiracy theory and/or the location of the Illuminati lizard people's adrenochrome-harvesting tunnels or something.
A common misconception, but it’s actually a Bass Pro Shop.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:06 PM on March 15, 2021 [10 favorites]
A common misconception, but it’s actually a Bass Pro Shop.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:06 PM on March 15, 2021 [10 favorites]
Very bad news for the residents of Smemphishorpe.
posted by pompomtom at 4:17 PM on March 15, 2021 [25 favorites]
posted by pompomtom at 4:17 PM on March 15, 2021 [25 favorites]
The risks of long distance information
posted by stevil at 4:20 PM on March 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by stevil at 4:20 PM on March 15, 2021 [2 favorites]
And here I was, thinking 1980s Italian design was ready for a big comeback.
Not if Twitter has any say in the matter!
posted by evidenceofabsence at 4:22 PM on March 15, 2021
Not if Twitter has any say in the matter!
posted by evidenceofabsence at 4:22 PM on March 15, 2021
Have you been to Memphis in June...?
Miserable. And the nightmare of getting stuck in the construction over on the Arkansas side? And WTF is up with the interstates around there?
Twice I've ended up on the wrong road heading towards God knows where.
Would visit again, they have a sweet pyramid.
posted by Windopaene at 4:32 PM on March 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
Miserable. And the nightmare of getting stuck in the construction over on the Arkansas side? And WTF is up with the interstates around there?
Twice I've ended up on the wrong road heading towards God knows where.
Would visit again, they have a sweet pyramid.
posted by Windopaene at 4:32 PM on March 15, 2021 [1 favorite]
I’ll just point back to one of my previous comments about other attempts to trash talk my city. Or prevent people from trash talking. Or censoring it out of existence. I mean, how the hell do you screw that ....whatever it was they were trying to do... up that much.
posted by grimjeer at 6:24 PM on March 15, 2021
posted by grimjeer at 6:24 PM on March 15, 2021
Have you been to Memphis in June...? Miserable. And the nightmare of getting stuck in the construction over on the Arkansas side? And WTF is up with the interstates around there?
As someone pointed out to me early in my time in Memphis (from about the mid-nineties to the early aughts), there's a reason why their month-long series of events that comprises their big annual civic celebration is known as Memphis in May. (And if you think that June is bad, try August sometime.) As for the interstates, well... at one point, I-40 was supposed to run straight across town, and a few neighborhoods were actually bought out via eminent domain and razed, preparatory to construction... and then they got to the zoo, and that was the sticking point. "Sam Cooper Boulevard" is the part that was built before they gave up.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:22 PM on March 15, 2021
As someone pointed out to me early in my time in Memphis (from about the mid-nineties to the early aughts), there's a reason why their month-long series of events that comprises their big annual civic celebration is known as Memphis in May. (And if you think that June is bad, try August sometime.) As for the interstates, well... at one point, I-40 was supposed to run straight across town, and a few neighborhoods were actually bought out via eminent domain and razed, preparatory to construction... and then they got to the zoo, and that was the sticking point. "Sam Cooper Boulevard" is the part that was built before they gave up.
posted by Halloween Jack at 7:22 PM on March 15, 2021
As for the interstates, well... at one point, I-40 was supposed to run straight across town
I-40 was supposed to go straight through the country. And it does, until you hit Memphis, thanks to the efforts of the "little old ladies in tennis shoes" 50 years ago this year. Not only would that have affected the zoo, it would have also caused quite a lot of disruption to the old growth forest that's in the middle of the city, to say the least.
It was also pretty interesting to see this "glitch" happen on the same day that there was a protest against the Byhalia Pipeline project which they're trying to push through in south Memphis.
posted by mrg at 7:40 PM on March 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
I-40 was supposed to go straight through the country. And it does, until you hit Memphis, thanks to the efforts of the "little old ladies in tennis shoes" 50 years ago this year. Not only would that have affected the zoo, it would have also caused quite a lot of disruption to the old growth forest that's in the middle of the city, to say the least.
It was also pretty interesting to see this "glitch" happen on the same day that there was a protest against the Byhalia Pipeline project which they're trying to push through in south Memphis.
posted by mrg at 7:40 PM on March 15, 2021 [4 favorites]
Memphis, a town so popular that they even named a city in Egypt after it.
posted by Carillon at 8:11 PM on March 15, 2021 [6 favorites]
posted by Carillon at 8:11 PM on March 15, 2021 [6 favorites]
I need to watch “Mystery Train” again.
posted by thivaia at 8:30 PM on March 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by thivaia at 8:30 PM on March 15, 2021 [3 favorites]
Is it that it is one key mistype and an anagram away from typing penishm??
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:52 AM on March 16, 2021
posted by Nanukthedog at 5:52 AM on March 16, 2021
Marc Cohn: Well I was walking in memphis-
Twitter: Absolutely the fuck you were not!
posted by FirstMateKate at 7:48 AM on March 16, 2021 [4 favorites]
Twitter: Absolutely the fuck you were not!
posted by FirstMateKate at 7:48 AM on March 16, 2021 [4 favorites]
Maybe they have a test blocklist on a test server and accidentally pushed it to production? Also thanks for reminding folks of black/blocklist. I am sure there are a lot of people not in IT who are not aware that the preferred name has changed due to unfortunate racial overtones of black/whitelist.
posted by freecellwizard at 8:49 AM on March 16, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by freecellwizard at 8:49 AM on March 16, 2021 [4 favorites]
A good moderation system is going to prioritize protecting people from abuse, even if it comes at the expense of a few priceless updates about what someone had for dinner.
To be less flip, it's usually possible to post important information elsewhere if someone gets wrongly banned from one particular service and a mistaken ban can be lifted, but there's no equivalent way of undoing abuse that gets through the moderation system to someone.
posted by straight at 11:12 AM on March 16, 2021
To be less flip, it's usually possible to post important information elsewhere if someone gets wrongly banned from one particular service and a mistaken ban can be lifted, but there's no equivalent way of undoing abuse that gets through the moderation system to someone.
posted by straight at 11:12 AM on March 16, 2021
".... temporarily limited due to a bug. It’s been fixed and the accounts have now been restored. We’re sorry this happened."
City folk.
posted by Twang at 1:11 PM on March 16, 2021
City folk.
posted by Twang at 1:11 PM on March 16, 2021
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posted by jquinby at 1:07 PM on March 15, 2021 [3 favorites]