Originally Posted by
Tiramen
SSG explain yourselves!
Their filter has been messed up for years, and there isn't a lot of intelligence behind it. It's just a long list of terms and words not allowed.
The word "Analysis" is not allowed as a surname (for a toon called Postmortem Analysis) because it contains the letters "Anal". Now, a filter with some smart algorithm would recognize Analysis as a proper word that is OBVIOUSLY not trying to have any reference to Anal, but in Lotro's filter it is just not allowed. Obviously it would also become a logistical nightmare to manually manage the filter to have exceptions, so it is what it is.
As for reasons why the filter would not allow certain names:
1) The name is on a list of existing NPC's somewhere, first name or surname.
2) The name is on a list of known Tolkien names that may or may not be used in the future and as such is reserved.
3) The name is on a list of existing items, past items that can no longer be gotten but some folks may still own, or on a list of names for future use.
4) The name contains a sequence of letters that might be considered vulgar - see the "Anal" example above.
5) The name contains a reference to a copyrighted name - could be any business, any media franchise, etc. So no "Albus Dumbledore", no "Luke Skywalker" and no "Thor". - but of course that ALSO means no "Dinalbus" as a name because it contains "Albus" or "Johnluke" because it contains "Luke".
6) For the above reasons you also have to take into account that besides English, French and German are officially supported languages, so all NPC names in French and German would also be on a list, as well as letter sequences in those languages that could mean something vulgar. So if the filter says something is vulgar, and you are thinking: "How on earth is this name vulgar?" - it could just be that a PART of the name you chose IS something vulgar in French or German, and was added to the filter at some point....
It should also be noted that people that were able to claim certain names BEFORE they were added to the filtered are allowed to keep them, unless they are reported. For instance, I once created a Dwarf Runekeeper called "Dumbledorff" - because why not! - I then at some time decided to delete that character and create a new one, but now the name "Dumbledorff" was no longer accepted and I had to think of something else. They probably added the term "Dorf" to the filter.
So if you see someone running around with a name that is obviously in some violation of the naming filter NOW, don't go whining that "why is he allowed that name, and I am not allowed a similar name?" - well, he is technically not allowed to use that name either anymore and he would run into the same issue I ran into. His name was just grandfathered in because he was able to claim it before it a letter sequence in it was added to the filter. You could report him out of spite, but I don't think that is nice and I would certainly not do that. If the name is innocent looking, does not offend anyone, let it be.....
Moved from Riddermark to Arkenstone on 9/29/2015!
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Disclaimer: The definition of "Soon™" and "In The Near Future™" is based solely on SSG's interpretation of the words, and all similarities with dictionary definitions of the word "Soon™", "Near", and "Future" are purely coincidental and should not be interpreted as a time frame that will come to pass within a reasonable amount of time.