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Yahoo bans Allah (and hence Callahan)

An amusing little story of how a Mr Kallahar could not get a Yahoo email account and discovered that any word containing "allah" is banned. However you can quite happily have email handles containing "god", "pediphile" and a long list of other possibilities.

As the guy says "why are they banning allah but allowing god, jesus, and mohammad? I wonder who makes these sorts of decisions, are they made by someone at the bottom of Yahoo, or are they made at the top and sent down for action. Either way Yahoo seem reluctant to answer. "Yahoo! UK were unable to respond by press time."

- Y! MyWeb

It's actually

"pedophile"... not sure I really wanted to chime in on that correction though.

By nuevojefe at Feb 20 2006 - 21:46

Nuevojefe..

..I defer to your greater knowledge in these matters.

By cornwall at Feb 20 2006 - 21:51

--

Along those lines, many years ago, when Yahoo was just a baby, I was trying to set up a user ID there. The usual user name I liked to use at the time was already taken. So I tried it with a 1 at the end of it. No luck. Tried a 123. Still no luck. Tried a few other things. No luck. Finally I put in a 666 at the end. And of course...it worked.

I ended up keeping it, and it's actually kinda cool now when I play Yahoo games and use the little devil avatar. :D

(Don't think I ever tried allah in my ID.)

By Jill at Feb 20 2006 - 23:54

Foot lover?

Pedi is Latin for foot, as in pedicure, so if pedifile were an actual word it would be a footlicking sycophant.

By IncrediBILL at Feb 21 2006 - 00:10

Or a

foot fetishist...

By DigitalGhost at Feb 21 2006 - 00:18

actually..

Quote:
Pedi is Latin for foot, as in pedicure, so

Actually 'pes' (gen. pedis) is latin for foot. 'ped' meaning 'child', as in pediatrician comes from the greek 'pais' (gen. paidos).

Now, 'ped' can be a root for either. Meaning child, or foot.

Words crack me up.

By Shoda at Feb 21 2006 - 17:26

The real sickos

...like children's feet. :o

By Jill at Feb 21 2006 - 18:02

..I defer to your greater

..I defer to your greater knowledge in these matters.

Appreciated Cornwall. Next time consult with me before posting.

By nuevojefe at Feb 21 2006 - 19:03

Yahoo unbans ".allah.."

Interesting example of the power of virol

The Register reports they have had an email from Yahoo

Quote:
"'Allah' was one word being used for these purposes, with instances tied to defamatory language. We took steps to help protect our users by prohibiting use of the term in Yahoo! usernames. We recently re-evaluated the term 'Allah' and users can now register for IDs with this word because it is no longer a significant target for abuse. We regularly evaluate this type of activity and will continue to make adjustments to our registration process to help foster a positive customer experience."

By cornwall at Feb 22 2006 - 19:08

People

People get worked up about the strangest stuff. Life is too short. But I'll sleep better knowing someone can chat with allahrul3Z as a nick.

By DigitalGhost at Feb 22 2006 - 19:29

abuse

...because it is no longer a significant target for abuse.

Huh? I'm thinking that nowadays - more than ever - the risk for abusing the word 'Allah' is at it's greatest. Where has the excuse department been hiding?

By Nebraska at Feb 22 2006 - 19:30