Filtration Software Censored the Word Bone at a Paleontology Conference

Paleontology is the study of natural history through fossils, so the word bone comes up a lot in the field. That didn't stop the term from being censored by software at this year's Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conference, The New York Times reports.

The Society of Vertebrate Paleontology conference has been held for 80 years, and this year it was conducted virtually for the first time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The new format was largely successful, except when it came to navigating the chat software's filtration system. A built-in algorithm was programmed to censor any words that may have been inappropriate for the professional event. The software blocked out anything offensive, as well as many benign words paleontologists use every day.

T. rex expert Thomas R. Holtz Jr. first noticed the problem when he tried typing "Hell Creek Formation," the name of a fossil hotspot in Montana, while responding to a question. The program replaced the word hell with four asterisks, inspiring some paleontologists to jokingly refer to the site as "Heck Creek."

Hell was one of the less surprising terms that was flagged by the software. In addition to bone, the system also blocked the words pubis, crack, penetrate, stroke, stream, and enlargement. Holtz shared a spreadsheet of the censored words on Twitter.

Convey Services, the company contracted by the conference to provide the chat software, has responded to the complaints by taking a closer look at the list of words that trigger the filter. So if the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology uses the same software again, they will be able to talk about the enlarged crack in a pubis bone they dug up near Hell Creek without fear of censorship.

[h/t The New York Times]