I came across a news item on AOL concerning a British couple, Craig and Lindsay Foreman who have been arrested in Iran for espionage whilst on a round the world trip on a motorcycle and had to wonder, what on earth they were doing in Iran, especially as the Foreign Office specifically warns of the dangers of foreigners being detained whilst there.
Mr and Mrs Foreman who were both in their fifties and were intending to continue to Australia, however, Mrs Foreman was carrying out a research project as part of the journey, asking people, ‘what constitutes a good life’ and was due to present her findings at a conference on positive psychology in Brisbane when they finished their journey.
Having read the article I made the following comment which was rejected by AOL.
How naïve or stupid do you have to be to go to Iran to carry out a research project asking people what constitutes ‘a good life.’ The British government have warned you can be arrested for just being there let alone asking damn fool questions along the way. Some people seem to have fluff for brains.
The rejection came with a pop-up box to explain their decision.
Comment Rejected
Your comment seems to be in breach of our community guidelines and was therefore rejected. It will only be visible to you. How do we reach our decisions?
- All of our decisions are designed to ensure civil, open and inclusive discourse within the community.
- We use advanced machine learning technology combined with unbiased human moderation to review all questionable content.
- We do not censor. Our mission is to help build thriving communities and encourage open and civil conversations.
Feel free to rewrite and repost your comment, or, if you wish, you can file an appeal, and we will re-examine our decision.
I have to wonder, how on earth could I have breached community guidelines by stating what any normal person must be thinking? Whilst being somewhat sad to hear of their incarceration, on the positive side, Mrs Foreman will now have plenty of time to work out ‘what makes a good life’ and how to maintain a positive psychology as the last British person arrested in Iran was detained for six years. This should be plenty of time for her to complete the research project which she will then be able to present to the group in Brisbane should they still be interested.












“Your comment seems to be in breach of our community guidelines and was therefore rejected.” Seems to be and therefore rejected? Imagine what would happen if it was actually a breach rather than “seemed” to be one?
I hadn’t noticed the ‘seems’ part of the rejection, now you’ve pointed that out to me I have to wonder why I was not allowed to post my comment. I suppose we can only assume that AI doesn’t have the intelligence to differentiate between seems and actual. No wonder everything you see written by AI is such rubbish.