California vanity license plate applications with reasons for rejection (2020)
github.com
github.com
That's very interesting. It implies that there seemingly is no central place in CA where this data is stored, otherwise there would be 1 source and 1 format.
Then again, last time I went to the DMV in CA I filled out paperwork online, only for them to print it and then manually process it. And this was 2.5 years ago.
I was told that abbreviations weren't allowed. That was the denial reason.
Resubmitted it, not denied yet. We'll see if it shows up in another 3-5 weeks or if I get a denial letter followed by an another application refund 4-6 weeks after that.
How did they figure that one. If that's what it's supposed to mean, that reviewer is good...
And I must wonder about how reliable they consider UD to be, given that UD is 100% user-generated content. Is it possible to tank a perfectly innocent license plate if someone gins up a misleading UD entry?
Signed,
Don Palabros
(I was going to make a specificity/selectively comment but I don't think that applies here, please correct me otherwise?)
Yes, Sevak is servant and the number 13 in Punjabi is "tera" which also means "yours".
Unfortunately in California the number 13 is a GANG REFERENCE. lol. Probably a free-speech argument to be made here?
Note: I normalized the data a bit and I think I translated some of the abbreviations and reasons for rejection. It also got reordered at some point.
Proctologists everywhere mourn the lost opportunity
GASSMAN, "I'M AN ANESTHESIOLOGIST"
Luckily there are many ways to abbreviate “hemorrhoid” without running afoul of the censors.
(IANAL)
Most of them are sex jokes or racist so fair enough, but the rejections seem way too sensitive for the others.
> TUNA FSH
> I'M A PROFESSIONAL FISHERMAN AND I FISH FOR TUNA ALL OVER THE WORLD
> DMV: I GOOGLED HIM, HE IS AND HE DOES
> DENIED
> BJS4DDS,1,MY INITIALS AND MY WIFE INITIALS,BLOW JOBS FOR DENTAL WORK… CUSTOMER IS BRIAN J SAMUELS,N
In an essentially irrelevant anecdote, I do always wonder how somebody a few blocks from me (not in California) managed to get "HOTWIFE".
I want to agree, but the messy compromise they arrived at in practice seems to work ok enough.
, where all the letters are representable using ASCII (B is pronounced V in Russian)
13 GANG REFERENCE
14 = GANG NUMBER
PULLED FOR 69
> H84BY4Z,7,"I HATE 4X4 VEHICLES. SATIRE, AS I WILL BE PUTTING THIS PLATE ON A 4 WHEEL DRIVE TRUCK",HATE,N
> SAABNUT,1,CRAZZY ABOUT SAAB BRAND CARS,SAAB NUT.. SAAB IS A CAR NUT CAN BE SEXUAL OR CAN MEAN CRAZY,N
> PZA TACO,1,MY TWO FAVORITE THINGS PIZZA AND TACOS,TACO,N
> AIRS$FT,2,AIRSOFT SPORT WE LOVE,AIRSOFT SHOOTING,N
> 3&14 PI,4,THE FIRST 3 DIGITS OF PI,PIE 14 GANG REFERENCE,N
> CHRG4PS,1,CHARGE FOR PEACE,LOOKS LIKE CHARGE FOR PS… NOT SURE WHAT PS MEANS,N
> PINK 64,1,THE CAR IS A 1964 VW BUG,PINK=VAGINA. HAS A 64 VW ON ANI,N
> KIKI$77,1,NAME AND SOFTBALL NUMBER,"kiki=Tagalog, means vagina",N
> MFC,3,"'MFC' IS AN ABBREVIATION FOR 'MOTHERWELL FOOTBALL CLUB' A PREMIERE LEAGUE SOCCER TEAM LOCATED IN MY HOMETOWN OF MOTHERWELL, SCOTLAND.",MFC motherfuck? Motherwell IS a Scottish Football Club,N
> CAT TAX,1,"I WANT A LICENSE PLATE WITH ""CAT"" ON IT, AND I FIGURED A CUSTOM PLATE CAUSES ME TO PAY MORE IN TAXES... SO I AM PAYING THE CAT TAX.",CAT TAX CAT SLANG FOR VAGINA,N
Do any of those rejections seem reasonable to anyone else? They all seem insane to me.
I've seen many rejections for "HATE", any word that could be considered a sexual euphemism (TACO), anything that could be construed as a gang reference, and often anything that the reviewer doesn't understand that is not explained by the submission ("NOT SURE WHAT PS MEANS"). The latter feels paranoid, but it's probably justified.
Don't get me wrong, I know some weird parts of the internet use 88 that way.
But c'mon, this is pretty weak, I'd venture 95% of people (if not more) don't even know that reference. Is everyone born in 1988 prevented from using their birth year these days, too?
From experience moderating large Internet communities, I'd say that is much less rare than I wish it was.
American auto in production whole last half of 20th Century:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oldsmobile_88
Wehrmacht 88mm tank artillery round:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/88_(number)#In_neo-Nazism
Possibly a coincidence, but with Musk's politics, it seems, at least as likely, this may be a recent, intentional, example of 88 as Heil Hitler (August 8 = 8/8):
https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/05/business/elon-musk-tesla-robo...
Yes, they are:
> BLK88BZ,2,NICKNAME AND BIRTH YEAR,88-HITLER. BIRTH YEAR VERIFIED AS '88,N
> 28GSV88,2,IMPORTANT DATE.,"88=HATE SYMBOL, NO 88 CAR ON ANI. 28 IS BIRTHDATE AND 1988 IS YEAR",N
> AMK 88,2,INITIALS AND YEAR OF BIRTH,"88=hate symbol, no 88 car. was born in 88",N
> 88DURAN,2,YEAR OF MY BIRTH AND LAST NAME.,88-HITLER. BIRTH YEAR CONFIRMED AS 1988,N
> 6TTT88,2,BIRTHDAY AND INITIALS,88-HITLER. BIRTH YEAR CONFIRMED AS 1988,N
> 88 MAR,7,MY BIRTH YEAR AND MONTH,88-HITLER. BIRTH MONTH AND YEAR CONFIRMED.,N
> 88HENRY,7,YEAR OF BIRTH AND LAST NAME,88-HITLER. BIRTH YEAR CONFIRMED,N
In case it's not clear, in all of the above applications, the DMV confirmed the person was really born in 1988 and denied the plate anyway.
It feels like they would, but maybe I'm wrong. But it would be hilarious if they did.
in general, I'm all for removing subjectivity.
Driving’s a privilege they tell us, makes sense they’d restrict plates based on sensibilities of the average taxpayer.
Meanwhile offensive, say, t-shirts might be seen on the sidewalk but perhaps not in around your usual hangouts as a boring, easily offended person (I kid!)
(Not married to these opinions, LMK of any obvious misses here)
Others are rejected for AREA CODE reason? WTF?
This is extreme government overreach.
Counterpoint: I’d give zero shits about their noise complaints or parking preferences going forward, and I suspect my town’s police would be fine with that.
For example in US, Adolf Hitler and Jesus Christ are banned names.
Then again, this is California...
I usually appreciate objectivity, but in human processes it rarely works. There are always edge cases. Write down all the rules for number plates and someone will find a way to write an offensive one, or language will change and the policy won't have caught up. You need human subjectivity in the loop as a check.
This is where "smart" contracts fell down, the pitch was having truly objective and automated contracts, which were supposed to be better than legal contracts because of those properties. But what we actually got was contracts where finding a loophole meant you could screw over the other party and be contractually guaranteed to get away with it. The real benefit of a legal contract is being able to go to court and litigate it and theoretically come out with a fair result. That's not always possible, but it is much more likely than with "smart" contracts.
That's not what I meant with subjectivity. I want objective rules, like "license place should be 6 alphanumeric letters".
as soon as you say "it shouldn't be offensive to the average citizen", you're in the subjectivity realm.
So we make a rule saying "you can't use word X". So someone submits a plate that is X but... with a number replacing a letter. It's not against the rules, but it's still actively harmful because a human subjectively reads it as the banned word. So you expand the rule, but then language changes, etc etc. Surely you need to have a subjective judgement process because the interpretation/harm is subjective?
I'll grant you that finding the right balance here, or where the line is, is a hard problem. This list to me however shows that it can be achieved in a reasonable way.
Alternatively if you think that people should be allowed to use widely recognised, highly derogatory words for other people as number plates, that rules like being 6 characters is strictly sufficient, then I think we disagree too much to resolve.