Developer Content Filter False Positive Impact Assessment

Welcome! This survey explores your recent experiences with content filters and false positives in developer tools. Your participation is voluntary, and you may stop at any time. There are no right or wrong answers—we are interested in your honest opinions. All responses are confidential and will be reported in aggregate only. The survey takes approximately 10 minutes. Please answer based on the last 30 days and omit any sensitive or proprietary data.

In the last 30 days, have you used any developer tools that enforce content moderation or safety filters?

• Yes, in the last 30 days
• No, not in the last 30 days

Which types of developer tools with content filters have you used in the last 30 days? Select all that apply.

• AI code assistants (e.g., coding copilots)
• Code hosting/PR checks (e.g., repo content policies)
• Package registries with policy checks (e.g., npm, PyPI)
• Documentation portals or knowledge bases
• Q&A forums or developer communities
• CI/CD or security policy gates
• Other (please specify)

Why haven't you used developer tools with content filters in the last 30 days? Select all that apply.

• None of my current tools apply content filters
• I avoid tools that include filters
• Company policy restricts such tools
• I'm unsure which tools include filters
• Other (please specify)

When it comes to content filters in developer tools, which trade-off do you prefer?

Based on your responses in this survey, please share any additional thoughts or experiences about false positives or content filter design in developer tools.

What is your primary role?

• Backend developer
• Frontend developer
• Full-stack developer
• DevOps/SRE
• ML/AI engineer
• Security engineer
• Engineering manager
• QA/Testing
• Other

Thank you for your time. Your feedback will help improve content filter design in developer tools and reduce the impact of false positives on developer workflows.

How often did you encounter false positives from these content filters in the last 30 days?

If developer tools you use introduced content filters, how disruptive do you expect false positives would be to your workflow?

In your view, what most often causes false positives in developer tool content filters? Select all that apply.

• Ambiguous or broad policy definitions
• Overly sensitive detection models
• Missing contextual signals (e.g., file type, repo trust)
• Poor or unrepresentative training examples
• Misclassifying code vs. natural language
• Locale or language issues
• Unclear UI messaging or guidance
• Other (please specify)

How many years of professional software development experience do you have?

• Less than 1 year
• 1–3 years
• 4–6 years
• 7–10 years
• 11–15 years
• 16–20 years
• More than 20 years

Overall, how disruptive were the false positives you encountered in the last 30 days?

What informs your expectations about content filter false positives? Select all that apply.

• Teammates' experiences
• Industry news or reports
• Past experiences in other tools
• Social media or forums
• Vendor documentation or release notes
• Other (please specify)

Rank the following improvements by how much they would reduce the impact of false positives. Place the most impactful improvement first.

1. Clearer policy definitions in tools
2. Better detection models (precision/recall tuning)
3. Use more context (file type, repo trust, role)
4. Faster and more transparent appeal or override process
5. Granular admin and user controls
6. Improved UI messaging and guidance

What is your organization size?

• 1 (just me)
• 2–10
• 11–50
• 51–200
• 201–1,000
• 1,001–5,000
• 5,001+

Briefly describe your most recent false positive from a content filter in the last 30 days. Please omit any sensitive or proprietary data.

Where are you primarily located?

• North America
• Europe
• Latin America
• Asia
• Africa
• Oceania
• Prefer not to say

Approximately how long did it take to resolve your most recent false positive?

• Less than 5 minutes
• 5–15 minutes
• 16–30 minutes
• 31–60 minutes
• 1–2 hours
• More than 2 hours
• It was never resolved

Which programming languages do you use most often? Select all that apply.

• JavaScript/TypeScript
• Python
• Java/Kotlin
• C/C++
• C#/.NET
• Go
• Ruby
• Rust
• Swift/Objective-C
• PHP
• SQL
• Other

After encountering the false positive, what actions did you take? Select all that apply.

• Submitted an appeal or requested a review
• Reworded or reformatted content
• Used a different tool or channel
• Waited and retried later
• Asked a teammate/admin with different access
• Abandoned the task
• Other (please specify)

Rank the top 3 effects you experienced from false positives. Place the highest-impact effect first.

1. Lost time
2. Context switching
3. Blocked release or review
4. Lower code quality or shortcuts
5. Frustration or stress
6. Team coordination overhead