Handling bad words

If a bad word is detected, the system takes one of the following actions:

  • Remove - the bad word is removed from the entered text with no substitution.
  • Replace - the bad word is removed and replaced with a predefined string.
  • Report abuse - a report is created in the Abuse report application.
  • Request moderation - the post is submitted to approval before being published; this happens even in case that the forum, message board or blog is not moderated by default.
  • Deny - a warning message will be displayed to the user when they try to post the inadequate text, listing which words should be removed.

The Report abuse and Request moderation actions are not available in Messaging.

In case that there is more than one bad word detected in input text and the words have different actions set, the actions will be taken according to the following hierarchy: Remove, Replace and Report abuse actions are independent, i.e. the actions can be taken simultaneously. Request moderation is stronger than Report abuse and Deny is the strongest of all.

The following list shows which actions will be taken in some specific cases in order for you to easily understand the actions hierarchy:

  • Remove and Replace - the first one will be removed and the second one will be replaced with the defined substitute.
  • Remove, Replace and Report abuse - the first one will be removed, the second one replaced and an abuse report will be logged.
  • Remove, Replace and Request moderation - the first one will be removed, the second one will be replaced and the post will have to be approved.
  • Report abuse and Request moderation - the post will have to be approved and no abuse report will be logged.
  • Deny and any other - the text is left as it is, but produces an error message.

Replace action in fields with limited length

If the Replace action has to be performed in a text entered into a field with limited length, it may happen that the text with replaced bad words would exceed the maximum length (when the replacement text is longer than the original bad word). In this case, the bad word is replaced with as many asterisks as its length.

When there are multiple bad words in the text, replacement starts from the beginning of the string. If replacement of the first bad word wouldn’t cause exceeding of the maximum length, it is replaced with the replacement text. The same applies to the subsequent bad words and asterisks start to be used with the first bad word whose replacement would cause exceeding of the maximum length.