# Banned words on message boards **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 14, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229 "2003-11-14T13:09:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/1 "2003-11-14T13:09:13Z")
I am told that message board service providers such as phpbb et al have a default list of censored words put into the program. Probably, words like ‘fuck’, ‘asshole’, etc come on this list. When a user of the board uses one of these red-lighted words, it is replaced by ‘f\*\*\*’ or ‘thingy’ (yes, I’ve seen that happen) or some such ‘safer’ variant. My questions are: This list of banned words can be modified by the administrator of the message board to include or exclude words of their choice, correct? On the phpbb system, what words are on the default list? * * * Setup: One of the message boards in my University changes ‘sex’ to ‘s\*\*’. Twenty year olds need to be protected from a word as ubiquitous and innocuous as ‘sex’?! Ridiculous! It felt so silly, I asked an admin for the reason. The person has chosen not to reply (or is unable to, for whatever reason). So anyway, I’d like to find out if this was phpbb’s doing, or my local admin’s idiosyncracy. ---
**Author:** ![Algernon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@Algernon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Algernon)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 1:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/2 "2003-11-14T13:31:01Z")
I can’t speak for phpbb. vBulletin comes with the capability to have the list modified by the administrator. The version of vBulletin I’ve installed was delivered with an empty list of words to be censored. Therefore if phpbb is like vBulletin, the ‘s\*\*’ scenario is a result of the administrator’s actions. ---
**Author:** ![Coffeeguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/958977/32.png) [@Coffeeguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coffeeguy)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/3 "2003-11-14T15:54:09Z")
I believe that the only censored word on this board is h\*llabaloo. —CoffeeGuy ---
**Author:** ![MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bb73d2/32.png) [@MC\_Master\_of\_Ceremonies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MC_Master_of_Ceremonies)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/4 "2003-11-14T15:58:08Z")
No the only censored word on this board is: \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/5 "2003-11-14T16:10:17Z")
\*\*\* \*\*\*\* \*\*\*\*\*\*\* \*\*\*\*\* \*\*\*\* \*\*\*\*! Got it? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/6 "2003-11-14T16:25:21Z")
I’d like to see the word “fundies” censored. It’s hateful and offensive. j/k 😜 ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/7 "2003-11-14T17:20:34Z")
Worth1000, (a photoshop site) has a lot of filtered words, some offensive, and some are just tiresome catchphrases, f’rinstance: hell --\> New Jersey fag --\> british cigarette Jesus Christ! --\> Holy Artichokes, Batman! first post --\> I am attracted to little boys [The whole list](http://www.worth1000.com/help.asp?help=filter) ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/8 "2003-11-14T17:58:58Z")
> [@](#): > > My questions are: > This list of banned words can be modified by the administrator of the message board to include or exclude words of their choice, correct? > > On the phpbb system, what words are on the default list? **aasna** : My understanding is authentic phpbb comes with nothing in the “badword” list. This excludes, of course, phpbb mods or ISO hacks. From the user guide: > [@](#): > > \*\*Where do the badwords appear in the Admin Panel? \*\* > > Admin Panel → General Admin → Word Censors: you should now see the list of badwords that you have just added. You can of course edit and delete each badword. Also, check out this site. It’s got a list of _[badwords](http://www.4cm.com/badwordlist/index.php)_ and grants the ability to add your own. I considered suggesting **aasna** … 😛 ---
**Author:** ![bughunter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/aeb1de/32.png) [@bughunter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bughunter)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/9 "2003-11-14T18:24:30Z")
My favorite autoeuphemism is on [Fark.com](http://Fark.com). The number one bad word of the decade, “n\*\*\*\*r” (a racial slur) is automatically replaced with “attractive and successful african american.” I first encountered it trying to translate the phrase “fo shizzle my nizzle” and liked the autotranslation better than my own… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![elmwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmwood/32/3060_2.png) [@elmwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elmwood)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/10 "2003-11-14T18:48:12Z")
On my bulletin board, I censor the most commonly used English language racial slurs, and profanities related to couplation and genitalia. ---
**Author:** ![Aankh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ebca7d/32.png) [@Aankh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aankh)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/11 "2003-11-14T23:08:49Z")
Thanks, people. That helped (somewhat). According to you all, I’m to take it that the person responsible for censoring ‘sex’ was my admin, not phpbb, correct? **elmwood** , I have no problems with the censoring of language that is generally accepted as being inflammatory. However, when I say “The female sex IS indeed gifted linguistically”, and it becomes “The female s\*\* IS indeed gifted linguistically”, that’s a little ridiculous. After all, textbooks in middle-school use this word too. What are they supposed to do, euphemise it? Asterisk-ise it? University-level students should not have to be protected to _this_ extent. And **Mr.B** , shoo! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [November 14, 2003, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/12 "2003-11-14T23:44:40Z")
I’m glad that the SDMB doesn’t have any of the auto-censoring turned on; not because I particularly like profanity (although it has its uses), but because it is almost impossible to configure auto-censorship parameters to be reliable and non-circumventible. Innocent phrases like “Cocktails in Scunthorpe” get mangled and anyone wanting to use profanity can usually find a way to bypass the filter. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/13 "2003-11-15T01:51:27Z")
**Mangetout** : I doubt a filter could mangle words like c\*\*\*\*unt and n\*\*igger. I don’t think they process after the tags have been handled, only before: Otherwise, they’d need to parse HTML, instead of just the HTML subset they allow peons to use. Additionally, spelling variants such as cöck and bïtch would similarly be mangle-resistant. If I’m wrong, I’d be interested in knowing: I’m always interested in people trying to approach machine intelligence in a rather sideways, stepwise manner. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/14 "2003-11-15T02:54:19Z")
This kind of discussion about profanity and racial slurs is totally \*\*\*\*\*\*\* inappropriate, and only a \*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\*\* would think to ask such a question. Are we clear? ~Diceman 😉 (P.S.: can we add “1920’s Style Death Ray” to the auto-censor list?) ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/15 "2003-11-15T03:28:07Z")
No inflammatory or incredibly obscene words are banned on my Board - only the people who use them improperly. ---
**Author:** ![scott\_evil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/91b2a8/32.png) [@scott\_evil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scott_evil)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/16 "2003-11-15T03:34:30Z")
A board I used to belong to (one that became very famous during the first season of Survivor - that’s all I’ll say) would ban words that were part of board inside jokes… They’d come out as “#####”. Some I can remember: tub Petros (as in Brittany Petros from Big Brother US 2000) I confess media whore heart There were many more, all rather ridiculous, and all at the whim of the (IMO unstable) webmaster. ---
**Author:** ![Sofa\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/58956e/32.png) [@Sofa\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sofa_King)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2003, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/banned-words-on-message-boards/213229/17 "2003-11-15T03:47:12Z")
Similar protocols were completely perverted by the fine people who created my favorite writing tool, [The Burn Maker](http://toy.thespark.com/burn/). But please, contain for a moment your joy and return instead to the BBQ Pit, which allows for such things, including [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=62026&highlight=burn+and+maker).