# vBulletin and unintentional censoring of naughty words

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vbulletin-and-unintentional-censoring-of-naughty-words/145166>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [December 27, 2002, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vbulletin-and-unintentional-censoring-of-naughty-words/145166 "2002-12-27T15:05:36Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vbulletin-and-unintentional-censoring-of-naughty-words/145166/21 "2002-12-28T00:18:02Z")

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The naughty word filter is supposed to be set up so that if there is a space on either end of the word, then it’s that word - but if there are extra letters on either side, then it’s probably a part of a harmless word.

That’s the idea, anyway, and it’d be rare when that wasn’t the case.

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**Author:** ![Cessandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cessandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cessandra)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vbulletin-and-unintentional-censoring-of-naughty-words/145166/22 "2002-12-28T00:26:22Z")

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That’s how it should be, GuanoLad, but no board software that I have used does it that way automatically. Of course, I’ve never admined vBulletin, but I have always had to go edit the censored words to be " badword " rather than “badword”.

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vbulletin-and-unintentional-censoring-of-naughty-words/145166/23 "2002-12-28T01:57:10Z")

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Depends on how it’s set up, **GuanoLad** – for some terms that would work, but contemplate the standard verb for “to copulate” which can have -er, -ing, -ed and other suffixes and occasionally occurs with the first of these suffixed and mother- prefixed – in that case you do _not_ want to filter for “just this term as a separate word” but for “all uses of this letter combination.”

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**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\
**Post date:** [December 28, 2002, 7:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vbulletin-and-unintentional-censoring-of-naughty-words/145166/24 "2002-12-28T07:01:56Z")

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Well, then you add them to your naughty word dictionary.

Anyways, in the case of that particular word, there aren’t any genuine uses of it outside of it’s naughty factor that I can think of.

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