# Censoring names
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/censoring-names/231232
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [June 27, 2022, 3:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/censoring-names/231232 "2022-06-27T15:53:04Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@DillonB07](https://meta.discourse.org/u/DillonB07)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2022, 3:53pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/censoring-names/231232/1 "2022-06-27T15:53:04Z")
As a moderator of a Discourse forum, you often come across users who just don’t obey the rules. One of the ways that they do this is through the username. I’ve seen quite a few inappropriate usernames. As far as I know, the censored word list doesn’t apply to the username. Would it be possible to get username filtering/censoring features implemented into Discourse?
This would be an incredibly useful feature.
Thanks,
DillonB07
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### Author:  [@awesomerobot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/awesomerobot)
#### Post date: [June 27, 2022, 4:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/censoring-names/231232/2 "2022-06-27T16:00:24Z")
Yeah makes sense that usernames shouldn’t have blocked words in them. I don’t think censoring is enough though, they should just be blocked (there’s already a site setting called `reserved usernames` that can do this, but it would be nice if watched words were included automatically).
Beyond adding this as a feature, I’d strongly recommend banning serial rule-breakers from the site completely!
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### Author:  [@schyllberg](https://meta.discourse.org/u/schyllberg)
#### Post date: [February 19, 2025, 7:36pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/censoring-names/231232/3 "2025-02-19T19:36:19Z")
Bumping this a bit.
It’s a bit surprising to me that there’s absolutely zero measures in place for this.
As mentioned, one can of course use “Reserved names” for that but since there’s no way to import there in the same way it is for “Watched words”.. it’s a bit tricky 🙂
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### Author:  [@Lief](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lief)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2026, 4:56pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/censoring-names/231232/7 "2026-06-10T16:56:16Z")
@discobot told me this.
> Discourse allows administrators to censor usernames using the **Censored Usernames** setting. This feature checks new and existing usernames against a list of blocked words defined in the **Censored Words** settings.
>
> - **Blocking Words:** Administrators can add specific words or phrases to the censored list in the Admin Control Panel. Any username containing these words will be blocked or flagged.
> - **Reserved Names:** You can also set **Reserved Usernames** to prevent users from impersonating moderators or staff (e.g., “admin”, “support”).
> - **Existing Users:** If a user changes their username to include a censored word, the system will typically flag it or prevent the change depending on your configuration.
BUT…I’ve tested this in my new sandbox and it doesn’t appear to work as expected.
The word I’ve added to BLOCK and CENSORED are allowed when I change my USERNAME.
(Side note: I am an admin role)
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### Author:  [@awesomerobot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/awesomerobot)
#### Post date: [June 10, 2026, 6:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/censoring-names/231232/8 "2026-06-10T18:33:29Z")
The bot is hallucinating a little, there’s no “censored usernames” setting — and the situation is still the same as described earlier.
The watched/blocked/censored words feature does not check usernames. Currently the only way to block words from usernames is using the `reserved usernames` setting.
Admins are exempt from the `reserved usernames` restriction.