# Disallow RTL override characters in titles
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallow-rtl-override-characters-in-titles/19829
**Category:** Feature
**Created:** [September 9, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallow-rtl-override-characters-in-titles/19829 "2014-09-09T22:01:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@locallunatic](https://meta.discourse.org/u/locallunatic)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2014, 10:01pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallow-rtl-override-characters-in-titles/19829/1 "2014-09-09T22:01:09Z")
The new indicator for topics has problems with things that are allowed in the topic title.
Note: this is from [http://what.thedailywtf.com/category/meta/one-post](http://what.thedailywtf.com/category/meta/one-post) and looks like it is due to unicode support in the topic titles (at least that is where the NEW is showing).
Edit: specifically the LTR and RTL overrides.
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### Author:  [@codinghorror](https://meta.discourse.org/u/codinghorror)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2014, 10:14pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallow-rtl-override-characters-in-titles/19829/2 "2014-09-09T22:14:14Z")
No different than any other kind of odd Unicode content griefing and should be handled the same way.
I’d just block or suspend any user who persisted in doing this for now.
Possible that we could disallow certain unicode characters from titles, but this is playing whack-a-mole.
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### Author:  [@locallunatic](https://meta.discourse.org/u/locallunatic)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2014, 10:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallow-rtl-override-characters-in-titles/19829/3 "2014-09-09T22:18:00Z")
It also plays with the edit pencil on the title when you do it. So yeah it is an issue with allowing unicode characters, but don’t know if others would also break it. I’d suggest using a whitelist rather than a blacklist.
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### Author:  [@haiku](https://meta.discourse.org/u/haiku)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2014, 10:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallow-rtl-override-characters-in-titles/19829/4 "2014-09-09T22:20:57Z")
It also affects how the titles are stored in the database
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2014, 10:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallow-rtl-override-characters-in-titles/19829/5 "2014-09-09T22:21:12Z")
I am ok with allowing admin to pass it through a regex and adding a site setting.
Building a whitelist of every unicode that is valid and known to man is not easy, also zalgotext may be “valid” in your local its just that its overdoing it.
I don’t think this battle can easily be beaten by computers. Its why you have a flag button.
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### Author:  [@locallunatic](https://meta.discourse.org/u/locallunatic)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2014, 10:27pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallow-rtl-override-characters-in-titles/19829/6 "2014-09-09T22:27:39Z")
Really there is no problem with allowing the unicode in the title, you just need to separate the title from where the NEW alert bubble and edit pencil go. Surround the title in span or whatever and put them next to that.
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### Author:  [@sam](https://meta.discourse.org/u/sam)
#### Post date: [September 9, 2014, 10:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallow-rtl-override-characters-in-titles/19829/7 "2014-09-09T22:28:30Z")
Yeah an extra span there is important for styling anyway.
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### Author:  [@chapoi](https://meta.discourse.org/u/chapoi)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2025, 11:32am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/disallow-rtl-override-characters-in-titles/19829/8 "2025-12-04T11:32:24Z")