# Watched Words - Is there a way to block the use of asterisks with certain words instead of it being used as a wildcard?

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-is-there-a-way-to-block-the-use-of-asterisks-with-certain-words-instead-of-it-being-used-as-a-wildcard/321834>\
**Category:** Product Support\
**Tags:** watched-words\
**Created:** [August 15, 2024, 3:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-is-there-a-way-to-block-the-use-of-asterisks-with-certain-words-instead-of-it-being-used-as-a-wildcard/321834 "2024-08-15T15:22:22Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 1

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**Author:** ![Sean\_Dahlberg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/sean_dahlberg/32/220688_2.png) [@Sean\_Dahlberg](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Sean_Dahlberg)\
**Post date:** [August 15, 2024, 3:22pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-is-there-a-way-to-block-the-use-of-asterisks-with-certain-words-instead-of-it-being-used-as-a-wildcard/321834/1 "2024-08-15T15:22:23Z")

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I did a little search-fu and couldn’t find the answer, but I apologize if this has already been answered somewhere.

Short version, we have a few users who instead of using a watched word, work around the system by posting it with asterisks. For example, they say “f\*\*k.” We attempted to add that to Watch Words but it started blocking anything that started with f and ended in k, such as feedback, firetruck, and Frederick.

Is there a way to add something like that above to Watched Words where it only looks for that specific phrase and does not treat it as a wildcard?

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