# \#watched-words **URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/tag/watched-words/511.md [Latest](https://meta.discourse.org/latest.md) · [Categories](https://meta.discourse.org/categories.md) · [Tags](https://meta.discourse.org/tags.md) --- ## [How does discourse handle conflicting watched word actions](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-does-discourse-handle-conflicting-watched-word-actions/406682)
**Author:** [@m\_terenui](https://meta.discourse.org/u/m_terenui)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [July 2, 2026, 7:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-does-discourse-handle-conflicting-watched-word-actions/406682 "2026-07-02T19:18:31Z")
Hi there! Good Afternoon, I am currently building my watched words list using regex per actions (e.g. flag, block, silence, approval, censor etc.) and was wondering what would happen if a same word belongs to multiple l… --- ## [Add link from ‘Auto silence first post regex’ description to Watched words](https://meta.discourse.org/t/add-link-from-auto-silence-first-post-regex-description-to-watched-words/403058)
**Author:** [@T\_Disco](https://meta.discourse.org/u/T_Disco)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [May 21, 2026, 2:10pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/add-link-from-auto-silence-first-post-regex-description-to-watched-words/403058 "2026-05-21T14:10:50Z")
At: /admin/site\_settings/category/all\_results?filter=Auto%20silence%20first%20post%20regex If possible, it would be useful if the text ‘Silence Watched Words’ in the Description sentence ‘DEPRECATED: Use Silence Watched… --- ## [Community Guidelines & Abusive Content Moderation Support](https://meta.discourse.org/t/community-guidelines-abusive-content-moderation-support/403261)
**Author:** [@Soumya\_Ranjan\_Mishra](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Soumya_Ranjan_Mishra)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [May 18, 2026, 7:47pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/community-guidelines-abusive-content-moderation-support/403261 "2026-05-18T19:47:10Z")
Hi, Does Discourse provide any built-in blocked word list or moderation feature for abusive, offensive, or discriminatory language? We would like to know: Is there any default profanity/discriminatory word list avai… --- ## [Watched Words Reference Guide](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-reference-guide/241735)
**Author:** [@Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Discourse)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [February 16, 2026, 2:30pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-reference-guide/241735 "2026-02-16T14:30:34Z")
:bookmark: This is a reference guide for describing how the Watched Words page functions and the different types of action types you can use to block specific words on a Discourse site. :person\_raising\_hand: Required u… --- ## [Using Regex with Watched Words](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-regex-with-watched-words/241861)
**Author:** [@Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Discourse)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [June 14, 2024, 6:03pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/using-regex-with-watched-words/241861 "2024-06-14T18:03:17Z")
:bookmark: This topic explains how to effectively use regular expressions (regex) within Discourse’s Watched Words feature. :discourse: For sites on our hosting, these settings are hidden. Customers on paid hosting pla… --- ## [Posts being flagged due to watched word, however no watched word is flagged](https://meta.discourse.org/t/posts-being-flagged-due-to-watched-word-however-no-watched-word-is-flagged/400097)
**Author:** [@BBRitchie](https://meta.discourse.org/u/BBRitchie)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [April 7, 2026, 11:12am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/posts-being-flagged-due-to-watched-word-however-no-watched-word-is-flagged/400097 "2026-04-07T11:12:01Z")
Hi all! We have had a few of our users posts flagged due to a watched word, however when you go to review there is no watched word highlighted: We confirmed with the user that they were responding to comments via the… --- ## [Cannot add watched words for automatic tagging](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cannot-add-watched-words-for-automatic-tagging/397601)
**Author:** [@pangbo](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pangbo)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [March 25, 2026, 4:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cannot-add-watched-words-for-automatic-tagging/397601 "2026-03-25T16:18:28Z")
I wanted to add a keyword for automatic tagging, so I went to /admin/customize/watched\_words/action/tag to add a new keyword and tag, but an error popped up. I checked the browser requests, and it looks like there … --- ## [Rules for Number Matching in Watched Words](https://meta.discourse.org/t/rules-for-number-matching-in-watched-words/396110)
**Author:** [@Noble\_Fish](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Noble_Fish)\ **Replies:** 3\ **Last updated:** [February 21, 2026, 10:54am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/rules-for-number-matching-in-watched-words/396110 "2026-02-21T10:54:55Z")
As shown in the figure below, the matching words are “Test”, “123”, and “测试” (which means “Test” in Simplified Chinese). When a match is successful, any number immediately preceding the matched word will be included … --- ## [Add a visual indicator (icon) for links generated by "Watched Words"](https://meta.discourse.org/t/add-a-visual-indicator-icon-for-links-generated-by-watched-words/393725)
**Author:** [@Don](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Don)\ **Replies:** 0\ **Last updated:** [January 17, 2026, 11:39am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/add-a-visual-indicator-icon-for-links-generated-by-watched-words/393725 "2026-01-17T11:39:10Z")
Hello :waving\_hand: Currently, when the “Watched Words” feature is used to automatically link specific keywords, the resulting link looks identical to a link manually inserted by the user. The problem This lack of dis… --- ## [Watched words for certain categories or topics](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-for-certain-categories-or-topics/393720)
**Author:** [@taravasya](https://meta.discourse.org/u/taravasya)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [January 17, 2026, 9:36am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-for-certain-categories-or-topics/393720 "2026-01-17T09:36:59Z")
Hi! I’m looking for a way to ban discussion of certain topics in only certain categories of my forum (or at least ban discussion of them in specific threads). The “watched words” feature seems suitable for this, with the… --- ## [Highlight Watched Words in review](https://meta.discourse.org/t/highlight-watched-words-in-review/126204)
**Author:** [@outofthebox](https://meta.discourse.org/u/outofthebox)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [December 22, 2025, 12:24am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/highlight-watched-words-in-review/126204 "2025-12-22T00:24:08Z")
Hi, I’d like to propose that when this message is displayed: This post included a Watched Word. See your list of watched words. That the Watched Word(s) which flagged the post be included in the message. Even fanci… --- ## [All posts containing watched words are automatically hidden — score\_to\_hide\_post is 0.0](https://meta.discourse.org/t/all-posts-containing-watched-words-are-automatically-hidden-score-to-hide-post-is-0-0/388000)
**Author:** [@copymonopoly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/copymonopoly)\ **Replies:** 7\ **Last updated:** [November 10, 2025, 3:59pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/all-posts-containing-watched-words-are-automatically-hidden-score-to-hide-post-is-0-0/388000 "2025-11-10T15:59:03Z")
I’ve run into a serious issue with my Discourse forum. Recently I found that all posts containing watched words that trigger a flag are automatically hidden. These posts must be manually unhidden by an admin to become … --- ## [Editing Grace Period Closed by Watched Words](https://meta.discourse.org/t/editing-grace-period-closed-by-watched-words/387487)
**Author:** [@Carleas](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Carleas)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [November 6, 2025, 12:52am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/editing-grace-period-closed-by-watched-words/387487 "2025-11-06T00:52:19Z")
Normally there’s a grace period for post edits during which changes aren’t tracked in the post’s revision history. But when on posts containing a ‘watched word’ that causes their post to be flagged for review, the grace… --- ## [Watched words: Does Discourse automatically remove unsupported html tag](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-does-discourse-automatically-remove-unsupported-html-tag/386561)
**Author:** [@jimmy0017](https://meta.discourse.org/u/jimmy0017)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [November 3, 2025, 10:00pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-does-discourse-automatically-remove-unsupported-html-tag/386561 "2025-11-03T22:00:44Z")
We’ve recently added a couple watchwords into our instance. However, our user found out the ways to around it like below. Does discourse automatically remove unsupported html tag or not? These are actually build into th… --- ## [Watched word regular expression crash (2025)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-word-regular-expression-crash-2025/382417)
**Author:** [@RGJ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/RGJ)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [October 6, 2025, 5:25pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-word-regular-expression-crash-2025/382417 "2025-10-06T17:25:19Z")
Similar to this one Repro watched words regular expressions enabled watched words tag action regular expression \*abc Result It is impossible to create topics or posts RegexpError (target of repeat operator is not spe… --- ## [Watched words to block recent spam attack](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-to-block-recent-spam-attack/380420)
**Author:** [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)\ **Replies:** 12\ **Last updated:** [September 10, 2025, 4:26pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-to-block-recent-spam-attack/380420 "2025-09-10T16:26:12Z")
I’ve had at least two sites get hit with a wave of spam that looks like it’s designed to poison LLMs. The same attack has also been reported here at least once (Anyone else currently undergoing mass spam attack?). The be… --- ## [New user responding to invite fails, word\_watcher.rb:258:in \`censor\_text\_with\_regexp'](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-user-responding-to-invite-fails-word-watcher-rbin-censor-text-with-regexp/380920)
**Author:** [@kgrier](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kgrier)\ **Replies:** 16\ **Last updated:** [September 1, 2025, 7:24am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/new-user-responding-to-invite-fails-word-watcher-rbin-censor-text-with-regexp/380920 "2025-09-01T07:24:16Z")
Hey Discoursers, I have report from forum member of invited user being unable to complete registratio . Have confirmed. Repro is easy, just send invite to specific user, they enter desire username, password, name, check… --- ## [Can't enter watched words regex to catch phone numbers](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-enter-watched-words-regex-to-catch-phone-numbers/366534)
**Author:** [@bartv](https://meta.discourse.org/u/bartv)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [May 17, 2025, 7:27am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-enter-watched-words-regex-to-catch-phone-numbers/366534 "2025-05-17T07:27:51Z")
Hi! We’re experiencing a lot of spam that’s not caught by Akismet. The messages usually have (international) phone numbers in them which made us think of using a regex to catch them. After experimenting a bit we found … --- ## [Increase the 100 character limit for Watched Word links](https://meta.discourse.org/t/increase-the-100-character-limit-for-watched-word-links/327577)
**Author:** [@nathank](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nathank)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [April 20, 2025, 2:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/increase-the-100-character-limit-for-watched-word-links/327577 "2025-04-20T14:48:27Z")
I’ve got some links which are a bit long (\>120 characters), which I’d really like to use Watched Words to link to. However, these raise this error: I can work around this by using a link shortening service (such as … --- ## [Can't seem to figure out how to replace Watched Words](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-seem-to-figure-out-how-to-replace-watched-words/206091)
**Author:** [@galligan](https://meta.discourse.org/u/galligan)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [February 14, 2022, 10:02am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/cant-seem-to-figure-out-how-to-replace-watched-words/206091 "2022-02-14T10:02:49Z")
Previously we were using the Auto-Linkify theme component, but now unable to do that as we discontinue use of it. So now we’re trying to work with the built-in Watched Words feature, and doing a Replace with RegEx. We’… --- ## [Watch/replace with bbCode?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watch-replace-with-bbcode/335003)
**Author:** [@Jagster](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jagster)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [February 18, 2025, 9:40am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watch-replace-with-bbcode/335003 "2025-02-18T09:40:47Z")
Continuing the discussion from How do I prevent unicode heart from become :heart: when posting?: I don’t get that watched word thing If I’m watching reply-button and replacing it with \\[wrap=icon id=fa-share\]\[/wrap… --- ## [Auto silence regex](https://meta.discourse.org/t/auto-silence-regex/350609)
**Author:** [@kyle987](https://meta.discourse.org/u/kyle987)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [February 5, 2025, 2:24pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/auto-silence-regex/350609 "2025-02-05T14:24:25Z")
So I have decided to try out discourse’s standard plan on a free trial and I did so in a new window I added some random words to the watched words section and put some as silence then I went and made a second account VIA… --- ## [Clicking "customize" as a moderator does not take you to "watched words"](https://meta.discourse.org/t/clicking-customize-as-a-moderator-does-not-take-you-to-watched-words/348697)
**Author:** [@twofoursixeight](https://meta.discourse.org/u/twofoursixeight)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [January 23, 2025, 9:28pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/clicking-customize-as-a-moderator-does-not-take-you-to-watched-words/348697 "2025-01-23T21:28:20Z")
When clicking “customize” as a moderator with the old layout, it does not take you to the right place. https://forum.creative.gimkit.com , the forum just got updated to 3.4.0.beta4-dev ( 2b63830496 ) --- ## [Increase maximum watched words limit](https://meta.discourse.org/t/increase-maximum-watched-words-limit/197798)
**Author:** [@Faizan\_Zahid](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Faizan_Zahid)\ **Replies:** 6\ **Last updated:** [January 5, 2025, 12:04am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/increase-maximum-watched-words-limit/197798 "2025-01-05T00:04:06Z")
My file has 2805+ bad words, but its only allowed 2000 bad words, how can i add more words? If i want to add 10,000 bad words, from a text file, how to do it? as right now it allows me only to add max 2000 entries. --- ## [Watched Words exemption for higher trust levels](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-exemption-for-higher-trust-levels/343035)
**Author:** [@ChristopherM](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ChristopherM)\ **Replies:** 1\ **Last updated:** [December 19, 2024, 9:13pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/watched-words-exemption-for-higher-trust-levels/343035 "2024-12-19T21:13:32Z")
Following on from this post… Greetings, I’m a TL4 on a forum with twelve million plus users, and the Watched Words feature is leveraged heavily to prevent nefarious posts. However, as mentioned in the prior post I linke… --- ## [Moderators do not have access to Watched Words again](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moderators-do-not-have-access-to-watched-words-again/308893)
**Author:** [@Jayne\_ivana](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Jayne_ivana)\ **Replies:** 9\ **Last updated:** [December 18, 2024, 1:35am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moderators-do-not-have-access-to-watched-words-again/308893 "2024-12-18T01:35:21Z")
I am on 3.3.0.beta3-dev. Our moderators have reported that they no longer have access to Watched Words, much like this previous report a few years ago: Is this a bug? Thanks! --- ## [Bypassing watched words with confusable character replacements](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bypassing-watched-words-with-confusable-character-replacements/342955)
**Author:** [@billgraziano](https://meta.discourse.org/u/billgraziano)\ **Replies:** 2\ **Last updated:** [December 17, 2024, 7:21pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/bypassing-watched-words-with-confusable-character-replacements/342955 "2024-12-17T19:21:16Z")
I’m not 100% sure this a bug. But watched words can’t match weirdly encoded posts. Or I can’t write the regex to make it match them. I have been hit with a bunch of spam lately. Watched words helped initially but now… --- ## ["Add from file" for Watched Word tagging](https://meta.discourse.org/t/add-from-file-for-watched-word-tagging/245386)
**Author:** [@ncaming215](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ncaming215)\ **Replies:** 5\ **Last updated:** [December 10, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/add-from-file-for-watched-word-tagging/245386 "2024-12-10T23:08:16Z")
This doesn’t seem to be working at all. I was wondering if I could upload, similar to when we upload tags. So in this case, the CSV would be: Hello World,Hello-World File uploads successfully, but no words are added. --- ## [Uploading Watched Words is not working?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/uploading-watched-words-is-not-working/143635)
**Author:** [@outofthebox](https://meta.discourse.org/u/outofthebox)\ **Replies:** 19\ **Last updated:** [December 5, 2024, 2:29am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/uploading-watched-words-is-not-working/143635 "2024-12-05T02:29:35Z")
Hi, what file type should be used to upload words from a file? “Add from file” --- ## [Does Find & Replace word in iFrames?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/does-find-replace-word-in-iframes/337022)
**Author:** [@putty](https://meta.discourse.org/u/putty)\ **Replies:** 4\ **Last updated:** [November 19, 2024, 4:35pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/does-find-replace-word-in-iframes/337022 "2024-11-19T16:35:54Z")
TLDR: is there a way to find and replace text within an iFrame? We are attempting to use Vidyard embeds in our site but their generated iframe embed text does not include https: in the URL: Simply updating src="//pl… [Next page](https://meta.discourse.org/tag/watched-words/511.md?match_all_tags=true&page=1&tags%5B%5D=watched-words)