[ciapug] Moderating message forums

[James Loghry]

If you're using PHP, you may want to set up a simple regular
expression(s) for filtering the content.  Using the preg_replace()
method in PHP or one of its counter-parts, you can specify an array of
both "bad words" as well as "good words" to replace the profanity with.

The manual for preg_replace() can be found here:
http://us2.php.net/manual/en/function.preg-replace.php.

Many other languages including Perl and Java for starters support
regex's as well.

As for a list of words to filter.. I might suggest checking out an
installation of phpBB or other suitable message board programs, and
looking through the config files or database.


Dave J. Hala Jr. wrote:
> On Thu, 2006-05-18 at 10:51, Tony Bibbs wrote:
>   
>> I can't help with a list of words but could probably give you snippets 
>> that I wrote that does this in Geeklog.
>>
>> Just a bit of semantics though, when you say moderate to me that means 
>> having an administrator explicitly approve something before it's visible 
>> publicly.  Is that what you mean or are we really talking about content 
>> filtering?  Content filtering in Geeklog handles both profanity but 
>> other stuff too like allowable HTML, etc.
>>
>>     
>
> I guess that maybe "moderate" isn't the best word. I'd like to come up
> with a way to eliminate and/or filter the profanity and flag any posts
> that could potentially create any issues.  I'd like to make the system
> as automated as possible without me having to read and "approve" a ton
> of posts. If  I could automate most of the grunt work (profanity, etc.)
> I could spend my time on the tough issues.
>
>
> I've been googling, and it looks like the profane list words is fairly
> small. However "phrases" could be an issue. ..
>
>
>
>   
>> --Tony
>>
>> Dave J. Hala Jr. wrote:
>>     
>>> I'm working on a *very* simple message forum project. Basically you post
>>> a message, and then people can post comments etc. You know the drill.
>>>
>>> Anyway, I'm mulling over the "moderating" issue. One thing I want to
>>> spend some time on is the issue of profanity.   What I'd like to do is
>>> substitute  a string of characters for certain words. I might even do
>>> something silly like substitute in <radio edit> for each profanity..
>>>
>>> I'm looking for a list of profanities that I could import into a table.
>>>
>>> Anyone know where to look? Anyone have any thoughts on writing the
>>> moderating code? Its important to keep it as simple as possible.
>>>
>>>
>>> :) Dave
>>>
>>>       
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>>     


-- 
James Loghry
Software Engineer
The Krell Institute
1609 Golden Aspen Dr., Suite 101
Ames, IA 50010
http://www.krellinst.org
Phone: (515) 956 - 3696
Email: loghry at krellinst.org