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"Forbidden" Errors (due to "spam" words)


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Added in January of 2018:  This thread is now ancient history.  The forum staff never had any control over this part of the software.  We only know that for a couple of years (roughly 2015-2016), posts containing certain words could not be posted, but the prohibition had stopped by early 2017 (though it took us a while to notice).  So, short version:  Never mind!

 

 

 

We have recently discovered that the forum software is rejecting posts which contain certain product names -- popular pharmaceuticals, expensive watches, and other items (added: or services) that are apparently suspected of indicating spam activity. Unfortunately, this is nothing that the forum administrators have any control over -- it's built into the software.

When such words are used, the software doesn't even come right out and say, "You can't use that word." It merely generates a generic-looking error message:

 

Forbidden
You don't have permission to access /forum/index.php on this server.

Additionally, a 404 Not Found error* was encountered while trying to use an ErrorDocument to handle the request.


* now corrected to "a 403 Forbidden Error"

If you suspect your post is being rejected on these grounds, try deleting the product name and see if that helps. (Hint: Misspelling the name may work -- e.g., using the numeral 1 in place of the letter i or zero in place of the letter O or putting spaces between letters. Or you may be able to mention the type of product rather than the name.)

If you have questions about this matter, the staff will be glad to answer as best we can. And if you have additional suggestions for dealing with it, please post 'em here!

Here's a list of the "forbidden" words and phrases that people have stumbled over so far (intentionally misspelt in order to circumvent the filter):

A n a l
An1mal V1deo
Cas1n0
C1alis
Cuck0ld
Degree 1n radiology
D1et Pills
D0minatrix
dr0p to the table before

gay s3x

gl@ss sex

lesbian s3x
pen1cillin
P0ker
P0kery
Pr0zac
R0lex
Synthr0id
Tidsep0ker
V1agra
X-a-n-a-x

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Oh, and another tip:  Any time you get an error when attempting to post, your browser's back-arrow will generally take you safely back to the Reply page, though you may need to click inside the Reply box to reactivate it.  You may also need to accept an offer to restore autosaved content.

 

If you've gotten a random glitchy error, you can generally just go back and click Post again and it'll work fine.  This will not, however, work with the error above unless you have removed the "offending" term(s).

 

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:lol: Thanks for explaining, Carol. I actually figured out as much on my own lately, but it's good to know that I was right.

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You're welcome, T.o.b.y -- and thank you for reporting your difficulty in the first place!  The staff merely investigated and generalized on your discovery.

 

I'm guessing that this may explain many of the bewildering errors we've been seeing lately.

 

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It's actually not a bad function of the forum software. Once you figure out that it is only one single word that is stopping your post from going through, it is easy to go back and edit it. Only the figuring out process was a bit of detective work appropriate for fans of Sherlock Holmes....

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1 forum I used to be apart had a similar issue with certain words.  Because it was for a musician, we'd abbreviate his album titles.  1 album was called Burden Me.  We would try to abbreviate it BuMe and that forum software didn't like it.  Not sure if anyone ever figured out why.

 

Glad it got figured out here.

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That is weird -- I tried Google, and came up with all sorts of meanings for "bume" -- none of which sounded much like spam fodder.  Maybe it's a naughty word in some language?  :huh:

 

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... from what I've been told, a "domintrix" does not necessarily have intercourse with her clients....
 
(Note: I misspelled Irene's profession on purpose, because the full word generated a 404 - forbidden error.)

 

OK, so it's not just product names, it's also naughty services!

 

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Naughty words in general... and it's inconsistent. I'll be able to write a word one day and it will generate an error message the next. Very odd. Does this filter make frequent updates or something?

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Well, now that's interesting, because I'm pretty sure I've used "domin*trix" more than once without any error messages. Although now that I think of it, I have gotten an error msg. a couple of times (on which posts, I couldn't say), and just assumed it had something to do with my dicey wifi connection. I didn't even read the message, I just assumed it was your standard "page not found" type thing. Which it may have been.

 

Let's see if this goes thru since I haven't misspelled domin*trix ... twice ... :smile: Nope, as you can see, misspelling req'd. Huh.

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Near as I understand it, there are two separate filters.

 

The "naughty word" filter generally just replaces the offending term with a bleeped version (though the person who posted it may still see the original).  It seems to specialize in the basic "bad" words -- you know, the sort of language that used to get your mouth washed out with soap.

 

The "Forbidden" error filter is different, and seems to specialize in spam detection (or in some cases, over-detection).  Since "domin*trix" triggers this error, the filter apparently thinks people on this forum are offering their services!

 

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I just checked with the forum's advanced search, and yes, we were formerly able to use the D-word.  The most recent example occurred on January 15 of this year.

 

The entire "Forbidden" error thing seems to be fairly new as well, so I'm guessing that it came in with the forum-software update on January 28th.

 

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...Since "domin*trix" triggers this error, the filter apparently thinks people on this forum are offering their services!

:blink:
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Hmm, it seems this darn thing also does it's "thing" on profile pages as well.

Since my page reads, and has always read:

"Irene Alder, known professionally as The Woman, flirts AT Sherlock Holmes.
She’s not dead, and she wants to have dinner.
She’ll take you and make you beg for mercy, twice;
She provides "recreational scolding" for those that are willing to pay for it.
There are many names for what she does but she prefers Domin8trix
."

So as you see I've gotten into some trouble as well with our filter.

Oh well, Domin8trix will just have to do...

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Apparently it's the same edit software, regardless of whether you're posting in a thread, in a private message, or on your own profile page.  The "anti-spam feature" was added just this past January, which explains why you had trouble editing your profile, even though the "offending" word had been there all along.

 

Creative spelling, by the way!

 

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Yesterday I got a Forbidden 404 error for attempting to post "animal vide0" (with an o instead of the zero, of course).

 

Took me a few tries to figure out what part of my post it was objecting to!

 

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Yesterday I got a Forbidden 404 error for attempting to post "animal vide0" (with an o instead of the zero, of course).

 

Took me a few tries to figure out what part of my post it was objecting to!

 

So the filter doesn't like the combination of the words video and animal?

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Apparently! Hmmm, I wonder if I can get away with writing something even more offensive :D such as "cat video" ......

 

Yup, I can! :p

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  • 3 weeks later...

Another 404. First it is a smooth sailing but once I try to edit, I get the error page. http://www.sherlockforum.com/forum/topic/2800-i-dont-usually-read-whatever-but/page-13?do=findComment&comment=70043

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Hmmm. What are you trying to edit it to say? I wonder if you can PM it to me without triggering the error, if so maybe we can figure this out.

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