Forums Censure Pro

An open forum attracts insults and links nobody wanted to read

Once a forum starts getting traffic, two kinds of posts show up that nobody wants published: insults and links from people who only come to promote themselves. Moderating by hand means the content was already visible before anyone reviewed it. Forums Censure Pro acts first: it filters posts before they are shown to other users.

A forum doesn't fall apart all at once. It declines when regular members see offensive content or spam sitting in view for hours, and quietly stop taking part. Community managers tend to measure new posts, but not the ones that never got written because of the atmosphere.

What Forums Censure Pro does when it detects a word or a link

It works with wpForo and with bbPress. It is not a wpForo addon but a standalone WordPress plugin, so you don't need wpForo installed to use it with bbPress.

• Banned words: you can load them from a .txt file, type them in by hand in the settings, or use the list the plugin already includes, which you can edit. If the file follows the words-en_US.txt format, the default words for the WordPress language are imported.
• Replacement: each word can be swapped for another predefined one, for a global word, or for an image, with configurable width and height. You can assign a different image to each word or a single one for all of them.
• Action on the post: ignore it, send it to pending moderation, mark it as spam or move it to the trash. There is also pre-submit validation, which stops the post from being published before it exists.
• External links: the same actions apply to posts with external URLs, and you can create a list of allowed domains.
• User blocking: for X days, which you set, if they post banned words or external links. There is also a hard block by IP or email.
• Alerts: email notification when an unwanted post comes in.

What it doesn't do

It doesn't tell users why their post was blocked: you can't show a notice such as "this link is not allowed" or "comment without swear words". It also doesn't protect blog post comments: a different plugin, Comments Censure Pro, exists for that. And it isn't included in the wpForo addon bundle, precisely because it is a WordPress plugin and not an addon.

Frequently asked questions

Does it come with words already loaded?

Yes, it includes a list you can add to, remove from or edit, plus an importer for your own phrases.

Can I replace a word with an HTML link?

In a buyer's question, the support team answered that it should work. Test it on your forum before building a strategy on it, for example with affiliate links.

Does it work if I use bbPress and not wpForo?

Yes, it is compatible with both.

Does it also filter email content?

Yes, it filters email content.

How to choose between moderating, sending to spam or blocking

The actions don't cost your community the same. Sending to pending moderation is the safest option if you have members who sometimes go too far: you decide afterwards. Spam or trash suit external links from newly registered users better. Blocking for days is useful for repeat offenders, but a mistake in the word list can punish someone who didn't deserve it, so start with mild actions.

Start with a small list and check the blocks from day one

The blocked users page shows IP, email, reason and start and end dates, with control buttons. It is your safety net: review it during the first days to spot false positives. If your forum is multilingual, the front-end texts can be translated. And if your community uses words that are normal in one context and offensive in another, test the list with real posts before turning on automatic blocking.