Students very rarely post inappropriate or abusive content on class Boards. On reflection, this is unsurprising; students know that their board activity is monitored by their instructor and peers, and they know their behavior has consequences—anything from revoked points to disciplinary action.
For added peace of mind, instructors can block specific words from their boards. There are no formal restrictions on which words can be blocked, but instructors should keep a few things in mind when deciding which words (if any) they will block:
- Yellowdig's word-blocker is oblivious to context. If an instructor bans a word that is vulgar in some contexts and benign in others, all posts that contain the word will be banned, including posts in which the word is used innocuously.
- The word-blocker identifies banned words by string, not by word unit. If an instructor bans the word "test", posts that contain any of the following words will also be banned: "testing", "attest", "intestine", and so on.
- Posts that contain banned words are blocked altogether. If a student attempts to submit a post featuring a banned word, they will be notified immediately, and they will have the opportunity to submit an edited version of their post. The original post featuring the banned word will never be submitted, and neither the student nor the instructor will have record of the original post.
To ban a word from your board, follow these steps:
- Open the Settings tab.
- Navigate to Forbidden Words.
- Select + add forbidden word.
- Enter the forbidden word, and click the green floppy disk symbol to save.
