Tags | Security | Content | Blocklist |

ADMIN PRIVILEGES REQUIRED

This documentation is for Stack Overflow for Teams Enterprise. Free, Basic, and Business users can access their documentation here. Find your plan.

Stack Overflow for Teams Enterprise (SOE) has a Blocklist tool that allows you to create a list of specific words or phrases that the site will watch for as users submit text. If the Blocklist tool finds a match, it will warn the user or even block them from submitting what they wrote. Blocklist can watch for personally identifiable information (PII), passwords, security keys, profanity, and more.

NOTE: SOE's Blocklist is a rarely used feature with minimal controls. We recommend you use it in limited cases, to block just a few words or phrases. If not used with care, Blocklist could keep your users from entering text anywhere on your site.

SOE's Blocklist uses regular expressions (RegEx) patterns to perform flexible, case-insensitive matches. RegEx patterns can be tricky to write, so we suggest using the many tutorials and RegEx testers available online. We'll also list some specific patterns in the RegEx patterns section at the end of this article.

NOTE: Though this feature is now called "Blocklist", the URL and other areas of the tool still reference its original name: "Blacklist".

To access the Blocklist, go to https://[your_site]/developer/data-editor/Blacklist (admin access required). Here you'll add Blocklist entries in a table format. There's no limit to the number of entries you can create.

To create a new Blocklist entry, click add.
To edit an entry, click edit.
To delete an entry, click X.

To quickly set a datetime field to the current date and time, click set to utc now.

Each Blocklist entry has the following fields:

When Blocklist detects a prohibited string in the user's text entry, it will either warn the user or both warn and block the submission. In both cases, SOE displays the GuidanceText value.

Here's an example of the Warn MatchAction.

Here's an example of the Block MatchAction.

NOTE: Certain actions (edit, more), have an all sites checkbox. Check this box to make changes across your main Q&A area as well as any teams.

You can see Blocklist activity in the developer logs. Check the logs to make sure your Blocklist entries are matching the correct text (and nothing more).

Access the logs with these URLs:

Any standard RegEx pattern will work in the Blocklist, but proceed with caution. Blocklist entries are active as soon as you submit them, so an improperly formed pattern could keep your users from submitting text anywhere on the site.

We recommend starting new Blocklist entries with MatchAction set to Warn, switching to Block only after the pattern has been tested. You may also want to use an online RegEx tester before adding any new patterns to the list.

Below are some RegEx patterns you may find useful.