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How to Use Blocklists and Whitelists in TrollWall AI

Create custom blocklists & whitelists: enhance moderation with brand-specific keywords, subscription/account levels, and best practices.

Filip Strycko avatar
Written by Filip Strycko
Updated over 2 months ago

Overview

TrollWall allows you to create custom keyword lists to enhance your moderation with specific terms relevant to your brand and community. You can set up both blocked keywords (terms that should always be hidden) and whitelisted keywords (terms that should never be hidden).

Understanding Keyword Lists

Blocked Keywords (Blocklist)

Automatically hide comments containing specific words or phrases that are inappropriate for your community, even if TrollWall's AI might not flag them as problematic.

Whitelisted Keywords (Whitelist)

Prevent comments containing certain words from being hidden, even if TrollWall's AI would normally flag them. This is useful for industry-specific terms or brand names that might be misinterpreted.

Setting Up Keyword Lists

Subscription Level (Global)

  • Applies to: All social media accounts within your subscription

  • Use for: Company-wide policies, brand-specific terms, universal inappropriate content

  • Access: Managed through subscription settings

Account Level (Individual)

  • Applies to: Only the specific social media account

  • Use for: Account-specific content, platform-specific terminology, audience-specific moderation

  • Access: Found in Account Settings → Detectors tab

Combining Both Levels

In Account Settings under the Detectors tab, you'll find a checkbox: "Include also subscription's Blocked keywords"

  • Checked: Account uses both subscription-level AND account-level keyword lists

  • Unchecked: Account uses only its individual keyword list

The same applies to whitelisted keywords.

Keyword Format Guidelines

Accepted Formats

Individual Words: Separate multiple words with commas

  • Example: spam, scam, fake, bot

Complete Phrases: Enter entire phrases to match exact expressions

  • Example: get rich quick, click here now, limited time offer

Emojis: Include problematic emoji combinations

  • Example: 🖕, 💩, 🤬

Important Matching Rules

Case Insensitive: Keywords work regardless of capitalization

  • Keyword: badword

  • Matches: BADWORD, BadWord, bAdWoRd

Diacritic Insensitive: Accented characters are recognized

  • Keyword: badword

  • Matches: bädwörd, bàdwòrd

Exact Word Matching: Only exact matches are caught

  • Keyword: bad

  • Matches: bad ✅

  • Doesn't match: badly, badder, embad ❌

Character Limitations

When creating keyword lists, you can use letters, numbers, emojis, and the following special characters: .,-:/ *@'._

Other special characters and symbols are not supported and may prevent your keywords from working correctly. If you need to block content containing unsupported characters, consider using partial keywords or phrases that contain only the allowed characters.

If this does not help, feel free to contact us and we will do our best to help you setting up your keywords.

Best Practices

Creating Effective Blocklists

  1. Include variations: Add plural forms, common misspellings, and variations

  2. Example: spam, spams, spamming, sp4m

  3. Consider context: Use phrases for context-specific blocking

  4. Instead of just free, use free money, get free

  5. Regular updates: Review and update lists based on new spam trends

Setting Up Whitelists

  1. Protect brand terms: Whitelist your company name, product names, industry terms

  2. Context-specific terms: Words that might trigger false positives in your industry

  3. Competitor mentions: Allow legitimate competitor discussions

Organizational Strategy

Subscription Level: Use for

  • Universal inappropriate content

  • Brand protection terms

  • Company-wide policies

Account Level: Use for

  • Platform-specific terms

  • Audience-specific content

  • Account-unique requirements

Examples

E-commerce Company Example

Subscription Blocklist: scam, fake product, ripoff, counterfeit Subscription Whitelist: [Brand Name], [Product Names], customer service

Instagram Account: Additional terms for younger audience Facebook Account: Additional terms for professional audience

Non-Profit Organization Example

Subscription Blocklist: hate, violence, discrimination Subscription Whitelist: [Organization Name], donations, volunteer, fundraising

Troubleshooting

If Keywords Aren't Working

  1. Check spelling: Ensure keywords are spelled correctly

  2. Verify format: Use commas to separate multiple terms

  3. Consider variations: Add different forms of the word

  4. Check inheritance: Verify if subscription keywords are enabled for the account

Common Mistakes to Avoid

  • Too broad terms: Avoid single letters or very common words

  • Missing variations: Don't forget plurals, past tense, common misspellings

  • Conflicting lists: Ensure whitelisted terms don't conflict with blocked terms

Managing Your Lists

Regular Maintenance

  • Review effectiveness: Check if blocked terms are catching unwanted content

  • Update for trends: Add new spam patterns and inappropriate terms

  • Clean up outdated terms: Remove keywords that are no longer relevant

Performance Monitoring

  • Monitor moderation results to see how keyword lists affect your community

  • Adjust lists based on false positives or missed content

  • Use TrollWall's analytics to understand keyword effectiveness

This keyword system gives you precise control over your community moderation while working alongside TrollWall's AI to create the perfect balance for your brand's online presence.

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