There’s no need to filter search terms when you can filter the links when they’re distributed.
Original: People - Roblox
Filtered: People - Roblox
Original: People - Roblox
Filtered: ###########################################
Original: Discover - Roblox
Filtered: ################################################
Case and point. Filter the spread of the url, like above, and not the actual search term.
Here, go to https://www.roblox.com/. Filter averted. That’s too ineffective of a reason for search terms to be filtered.
It should filter the display of the query and not the query itself. If it wants to filter “builderman” then it should still show the results for the search query “builderman” but it should say “Showing search results for ##########” instead.
You’re grasping at straws here. “But technically… the address bar isn’t the site”, “But technically… it leads to the roblox.com domain”, “But technically…” The semantics you’re arguing for are a really weak reasoning to filter search terms. If that truly was the reason, ROBLOX could have selectively filtered links users went to directly rather than all search terms. If ROBLOX filtered search because they specifically didn’t want profanity on their domain, they would have filtered more than the main site’s searches as well.
Yeah, but there’s no parental requirement for signing up as an under 13 user on ROBLOX. In general, it’s a hassle to get parental consent from every user under the age of 13 on your website, so the “unless you have parental consent” is effectively disregarded in most companies.
Sorry to necro, but I 100% agree with removing the filter from the search bar, especially for 13+ users (like me). I do not see why it is filtered, as it is a client-sided feature. No one else can see your search except you. Here are reasons why it should be removed:
Some devforum members have been saying that if someone searches up an inappropriate word, they can get inappropriate results. Most inappropriate items (assets, shirts, etc) are NOT named after what they describe or any bad word. Besides, to be COPPA compliant, Roblox could just not collect search results and data, at least from <13 users and it would save data space.
There is literally no reason why I, an adult, can not find things in the library or catalog because the words aren’t part of roblox’s extremely small clean word library.
There is no reason why I should not be able to search “scabbard” to find models of scabbards (where they are named scabbard) and be greeted with hashtags instead and an empty results list.
There is literally no reason why I should not be able to find some clothing because it has a foreign word or name in it.
For all of the good changes roblox is making in both the development realm and the child safety realm, I won’t be able to respect it as a true and capable game development platform if imaginative and creative freedom is shackled by the legality presented when a game is marketed as a kid’s game.
If you think about what EchoReaper said in his first post, this is currently possible.
Imagine you could search for “Jailbreak” and then replace Jailbreak with a swear word in the query. So it’s already possible. I don’t know if it’s possible to post that with the swear word in it but you can do it right now.
So, if you google a bad word and take a screenshot of it, you can say “Google is inappropiate and bad!”?
Definitely sounds silly when you phrase it that way, but Google’s systems are generally better understood by parents than the Roblox website, because parents actually use Google themselves. Google is much more ubiquitously present compared to Roblox. I can easily see how a parent could be taken aback by a screenshot of the Roblox website showing bad words when they know they’ve set their child’s privacy and safety settings a certain way.
I’m not sure if that’s for sure the reason searches are filtered though. 
If that were / is the case, then why can’t Roblox just have filters only occur for accounts that are 13-?
I personally believe searches shouldn’t be filtered at all, but if the intention is to prevent children from seeing words they put in themselves and parents thinking wrong about Roblox because of it, at least have it unexistent for 13+ accounts.
But honestly, an even better solution would be to simply still show the results of the search, but filter the search where it is displayed.
Besides, you can already do things like this (although I’m not sure if it’s intentional)…:
Most inappropriate results (e.g. “bypassed” decals) get deleted in a few days and are often NOT named after what they constitute. So searching up something bad really has no harm (unless you’re <13,where you’re not supposed to learn swear words).
Roblox’s endless obsession with purging their website of anything resembling “profanity” is really starting to cross the line in this situation. Filtering the search bar? Have things really become this bad? People should be able to perform tasks as basic as using the search bar without disturbance of this obnoxious puritan censorship.
I understand the filtering of chat messages, but the search bar is something that only the user themselves will be viewing and I see no possible reason for a filter to exist here. At the very least, 13+ users should be provided with an option to have unfiltered access to the website. And if curse words are really that much of a horrible offense to you, is it really the smartest idea to be participating in an online chat, filled with people you don’t know or trust? Just simply close the chat and let everyone else enjoy a functional messaging system without the existence of a deranged content filter. Ultimately, from a philosophical standpoint - “curse” words only have as much meaning as you give them, and trying to rid the world of them is not a rational solution to the real problem at hand.
Realistically speaking, Roblox probably won’t do much about this, because their political image seems to be quite a bit more important than user satisfaction.
I can set my alt’s alias to “F***”, why shouldn’t I be able to search with that?
Search query isn’t visible to others and alias is the same. Why to filter the other one only then? Makes 0 sense.
This isn’t new, this has been a thing for several years FYI. It sucks that it has to be filtered, but if you haven’t noticed it before, then the UX impact must be pretty minimal.
The issue here I am referring to is Roblox’s complete lack of regard or transparency on such a simple problem (at least to my knowledge) which affects a fundamental part of the user experience on the website. The fact that we have to resort to hacky workarounds like using google for basic content searches on Roblox is a major problem especially considering how easily they could send a staff member to shed some light on the issue or just fix it altogether - of which they simply have not bothered to do for several years apparently. It’s that classy corporate attitude that Roblox has developed over the years that I do not remember seeing much of in previous times.
What you search is visible to you and possibly a third-party (specifically scorecardresearch) that Roblox has deals set-up with, and any human being in that company is mature enough to read swear words in searches. If humans are reading your searches at all (most likely, a bot is).
You were probably right about that.
Still, the people (if any?) reviewing your searches are mature enough to read swear words in the searches. The only people that can read your searches are you, Scorecard Research employees, Roblox Admins, and hackers.
Isn’t the point of filter searches to keep you from accessing what you looked up and has nothing to do with third party / anyone else seeing what you typed up? Everyone is right here, nobody but you (probably) will see what you typed up. I don’t think that’s what Roblox is attempting to prevent.
The filter, from my understanding, is attempting to block a group/community/users (whether by themselves or others) from forming harmful information. If the word “frick” is censored (it’s not really, but for the sake of conversation let’s say it is) then it’s obviously to block users from accessing what they tried to search up for, not trying to make it where someone might see what you searched up.
I’ve typed up a LOT of words in the library for models, and not one has censored besides common swear words (obviously). I’ve searched up some of the following key words: KKK, frick, Discord, ww3, war world 3, 666, cult, gore, reproductive organs (lol), uterus (wasn’t blocked but no results either) - but this wasn’t all I searched up, but just important examples I thought I’d show.
I’m actually unsure what people mean that it’s so unbearable (or that’s how it’s coming off) to use the search filter for developers. I’ve actually ran into 0 issues as of writing this in March 31st, 2020. I’m actually curious what keywords people are struggling with? As you can see in the small list I’ve provided, they ALL worked.
Edit: This post might’ve been needed in 2017, but from me spending a while typing in both common and “offensive” words (using that word lightly) - I have ran into zero issues. Not sure why this thread is being bumped the way it is, if people could give better details on what’s preventing them from using the search filter then it would help people understand what the big issue is. So far, all I can see is people are upset they can’t type swear words into the search bar, which shouldn’t be removed? I’m not sure you would even want to do that or why would Roblox ever remove that, just because you’re 13+.
To add on to my previous response, it is usernames in particular that a lot of people are having issues with. A username that Roblox’s filters (laughably) determines as inappropriate will not show up if searched for. For example I recently assisted somebody on the Developer Forum named “skilpus3000” – now, I can see why their username was flagged (although the username itself is not inappropriate) – but searching for them on the main website itself was impossible due to this bug.
