Not a bug 𝐍𝐨𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐞𝐱𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝

[smozgur]

Affected version

2.2

Please see the title of this thread especially in the thread listing, then on the browser tab, and address field in the thread view.

Although same thing happens on many other forum software including StackOverflow, I am calling this as "bug" because it simply ruins the style that we set up.

When someone copy and paste a unicode string, then it is possible to change the thread listing font family and style.

It affects the thread listing style:


It also affects the browser tab caption (same for different browsers).


It even affects how the URL is displayed in the browser address field.


Naturally, just because it is saved in the database title field as it was copied and pasted, the browser renders it accordingly.

However, I strongly believe this is an undesirable result. I really don't prefer members create threads by using a different font other than the forum style.

In XenForo, is there a way avoiding this (in case I am somehow missing it) or do you possibly consider sanitizing the title field for this matter?

Thanks.

Note: I also created a demo forum to reproduce this behavior but I think it is not necessary since it is easily visible here as a live sample.

 

[smozgur]

Note: I intentionally didn't use the font in the following screenshot here to demonstrate the issue, but I hope I was able to explain my problem and why I call this as bug.

And please feel free to edit my thread to change the font to keep the bugs forum thread listing consistent.

 

[Chris D]

It’s non standard text in the same way that emoji is non standard text.

We do very little filtering of text content as there is a myriad of characters outside of the typical ASCII space that have special uses or meanings in various languages or contexts. Filtering certain things out may solve this perceived ”problem” but introduce others.

If you don’t want this to be used on your forum then you can edit the titles of threads and ask users not to use those characters and use the disciplinary features if a user continues to break that rule.

But we’re not planning to make any changes in the software here.

 

[smozgur]

We do very little filtering of text content as there is a myriad of characters outside of the typical ASCII space that have special uses or meanings in various languages or contexts. Filtering certain things out may solve this perceived ”problem” but introduce others.

I was referring to the title field only. Seeing the URL in the address bar surprised me because of the good old days that URLs consisted of only standard characters.

If you don’t want this to be used on your forum then you can edit the titles of threads and ask users not to use those characters and use the disciplinary features if a user continues to break that rule.

We should only hope not many people find this annoyance as "fun".

But we’re not planning to make any changes in the software here.

I understand. Still, I think I will post a suggestion to see if there are other XenForo customers who see this as a problem like me. Perhaps you might consider adding an optional configuration/setting for this purpose in the future.

Thank you.

 

[FTL]

Perhaps you might consider adding an optional configuration/setting for this purpose in the future.

That's what I was thinking. Make it filter out everything except regular characters down to plain text to avoid funny formatting.

 

[AndyB]

You might like this add-on:

https://xenforo.com/community/resources/thread-title-manager.8176/

 

[nocte]

It even affects how the URL is displayed in the browser address field.

In "Setup -> Options -> Basic Options" you will find this setting:



That will at least work for the url's (i.e. it will remove all non-latin characters).

 

[smozgur]

Can you believe there are some websites for this purpose and people are doing this to highlight their question titles!

𝐋𝐞𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐬 en negrita (𝕃𝕖𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕤 𝒏𝒆𝒈𝒓𝒐 con simbolos)

Tienes algo importante a decir? Realza tu texto con el uso de mi generador para convertir texto en texto grueso de pizarra. Me refiero a 𝕋𝕖𝕩𝕥𝕠 𝕘𝕣𝕦𝕖𝕤𝕠 𝕕𝕖 𝕡𝕚𝕫𝕒𝕣𝕣𝕒!

fsymbols.com

I understand this is "by design" and titles could include innocent smiles, however, it could become a nightmare for large forums if it becomes something viral, and I really believe it should be controlled by a setting, "Romanize titles.", instead of forcing us to find or build an add-on for this purpose.

 

[Chris D]

Yeah sorry nothing will really change our view on this. Just deal with it by way of moderation and rule enforcement etc.

You can post a suggestion if you wish but it won’t be dealt with as a bug report.

 

[smozgur]

Yeah sorry nothing will really change our view on this. Just deal with it by way of moderation and rule enforcement etc.

You can post a suggestion if you wish but it won’t be dealt with as a bug report.

Yes, different languages. You are right about dealing with it by moderation. Thanks again.