Viewing abuse filter 8: Repeating characters

Filter parameters

Filter ID:	8
Description: (publicly viewable)
Conditions:	!"confirmed" in user_groups & ( page_namespace == 0 & ( ( rmwhitespace(added_lines) rlike "([^_:.,'\|=#}{0 -]{1,9})\1{7}" \| added_lines rlike "[bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxz]{9,}" ) & ( ! rmwhitespace(removed_lines) rlike "([^_:.,'\|=#}{-]{1,9})\1{6}" & ! removed_lines rlike "[bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxz]{8,}" & ! added_lines rlike "https?:\/\/\S([^_:'\|=}{-]{1,9})\1{7}\|https?:\/\/\S[bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxz]{7,}\|(^\|\n)[\|!]" & ! added_lines irlike "number\|spell\|math\|string\|<br\b\|begin\|end(?:if\|while\|for){0,1}\b" & ! added_lines rlike "[\W\d]\.\d(\d{1,9})\1{7}" & ! page_title irlike "number" ) ) ) !"confirmed" in user_groups & ( page_namespace == 0 & ( ( rmwhitespace(added_lines) rlike "([^_:.,'\|=#}{0 -]{1,9})\1{7}" \| added_lines rlike "[bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxz]{9,}" ) & ( ! rmwhitespace(removed_lines) rlike "([^_:.,'\|=#}{-]{1,9})\1{6}" & ! removed_lines rlike "[bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxz]{8,}" & ! added_lines rlike "https?:\/\/\S([^_:'\|=}{-]{1,9})\1{7}\|https?:\/\/\S[bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxz]{7,}\|(^\|\n)[\|!]" & ! added_lines irlike "number\|spell\|math\|string\|<br\b\|begin\|end(?:if\|while\|for){0,1}\b" & ! added_lines rlike "[\W\d]\.\d(\d{1,9})\1{7}" & ! page_title irlike "number" ) ) )
Notes:	Original from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:AbuseFilter/135) Catch copy/paste vandalism like hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. --Wknight94 This doesn't need to be private. -BJ This has far too many false positives to be set to disallow... Not to mention that it seems to block people from using "..." and "'''''" (for bold/italic), amongst other things. --Conti It can at least warn. "'''''''" problem is fixed now. Added curly brace exception too. Need example of "..." since at least 7 occurrences are needed to trigger. --Wknight94 Changed title to something more neutral. --Conti Too many false positives - mostly in reference URLs. Unless someone has a clever way to fix, this is causing more harm than good IMHO. Agreed, please do not enable this filter without substantial changes, and substantial log only testing. -Prodego removing the quote, it was triggered by '''xxxx''' in certain cases -- Luk The filter should ignore urls. - Ruslik Ignoring all edits with URLs in them isn't a good idea. I've made it a bit more complex, actually checking if a link contains repeating chars. If any added link contains added chars, it stops. Theoretically we could do all sorts of counting to make sure there isn't a link with repeating chars AND other repeating chars, but I think that would just eat away at needless conditions, considering it is likely very rare. -Prodego Turning out not to be too useful and the filter is overwrought now. Disabling. -Wknight94 Merged testing edit summary from 292 - Shirik 12 Feb 2010 Optimized summary block - Shirik 12 Feb 2010 ignoring if repeated chars was already there, per request -- Jun 18, Soap Merge filter 366 into this. – Oct 28, EdoDodo Filter tripped the rate limit. I reset it; I didn't see any FPs. -- Shirik 7 Nov 2010 Reset rate limit. - KoH 10 Mar 2011 Simplify. -Sole Soul Ignore zero - FPs. --Reaper 2012-05-25 Format. -DF - Replace deprecated parameters - Xa Ignore repeated # too. -G 2019-12-21 Set to disallow per [[Special:PermaLink/932138447#Set_filter_135_(Repeating_characters)_to_disallow?]] -G 2019-12-24 Exempt commas, used in table formatting. - KoH 2020-04-15 Exclude repeating decimals like 10.216666666666667. Based on a change suggested by Tamzin. --Suffusion of Yellow 20:00 1 Apr 2022 == for comparison! --TNT Excluding "begin" and "end" (and related valid pseudocode terms, like "endif", "endwhile", and "endfor") to avoid false positives relating to nested begin-end loops inside (pseudo-)code blocks (see: [[Special:AbuseLog/35527217]] and [[Special:Diff/1165729932]]) -- RTH 16 July 2023
Flags:	Hide details of this filter from public view Enable this filter I understand that details of this filter will be hidden from users who cannot see [https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:AbuseFilter/Rules_format#Protected_variables protected variables] Mark as deleted
Filter last modified:	14:17, 10 August 2025 by Sammyrms1 (talk \| contribs)
History:	View this filter's history
Tools:	Export this filter to another wiki {"data":{"rules":"!\"confirmed\" in user_groups \u0026\r\n( \r\n page_namespace == 0 \u0026\r\n ( \r\n ( \r\n rmwhitespace(added_lines) rlike \"([^_:.,'\|=#}{0 -]{1,9})\\1{7}\" \|\r\n added_lines rlike \"[bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxz]{9,}\"\r\n ) \u0026 \r\n (\r\n ! rmwhitespace(removed_lines) rlike \"([^_:.,'\|=#}{-]{1,9})\\1{6}\" \u0026 \r\n ! removed_lines rlike \"[bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxz]{8,}\" \u0026 \r\n ! added_lines rlike \"https?:\\/\\/\\S([^_:'\|=}{-]{1,9})\\1{7}\|https?:\\/\\/\\S[bcdfghjklmnpqrstvwxz]{7,}\|(^\|\\n)[\|!]\" \u0026 \r\n ! added_lines irlike \"number\|spell\|math\|string\|\u003Cbr\\b\|begin\|end(?:if\|while\|for){0,1}\\b\" \u0026\r\n ! added_lines rlike \"[\\W\\d]\\.\\d(\\d{1,9})\\1{7}\" \u0026\r\n ! page_title irlike \"number\"\r\n )\r\n )\r\n)","name":"Repeating characters","comments":"Original from Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:AbuseFilter/135)\r\n\r\nCatch copy/paste vandalism like hahahahahahahahahahahahaha. --Wknight94\r\n\r\nThis doesn't need to be private. -BJ\r\n\r\nThis has far too many false positives to be set to disallow... Not to mention that it seems to block people from using \"...\" and \"'''''\" (for bold/italic), amongst other things. --Conti\r\n\r\nIt can at least warn. \"'''''''\" problem is fixed now. Added curly brace exception too. Need example of \"...\" since at least 7 occurrences are needed to trigger. --Wknight94\r\n\r\nChanged title to something more neutral. --Conti\r\n\r\nToo many false positives - mostly in reference URLs. Unless someone has a clever way to fix, this is causing more harm than good IMHO.\r\n\r\nAgreed, please do not enable this filter without substantial changes, and substantial log only testing. -Prodego\r\n\r\nremoving the quote, it was triggered by '''xxxx''' in certain cases -- Luk\r\nThe filter should ignore urls. - Ruslik\r\n\r\nIgnoring all edits with URLs in them isn't a good idea. I've made it a bit more complex, actually checking if a link contains repeating chars. If any added link contains added chars, it stops. Theoretically we could do all sorts of counting to make sure there isn't a link with repeating chars AND other repeating chars, but I think that would just eat away at needless conditions, considering it is likely very rare. -Prodego\r\n\r\nTurning out not to be too useful and the filter is overwrought now. Disabling. -Wknight94\r\nMerged testing edit summary from 292 - Shirik 12 Feb 2010\r\nOptimized summary block - Shirik 12 Feb 2010\r\nignoring if repeated chars was already there, per request -- Jun 18, Soap\r\n\r\nMerge filter 366 into this. \u2013\u00a0Oct 28, EdoDodo\r\nFilter tripped the rate limit. I reset it; I didn't see any FPs. -- Shirik 7 Nov 2010\r\nReset rate limit. - KoH 10 Mar 2011\r\n\r\nSimplify. -Sole Soul\r\n\r\nIgnore zero - FPs. --Reaper 2012-05-25\r\n\r\nFormat. -DF\r\n\r\n- Replace deprecated parameters - Xa\r\n\r\nIgnore repeated # too. -G 2019-12-21\r\n\r\nSet to disallow per [[Special:PermaLink/932138447#Set_filter_135_(Repeating_characters)_to_disallow?]] -G 2019-12-24\r\n\r\nExempt commas, used in table formatting. - KoH 2020-04-15\r\n\r\nExclude repeating decimals like 10.216666666666667. Based on a change suggested by Tamzin. --Suffusion of Yellow 20:00 1 Apr 2022\r\n\r\n== for comparison! --TNT\r\n\r\nExcluding \"begin\" and \"end\" (and related valid pseudocode terms, like \"endif\", \"endwhile\", and \"endfor\") to avoid false positives relating to nested begin-end loops inside (pseudo-)code blocks (see: [[Special:AbuseLog/35527217]] and [[Special:Diff/1165729932]]) -- RTH 16 July 2023","group":"default","actions":{"disallow":["abusefilter-disallowed"]},"enabled":true,"deleted":false,"privacylevel":0,"global":false},"actions":{"disallow":["abusefilter-disallowed"]}}

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