Multi-Tiered Safety Control System and Methods for Online Communities

A filtering method comprising:

• receiving a input phrase at an Internet-enabled computer system, the Internet-enabled computer comprising stored instructions for a plurality of automated filtering processes to identify at least one unacceptable text string that is not detectable by exact matching of at least a portion of the input phrase to a predetermined list of target strings and a predetermined list of target phrases;
• processing instructions of a first automated filtering process comparing at least a portion of the input phrase to at least one user defined predetermined list of target strings and phrases;
• processing instructions of a second automated filtering process transforming the input phrase to detect an unacceptable text string that is disguised using at least one character selected from a group of characters comprising:
• inserted letters, inserted spaces and inserted symbols;
• processing instructions of the second automated filtering process performing a preprocessing string manipulation on the input phrase that results in a group of alternate phrases and a group of alternate words, wherein the group of alternate phrases is matched to a list of target patterns that includes a plurality of words, a plurality of close spellings of words, and a plurality of permutations of words, wherein the group of alternate words is processed for matches to a list of target strings;
• and
• processing instructions of the second automated filtering process rejecting the input phrase when at least a portion of the input phrase matches at least one of a target pattern of the list of target patterns and a target string of the list of target strings.