Earlier this year, I made a difficult decision to temporarily remove a critical feature Urban Dictionary has had since 1999: voting on definitions.
As the internet changed, our voting system had become increasingly vulnerable to manipulation. What worked in 1999 doesn't work in 2025.
When the feature went offline, we heard from many of you: Urban Dictionary's democracy doesn't function without voting. You were right.
One person, one vote
As of election week, voting is back, but it works differently. We've rebuilt the system with modern anti-bot verification to ensure that every up and down vote comes from a real human, not from a machine.
The new voting process is a little slower, but it's worth it to ensure votes are real. The internet is flooded with AI-generated content. Urban Dictionary will continue to choose human authenticity over inflated numbers.
Urban Dictionary has always been about documenting modern language, and responding to the needs of the people who use it. Thank you for caring, noticing that something was missing, and for telling us about it.
Go vote!
Aaron
Urban Dictionary
For 25 years, Urban Dictionary has been the home of modern language. Now, with Urban Dictionary Promote, we're launching a simple way for you to advertise here.
How it works:
No confusing pricing or complicated targeting. Just pick a word and go.
We built this for indie brands, creators, and anyone who wants a straightforward way to advertise. Every ad is reviewed by our team.
When you're ready to try it, click here: urbandictionary.biz
❤️ Aaron and the Urban Dictionary Team
Urban Dictionary is not affiliated with any cryptocurrency, token, or blockchain project.
Recently, we’ve seen “Urban Dictionary” used as a category label for various meme coins and tokens on trading platforms. While we appreciate the role Urban Dictionary plays in internet culture, we do not endorse, support, or participate in any cryptocurrency projects.
We encourage everyone to exercise caution with speculative assets, especially those that reference popular brands or cultural platforms without authorization.
If you see any token claiming an official association with Urban Dictionary, please be aware that it is unauthorized and has no connection to us.
- Urban Dictionary Team
As a member of the Urban Dictionary team, I am incredibly frustrated and angry at the failure of political leaders to recommend masking to protect the immunocompromised and prevent the spread of long covid.
Masking has been shown to be effective in preventing the spread of covid-19, yet many political leaders continue to ignore the evidence and put people’s well-being at risk. This is unacceptable.
As an online-only web site, it may seem like the issue of covid-19 doesn't directly affect us. However, the reality is that the virus affects us all, whether we are online or offline. The spread of covid-19 can impact the overall health of our community.
Therefore, it is important for us to do our part in preventing the spread of the virus. This means wearing high-quality, well-fitting masks whenever we are in public.
Let's not wait for political leaders to do the right thing. Let's take action and protect ourselves and each other by wearing high-quality, well-fitting masks.
Sincerely,
Aaron Peckham
Urban Dictionary
Last year we blogged about Urban Dictionary’s focus on content moderation. We knew that sustaining the unique spirit of Urban Dictionary would require big changes. Here’s what we’ve changed, and what we haven’t changed, so far.
Definitions are no longer moderated by volunteers. Under the old system, a definition was published when a majority of volunteer moderators decided it was worth publishing. We appreciate our volunteer moderators’ work over the years. Over time, this system had become dominated by a loud minority who published abusive definitions and didn’t publish the good stuff.
We updated our public content guidelines, and detailed content guidelines, to clarify what’s okay on Urban Dictionary. Generally, a definition that describes an offensive or violent term is okay, but a definition that endorses or promotes an offensive or violent term is not okay.
We redeveloped our moderation system. Our own moderation team now reviews all newly-submitted and flagged definitions, and rejects definitions that violate our content guidelines. If you see a definition that violates our content guidelines, please flag it, and our moderation team will review it quickly.
This project is ongoing and we welcome your feedback. And if you’d like to join the moderation team, let us know.
Thank you,
Aaron Peckham
Urban Dictionary