very strange!
I'm running v1.7.5 in English, and got no problems with any of 'socialist, socialists, socialism'.
I added 'socialis' to my banlist -> posting was refused -> removed it -> posting was possible.

There is just one section of the source (>1.6) checking entries for banned words in the database, namely a couple of lines in 'posting.php'

The code is identical in all versions within 1.6.2 and 1.7.5; so I don't see why you are facing this problem. Maybe you should check the table 'forum_banlists' in your database...

Thanks, Alfie. I checked the code and it is identical to the one you pasted. I also checked the table, and there's no socialism (the word, I mean ) there. So there seems to be nothing stopping that word. Yet, I still get the error trying to submit a message...

Per