This will work right?
 

UPDATE thread
SET title = REPLACE(title, '++++','****')

UPDATE post
SET pagetext = REPLACE(pagetext, '++++','****')

Obviously I want to replace the f-word shown as ++++ here, in the database with asterisks, just wanted to have the query checked to be sure.

Additional question: can I do this without overloading the page for manual queries in ACP? It's an 8 million post database on an owned server with only this one forum running.

That should work yes, but you should always make a backup before doing a risky UPDATE statement.

It's hard to say if the server gets overloaded, it kind of depends on the server specifications and the configuration of the MySQL server.

Ok tried it, titles work, posts takes too long (504 error). I've got the backup. Thanks Dave

In case you're on a VPS or dedicated server, login into mysqladmin on the server and execute i t there. That way you will not face a timeout.

Yes works, tnx again

you can make your forum broken by changing like that :)