Excluding url parameters does not prevent them from being written in piwik_log_visit.referer_url

I have added URL parameters to the global exclude list based on How do I exclude URL query parameters from the URLs tracked, and from Pages reports? - Analytics Platform - Matomo. However, the parameters are still being written into the db.

Specifically I’m trying to avoid certain parameters being written to the referer_url column in piwik_log_visit.

The FAQ language “When you specify one or several parameters to exclude from your URLs, note that it will only affect data going forward. (URL parameters will not be removed from your historical data and reports)” implies that when I add parameters to ‘Settings / Websites / Settings / Global list of Query URL parameters to exclude’, those parameters should not be included going forward.

I updated approximately one week ago to block a set of parameters, but they are still being recorded in the db.

Have I misunderstood the way that this function operates? Is there another way to prevent specific parameters from being written to the db?

I think you misunderstood something, this feature can exclude parameters from the tracked url, not values from parameters.

So if you add foobar to the exclude list, the following url https://example.de/?siteid=1&foobar=1&referer_url=foobar will be tracked as https://example.de/?siteid=1&referer_url=foobar.

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Thanks very much for the quick reply. The suggestion would be perfect, but doesn’t currently work.

In my db I have https://www.mysite.com/resultpage?foobar=true&otherparam=random

I would like to have https://www.mysite.com/resultpage?otherparam=random

I have added foobar to the “Global list of Query URL parameters to exclude”, and data recorded after that update still shows https://www.mysite.com/resultpage?foobar=true&otherparam=random.

I am using a hosted instance install of Matomo 3.2.0.

Any suggestions?