diff --git a/plugins/Blacklist/BlacklistPlugin.php b/plugins/Blacklist/BlacklistPlugin.php
index adc4d9d7e2..63bffe2c6f 100644
--- a/plugins/Blacklist/BlacklistPlugin.php
+++ b/plugins/Blacklist/BlacklistPlugin.php
@@ -262,7 +262,7 @@ class BlacklistPlugin extends Plugin
         $patterns = $this->_getUrlPatterns();
 
         foreach ($patterns as $pattern) {
-            if (preg_match("/$pattern/", $url)) {
+            if ($pattern != '' && preg_match("/$pattern/", $url)) {
                 return false;
             }
         }
@@ -285,7 +285,7 @@ class BlacklistPlugin extends Plugin
         $patterns = $this->_getNicknamePatterns();
 
         foreach ($patterns as $pattern) {
-            if (preg_match("/$pattern/", $nickname)) {
+            if ($pattern != '' && preg_match("/$pattern/", $nickname)) {
                 return false;
             }
         }
diff --git a/plugins/Blacklist/blacklistadminpanel.php b/plugins/Blacklist/blacklistadminpanel.php
index b996aba8dc..23c503cd82 100644
--- a/plugins/Blacklist/blacklistadminpanel.php
+++ b/plugins/Blacklist/blacklistadminpanel.php
@@ -88,28 +88,27 @@ class BlacklistadminpanelAction extends AdminPanelAction
 
     function saveSettings()
     {
-        $nickPatterns = array();
-
-        $rawNickPatterns = explode("\n", $this->trimmed('blacklist-nicknames'));
-
-        foreach ($rawNickPatterns as $raw) {
-            $nickPatterns[] = trim($raw);
-        }
-
+        $nickPatterns = $this->splitPatterns($this->trimmed('blacklist-nicknames'));
         Nickname_blacklist::saveNew($nickPatterns);
 
-        $rawUrlPatterns = explode("\n", $this->trimmed('blacklist-urls'));
-        $urlPatterns  = array();
-
-        foreach ($rawUrlPatterns as $raw) {
-            $urlPatterns[] = trim($raw);
-        }
-
+        $urlPatterns = $this->splitPatterns($this->trimmed('url-nicknames'));
         Homepage_blacklist::saveNew($urlPatterns);
 
         return;
     }
 
+    protected function splitPatterns($text)
+    {
+        $patterns = array();
+        foreach (explode("\n", $text) as $raw) {
+            $trimmed = trim($raw);
+            if ($trimmed != '') {
+                $patterns[] = $trimmed;
+            }
+        }
+        return $patterns;
+    }
+
     /**
      * Validate the values
      *