Maybe “attempted” would be more accurate? I personally don’t mind the “bad”, I get what is meant by it.

But since we’re talking about accuracy: I don’t agree on redactions being binary. You can redact with a pen that under certain lighting still reveals the text; you can redact parts that are easy to reconstruct when you have additional information; you can redact with a pen color that over time loses its function; etc. The “perfect” redaction would perhaps leave no clues as to even how much text was redacted? It seems to depend on the goal and context of the redaction, whether it achieves its purpose or not.