1. A system comprising: one or more devices to: receive a word, of a block of words within traffic, on which to perform a forward error correction operation, the word including a plurality of samples, each one of the plurality of samples including respective encoded bits and respective reliability bits, the respective reliability bits corresponding to a respective level of reliability of the respective encoded bits, select, in a random manner, a first subset of samples of the plurality of samples, identify one or more first samples, from the first subset, associated with one or more of lowest reliability bits within the first subset, select a second subset of samples of the plurality of samples, identify one or more second samples, from the second subset, associated with one or more of lowest reliability bits within the second subset, create a first merged subset based on selected one or more first samples and on selected one or more second samples, select a third subset of samples of the plurality of samples, identify one or more third samples, from the third subset, associated with one or more of lowest reliability bits within the third subset, identify two or more fourth samples, from the first merged subset, associated with one or more of lowest reliability bits within the first merged subset, create a second merged subset based on selected one or more third samples and on selected two or more fourth samples, the selected one or more third samples being fewer than the selected two or more fourth samples, and each of the two or more fourth samples corresponding to an equal probability of being associated with the first subset or the second subset, generate one or more candidates words based on one or more samples from the second merged subset, and process the word using the one or more candidate words.