Moderating forum content ensures a positive and productive community experience. Follow these steps to effectively moderate forum content.
User permissions and access
User access to forum features depends on their role (Viewer, Participant, Volunteer, Moderator, Admin). Here's a quick overview:
View & browse: All roles can see and read forum discussions.
Posting:
- Participants and above can start new discussions, reply, tag, and flag content.
- Participants are "Chapter members" or "category members" or "Event attendees"
- Viewers can't post or interact.
Edit/Delete own posts: Allowed for Participants and above.
Moderation actions:
- Moderators can lock topics, reply to locked topics, ban users, and approve flagged content.
- Admins can also delete or edit any post, and manage forum categories (add/edit/delete).
Posting without approval: Only Volunteers and above can post without being flagged for review.
Banning users: Available to Moderators and Admins via the post menu or Moderation Dashboard.
These permissions ensure the right level of control and responsibility for each user type while keeping discussions productive and safe.
Discussion post moderation
Every Discussion and Post allows the Admin, Moderators and Users to take action if needed.
In chapter and event page discussions, click More at the bottom of the Post to show the available actions. These options depend on the current set of permissions of the user.
Edit
Allows the user to edit the selected Discussion/Post. Admins and Moderators can also edit posts by users as well as their own.
Report
Allows the user to flag a specific Discussion/Post to the Forum Admins and Moderators. A modal window appears where the user can add additional context about why the content is being reported.
Lock
Allows Admin and Moderators to pause a Discussion. No new posts can be added until it's unlocked.
Delete
Allows the user to remove a Discussion or Post.
Pin/Unpin from category
Pin/Unpin a discussion from the Category page.
Pin/Unpin to homepage
Pin/Unpin a discussion from the home page feed.
Ban user
Select this to ban a user:
- Select the reason; choose other if one isn't listed
- Select for how long
- Select which category (forum) or all categories (All forums)
- Type in an internal note so others can see why they were banned
Moderation dashboard
In addition to the direct moderation available for Owners when browsing the discussions, we provide a Moderation Dashboard where owners can monitor and act on posts flagged for moderation, either by our AI system or by Discussion members.
Admins and Moderators can access the Moderation Dashboard via their quick access menu on the top
nav bar.
Types of moderation
Proactive moderation
Our powerful AI technology continuously analyzes content to identify potentially sensitive or inappropriate material. Content flagged by the AI is automatically queued for review by group owners before being published to the forum. You can see these flags under the Approvals tab.
Auto-Moderation (Hive & AI)
If a post passes all the manual check, it is then sent to our advanced Auto-Moderation service. This service uses AI to check posts for nuances, different languages, and other forms of "bad content" that a simple word list would miss.
How Auto-Moderation Works
The AI analyzes the post and gives it a score across several categories. Based on that score, one of three things will happen:
- If Passed: The post is clean and passes all checks. It is immediately published to the discussion.
- If Flagged (Standard): The content is deemed suspicious (e.g., spam, mild profanity) but is below your auto-rejection level. It is sent to the moderation queue for a human moderator to review.
- If Flagged (Severe): The content scores above your set severity level. It is instantly auto-rejected and will not be posted.
Recommended Auto-Rejection Settings
Admins can configure the severity level at which the system will auto-reject content. This allows you to block the worst content immediately while sending borderline cases to your human moderators.
Here are our recommended auto-rejection levels:
- Sexual Model: Level 2+
- Hate Model: Level 2+
- Violence Model: Level 3+
- Bullying Model: Level 3+
- Drugs Model: Level 3+
- Weapons Model: Level 3+
- Child Exploitation Model: Level 2+
- Child Safety Model: Level 2+
- Self Harm Model: Level 2+
- Gibberish Model: Level 3+
- Sexual Description Model: Level 2+
- Violent Description Model: Level 2+
User-flagged content
In addition to proactive moderation, group owners can address content flagged by other users. When community members report a post as inappropriate or violating guidelines, it appears in the Flagged Content tab for owner review.
Click on "Flagged by x users" to see who flagged the discussion and their reason for doing so.
Moderation workflow
Pending view: In the Pending view, group owners can review content flagged by the AI for sensitive topics or users whose accounts are under 1 hour old (new users or users that have never posted before). Here's how it works:
- Review content: Group owners can see the content identified by our AI as potentially sensitive. Each item includes details such as the post content and user.
- Take action: Owners have the option to allow the content to be published or block it from appearing in the forum. This ensures that sensitive topics are addressed appropriately and in line with community guidelines.
Enterprise Discussion Moderation Dashboard:
Chapter and Event Page Discussion Moderation Dashboard:
Pending posts are listed under "Approvals" in the chapter and event page discussion moderation menu options.
Flagged Content tab: In the Flagged Content tab, group owners can manage posts reported by users. Here's what you can do:
- Review reports: Owners can view posts flagged by community members for review. Each reported post includes information about the flagged post.
- Disregard report: Owners can mark a reported post as "Looks safe" if it does not violate community guidelines or appears to be a false report.
- Take action: If a reported post violates guidelines, owners can choose to delete it from the forum, ensuring that inappropriate content is promptly addressed.
Enterprise Discussions Moderation Dashboard:
Chapter and Event Page Discussion Forum Moderation Dashboard:
Approved content tab: In the Approved content tab, you can see all posts that need to be approved and who approved the post. This is a great running log showing which posts were approved by whom. This is only available in Enterprise Discussions.
Enterprise Discussion Forums Moderation Dashboard:
Banned users tab: The Banned Users tab shows all users who were banned and why. If there are 3 dots, this means that the user is still banned and can then be unbanned. If the three dots are gone, then they've been unbanned and you'll see a timestamp showing when they were unbanned (as well as when they were initially banned).
Enterprise Discussion Forums Moderation Dashboard:
Chapter and Event Page Discussion Forum Moderation Dashboard: