Auto-Moderation Settings - User Guide

What is Auto-Moderation?

Auto-Moderation is a powerful feature that automatically takes action on flagged content when it reaches a specified number of reports. Instead of waiting for admin review, content is automatically hidden or users are automatically restricted based on the rules you configure.

Auto-Moderation Settings Restrictions tab showing auto-moderation settings for all content types

Why Do You Need This?

For Site Administrators:

• Faster response: Content is hidden immediately when threshold is reached, not hours later
• Reduced workload: Less manual intervention needed for obvious violations
• 24/7 protection: Works even when admins are offline or asleep
• Consistent enforcement: No human judgment variation - rules apply equally
• Scalability: Essential for large communities where manual review isn’t feasible
• Trust in community: Leverage crowd wisdom - if multiple members flag something, it’s probably problematic

For Community Members:

• Immediate results: See problematic content disappear quickly
• Safer environment: Toxic content is removed faster
• Empowerment: Your flags have immediate impact
• Better experience: Less time seeing spam and inappropriate content

How Auto-Moderation Works

The Basic Process

1. Member A flags content (Report Count: 1)

   • Content remains visible
   • Admin notified

2. Member B also flags the same content (Report Count: 2)

   • Content still visible
   • Getting close to threshold

3. Member C flags it too (Report Count: 3 - hits threshold!)

   • AUTO-MODERATION TRIGGERS
   • Content is automatically hidden (based on Hide Mode setting)
   • Author restrictions applied (if configured)
   • Admin receives urgent notification
   • All actions happen immediately and automatically

4. Admin reviews later

   • Can mark as spam (keep hidden) or clean (restore)
   • Can adjust or remove author restrictions
   • Final human decision on the flagged content

Key Components

Moderation Limit:

• The number of flags required to trigger auto-moderation
• Can be different for each content type
• Recommended values:
  • Activities: 3-5 flags
  • Comments: 2-3 flags (smaller unit of content)
  • Topics: 3-5 flags
  • Replies: 2-3 flags
  • Messages: 2-3 flags (serious nature)
  • Members: 5-10 flags (account-level action)
  • Groups: 3-5 flags

Hide Mode: Determines what happens when threshold is reached:

• Hide from reporter only: Only people who flagged see it hidden
• Hide from all members: Everyone (except admins) sees it hidden
• Don’t hide: Content stays visible even after threshold

Author Consequences: Automatic restrictions applied to content author:

• Disable specific actions (posting, commenting, messaging)
• Lock account entirely
• Mark as spammer
• Combinations of above

Configuring Auto-Moderation

For Each Content Type

Auto-moderation is configured separately for each component. Navigate to the settings for each:

Activity Updates Auto-Moderation

Location: Moderation Pro → Activity

1. Enable Automatic Moderation

   • Toggle switch to enable/disable
   • When disabled, all flags require manual review

2. Set Moderation Limit

   • Number of reports before auto-action
   • Recommended: 3-5 reports
   • Consider: Lower for small communities, higher for large communities

3. Choose Hide Mode

   • Hide from reporter only (least impact)
   • Hide from all site members (recommended)
   • Don’t hide (unusual, but available)

4. Configure Author Consequences

   • Disable all activity posting
   • Disable commenting
   • Both
   • None (just hide content, no user restriction)

Save Changes

Activity Comments Auto-Moderation

Location: Moderation Pro → Activity Comments

• Moderation Limit: 2-3 reports (lower than activities)
• Hide Mode: Hide from all members (recommended)
• Author Consequences:
  • Disable commenting (proportionate)
  • Or disable all activity (more severe)

Private Messages Auto-Moderation

Location: Moderation Pro → Private Messages

• Moderation Limit: 2-3 reports (serious nature)
• Hide Mode: Hide from all participants (recommended)
• Author Consequences:
  • Disable private messaging (common)
  • Lock account (for harassment cases)
  • Mark as spammer (for spam campaigns)

Groups Auto-Moderation

Location: Moderation Pro → Groups

• Moderation Limit: 3-5 reports
• Hide Mode: Hide from all members (recommended)
• Author Consequences:
  • Disable group creation
  • Hide all groups by this creator
  • Restrict all posting in groups

Forum Topics Auto-Moderation

Location: Moderation Pro → Forum Topics

• Moderation Limit: 3-5 reports
• Hide Mode: Hide from all members
• Author Consequences:
  • Disable topic creation
  • Disable all forum posting

Forum Replies Auto-Moderation

Location: Moderation Pro → Forum Replies

• Moderation Limit: 2-3 reports (smaller unit)
• Hide Mode: Hide from all members
• Author Consequences:
  • Disable replying
  • Disable all forum participation

Members Auto-Moderation

Location: Moderation Pro → Members

• Moderation Limit: 5-10 reports (serious action)
• Auto-Action Options:
  • Lock account
  • Disable all activities
  • Disable messaging
  • Mark as spammer
  • Notify admin only (no auto-action)

Important: Member-level auto-moderation is serious - set higher thresholds!

Best Practices

Setting Appropriate Thresholds

Small Communities (< 500 members):

• Lower thresholds: 2-3 flags may be sufficient
• Reasoning: Harder to get multiple false flags in small community
• Risk: Watch for coordinated false flagging

Medium Communities (500-5000 members):

• Moderate thresholds: 3-5 flags recommended
• Reasoning: Good balance between speed and accuracy
• Adjustment: Monitor false positives and adjust

Large Communities (> 5000 members):

• Higher thresholds: 5-7 flags or more
• Reasoning: More members = more diverse opinions, prevent mob mentality
• Benefit: Less likely to auto-hide legitimate but controversial content

Very Large Communities (> 50,000 members):

• Much higher thresholds: 10+ flags
• Percentage-based: Consider using percentages (e.g., 0.01% of active members)
• Machine learning: May need AI-assisted moderation at this scale

Content-Specific Thresholds

More Severe Content (Lower Thresholds):

• Private messages: 2-3 flags (harassment is serious)
• Comments: 2-3 flags (smaller unit, faster action needed)
• Member reports: Even 1 flag should be reviewed quickly

Less Severe Content (Higher Thresholds):

• Activities: 3-5 flags (main content, allow for disagreement)
• Topics: 3-5 flags (forum discussions can be controversial)
• Groups: 3-5 flags (group creation is significant action)

Hide Mode Recommendations

When to use “Hide from all members”:

• Spam (always hide site-wide)
• Clear violations (hate speech, explicit content)
• High-traffic areas (activity streams)
• When false positives are rare

When to use “Hide from reporter only”:

• Controversial topics (allow others to see and judge)
• Opinion-based content (what offends one may not offend another)
• Low-traffic areas (less urgent to hide site-wide)
• When false positives are common

When to use “Don’t hide”:

• Manual review preferred for all flags
• Very small community (admin reviews within minutes)
• Community with history of false flagging
• Legal/compliance requires human review

Author Consequences Strategy

Progressive Discipline:

First Auto-Action:

• Disable specific action (commenting, posting, etc.)
• Temporary restriction
• Allows user to learn from mistake

Second Auto-Action (if different content flagged):

• Disable multiple actions
• Longer restriction
• Strong warning

Third Auto-Action:

• Lock account
• Or mark as spammer
• Manual admin review required to restore

Immediate Severe Action:

• For private message harassment
• For hate speech
• For illegal content

Monitoring and Adjustment

Weekly Review:

1. Check auto-moderation log
2. Count false positives (content marked clean after auto-hide)
3. Count true positives (content marked spam after auto-hide)
4. Calculate accuracy percentage

Adjustment Triggers:

If > 20% false positives:

• Increase moderation limit
• Change hide mode to less restrictive
• Investigate if specific users are false-flagging

If < 5% false positives:

• Consider decreasing limit (faster action)
• Auto-moderation is working well
• May increase consequences

If many reports but few auto-actions:

• Limit may be too high
• Decrease threshold to improve responsiveness

Notification Settings for Auto-Moderation

Admin Notifications

Location: Settings → Email and Notification

Auto-Moderation Alerts:

• Immediate: Get notified when auto-moderation triggers
• Daily Digest: Summary of all auto-actions taken
• Urgent Only: Only notify for member locks and severe actions

Recommended:

• Enable immediate notifications for member account actions
• Use daily digest for content hiding (less urgent)
• Always enable email AND BuddyPress notifications

User Notifications

When Auto-Moderation Triggers:

Content Author Receives:

• Notification that their content was hidden
• Explanation of why (reached report threshold)
• Link to community guidelines
• Instructions to appeal or edit content

Reporters Receive (Optional):

• Confirmation that threshold was reached
• Notification that action was taken
• Thank you for helping moderate

Customize Notifications: Location: Settings → Email Templates

Edit Templates:

• Auto-moderation triggered (to author)
• Content hidden notification
• Account restricted notification
• Include helpful information and next steps

Common Scenarios

Scenario 1: Spam Wave

Situation: Spammer posts 10 promotional activities in 5 minutes.

Auto-Moderation Response:

1. First activity: 3 members flag → auto-hidden
2. Second activity: 3 members flag → auto-hidden
3. After 3 auto-hidden activities → account auto-locked (if configured)
4. Remaining activities auto-hidden as account is locked
5. Admin reviews in the morning, confirms spam, deletes all

Benefit: Community was protected immediately, even though admin was offline.

Scenario 2: Controversial Opinion

Situation: Member posts unpopular but not violating opinion. 5 people flag because they disagree.

Auto-Moderation Response:

1. Reaches 5 flags → auto-hidden
2. Author is restricted from posting
3. Admin reviews within 24 hours
4. Admin determines it’s just unpopular, not violating
5. Marks as “Clean” → content restored, restrictions removed
6. Admin may warn false flaggers

Lesson: Even with auto-moderation, admin has final say. False positives are reversible.

Scenario 3: Harassment via PM

Situation: Member sends threatening message to another member.

Auto-Moderation Response:

1. Recipient flags immediately (1 flag)
2. Auto-moderation set to 2 flags for messages
3. If another recipient also flags → account auto-locked
4. If only 1 flag → admin reviews manually (urgent)
5. Admin confirms threat → account stays locked
6. May report to authorities

Lesson: Lower thresholds for serious content types. Single harassment report should be reviewed immediately.

Scenario 4: Coordinated False Flagging

Situation: 3 users coordinate to false-flag a member they don’t like.

Auto-Moderation Response:

1. 3 flags → content auto-hidden
2. Account restricted
3. Admin reviews quickly (suspicious pattern)
4. Finds no violation
5. Marks as “Clean” → restored
6. Admin investigates reporters
7. Discovers coordination
8. Restricts false flaggers’ reporting ability

Lesson: Auto-moderation is fast, but admin oversight catches abuse.

Scenario 5: Gradual Escalation

Situation: Member posts progressively more inappropriate content over weeks.

Auto-Moderation Response:

1. Week 1: First inappropriate post → 3 flags → auto-hidden, commenting disabled
2. Week 2: Another post → 3 flags → auto-hidden, all posting disabled
3. Week 3: Another post → 3 flags → auto-hidden, account locked
4. Admin reviews pattern → permanent ban

Lesson: Auto-moderation creates automatic escalation for repeat offenders.

Advanced Auto-Moderation Features

Time-Based Thresholds

Concept: Require X flags within Y time period.

Example:

• 3 flags within 24 hours → auto-hide
• If flags come in over 7 days → manual review

Benefit: Distinguishes between urgent issues and gradually discovered problems.

Implementation: May require custom development or future plugin feature.

Content-Type Specific Rules

Example Rules:

• Images in activities: Lower threshold (2 flags vs 3)
• Links in activities: Lower threshold (spam indicator)
• All-caps posts: Lower threshold (usually spam or yelling)
• Short posts (< 10 words): Higher threshold (less context)

Implementation: Requires custom filters and development.

User Reputation Impact

Concept: Trusted members’ flags count more.

Example:

• Regular member flag = 1 point
• Trusted member flag = 2 points
• Moderator flag = 3 points
• Reach 5 points → auto-hide

Benefit: Gives more weight to experienced community members’ judgment.

Implementation: Requires custom development.

Troubleshooting Auto-Moderation

Q: Auto-moderation triggered but content is still visible

• Check Hide Mode setting (may be “Don’t hide”)
• Check if you’re logged in as admin (admins always see content)
• Cache may need to be cleared
• Check if threshold was actually reached

Q: Too many false positives

• Increase moderation limit
• Investigate specific reporters for abuse
• Consider “Hide from reporter only” instead of “Hide from all”
• May need to disable auto-moderation temporarily

Q: Auto-moderation not triggering even when threshold reached

• Verify auto-moderation is enabled
• Check that limit is set correctly
• Ensure all flags are from different users (same user flagging multiple times = 1 flag)
• Check error logs for plugin conflicts

Q: Author restrictions applied but shouldn’t have been

• Go to member’s profile in admin
• Manually remove restrictions
• Mark flagged content as “Clean”
• Restrictions should be removed
• If stuck, check database user_meta for bmpro_flagged_activities

Q: How do I reverse auto-moderation actions?

• Go to moderation panel for that content type
• Find the auto-hidden content
• Click “Mark as Clean”
• Content is restored
• Author restrictions are removed
• Consider warning false reporters

Q: Can I disable auto-moderation for specific forums/groups?

• Not natively, but can be done with custom filters
• See Developer Guide for bmpro_moderation_limit filter
• Set limit to 999 for specific forums to effectively disable

Q: Auto-moderation is locking too many accounts

• Increase member moderation limit significantly (to 7-10)
• Change auto-action from “Lock account” to “Notify admin only”
• Review locked accounts weekly and restore false positives
• Educate community about proper flagging

Safety Net: Admin Override

Important: Auto-moderation is a tool, not a replacement for admin judgment.

Admin Always Has Control:

• Review all auto-moderation actions
• Reverse any automatic decision
• Adjust thresholds based on results
• Disable auto-moderation if not working well

Regular Review Process:

1. Daily: Check auto-moderation log
2. Weekly: Review false positive rate
3. Monthly: Adjust thresholds based on data
4. Quarterly: Re-evaluate entire auto-moderation strategy

Integration with Manual Moderation

Auto-Moderation + Manual Review = Best Results

Workflow:

1. Auto-moderation handles obvious violations immediately
2. Admins review auto-hidden content within 24-48 hours
3. Admins make final decision (spam or clean)
4. Admins adjust thresholds based on accuracy

Content Flow:

Member flags content
    ↓
Flag count increases
    ↓
Reaches threshold → AUTO-HIDE (immediate)
    ↓
Admin reviews later → Mark as SPAM or CLEAN (final)

Feature Availability

• Available For:

  • Activities
  • Activity Comments
  • Private Messages
  • Members
  • Groups
  • Forum Topics (bbPress)
  • Forum Replies (bbPress)

• Requirements:

  • BuddyPress 3.0+
  • PHP 7.4+
  • Properly configured cron jobs (for time-based features)

Related Features

• Activity Moderation - Flag activities
• All Moderation Guides - Complete list of features
• Admin Content Management - Review auto-moderated content
• Developer Guide - Customize auto-moderation with filters

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Need Help?

• Documentation: https://docs.wbcomdesigns.com
• Support: support@wbcomdesigns.com
• Optimization Consultation: Contact us for help tuning your thresholds