Introduction
Maintaining a well-moderated comment section is crucial for the overall quality of your site. For independent publishers, it helps build credibility and fosters trust within your community while keeping out spam and offensive content. A quality comment section can also contribute to long-term growth in registered users and improve how search engines perceive your content.
How Does Moderation Work?
Comments Overview
When you access the comments overview, you can filter comments by several categories:
For review
New Users
Flags
Forbidden Words
Shadow Banned
Each of these filters serves a specific purpose:
For review: Here, you see all the comments that need your review. This overview basically combines the comments from all other filters (New users, Flags, forbidden words, Shadow Banned).
New Users: Comments from new users (those whose comments haven’t been approved yet) will be shown here. By default, these comments are only visible to moderators and the commenters themselves, for all other visitors they are hidden. You can change this in the moderation settings so comments from new users are immediately visible.
Once approved, future comments from that user will automatically be visible to all visitors. In the overview, new users are marked with the "New" tag next to their name, once their first comment gets approved their status changes to “Active”.
Flags: Displays comments flagged by other users, along with the number of flags each comment has received. Each flagged comment will show a "Flagged by" tag, indicating who flagged it. You can review and decide whether to delete or approve flagged comments.
Users can flag comments on your website by clicking on a flag icon next to a comment. Once a comment reaches a certain number of flags (defined in moderation settings), it will be automatically hidden from public view until a moderator reviews it.
Forbidden Words: Shows comments that contain words from your forbidden words list. Forbidden words are used to automatically hide offensive or undesirable comments, and these words are highlighted in red within the comments. The purpose of forbidden words is to keep inappropriate content from appearing on your website. You can set these forbidden words yourself.
Shadow Banned: Displays comments from users who have been shadow-banned. Shadow-banned users can see their own comments, but no one else can, effectively silencing them without their knowledge.
Approving Comments from New Users
To approve a new user’s comment:
Select the comment.
Click "With selected."
Choose "Approve."
Once approved, the user’s status changes from "New" to "Active," meaning their future comments will be publicly visible to all users.
How to Manage Flags and Flagged Comments
If a comment is flagged by the community, it appears in the "Flags" section. Each flagged comment will display the number of flags it has received and who flagged it. You can review these flagged comments and decide whether to delete them, approve them, or take further action (such as banning the user).
Users can flag comments by clicking the flag icon next to the comment on the website. If a comment receives a certain number of flags (as defined in your moderation settings), it will be automatically hidden from public view and moved to the flagged section for moderators to review.
Forbidden Words List
You can manage the list of forbidden words in the settings. Any comment containing these words will automatically be flagged and hidden from visitors. Here’s how to add words to the forbidden words list:
Go to Forbidden Words on the left panel.
Click Add Forbidden Words.
Enter the word(s) you want to add and click "Save."
Shadow Ban, Timeout, and Permanent Ban
When you click on a comment, you’ll see a section with user details, for example the latest moderation action or past bans. This information helps moderators make decisions about whether to ban or flag a user. Here you can take the following actions:
Timeout a user: Temporarily suspends a user from commenting. The user will receive an email explaining the reason for the timeout. Once the timeout expires, the user can comment again.
Shadow ban a user: The user’s comments will only be visible to them, without their knowledge that they’ve been banned. This is effective for trolls since it prevents them from getting responses from other users or disrupting the community.
Permanent ban a user: Completely bans a user from the site. The user will receive an email with the reason for the ban, and they will be permanently unable to log in or comment on the site.
It’s often more effective to shadow ban problematic users rather than deleting their comments or banning them outright, as it prevents them from creating new accounts to continue disruptive behavior.
Moderation Settings
You can adjust the moderation settings to fit your needs. These settings allow you to control how comments are handled, including when new users’ comments are visible and how flags are managed. You can access them by going to General Setting > Moderation&Comments Here’s a breakdown of key settings:
Moderator Email: Enter the email address that will be used to send emails to users when they receive a ban or time-out.
Enable/Disable Comments on Articles: You can choose whether to allow comments on articles. If disabled, no users will be able to comment on articles.
Enable/Disable Comments on Tag Pages: Similar to article comments, this option allows or restricts comments on tag pages.
Specify Flag Limits: Set the number of flags a comment needs to receive before it’s automatically hidden from public view and moved to the flagged section for moderator review.
Hide Comments from New Users: Choose whether new users’ comments are automatically visible to all visitors or hidden until they are manually approved by a moderator.
Enable Guest Likes and Claps: You can allow guests (non-logged-in users) to like comments and leave "claps" on articles. If disabled, only logged-in users can interact in this way.
Once you’ve made changes, don’t forget to click "Save" at the bottom of the page.
The Ban List
You can access the Ban List via the menu. This list provides a comprehensive overview of all users who have received a ban on your website..
The ban list includes important details such as:
User Information: The name of the user who was banned.
Type of Ban: Different types of bans are displayed, including shadow bans, timeouts, and permanent bans.
Ban Duration: You can see when the ban starts and ends, including the exact dates.
Moderator Information: The name of the moderator who issued the ban and the reason provided for the ban.
Additionally, the ban list has a search feature, allowing you to easily locate specific users who have been banned.
Tips and Tricks
Shadow Ban Problematic Users: Instead of deleting comments or banning users outright, consider shadow banning. This keeps the user unaware of the ban and prevents them from returning under a new account to continue disrupting the community.
FAQs
How can I change the number of flags required before a comment is reviewed?
Adjusting the flag threshold allows you to control how many flags a comment needs before it goes into review.
Solution: Go to Settings > General > Moderation & Comments, then scroll to the option Specify the Number of Allowed Flags. Here, you can set the number of flags a comment needs to receive before being put into review.
How can I automatically approve all comments from new users?
This option allows new users’ comments to be visible immediately, without requiring moderator approval.
Solution: In the Moderation Settings, disable Hide Comments from New Users to make all new users’ comments visible without manual approval.
How can I review the new comments from new users?
This option will help you controlling the new comments' from user require moderator approval before being visible to other users on the site.
Solution: In the Moderation Settings, Enable Hide Comments from New Users to make all new users’ comments need manual approval before being posted publicly.