Hello,

I’ve configured some forums so that new topics and replies require moderation and approval. This is my first time using moderated posting, and I’m trying to understand how the moderation workflow is intended to work.

Specifically, is it possible for a moderator to reply to or notify a member when a post or topic is not approved?

When moderating a new post, the available options I see are:

• Approve

• Delete

• Edit, split, and hide

What I’m struggling with is the actual moderation feedback process. In my community, members often upload images and must follow strict posting rules.

If I delete a moderated post, the content is simply removed and:

• The member receives no notification

• There is no option to explain why the post was rejected

• There is no “Disapprove with reason” or similar action

From a user perspective, this feels problematic. A member could submit a chart or image in good faith, have it deleted by moderation, and never understand what rule was broken or how to correct it next time.

I would expect some way to:

• Disapprove a post while providing a short explanation, or

• Automatically notify the member when a moderated post is deleted, including a reason

I understand that for very large communities this may not be practical, but my use case involves low volume, highly structured posts where guidance and feedback are essential.

Am I missing an existing feature or setting that allows this?
Or is this currently not supported and better handled as a feature request?

Thanks in advance for the clarification.

Right now, this is by design so would be a feature request. What you can do is, though, before deleting the content, you can send an Alert to the user explaining why the post was rejected. You can then optionally allow the user to reply to that alert via personal message if they have any further questions.

You can do this by hovering over their username, and then click Send Alert under the Moderator Tools menu.

2 minutes ago, Ryan Ashbrook said:

Right now, this is by design so would be a feature request. What you can do is, though, before deleting the content, you can send an Alert to the user explaining why the post was rejected. You can then optionally allow the user to reply to that alert via personal message if they have any further questions.

You can do this by hovering over their username, and then click Send Alert under the Moderator Tools menu.

Yes, the alert would be fine but the problem is that the alder option is time consuming because:

1. It's not right there where it's needed where the comment is

2. The alert option is a few clicks away and not right there

So imagine I get 15 images uploaded and I need to go to the alert system, create an alert, search for the username, write the message, click on allow reply. All that from another window or tab.

I don't think anybody would do that.

The easiest way woodl be to:

1. Integrate the useful alert feature right where it's needed and right at the post being moderated would be an option

2. Delete -- want to give a reason? Yes. You write it, the user gets the alert.

Fast and simple.

Not only that, when the comment is deleted the moderated user doesn't receive an email saying hey the message was deleted because it doesn't follow the rules.

Edited February 4Feb 4 by michimachi

@michimachi

This might be just what you are looking for:

https://administrata.net/software/item/54-ai-assisted-moderator/

The app nudges the (new) member in the correct direction when posting against guidelines. Thus, avoiding the need to delete the post/topic. This app is something I might well purchase soon - it looks really interesting and probably has many potential uses for us.

There is the ability to use AI or not. There are three modes: Keyword; AI; and Hybrid. The app looks powerful enough so that it will work well using just keywords.

Alternatively, using in-built IC systems, something we do with topics queued for approval (which do not fulfill our requirements) is to respond to the member there, within the topic. If they edit their opening post, or acknowledge our request, or whatever the problem might be is resolved, we hide (not delete) the additional posts (the moderation discussion with the member) and then approve the topic. This preserves the moderation discussion in case it is needed later for some reason.