This help article outlines how our 24/7 moderation service works. The moderation depends on the tool and there are slight differences. Please note that your license will outline that moderation will occur within two hours, however, in reality we are much quicker than that. It also does not matter if the contribution is made by a registered participant, an administrator or an unverified participant.
With the exception of the Stories tool, which you can choose to moderate yourself, moderation happens independently of the site owner. This helps eliminate bias, promote trust, and ensure your community has the freedom to express themselves in a safe environment.
As an independent solution, we are unable to provide reports of what has been moderated. You and your community, however, can report comments or appeal moderation decisions by contacting our support team through chat or email.
What are our moderation rules?
Our moderation rules can be found on your EngagementHQ site, under the /moderation permalink. For example on our demo site: https://demonstration.engagementhq.com/moderation.
Our moderation policy is documented for use in this moderation policy template.
What tools are NOT moderated?
Quick Poll and Survey are not moderated because no content will show on the public facing side of your EngagementHQ.
The Q&A tool is not moderated because all questions are received in the Manage tab of the Q&A tool, where the admin can choose to respond either publicly or privately.
What tools are SOMETIMES moderated?
In our Stories tool you can decide if stories should be moderated by us or yourself. This option can be configured in the tool. The option 'Bang the Table Moderated' when deactivated, means that you accept or decline stories. When this option is turned on, it means that our team of moderators (the 'Peacekeepers') moderate the stories for you. The option for 'Bang the Table Moderated' is given here because the nature of the tool means that content, including photos, can be very personal and hence you, as the administrator, should have a final say over it if you choose to.
The News Feed tool is only moderated if you enable commenting. If commenting is enabled, the News Feed is effectively moderated like the Forum tool (read the below section).
What tools are ALWAYS moderated?
The Forum, Places, Ideas and Guestbook tool are always moderated. These are the steps of how moderation works.
1. A comment, idea or pin is placed on one of the tools by the participant (we call that a contribution).
2. The contribution will first need to pass an automatic filter. This filter will:
- Screen for bad language i.e. bad words or parts of bad words. We have a list of 300+ 'bad' words.
- Screen for known spammers. We use a service called Akismet, through which we check if the contributions come from a known spammer. Only comments from unverified and anonymous users will be screened here.
- Screen for copy and paste. Finally, this filter also checks if the same participant has made more than 10 contributions in one minute. If they have, we mark them as spam. 10 contributions in one minute is very likely to be a user simply copy and pasting the same comment over and over again, therefore breaching the moderation rules.
3. If the contribution passes this filter, the contribution WILL appear on the site.
4. Contributions that have bad words or parts of bad words are reviewed by our moderators.
5. Our moderators receive a notification that a new contribution has been made. The moderators log into our moderation portal, read the contribution and make a decision to:
- Accept the contribution. Nothing happens at this point as the contribution will simply remain on the site.
- Delete the contribution. If the moderator deems the contribution has breached the moderation rules, they can delete the contribution from the site. In this case, the contribution will be removed from the site with an explanation of why it was removed. This will also trigger an email to the participant who has contributed, alerting them that their contribution was removed and that they are invited to contribute again, adhering to the moderation rules.
- Elevate the contribution. If the moderator is unsure about the contribution, they can elevate it to a senior moderator to take a look. The senior moderator will then either accept or delete the contribution.
There is an exception to the process described above.
In the settings, the Guestbook tool offers an option to 'Post comment only after moderation'. If activated, this option allows the comment to appear only after moderation is done. If it is deactivated, the comment gets posted immediately, but it will still be moderated as per the above-mentioned process
If a post or comment is deemed threatening to your organization or an individual, our moderation team will flag it internally, and we will contact you to ensure you're aware of the threat.
Summary
Here is a summary table of all our tools.
Can I or participants report comments we think are inappropriate?
Yes, you can. The News Feed, Ideas, Places, and Forum tools all have a 'Report' link. Clicking this link will 'elevate' a comment to a senior moderator to take a look. The senior moderator will either accept or delete the contribution.
Note: Admins can contact EngagementHQ support to reinstate a comment removed by the moderators.
Can I alter the standard email message text that is sent to the participant when their input to the site is moderated?
Yes, you can. Read the article Site:Text and Emails which describes how to view and alter the standard email messages sent by EngagementHQ.
If you have further concerns about contributions on your site, you can either get in touch with us via chat or send us an email at support@engagementhq.com.