Moderation Overview

Status: Complete

An introduction to Chatalot's moderation tools, who can use them, and the overall moderation philosophy.

What Moderation Tools Are Available

Chatalot provides a layered set of moderation actions, ordered from lightest to most severe:

Action	Severity	Scope	Effect
Warning	Low	Per channel	Notifies the user with a reason; recorded in warning history
Timeout	Medium	Per channel	Prevents the user from sending messages for a set duration
Kick	High	Community-wide	Removes the user from the community (they can rejoin via invite)
Ban	Highest	Community-wide	Removes the user and prevents them from rejoining

In addition to user-targeted actions, moderators can also:

• Delete messages -- Remove individual messages from a channel (soft-delete)
• Pin/unpin messages -- Highlight important messages in a channel
• Review reports -- Handle reports submitted by community members (Instance Admins only)

Who Can Moderate

Moderation permissions are based on your community role. The following roles have moderation capabilities:

Role	Can Moderate?	Notes
Community Owner	Yes	Full moderation power over all members
Community Admin	Yes	Can moderate Members and Moderators; can delete others' messages
Community Moderator	Yes	Can moderate Members only; can delete others' messages, pin/unpin
Community Member	No	Can report messages to admins, but cannot take moderation action
Instance Owner	Yes	Bypasses all community checks (god role); can moderate in any community including DMs
Instance Admin	Yes	Bypasses community membership checks; can moderate in any community

Role Hierarchy Rules

• You can only moderate users with a strictly lower role level than your own.
• Moderators can kick/ban Members only. They cannot act on Admins or other Moderators.
• Admins can kick/ban Members and Moderators, but not the Owner or other Admins.
• Only the Owner (or Instance Owner) can act on Admins.

For the complete permissions matrix, see the Permissions Reference.

Moderation Philosophy

Chatalot is designed around an escalating response model:

Warning  -->  Timeout  -->  Kick  -->  Ban
(lightest)                          (most severe)

When to Warn

• First offense for minor rule violations
• Off-topic behavior in a focused channel
• Mild language or tone issues
• Accidental disruptions

When to Timeout

• Repeated warnings that go unheeded
• Heated arguments that need a cool-down period
• Spam or flooding behavior

When to Kick

• Persistent rule violations after warnings and timeouts
• Users who are disrupting the community but may reform
• Situations where a "fresh start" via rejoin might help

When to Ban

• Severe violations (harassment, hate speech, illegal content)
• Users who rejoin after being kicked and continue violating rules
• Spam bots or malicious accounts
• Any situation where the user should permanently lose access

Quick Reference: How to Take Action

Action	How to Access
Warn a user	Click the user's profile card in a channel, or use the community member management panel
Timeout a user	Click the user's profile card, then select Timeout and choose a duration
Kick a member	Open the community settings members tab, click Kick next to the member
Ban a member	Open the community settings members tab, click Ban next to the member
Delete a message	Right-click (or long-press) a message and select Delete
Report a message	Right-click (or long-press) a message and select Report

Next Steps

• Warnings -- Learn how to issue and track warnings
• Timeouts -- Understand timeout durations and how to apply them
• Kicks and Bans -- Remove or permanently exclude users