diff --git a/docs/guides/moderation.md b/docs/guides/moderation.md index 1e2650194..4d21efa81 100644 --- a/docs/guides/moderation.md +++ b/docs/guides/moderation.md @@ -4,4 +4,66 @@ slug: /moderation # Moderation -TODO +Every community needs a way to keep content useful and conversations civil. Answer doesn't depend on a few administrators to do all of this. It shares the work across three groups: + +- **The community** flags problems and suggests edits. +- **Trusted users**, people who have earned enough [reputation](/docs/reputation), review those flags and edits. +- **Moderators and administrators** make the final decisions, such as deleting content or suspending an account. + +Which actions a user can take depends on their role and their reputation. See [Permission](/docs/permission) for details. + +## Flagging content + +Any logged-in user can flag a question, answer, or comment that they think needs attention. When flagging a post, the user picks a reason: + +| Reason | Meaning | +|---|---| +| Spam | An advertisement or vandalism, not relevant to the topic. | +| Rude or abusive | Content a reasonable person would find inappropriate for respectful discussion. | +| A duplicate | (Questions) This question has already been asked and answered. The user links to the original. | +| Not an answer | Posted as an answer but doesn't try to answer the question. | +| Needs details or clarity | (Questions) Unclear, or several questions combined into one. | +| A community-specific reason | Breaks one of your community's own guidelines. | +| Other | Anything else. The user explains in their own words. | + +Users can be flagged as well as posts. See [Flags](/docs/flags) for more. + +## Reviewing + +Flags, suggested edits, and posts held for approval all go to the **Review** page. When reviewing a flag, the reviewer decides what should happen to the post: + +- **Looks OK**: the post is fine; dismiss the flag. +- **Needs edit, and I did it**: the reviewer has fixed the problem. +- **Needs close**: close the question. +- **Needs delete**: remove the post. + +Edits suggested by users who don't yet have enough reputation to edit freely are also reviewed here, and are approved or rejected before they're published. + +See [Review](/docs/review) for more. + +## Moderating questions and answers + +Moderators, and users with enough reputation, can act on posts directly from the question page. Each action is recorded in the post's history, so you can always see who did what. + +- **Close** a question to stop new answers. People can still edit, vote on, and comment on a closed question, so it can be improved and **reopened** later. When closing, you choose a reason. A question closed as a duplicate links to the original. +- **Delete** a question, answer, or comment to hide it from the community. Deleted posts aren't destroyed, and can be **undeleted** if needed. +- **Unlist** a question to remove it from question lists while leaving it reachable by direct link. This is gentler than deleting. + +See [Questions](/docs/questions) for how these actions affect a question's status and visibility. + +## Moderating users + +When a user's behavior is the problem, rather than a single post, an administrator can **suspend** them. A suspended user can't log in, either for a set period or permanently. An administrator can also delete a user and, optionally, all of their content, which is useful when cleaning up after a spam account. + +See [Users](/docs/users) for more. + +## Automated moderation + +Answer can pass new content through a **reviewer plugin** before it's published. The plugin can approve a post, hold it in the review queue for a person to look at, or reject it. This is how you add spam filtering or AI-assisted moderation to Answer. See [Using Plugins](/docs/plugins). + +## Suggested practices + +- **Start with lower reputation thresholds** while your community is small, and raise them as it grows. Make sure enough people can review to keep the queue moving. +- **Prefer editing to deleting.** If a post can be saved, fixing it helps both the author and the community. +- **Close before you delete.** Closing gives the author a chance to improve their question. +- **Write down your community's guidelines**, so that people know what the *community-specific reason* flag refers to. diff --git a/sidebars.js b/sidebars.js index ebfcb3f86..0189ee086 100644 --- a/sidebars.js +++ b/sidebars.js @@ -41,14 +41,8 @@ module.exports = { 'guides/tags', 'guides/users', 'guides/review', - { - type: 'category', - label: 'Moderation', - collapsed: true, - items: [ - 'guides/settings', - ], - }, + 'guides/moderation', + 'guides/settings', { type: 'category', label: 'Commons',