Guidelines

Moderation Guidelines

A practical moderation process and action ladder for Discord staff.

Stop active harm first by slowing chat, removing unsafe content, separating users, or pausing a ticket.

Check message history, tickets, screenshots, logs, prior actions, and relevant user context.

Identify the violated rule or safety concern before choosing an action.

Use the least severe action that reasonably protects the community and project.

Explain the outcome clearly when appropriate, without arguing or escalating drama.

Log serious actions, evidence, staff member, date, duration, and notes needed for review.

Escalate unclear, appealed, high-risk, or staff-involved cases to senior staff or leadership.

Used for small mistakes, first-time confusion, or quick correction without a formal moderation record.

Used when a user breaks rules, ignores staff direction, or creates avoidable disruption.

Used for spam, arguments, inappropriate content, harassment, or cases where chat needs to cool down.

Used when immediate removal is needed but the issue may not justify a permanent ban.

Used for serious or repeated rule breaks, evasion attempts, unsafe links, or targeted disruption.

Used for raids, scams, threats, doxxing, malicious links, severe harassment, or repeated bad-faith behavior.

Appeals are reviewed based on context, accountability, prior history, severity, and future safety.

Staff may escalate or reduce action depending on intent, evidence, impact, history, and risk.