Auto-moderation rules (auto-mod rules) check new content automatically and act on anything that matches: they hold it for review or block it. Use them as a word filter, to match patterns, or as a spam filter.
Who can do this: Owners, admins, and moderators. A custom role needs Resolve moderation items to change rules. With only View moderation queue, it sees the rules read-only. Space admins can add blocked keywords for their own space. · Where: Web (admin console). · Plan: No plan requirement.
Open the Automated Moderation page
Go to Admin → Moderation → Automated Moderation. This page used to be called Auto-Mod Rules, and a few screens still use that name. It's the same page.
The page has two parts:
- AI Classification: the AI moderation settings. Only owners and admins see this part. See Use AI to moderate content.
- Rules: your keyword, regex, and spam filter rules, in priority order. Each rule shows its type, its action, where it applies, its priority, and how many times it was triggered.
New communities start with one Spam Filter rule. It flags posts, blog articles, and events for review when they contain more than 5 links, or the same character repeated more than 20 times in a row. You can edit it, turn it off, or delete it like any other rule.
What auto-moderation rules check
Rules check:
- posts when they're published or edited, including replies, comments, and answers in Q&A spaces;
- blog articles when they're published or edited;
- events when they're created. Editing an event isn't checked.
Rules don't check messages in chat spaces or direct messages.
Rules skip content from the community owner and admins, and from the admins and moderators of the space it's posted in. Community-wide moderators are still checked.
When a space or the community requires approval for new posts, top-level posts go straight to the review queue without running the rules. Replies still run through them.
Choose an auto-moderation rule type
| Rule Type | What it matches | Settings |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword | A specific word or phrase | Whole word only, Case-sensitive |
| Regex Pattern | A regular expression (RE2 syntax) | Add (?i) to the pattern for case-insensitive matching |
| Spam Filter | Spammy content with too many links or long runs of repeated characters | Max links, Max repeat run, Min length for repeat check, Count Unicode repeats |
To limit links in posts, use a Spam Filter rule and set Max links. Rules look only at the content itself. There's no rule type based on who posted it, such as new members or account age.
Choose what an auto-moderation rule does
| Action | What happens when content matches |
|---|---|
| Flag for Review | The content is held in the review queue. It waits in Pending Content until someone approves or rejects it, and the author is told it's waiting for review. |
| Hide Content | The content is blocked from being published. |
| Delete Content | Works exactly like Hide Content: the content is blocked from being published. |
With Hide Content or Delete Content, the content isn't saved and doesn't go to the review queue. The member sees a message that a content rule blocked it and is asked to change the wording. Some of these messages include the rule's Name, so choose names you don't mind members seeing. Blog articles are never blocked outright: with either action, a matching article goes to the review queue instead. Only Flag for Review sends other content to the review queue.
When several rules match, only the rule with the lowest Priority number applies.
Create an auto-moderation rule
- Click Add Rule.
- Enter a Name and, if you like, a Description.
- Choose a Rule Type. Then enter the Keyword / Phrase or Pattern (Regex), or adjust the spam thresholds.
- Choose an Action.
- Under Applies to, choose Posts (feed posts and their replies), Blog articles, or Events. Leave everything unchecked to cover all content.
- Under Scope, leave it empty to apply the rule community-wide, or pick specific spaces.
- Set a Priority. Lower numbers are checked first, and the first matching rule wins.
- Click Create Rule. The rule is turned on right away.
Add many keyword rules at once
Click Bulk add keywords and paste your words, separated by commas or new lines. Then choose the Action, Applies to, Scope, and Priority they share, and click Add N keywords. Each word becomes its own keyword rule. The dialog shows how many duplicates it removed, and it warns you if the batch is too large or your community is running out of room for rules.
Turn off, edit, or delete an auto-moderation rule
- Use the switch next to a rule to turn it on or off.
- Open the rule's ⋯ menu and choose Edit or Delete. Deleting a rule can't be undone.
There's no test mode for rules. To try a new rule safely, start with Flag for Review, then check Pending Content and how often the rule fires (Triggered N times on the rule) before you switch to a stricter action.
Blocked keywords for a single space
Space admins can filter words in one space. Open the space, click Manage, then Moderation rules, and add words under Blocked Keywords. Posts that contain them are sent to the review queue. Chat spaces don't have this setting.
Mateflow saves these words as keyword rules scoped to that space, so they also appear in the Rules list on Automated Moderation. Keywords from a community rule that covers several spaces appear greyed out in the space's settings. You can change them only on Automated Moderation.
Related articles
Was this guide helpful?