Moderation Easier

7 Ways to Make Comment Moderation Easier

Table of Contents

The perks of a vibrant and vast online community are many. But, at the same time, the threat of spam, trolls, and targeted comments makes online communities vulnerable. As your community grows, the risks of facing toxicity get higher, so your comment moderation efforts should also evolve accordingly.

Although the needs and purpose of every community are different, the essence of content moderation efforts remains similar. The main aim is to protect your audience from online profanity and negative comments. Fortunately, comment moderation tools come in handy to make your brand’s online space safe for every user.

Read on to know such effective ways to make comment moderation easier. Meanwhile,

visit Viafoura to learn more about its comment moderation feature that can help you regulate the type of content shared on your platform.

The importance of comment moderation

Comment moderation is crucial for the growth of any online community. It ensures a safe and inviting platform for your users by eliminating snap, trolls, abuse, and profanity. In absence of this, your brand’s space will be exposed to hostile or targeted comments.

Furthermore, comment moderation also encourages healthy debate and positive comments. Altogether, it provides a positive platform for your audience to share, engage, contribute and grow while protecting their interests. Such efforts directly impact the growth of a brand’s image.

7 ways to make comment moderation easier

Here is how you can go about moderating comments in your community.

1. Draft a strong comment moderation policy

When you have a strong comment moderation policy in place, handling the community becomes easy. So, first, draft and establish a comment moderation policy with your team. This policy should be precise and mention actions that violate your brand’s vision.

Although some standard rules apply to all online communities for comment moderation, try to modify the policy according to your content and audience. For instance, political debates are healthy for a news broadcaster’s online community but may not be appropriate for other communities.

2. Involve your team and enforce the policy

Involve your team and every stakeholder to ensure better implementation of the policy. In addition to moderators, the whole team should be on the same page to accommodate diverse audiences in their community.

Further, make your comment moderation policy easily discoverable to your audience. Also, make them agree to your terms and conditions and the consequences of violations. Do not hesitate to temporarily block or remove the user if the situation warrants it.

3. Add additional moderators to your site

Depending on the size of your community, you may or may not require additional moderators. But, as your community grows, so should your moderation efforts. To cater to large requirements, recruit new moderators or add volunteers from your community.

However, it is important to note that the person you are adding as a moderator should know your community very well. You can consider candidates who are active in your community. For recruitment, notify your readers through your website.

Let the new moderators go through your comment moderation policy thoroughly. Also, use Google Forms to get complete information about new members. A good team of moderators is as important as an automated comment moderation tool.

4. Pre moderation

If you are a new startup or comments on your community are your main concern, follow a pre-moderation strategy to:

  • Remove all comments that contain irrelevant and unsolicited links.
  • Hold and review comments before publishing.
  • Create a set of restricted keyword lists. Any comment with a restricted keyword would get flagged or put on hold automatically.

5. Insist on automated comment moderation

Automated comment moderation tools are a game-changer when it comes to handling a large community. These tools are powered by Artificial intelligence and machine-based learning tools. An ideal comment moderation software can easily understand the essence of comments based on machine learning.

For instance, by using short forms or jumbled words, a troll can easily bypass your restricted keyword list. But, with an AI-powered tool, they will face a difficult time accomplishing their endeavours. Moreover, they make the whole process of comment moderation fast, simple, and more customizable.

Here are some benefits of using an automated comment moderation tool:

  • Fast, accurate, and highly customizable
  • More cost-effective than maintaining a team of comment moderators.
  • It can be easily integrated with your existing website and compatible with different platforms such as social media, reviews, or chatbots.
  • Beyond moderation, it enhances community engagement.

6. Add trusted users

It is a great way to keep your community more meaningful and reduce the moderation efforts. Give trusted users a badge to regulars of your community who have a clean record. Publish the comments of trusted users immediately without moderation.

You can easily add trusted users through your website developer settings. Although comments from such users bypass pre-defined moderation rules, they can still be flagged as inappropriate by other users. Today, more and more communities are adopting this strategy to enhance user experience.

7. Disable guest commenting

It is a practical and time-tested method to control trolls in any community. Anonymous users get a free hand to abuse or spam the comment section. So, allow only registered or logged-in users to comment.

But, remember, whether new or established, every community needs quality content to thrive. Not every negative comment is bad for your audience. Instead, opening up to constructive criticism makes sense.

So, it is not advisable to block the guest’s comments completely. If you allow guest commenting, do not publish the comments immediately. Let such comments go through a manual moderation process before publishing.

Endnote

Comment moderation is crucial for providing a safe, healthy, and welcoming environment to your online community. Although manual comment moderation is vital, it does not suffice for the requirements of diverse and large communities.

So, as your community grows, you need to shift toward automated comment moderation tools to make the process simple, fast, and effective. Despite automation, implementing your moderation policy takes a structured and planned approach.

Viafoura’s suite of tools is specifically designed to boost community engagement and includes state-of-the-art comment moderation features. It can be easily integrated and customized to suit your platform’s needs.

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