Community Central
Register
Community Central

Local wiki Administrators and Discussions (or Thread) Moderators, as well as Fandom's Global Discussions moderators, have specific tools that help them manage Discussions.

Moderating[]

Locking posts[]

Discussions locked

A locked post will remain visible but noninteractive

Posts can be locked to prevent any new replies from being posted. This can be useful if a discussion has veered off-topic. The Lock Post and Unlock Post options can be found by hovering over the menu icon in the top-right corner of a post. Locked posts show a notice at the top of the post, but they remain visible to all users and can still be upvoted.

Delete and undelete[]

Discussions deleted

Delete Post is available as a menu option on all posts. The second post in this image has already been deleted

Posts and replies can be deleted through the Delete Post or Delete Reply option in the same menu as above. Deleted posts and replies cannot be seen by general users. They can be viewed by Discussions Moderators and Administrators, as well as certain global user rights groups. They appear with a notice marked by a red triangle and the username of the mod or admin who deleted the content.

Deleted posts and replies can be undeleted by clicking the Discussions-undelete green trash can icon at the top-right, preceding the "UNDELETE" notice, or by clicking the Undelete Post or Undelete Reply menu option.

Delete all posts by a user[]

Delete all user's posts

The Delete all posts option on a user's Discussions profile

Every user has a Discussions profile, accessible by clicking or tapping that user's avatar next to one of their contributions. On desktop and mobile web, mods and admins will also see a Delete all posts option in a menu to the upper-right of the user's avatar. This will trigger a popup, asking for confirmation, as this option will delete all of the user's Discussions posts and replies, as well as all Message Wall posts and comments, allowing for quick cleanup from spam accounts. Be careful, there is no easy "undelete all" option; reversing this action requires undeleting every post and reply individually! In case of admin or moderator abuse, please contact Fandom Staff.

This feature is not currently available in the Fandom app.

Hiding deleted content[]

Discussions-Hide-Deleted

The option to hide already-deleted content

General users will not see deleted posts or replies but, by default, mods and admins will see that content. They can choose to hide deleted content by toggling the Hide deleted checkbox. On desktop and mobile web, this is found within the View dropdown menu at the top-right of the Discussions feed. On the Fandom app, this is found at the top of the Home tab. Know that the "hide deleted" option does not apply to replies.

Handling reported content[]

Approve-Delete-options

Options to approve or delete a reported post

All users, including mods and admins, can report a post or reply to signal that the content needs reviewing. Reported posts appear to mods, admins, and the reporter with a notice marked by an orange triangle and the username of the reporter.

Mods and admins will see a Reported-approve green checkmark icon and a Reported-delete red trash can icon in a reported content's top banner. Clicking the green checkmark will simply remove the report, "approving" the content. Clicking the red trash can will delete the post.

Filter-reported-desktop

Accessing reported content from the "Moderation Tools" in the desktop layout

Mods and admins can access a view that shows all currently reported content, allowing for quick review, namely /f/reported. They can access this by:

  • Adding /f/reported directly after the domain name
  • Clicking the "Reported Posts" option in the "Moderation Tools" box on desktop and mobile web (tapping the "More" dropdown in the header).
  • Clicking "Reported" in the toolbar at the bottom. This option will also show a counter to alert moderators for how many posts await their attention.
Report notification

Report message alerting moderators that there are reported posts that need their attention

In addition, Discussions Moderators and Administrators will receive an on-site notification message per wiki they hold these rights on to alert them that a post or reply in Discussions, Message Wall, or Comments was reported. This alert will appear among other messages received on the platform. If a new report is made on the same wiki before the previous report was dealt with, the active notification will jump to the top of the message list and show a counter indicating the amount of un-actioned reported content. This counter matches the "Reported" counter in the toolbar for each wiki. To deactivate the message notification, you can either click on it to open the reported page, click on the dot in the corner of the message to mark it as read, or click "Mark all as read" to dismiss all your active notifications. Note that while any of these actions mark the notification as read, the message itself will not disappear so long as the reported counter for the wiki is greater than 0. A new report will then make the message reappear (in case it had vanished due to all reports having been dealt with) or reactivate with an increased counter (when the message had just been marked as read).

Every local Discussions Moderator and Administrator will by default be opted in to this, but it can be turned off or on by changing the settings on the Notifications tab, section Web notifications for moderators, on Special:Preferences on a per wiki basis, as it isn't a global setting. This per wiki basis will allow you to regulate your own notifications and define priorities as you see fit based on your own wiki experience and moderation team.

The Fandom app does not currently have a reported view.

Editing[]

Mods and admins have the ability to edit the content of any Discussions post or reply. Editing a Discussions post also allows the post's category or article tags to be changed. All users will see an indication at the bottom of a post or reply that has been edited: general users will see edited by administrators, while mods and admins will see the username of the individual that made the edit.

If the aim is to move a post but not edit its contents, an easier option is available in the post's menu dropdown. Clicking or tapping Change Category will move the post without requiring a full edit. This will not show an indication at the bottom of the post that it has been edited.

Profile moderation actions[]

Profile actions

An overview of the moderation actions of an Administrator

Administrators and Discussions moderators have some quick tools at their disposal when viewing the profile of a user. While they both will have access to the "delete all posts" option, only Administrators will have the additional option to block or unblock a user, or to promote a user to Discussions Moderator status, or to remove these rights again. Clicking the block/unblock option leads directly to the Special:Block page to execute the chosen action. Clicking the promote/demote option leads to Special:UserRights, both without having to visit the user profile on the wiki itself. Every user will always have the quick link to the Message Wall or Talk Page available to leave to reach out to the user.

Blocking users[]

Users can be blocked from from contributing on Discussions. For more information on blocking users, see Help:Blocking.

Blocking a user is only available on desktop and mobile web. While the Special:Block page is not available in the Fandom app, the app will respect blocks and not allow blocked users to contribute to Discussions. Local wiki Discussions Moderators cannot block users, but local wiki Administrators and Global Discussions Moderators can do so. The option to block a user is available to those with the blocking right from the user profile on Discussions itself in the dropdown or on the user profile on the wiki.

Activity feed[]

Social Activity Community Central

An example of the Social Activity Feed

Discussions activity can be viewed in the Social Activity Feed that can be accessed by clicking the Social Activity tab in Recent Changes. The feed is similar to the recent changes feed and contains data about Discussions contributions, Message Wall contributions, and comments.

Post history[]

Just like every other logged-in user do Discussions Moderators and Administrators have access to the post or reply history. This option remains available to them even after a post or reply has been deleted.

Discussions AbuseFilter[]

See more: Help:Discussions AbuseFilter

The Discussions AbuseFilter extension allows Administrators to set specific filters in Discussions for actions (i.e., blocking or disallowing) to be performed when the filters are triggered. Enabling the extension is subject to restrictions, and Administrators are only given access when there is a clear and current need for it. Administrators can request their assigned Wiki Representative or contact Fandom Staff to enable the extension.

Configuration[]

Guidelines[]

Default Discussions guidelines

Discussions come with default rules that can be adjusted for the needs of each community

On the Fandom app, guidelines can be accessed by tapping the More dropdown in the header of your selected community. Desktop users see a link to the guidelines in the module introducing the community on the left, and they can open a popup showing the guidelines when they hover over Guidelines in the post creation box. Mobile web users can access the guidelines via a link in the community description box at the top.

General guidelines are provided by default. Admins and Discussions Moderators can provide customized guidelines via the web version of Discussions. Guidelines can also be accessed by adding /f/g after the community's main URL (e.g., https://community.fandom.com/f/g).

Wiki description[]

The wiki description text, which appears above the guidelines, can be edited by Administrators or Content Moderators on the "Edit mobile main page" dialog box, which can be accessed via the edit dropdown of the wiki's main page.

Note that the actual mobile main page is not affected anymore by that dialog box.

Categories[]

DiscussionCategoriesAdmin

Discussion categories with the Edit Categories option

Administrators can create discussion categories to provide structure and guidance to users posting and reading Discussions.

One default category exists, named General. All posts are part of this category unless the creator changed the category when creating the post or later. After additional categories are created, General remains and cannot be deleted or renamed.

Administrators can use the Edit Categories option in the category filter on desktop or mobile web to:

  • create additional categories (limit of 10 categories)
  • reorder categories, including General
  • rename categories (limit of 64 characters)
  • delete categories (this will prompt to move posts to another category)
Discussions add category

Adding a category

To create a new category, click or tap + Add Category while in edit mode. Use the cursor to enter the category's name or use the X button to cancel the new category.

To rename or delete a category, click or tap the category's name while in edit mode. Use the cursor to edit the name or use the trash can icon to delete the category and move its posts to another category.

All changes in edit mode are not final until clicking or tapping Save. Cancel will undo all changes.

Discussions Insights[]

DiscussionsInsightsReportsGlossary

Discussions Insights helps mods and admins keep track of Discussions activity on a community. This tool can be particularly helpful in spotting potential Discussions Moderators. A link to Discussions Insights is located on the left rail on desktop, and among the other moderation tools at the top of the page on mobile. The data can be displayed for either the last 30 or the last 90 days. The data for Discussions Insights updates every 24 hours.

Active Users shows which users have posted the most and the total number of their posts including replies, sorted by number of posts. This helps identify your most active Discussions users.

Reports lists users who have reported the most Discussions content. The list also shows how many of their reports led to the content being deleted (trash can) or approved (check mark), or if the report is still pending (clock icon). Users with many reports that lead to deletions may be good candidates for a moderator position.

Moderator Actions lists the number of actions taken by mods and admins in Discussions. This includes deleting, locking, editing, moving, and approving posts and replies, as well as actions taken by editing categories. This helps identify both active and inactive mods and admins.

Further help and feedback[]