Community Moderation - The Basics
🧑⚖️ What makes a good moderator?
A great moderator isn’t just someone with permissions. They’re someone who understands your community and helps it grow.
Look for people who are:
- Friendly, active, and approachable
- Able to de-escalate situations calmly
- Confident taking action when needed
- Good communicators who lead by example
- Focused on making the server feel welcoming and safe
💡 Banning should be a last resort. A great mod can guide conversations without shutting people down.
📜 Setting server rules
Clear rules help reduce confusion and conflict.
- Keep them short and easy to find, ideally in a dedicated channel
- Use a bot flow to guide new members to the rules
- Apply the rules fairly to everyone, including moderators
- Consider adding a note that moderators may use their judgment when enforcing them
💡 Guilded’s Community Guidelines and Terms of Use always apply, even if you have your own server rules.
🔍 Example rules you can adapt for your server
- Be respectful. No insults, harassment, or hateful conduct
- No NSFW or disturbing content
- Don’t discuss or promote illegal activity
- Avoid spamming or trolling
- Use self-promotion channels appropriately
- Stay on topic in each channel
- Keep political and hot-button topics out of general chat
- English only in public spaces
- Don’t share private information or screenshots without consent
- Criticism is okay, personal attacks are not
💡 Not everything needs a rule. Give your moderators the space to act with context.
🧩 Moderator roles and permissions
Give your mod team the tools they need, based on their level of responsibility.
Core permissions:
- Kick and ban members
- Manage messages
- Access moderator view
- Manage server XP
Optional or advanced:
- Update server settings
- Manage roles and nicknames
- Control bots and webhooks
- Use @everyone and @here mentions
- Manage server emotes
💡 Only assign high-level permissions to moderators you fully trust.
🧰 Helpful moderation tools
- Use private replies for gentle rule reminders
- Create a timeout or mute role to quickly manage spam
- Shift-click to mass delete messages
- Ban users with the option to clear their message history
- Assign channel-specific moderation roles if needed
✅ Final tip
Great moderation is about trust, clarity, and knowing your community. With the right people and tools, you can keep your space safe, fun, and welcoming for everyone.