Moderation and appeals

Who moderates

Trained Difability moderators read reports and check posts. They work 09:00 to 17:00 UK time, Monday to Friday, except bank holidays. Outside those hours they check reports every day at 10:00 and 18:00.

A moderator never decides about their own post, or about something they were involved in. Another moderator decides.

If no moderator has acted for 24 hours, every new post waits for a moderator until one acts again.

Posts that wait for a moderator

Most posts appear straight away. These wait for a moderator first, usually for less than one working day:

• posts and replies from new members
• every event, opportunity and success story
• anything our automatic checks pick out
• posts and replies from a member under a restriction

A new member becomes an established member after 14 days, once 3 of their posts or replies have been approved and no report against them has been upheld. Waiting for a moderator is not a finding against anyone.

Our automatic checks look for:

• a home address: a UK postcode, or a house number with a street
• phone numbers and email addresses
• requests for money, bank details, gift cards, cryptocurrency or personal documents
• links to harmful websites
• words from a list of slurs and threats that moderators keep up to date
• the same text posted more than twice in 24 hours

The checks only hold a post for a moderator. They never remove or reject anything. Two kinds of link cannot be posted at all: links from new members, and shortened links, because readers cannot see where they lead.

In live conversation, messages are checked the same way. A held message waits for a moderator, and only the person who wrote it can see it until then.

Reports

Anyone can report something that breaks the rules. You choose a reason and get a reference number, such as DFB-RPT-000001. What happens next depends on the reason:

• Someone may be at risk of harm

  Hidden at once while a moderator looks at it. A moderator responds within 1 staffed hour.

• Scam, fraud or a request for money

  Hidden at once while a moderator looks at it. A moderator responds within 4 staffed hours.

• Pretending to be someone else

  Hidden at once while a moderator looks at it. A moderator responds within 4 staffed hours.

• Personal information: an address, phone number or health details

  Hidden at once while a moderator looks at it. A moderator responds within 4 staffed hours.

• Sexual or violent content

  Hidden at once while a moderator looks at it. A moderator responds within 4 staffed hours.

• Harassment, bullying or hate

  Hidden after 3 reports from established members, or 1 from a trusted member. A moderator responds within 4 staffed hours.

• Spam or advertising

  Hidden after 3 reports from established members. A moderator responds within 1 working day.

• False or misleading information

  Stays visible while a moderator looks at it. A moderator responds within 1 working day.

• Wrong area or topic

  Stays visible while a moderator looks at it. A moderator responds within 2 working days.

• Something else

  Stays visible while a moderator looks at it. A moderator responds within 2 working days.

Anything reported by 3 different established members is hidden while a moderator looks at it, whatever the reason. A trusted member is one a moderator has given trusted status. Reports are dealt with by priority, then by age, and reports about the same thing are decided together.

When a moderator has decided, the person who reported it is told “We took action” or “We reviewed it and it stays”, never details about the other member. The person who wrote it is told the outcome and how to appeal. If 5 of your reports are rejected within 30 days, your later reports are looked at after everyone else’s.

When someone may be at risk of harm, a trained safeguarding lead decides what to do. Read the safeguarding policy.

Decisions

Every decision names the Community rule it is about, gives the reason, and says how to appeal. A moderator can take these steps, and a serious breach can go straight to a later one:

Warning

A message that names the rule and what to change. It stops counting after 12 months.

Restriction

For 7 or 30 days, a moderator checks your posts and replies before other members see them. It ends by itself.

Suspension

For 7 or 30 days, you can read the Community but not post or reply. It ends by itself.

Account closed

The account is closed and the same email address cannot join again. This is for threats, fraud, sexual exploitation, hate, or pretending to be Difability. It ends only if an appeal succeeds.

Organisation posting withdrawn

For a breach in an organisation’s name: nobody can post for the organisation, and its Difability Coordinator is told. It ends when the Coordinator restores it.

A restriction or suspension usually lasts 7 days the first time, and 30 days for a repeat within 12 months. Decisions are recorded and never changed: when one is reversed, the reversal is recorded as a new decision.

Appeals

You can appeal a decision once, within 14 days, from the link in the message that tells you about it, or from your Community settings. Say why the decision should change, in up to 2,000 characters.

A member of staff who was not involved decides within 5 working days. An appeal about a closed account goes to an Appeal reviewer. Nobody decides an appeal about their own decision.

While the appeal is decided, the post stays hidden and the step stays in place. If the appeal is upheld, the post is restored, the step is lifted and the decision is removed from your history. If it is not, we tell you why in writing.

To complain about how Difability itself handled something, raise a concern.