Moderation Guide

Table of contents

1. Who can do what: moderation team roles
2. Responding to posts and content
3. Handling conflict and abuse
4. What to do in high-risk situations
5. Engaging your community
6. Support and further help

1. Who can do what: moderation team roles

Different moderation tools are available based on your role:

• Partners have full access to all features: moderation, community growth, onboarding, and analytics.
• Administrators have most moderation and engagement tools.
• Moderators focus on real-time content and user management—editing posts, restricting members, and managing reports.

Viewed a detailed list of permissions of each role on Moderation team badges and permissions

Common tools for all roles

• Edit or delete content
• Restrict users
• Turn off replies
• Pin posts
• Embed content
• Organise folders
• Respond to reports
• Request in memoriam profiles
• Request ban
• Assign badges

Admin and partner-only tools

• View and edit welcome message
• Create polls
• Edit community information
• View metrics and insights
• Run campaigns
• Send email invites

2. Responding to posts and content

As a moderator or admin, your core responsibility is to help shape healthy discussions.

• Edit or delete posts to remove abusive, misleading, or inappropriate content. All roles can do this.
• Turn off replies to a post if a thread becomes too heated or needs pausing. This tool is available to all roles and automatically notifies the post author.
• Pin posts (like community guidelines or welcome messages) to keep important content visible. All roles can pin or unpin content.
• Organise content using folders or embed tools to highlight helpful posts. All roles have access to these features.

3. Handling conflict and abuse

When members report posts or when conflict arises, your job is to respond quickly and fairly.

• Content reports are sent to moderators, admins, and the support team when users flag a post. These include the original version of the post for reference.
• Restricting a member temporarily removes their ability to post or message (except admins). All roles can do this.
• Banning a member requires a request to the HealthUnlocked support team and is available to all roles.

Conflict resolution tips

• Always message the user privately rather than posting corrections in public.
• Link to your community guidelines when sending warnings.
• If you’re unsure how to proceed, ask another admin or escalate to support.

4. What to do in high-risk situations

If someone mentions self-harm, suicide, or another mental health crisis:

1. Remove the post immediately
2. Privately message the user with kind, supportive language encouraging them to seek help
3. Signpost services in their country

Use this full guide for templates and escalation process:

Moderating high-risk content →

5. Engaging your community

A thriving HealthUnlocked community doesn’t just happen—it’s nurtured through consistent interaction, recognition, and smart use of engagement tools.

Use polls to bring people back

Polls are a powerful, low-effort way to spark activity—especially from members who might not be ready to post or reply.

• An email is automatically sent to recently active members, prompting them to return and vote.
• It's often a user's first interaction—they can engage with just one click.
• Poll results can inform future conversations and help members see shared experiences.

You might ask:

“What symptom do you struggle with most right now?”

“How are you feeling this week?”

“Have you ever tried X treatment?”

Invite new voices

Partner accounts can use the email invite feature to bring in new members. This is one of the most effective ways to stimulate new conversation.

• Invited members are more likely to ask a question early on, which gives your current members something new to respond to.
• A steady influx of new users keeps the community fresh and evolving.

Recognise your contributors

Positive reinforcement keeps people engaged. Admins and partners can assign badges like:

• Ambassador
• Pioneer
• Helpful hero
• Poll champion

Badges appear next to usernames and reward members for being active, supportive, or welcoming.

Celebrate growth and milestones

When your community reaches milestones (e.g. 100 members, 500 posts, 1-year anniversary), highlight the moment with a post:

“This month we reached 1,000 members! Thank you for every question, reply, and bit of encouragement you’ve shared here.”

These moments foster a sense of belonging and progress.

Encourage low-barrier participation

• Ask simple questions (e.g. “Where are you joining from?”).
• Use reaction emojis on posts.
• Post quick polls.
• Share community updates with a clear call to action.

Participation breeds participation. When others see activity, they’re more likely to join in.

6. Support and further help

If you ever need assistance:

• Contact the HealthUnlocked support team through your admin panel
• Use our support knowledge base to look up guides and how-tos
• Share decisions or doubts with other admins — moderation should never be a solo burden