As the host of an event, it’s important to moderate the chat, spotlight the messages that are important for all to see, and take action if chats are inappropriate and members are disruptive.
There are a number of access roles you can configure that allow you and your team to moderate events chats; pin messages you want to spotlight at the top of the chat block, delete ones that are not beneficial or appropriate to the event discussion, and even ban members from chatting entirely.
Auto-Moderation Tools & Settings
Gradual has deployed several native moderation features that automatically moderate posts and comments so they are appropriate and work to deter spamming.
Basic profanity filter moderation will return an error to the user if their text contains profanity.
Gradual is currently using a standard available library of profane terms in English.
If you have words or phrases that need to be added to or excluded from the filter parameter, please see below in 'System Moderation Settings'.
Basic content filter moderation will return an error to the user if the text contains blanks or spaces only.
Filter moderation will block all ASCII text and return an error to the user.
Admins to the dashboard & chat moderators are exempt from this auto-moderation as they are assumed trusted users.
System Moderation Settings
You can control profanity filtering across the entire platform from within Settings → System Settings. Changes made here will affect chat messages within events and in the Forum.
You can add words to the auto-moderated list, or add words as exceptions, that would be excluded from the profanity filter and will not be moderated.
Event Chat Moderation
Who can moderate the chat?
There are several roles you can establish within the dashboard to help moderate event chats.
Dashboard Admin
This role has the highest level of access as they have access to all community dashboard settings, all events, and all channels or chats.
They are able to see all chats, pin or delete messages in the dashboard, and pin or delete messages on the front end. They are also able to ban disruptive members.
Dashboard admins can assign collaborators, event permissions, chat moderators, and meeting hosts in events to aid in chat moderation.
Learn more about how to add admins to the community dashboard here.
Collaborator
Collaborators create and manage events within the dashboard, and the dashboard admins can assign specific permissions for collaborators in terms of what type of events they can manage, and thus, what level of chat moderation.
They are able to see all chats, pin or delete messages in the dashboard, and pin or delete messages on the front end for ONLY events they have created. They are also able to ban disruptive members.
Collaborators can assign event permissions, chat moderators, and meeting hosts in events to aid in chat moderation.
Learn more about collaborators here.
Event Permissions
This role has access only within the event they are assigned. There are three levels of access within the event permissions - Event Admin, Event Manager and Event Editor.
All three levels can see all chat messages, pin or delete messages in the dashboard, and pin or delete messages on the front end of ONLY the event(s) they are given access to. They are also able to ban disruptive members.
All levels can assign chat moderators and meeting hosts in events to aid in chat moderation.
Learn more about how to add event permissions to users in an event here.
Chat Moderators
Chat Moderators have access only to moderate the chat on a certain stage or channel of an event on the front end.
They are able to see chat messages, pin or delete messages on the front end for ONLY the stages (channels) they are given access. They are also able to ban disruptive members.
Note: Chat Moderators cannot restore previously deleted messages.
Video Guide: Chat moderation in livestream events
Learn more about how to add chat moderators to a livestream event here.
Meeting and Webinar Hosts or Staff
Hosts or Staff can moderate the chat and Q&A within the meeting or webinar event they are assigned.
They can see chat messages, pin or delete messages and moderate Q&A on the front end for ONLY the meeting or webinar event where they are assigned. They are also able to pin or delete messages on the front end of the chat within the messages thread after the event has ended. They are also able to ban disruptive members.
Note: Meeting hosts and staff cannot restore previously deleted messages.
Video Guide: Chat moderation in meeting rooms
Learn more about how to assign hosts to a meeting event, and their controls and features here.
Manual Moderation Tools
There are two places to edit event chat messages and Q&A questions - from within the admin dashboard, and on the front-end, in the live event.
Pin chat messages and Q&A questions
Dashboard
This function is accessible only in livestream events by dashboard admins, collaborators, and event permission admins. Chat moderators and meeting hosts cannot pin chat messages from within the dashboard.
From within the dashboard, at the event level, in the Channels tab:
Select the stage where the chat is taking place.
Find the message you’d like to pin.
Select the pin icon and the message will be pinned to the top of the chat thread in real time.
💡 Pro Tip: Create a message that welcomes everyone to the event and touches on some FAQs (e.g. This event is being recorded and will be shared with all attendees soon) and pin it to the top of the chat thread.
In-Event
This function is accessible by dashboard admins, collaborators, event permission admins, chat moderators, and meeting hosts.
From within the live event, in the chat stream on the front end:
Hover over the chat you'd like to pin and select the three dot icon in the upper right hand corner of the chat message.
Select 'Pin' and the message will be pinned to the top of the chat thread in realtime.
Delete or hide chat messages and Q&A questions
Dashboard
This function is accessible by dashboard admins, collaborators, and event permission admins. Chat moderators and meeting hosts cannot hide chat messages from within the dashboard.
From within the dashboard, at the event level, in the Channels tab:
Select the stage where the chat is taking place.
Find the message you’d like to hide.
Select the trash icon to hide it entirely.
If you'd like to hide all messages from that member, you can select the box beside 'Clear all messages...' and it will automatically hide all messages from that user.
Clear Chat
If you'd like to clear and delete all messages simultaneously, you can use the 'Clear Chat' action in the event dashboard, in Channels. All messages will be deleted, and disappear from the front-end chat. They can be restored in the dashboard at any time.
💡 Pro Tip: Search for a user who is a repeat offender, and hide all chats from them, or ban them by following these steps.
In-Event
This function is accessible by dashboard admins, collaborators, event permission admins, and meeting/webinar hosts or staff.
From within the live event, in the chat stream on the front end:
Hover over the chat you'd like to delete and select the three dot icon in the upper right hand corner of the chat message.
Select 'Delete' and the message will be deleted in realtime.
Meeting Events: There is currently no way to restore messages deleted by hosts so ensure this action is only taken when the message is to be deleted forever
Restore chat messages and Q&A questions
Dashboard
This function is accessible in livestream events by dashboard admins, collaborators, and event permission admins. Chat moderators and meeting hosts cannot restore chat messages.
From within the dashboard, at the event level, in the Channels tab:
Select the stage where the chat is taking place.
Find the message you’d like to restore.
Select the Restore button.
Hide chat entirely
Dashboard
This function is accessible by dashboard admins, collaborators, and event permission admins. Chat moderators cannot hide the chat entirely. Chat moderators and meeting/webinar hosts or staff cannot hide the chat entirely from the front-end of an event.
From within the dashboard, at the event level, in the Channels tab:
Select the stage where the chat is taking place.
Select the edit icon to the right of the stage.
Toggle the visibility 'off'.
Slow mode and moderators-only mode
There are additional moderation tools that help you moderate high volume and very active chats in livestream and hybrid events.
Slow mode
This feature allows you to control how often attendees can send messages into the chat; it can range from 2 seconds to 5-minute intervals.
Enable Slow mode: In-Event
This can be enabled by chat moderators on the front end, in the event environment when the stream is live and is enabled and set on a per stage basis.
Select the stage where you want to enable slow mode and select the gear icon from the bottom settings menu.
Note: If you do not see the gear icon, it is because the stream is not live. A stream must be fed to the event for this icon to appear
Toggle the Slow mode 'on'.
Select the preferred interval, this is the number of seconds or minutes a user must wait before sending another message.
This is only available in livestream and hybrid events, on a per-stage/channel basis, and can be enabled when the stream is 'live' or from the dashboard. It does not affect the Q&A tab, just the chat tab.
Moderators-only mode
This feature limits who can post in the chat thread to only those assigned as chat moderators, collaborators or added with event permissions in the dashboard. Attendees cannot post in the chat unless they are assigned those elevated roles.
This is only available in livestream and hybrid events, on a per-stage/channel basis, and can be enabled when the stream is 'live' or from the dashboard. It does not affect the Q&A tab, just the chat tab.
Enable moderators-only mode: Dashboard
From within the dashboard, at the event level, in the Channels tab:
Select the stage where you want to only allow moderators to post in the chat, and select the 'Edit' icon.
Check the box beside 'Moderator-Only Mode' and confirm the action.
Add all attendees who should be able to post in the chat thread as chat moderators.
Once enabled, only chat moderators, event collaborators and those assigned event permissions can post in the chat tab and other attendees will see that noted in the chat box.
Enable moderators-only mode: In-Event
Select the stage where you want to enable moderators-only mode and select the gear icon from the bottom settings menu.
Note: If you do not see the gear icon, it is because the stream is not live. A stream must be fed to the event for this icon to appear.
Toggle Moderators-only mode on.
Once the toggle is on, only chat moderators, event collaborators and those assigned event permissions can post in the chat tab and other attendees will see that noted in the chat box.
It can be easily disabled by selecting the gear icon at the base of the page, and toggling the setting off. This will allow all attendees to chat again.
Disallow hyperlinks
You may disallow including any hyperlinks in chat messages. To do this:
Click on the gear icon (Moderation Settings).
Click on Ban.
If you want to allow hyperlinks again, go back to Moderation Settings and click on Allow for Hyperlink.
Managing Attendees who are disruptive
Banning them from chatting
Follow the steps in this resource to ban the member from chatting for 7 days.
Marking the disruptive member ‘Limited Approval’
From within the dashboard, at the community level, in the Members tab:
Search for the user.
Mark their Type as Limited Approval and click Save.
Select their name (to access their profile).
Log them out by selecting the Logout button in upper right. Confirm this action by selecting OK.
Note: This will force them out, and when they sign back in, they will not be able to view, chat, match, message or interact with other members in any way.
If you want to reverse this action, simply mark their Type as Standard.
Booting the disruptive member from the Community
Here is a document on understanding and changing member access levels and how to change the access levels from Approved to Pending, or Unapproved.
From within the dashboard, at the community level, in the Members tab:
Search for the user.
Select their name (to access their profile).
Log them out by marking them Pending Approval or Unapproved using the drop down in the upper right.
Note: This will force them out, and they will not be able to sign back in.
If you want to reverse this action, they are now in the Pending or Unnapproved list in the Members tab and can be approved there. They will not receive any notification of this action, so emailing them to invite them back is necessary.
Here is a document on understanding and changing member access levels.