# Discourse Moderation Guide - Part 1: Getting Started
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-moderation-guide-part-1-getting-started/63116
**Category:** Site Management
**Tags:** moderation, explanation
**Created:** [May 22, 2017, 6:32am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-moderation-guide-part-1-getting-started/63116 "2017-05-22T06:32:02Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Discourse](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Discourse)
#### Post date: [May 22, 2017, 6:32am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-moderation-guide-part-1-getting-started/63116/1 "2017-05-22T06:32:02Z")
> 🔖 This guide introduces the role of a moderator in a Discourse forum, explaining how to welcome new users, recognize helpful contributors, and communicate effectively with your moderation team. It covers the foundational aspects of community stewardship before diving into specific moderation tools.
>
> 🙋 Required user level: Moderator
So you’re a moderator on a Discourse forum — congratulations! As a forum moderator, it’s your role to help oversee the forum, ensuring that users and content align with your Terms of Service, FAQ, and other published rules. Discourse comes with numerous tools to help you accomplish this.
#### Discourse moderation guide series:
- Part 1: Getting Started _(this guide)_
- [Part 2: Managing Users](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-moderation-guide-part-2-managing-users/406265)
- [Part 3: Managing Content](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-moderation-guide-part-3-managing-content/406266)
This guide covers the foundational aspects of being a moderator:
- Welcoming new users and fostering a friendly environment.
- Recognizing and encouraging helpful community members.
- Understanding the trust level system and its privileges.
- Communicating effectively with your moderation team via staff categories, lounges, and whispers.
### Welcoming New Users
Part of keeping a community friendly and helping it grow involves being an example to others. When you notice a new user on the site ([as indicated by a post notice](https://meta.discourse.org/t/post-notices-for-first-time-and-returning-users/112078)), say hi and welcome them to the site. Even if you have nothing else to say, that initial interaction is important for new members to feel welcomed.
### Helpful Users
Most users are good citizens on the forums and will do their best to participate properly. Some users, however, will go above and beyond what is expected. It is to your advantage to recognize these users and encourage them to keep doing what they do.
Active helpful users may reach Trust Level 3 (TL3), which allows them to help edit titles and change topic categories. Users can also be manually promoted to TL4, which grants them global edit privileges on any topic or post they can see.
### Moderator Communication
Often a moderator will operate as part of a larger team which includes other moderators, as well as site admins/owners, and in many cases TL3/TL4 users. Regular and open communication between all should be encouraged.
**The Staff Category:** The Staff category is a default category on all Discourse installs restricted to site staff: admins and moderators. The Staff category is a great place for moderators to discuss what they’re seeing and doing within the site, as well as to document internal policies and procedures.
**Whispers:** When groups are added to the `whispers_allowed_groups` site setting, members of those groups can take advantage of whispers. Whispers allow them to create private replies within an existing topic or PM. This allows staff to discuss issues within the topic, so no context is lost. Whispers can also be used to mention other staff if assistance is required, but a public reply would be inappropriate, and an invite wouldn’t provide the necessary context.
> ℹ As of October 2022, the Lounge category is no longer included by default in new sites but is included here for reference. If you think it would be useful for your site, you can set one up using the [category permissions](https://meta.discourse.org/t/understanding-groups-and-category-permissions-security-settings/87678).
**The Lounge:** The Lounge is a category restricted to users TL3 or above (it is no longer created by default on new installs). The Lounge is a great place for the moderator team to communicate with the site’s trusted users. These users should be encouraged to share their thoughts and concerns with the site staff within this category.
#### Other Discourse moderation guides:
- [Part 2: Managing Users](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-moderation-guide-part-2-managing-users/406265)
- [Part 3: Managing Content](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-moderation-guide-part-3-managing-content/406266)
> 🇫🇷 This guide is also available in French: [🇫🇷 Guide des modérateurs](https://meta.discourse.org/t/guide-des-moderateurs/89968)
> Last edited by @MarkDoerr 2026-06-27T01:13:41Z
>
> > **Check document**
> >
> > Perform check on document:
---
### Author:  [@nathank](https://meta.discourse.org/u/nathank)
#### Post date: [December 4, 2024, 2:38am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-moderation-guide-part-1-getting-started/63116/95 "2024-12-04T02:38:50Z")
This is quite focussed on site moderators.
Is a similar (perhaps simpler) guide planned for the more humble role of #category-moderators?
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [April 14, 2026, 1:20pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-moderation-guide-part-1-getting-started/63116/100 "2026-04-14T13:20:55Z")
the flagging section is way out of date to the point of getting unhelpful. which is unfortunate because by default the review queue includes a direct link the this guide ( ~~i know it can be changed~~ [no it can’t be changed](https://meta.discourse.org/t/custom-review-queue-help-links/400700)) .
> [@Discourse](#):
>
> When a topic is flagged, and sent to the review queue it is automatically assigned a flag score. There is a score to reach to automatically hide a topic, and to see the score and the formula applied just click on ? icon near each post in the review queue:
> [@Where is the flag scoring link in the review queue?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/where-is-the-flag-scoring-link-in-the-review-queue/400602/3):
>
> The score was intentionally removed, as there was a good amount of confusion around what it meant. So at the moment it’s more of a hidden ranking algorithm that helps prioritize items in the queue. There’s still some more literal flag history available in the insights tab. If others are also missing it feel free to chime in here with a little detail about why you found it useful!
> [@Discourse](#):
>
> There are 4 options for handling flags in the review queue: Agree, Disagree, Ignore, and Delete.
i count 2 dropdown options (Yes or No) with multiple each, that may depend on the type of flag.
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### Author:  [@Lilly](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Lilly)
#### Post date: [April 18, 2026, 12:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-moderation-guide-part-1-getting-started/63116/101 "2026-04-18T12:11:27Z")
just a note that this topic is linked in the email automatically sent to mods when they are promoted to the role. forum admins should edit the link to go to their own version (if they have one) in `system_messages.welcome_staff.text_body_template` via Admin → Site Texts.
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### Author:  [@Gabby\_McCone\_She\_Her](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Gabby_McCone_She_Her)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2026, 10:10pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-moderation-guide-part-1-getting-started/63116/103 "2026-06-25T22:10:55Z")
Thank you for sharing this, @fsasaki and @MarkDoerr! I actually don’t see anything in here about locking threads vs archiving [at least in the moderation guide], is that located elsewhere?
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### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [June 25, 2026, 10:18pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-moderation-guide-part-1-getting-started/63116/104 "2026-06-25T22:18:21Z")
I don’t know the original question, but regarding archiving, this documentation topic comes to mind: [Understanding closed, unlisted, and archived topics](https://meta.discourse.org/t/understanding-closed-unlisted-and-archived-topics/51238). (Though it compares it to closing, not locking. I think ‘[locking](https://meta.discourse.org/t/locking-posts-preventing-users-from-undoing-staff-edits/79111)’ prevents the user from editing their own post)