# Moderating chat

> What happens when a member reports a chat message, and what Dismiss, Hide and Delete each do about it.

Canonical: https://www.clubpal.app/docs/chat/moderation
Section: Chat

Any member can report any message. Reports gather at **Admin > Chat > Reported**, and anyone with the **Manage Chats** permission can act on them.

![The Reported messages page showing one reported message with its author, content, the reporter's reason and Dismiss, Hide and Delete buttons](https://www.clubpal.app/img/docs/chat-reported-queue.png)

*Admin > Chat > Reported. Each row shows the message, who reported it and why.*

Each row shows the message and its author, the conversation it came from with a link straight to it in context, and every report against it with the reason the reporter gave.

Use the search box to find a message or an author, and the **Needs attention** filter to switch between what is outstanding and what has already been dealt with.

## The three actions

| Action | What it does |
|---|---|
| **Dismiss** | Clears the reports and leaves the message alone. Nothing changes in the conversation. |
| **Hide** | Keeps the message out of the conversation for everyone except moderators, who still see it and can **Unhide** it. |
| **Delete** | Removes the message for good. |

**Dismiss** is the right answer more often than it looks. A report is one member's opinion, and clearing it records that a moderator looked.

**Hide** is the reversible middle option, and the one to reach for when you are not sure. The message stops being visible to the conversation immediately, and you can put it back.

**Delete** cannot be undone. Replies that quoted the deleted message stay in the conversation, showing **Message deleted** in place of the quote, so the thread still reads.

If the message was [pinned](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/chat/messages#pin-a-message), hiding or deleting it also clears the pinned banner, so a message taken down does not stay on display above the conversation. Unhiding it brings the banner back, unless something else has been pinned in the meantime. Use **Unpin** on the message if you want it visible in the conversation but no longer pinned.

## Reading a message in context

A single message is often impossible to judge on its own. The conversation link on each row opens the message where it was posted, with everything around it.

This works even for a channel you are not a member of. A moderator can read any channel in order to judge a report, without being in its roster, and can still read one that has since been disabled or archived, because reports outlive the room they were raised in.

> **Note**
>
> Being able to read a channel is not the same as being in it. A moderator who is not in a channel's roster cannot post, reply, react or report in it. Moderating a room is not joining it.

## How moderators hear about a report

The first report on a message raises an alert, and an email, for everyone with the **Manage Chats** permission. Later reports on the same message do not, so a pile-on does not become a pile of notifications. The email links straight to the reported message in the moderation queue.

Members with **Manage Chats** control this like any other notification, under **Chat** at **My Profile > Notifications**. See [Notification preferences](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/general/notification-preferences).

## Tips

- Deal with reports promptly even when the answer is **Dismiss**. The queue is only useful while it is short.
- Prefer **Hide** to **Delete** while a situation is live. You can always delete afterwards, and you cannot undelete.
- If one channel produces most of your reports, the problem is usually the channel's membership, not the messages. Look at the [groups](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/membership/member-groups) it is sourced from.

## See also

- [Using chat](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/chat/messages): how a member reports a message
- [Channels](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/chat/channels): create a chat room with its own member list
- [Permissions](https://www.clubpal.app/docs/general/permissions): what **Manage Chats** allows