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Moderation
- What is moderation?
- How do you moderate the message boards - what are the types of moderation?
- Is moderation done by humans or computers?
- What criteria do moderators use to make decisions?
- What happens to my post when it is sent to the moderation queue?
- Why do some posts take longer in the moderation queue than others?
- Why hasn't my post appeared?
- Why are my posts pre-moderated, even on reactive boards?
- Why must we have moderation on BBC boards?
- Why has my post been removed when other posts that break the House Rules in a similar way are allowed to remain?
- Why was my post removed without any explanation?
- Are posts more likely to be removed if a complaint is made about them several times?
- Why has my discussion been closed?
- Why have all of a users' posts vanished?
- Can I appeal against a moderation decision?
- How should I make my appeal?
- How does the appeal process work?
- Can I appeal against the banning, restriction or premoderation of my account?
- Can I make a general complaint about the standard of moderation on a service?
- What is the expedited complaints procedure?
What is moderation?
Contributions to our message boards are checked by a team of trained moderators to make the message boards a safe and enjoyable place to be, and ensure that they meet the House Rules, the BBC's editorial guidelines and the laws of the United Kingdom. Moderators do not post to the boards.
Message board hosts do post to the boards. Their names appear differently so you can tell them apart from members of the public. Hosts do not usually moderate the content of the boards, although it is their job to keep the discussions relevant to the topic and within the BBC's guidelines. They may close off-topic or other rule-breaking discussions, and sometimes make a decision on posts that have been referred to them by the moderators. They may also alert the moderators to rule-breaking posts that they see in the course of their work.
How do you moderate the message boards - what are the types of moderation?
BBC message boards are checked or 'moderated' in three different ways, depending on subject matter and target age range of the board:
Pre-moderation
Every single post is checked before it appears on the board.
Post-moderation
All posts appear on the board immediately and are checked shortly afterwards.
Reactive moderation
Posts are usually only checked if a complaint is made about them. This approach is only used on boards intended for adults. If you see a post on a reactively moderated board - or any other board - that you think may break one of the House Rules, please alert a moderator by using the triangular complaint button 
or link labelled 'Complain' beneath the post.
It will state on the message board is pre-moderated, post-moderated, or reactively moderated. Please note that while the majority of posts on reactive boards will not be viewed by the moderators unless they are complained about, individual topic areas, users and particular words and phrases may all be set to post- or pre-moderation at the discretion of the BBC.
Is moderation done by humans or computers?
All moderation is done by a team of trained human moderators. A post is never failed without being read and reviewed by a human moderator. However, we have filters to prevent certain offensive words from being posted, or to detect posts using words which may indicate a breach of the House Rules. These posts are then sent to the moderation queue to be reviewed. These filters are only additional tools to help improve the efficiency of human moderation.
What criteria do moderators use to make decisions?
Moderators are trained to work to a set of detailed editorial guidelines when assessing user generated content, which are in line with the BBC's editorial guidelines for all online services.
Moderators are trained to have a working understanding of defamation and other relevant laws and are briefed about breaking news stories. When in doubt, moderators refer posts to hosts, supervisors, or the Central Communities team, who are responsible for moderation across the majority of BBC services. The moderators work across hundreds of blogs and boards and view the posts out of context, so they will usually refer decisions about off-topic posts to the hosts who may be more familiar with the subject matter.
What happens to my post when it is sent to the moderation queue?
On a post-moderated or pre-moderated message board, all posts join the moderation queue and will be passed, failed or referred as soon as they are seen by a moderator. The time taken to review a post may depend on the length of the queue but in most cases, should be within a few minutes.
On a reactive board, posts are usually only checked if they are complained about. These complaints are prioritised ahead of all other posts.
Why do some posts take longer in the moderation queue than others?
Sometimes, a post may be referred for further investigation to a supervisor, host, editor or the Central Communities Team, who are responsible for moderation across all BBC services. Your post will be hidden while a decision is pending and the time taken to make this decision will depend on the investigation necessary.
Why hasn't my post appeared?
Your post may be awaiting moderation. Some boards are entirely pre-moderated, which means that all posts are checked by a moderator before they appear. Most BBC boards are reactively moderated, but if you are a new user to that particular board, your first few posts will be checked before appearing. If your post does not appear, it may have been rejected by the moderators. If so, you will be sent an email telling you why.
Why are my posts pre-moderated, even on reactive boards?
Each time you start using a board you've not yet posted to, you will be treated as a new user and your first few posts will be checked before appearing.
If you have been using a reactive board for a long time and your posts are still being pre-moderated, your account may have been set to temporary or permanent pre-moderation. Members' accounts are pre-moderated when they repeatedly or seriously break the House Rules. In this case, while others may be able to post messages straight to the board, every message a pre-moderated member submits to the board will be checked by a moderator before it appears.
If you think restrictions have been on your account, please check you are signed in and that the board or discussion is not closed before contacting us about the status of your account.
Why must we have moderation on BBC boards?
At the BBC, we allow as much freedom as possible to have relevant discussions on our website. However, we are also responsible for making sure that these discussions stay polite, safe and relevant and do not violate any laws or the BBC editorial policies. This is why we have a set of House Rules that we ask everyone to follow. Moderators only remove messages that break these House Rules.
Moderation is necessary so all users can participate in discussions without fear of intimidation by other users or being subjected to offensive content. Also, people may intentionally or unintentionally post content that is unlawful, putting themselves as well as the BBC at risk of legal action. Moderation helps avoid expensive legal action that could cost hundreds of thousands of pounds of licence-fee payers' money.
Please take care when copying text from someone else's post into your own. If the text you have copied into your post is seen to break the House Rules, your entire post will be removed.
We provide explanations through email for all moderation decisions so that we can make the moderation process as transparent and as fair as possible. In some cases the reasons for removal may not be apparent to other users of the board, but the person who posted the message will receive an email explanation when the decision is made to fail it. Unfortunately we cannot give detailed individual explanations as to why a comment was removed, and can only consider appeals against the removal of comments if they concern a serious legal or editorial issue. If you need to contact us about a moderation decision, please fill in this feedback form providing a link to your post or a copy of the moderation failure email you received.
Finally, it is important that you accept the BBC's Terms of Use before contributing to bbc.co.uk. Please note that the terms clearly state that the BBC reserves the right to delete any contribution, or take action against any BBC account, at any time, for any reason.
Why has my post been removed when other posts that break the House Rules in a similar way are allowed to remain?
On a reactive board, a post is usually only checked if a complaint is made about it. As a result, the moderators see some posts but may not be alerted to other posts that also break the House Rules. Moderators don't read the entire discussion when checking a post. This allows them to remain neutral in their judgement by assessing each post individually. However, this may mean that one post gets removed while other equally questionable posts in the thread are allowed to remain.
If you see a post that you think may break the House Rules, please alert a moderator by using the triangular complain button or link labelled 'Complain' beneath the message.
Another reason this may happen is because there will always be some grey areas when making moderation decisions. When deciding whether to pass or fail a post, a moderator is required to assess the level of potential risk, especially in cases of libel, contempt of court etc. and may fail a post to be on the safer side. Though there are guidelines that moderators follow, a breach may sometimes be debateable leading to differences in interpretation. One moderator may fail a particular post while another moderator might allow a similar post to remain. While we take a lot of care to ensure fairness, occasional inconsistencies are inevitable in the moderation process - if you have comments or complaints about the moderation service please contact us using our feedback form.
Malicious or excessive use of the complaint facility will lead to the restriction of your ability to complain and in some cases the restriction of your account.
Why was my post removed without any explanation?
The BBC always explains moderation decisions via email to make the process as fair and transparent as possible. In fact, the moderation system is set up in such a way that it is not possible for a moderator to remove a post without sending an email with a brief explanation of the reason for failing the post. If you have had a post removed and you haven't received an email explaining why, there could be several explanations:
The post is still awaiting a decision - if it is failed by the moderator you will be informed.
The email has been filtered by your spam settings. Please check your spam or junk email folder or change your email settings to allow emails from bbc.co.uk
The email address you have entered in your BBC iD account details is incorrect or no longer in use. You can check or update your email details by sign into your BBC iD and clicking on 'Settings'.
Very, very rarely, technical issues may result in an email failing to send from the BBC servers. If you think this has happened, let us know through our feedback form.
Are posts more likely to be removed if a complaint is made about them several times?
No, a post is removed as soon as a moderator finds that it has broken a House Rules. However, there can be times when initial complaints don't have enough information to tell a moderator why or how it breaks the House Rules.
There will also always be some grey areas when making moderation decisions. In some cases, the breach may be debatable resulting in one moderator passing the post while another moderator may fail it or refer it to a supervisor. Moderators' decisions are regularly reviewed by the Central Communities Team who will overturn them in the event of a significant error.
Why has my discussion been closed?
Discussions may be closed if they have become off topic, out of date, or if the number of posts is so high that the discussion has become unmanageable. They may be closed if the thread as a whole found to break the House Rules. If the first post of a discussion is found to break the House Rules the discussion will automatically be closed to further posts.
Why have all of a users' posts vanished?
If the user is a spammer or a user who has been banned many times before all of their posts are removed when their account is closed.
Can I appeal against a moderation decision?
The BBC has a system of handling complaints and appeals about the moderation, hosting and management of our social media sites such as message boards. This is handled separately from complaints about the BBC's editorial output. Both are part of the BBC’s overall Complaints Framework which can be read in PDF or text format.
If your post is failed you will be sent an email telling you which house rule the post was considered to have broken. This will include a link to more information about the house rules. On very rare occasions, you may be sent a personalised response telling you why your post was removed, but we can't do this as a matter of course.
If you have read the email you were sent and these FAQs and disagree that your post broke the rules, then you can appeal against the decision. Similarly, if you alerted a post to the moderators and they rejected your alert, you may also appeal.
How should I make my appeal?
If you want us to consider an appeal against a moderation decision, your appeal must satisfy the following conditions:
- You must make your appeal within 30 days of the moderation decision. An initial response will be provided within 10 working days of the complaint being made.
- Complaints about specific moderation decisions will only be accepted from the user who is subject to that moderation decision and not from third parties, unless it can be demonstrated that they have been appointed by the user themselves as their representative.
- Complainants must include post numbers or moderation reference numbers, or include a link to the relevant content, to enable the original content and moderation history of the item to be traced. Complaints that do not include these details will not be considered.
- Complaints should be clear and concise and not exceed more than 1000 words. Complaints must concern a matter of substance, not be vexatious or trivial, and there must be sufficient evidence to suggest that an appeal against a moderation decision has a reasonable prospect of success.
You can appeal using this feedback form.
How does the appeal process work?
If the BBC finds that a mistake has been made, the content will be reinstated and you will be informed, with an apology where appropriate.
If your complaint is not upheld, we will reply and tell you why. If you still feel your complaint has not been dealt with fairly, you can ask that it is considered again by the BBC's Social Media Complaints Group. This group consists of the Managing Editor, BBC Online, the Head of Editorial Complaints, and the Head of Communications & Complaints, MC&A Audience Services & Operations. To have your appeal considered by the Social Media Complaints Group, it must concern a matter of substance, not be vexatious or trivial, and there must be sufficient evidence to suggest that an appeal against a moderation decision has a reasonable prospect of success.
If the Social Media Complaints Group rejects your appeal and you are still unhappy, you can make an appeal to the BBC Trust, by writing to the Complaints Advisor at the BBC Trust Unit.
Can I appeal against the banning, restriction or pre-moderation of my account?
If you've been banned or restricted from the site and disagree with the decision, then you can appeal. The process will be as above, and you should include the email address that your account was registered to. Please explain clearly why you don't think that you have broken the terms of the site. Creating more accounts or engaging in any other disruptive behaviour may result in the permanent restriction of all your accounts and harm your chances of a successful appeal.
Can I make a general complaint about the standard of moderation on a service?
Yes, you can do so here using this feedback form. Please help us by making your complaint specific and providing examples to support your complaint - the moderation service works across a wide range of BBC websites and different kinds of audiences, so it the more detailed the information you can give us the easier it will be to provide a response.
What is the expedited complaints procedure?
Unfortunately in some cases complainants, because of the frequency or nature of their contacts with the BBC, hinder consideration of their, or other peoples', complaints and disrupt smooth running of the moderation process. When this happens, appeals will no longer be considered from this complainant with the procedure outlined above, but will follow the expedited complaints procedure which is laid out in the complaints framework on section E3 of the BBC Trust's website.
In addition, you may be asked to put your complaint in writing and send it by posted letter. There is a useful list of the type of actions that might characterise vexatious complaining put together by the Local Government Ombudsman in the LGO guidance notes on actions against unreasonably persistent complaints.
If your account has been restricted because of abuse of the moderation alerts facility we may move you immediately to the vexatious complaints process.
