Committee moderation guide

• You keep your club's space friendly and on topic. You're not expected to be the police, and you're never on your own: our moderators back you up.
• You can act only in your own club. Everything you do is logged, our moderators can review or reverse it, and people can appeal to us.
• Don't moderate something you're personally caught up in, like an argument with you or a friend. Ask another committee member, or report it to us.
• Be consistent: treat the same thing the same way, whoever posted it.

Member photos wait in your moderation queue until you approve them. Look at every photo properly before you approve it. Approve it only if all of these are true:

• it breaks nothing on the nights-out list: no drinking games, very drunk or passed-out people, under-18s with drinks, drinks brands as the focus, nudity or underwear, toilets or changing rooms, initiations or drugs;
• everyone clearly visible looks comfortable being photographed, and nobody is being laughed at;
• no personal details are readable: addresses, student cards, phone screens, private messages;
• the caption is kind and names nobody who hasn't agreed to it.

If you're not sure, don't approve it. Rejecting a photo is fine and the uploader isn't told which committee member decided. Only use “Approve all” after you've looked at each photo.

• Held comments: comments that hit the word filter wait for you. Approve them if they're fine in context, delete them if not. You can add your own club's words to the filter.
• Delete a comment that breaks the community guidelines, and pick a reason. The author is told it was removed and can appeal.
• Calm a thread down: turn on slow mode, limit comments to members, lock the thread or turn comments off.
• Mute someone in your club for 24 hours, 7 days or until the end of the academic year. Use it for a pattern or for something serious, not a one-off grumpy comment. They can still read, but can't comment, and they can appeal to us.

• Never say which committee member muted someone, removed their comment or rejected their photo. Decisions come from “the committee”.
• Never say who reported something. You won't see reporters' names anyway.
• Never post or share screenshots of the moderation queue, held comments or member lists.
• Don't talk about someone's mute or removed content in a group chat or in public.

In these societies, members see each other's comments as “A member”. You see real names so people stay accountable, and that makes you a keeper of something private.

• Never reveal who wrote a comment, who is a member or who was at an event, inside or outside the club.
• Only the committee adds photos here. Get each recognisable person's clear agreement first.
• Keep the Recap as “Just our space”. It can't appear in the uni-wide Recap anyway.

Use Report (it goes straight to our moderators) and hide the item, rather than dealing with it yourself, if it involves:

• anything sexual involving someone who is, or might be, under 18;
• a nude or intimate image of anyone;
• threats, stalking, hate, or someone being targeted across several posts;
• someone who might hurt themselves;
• scams, ticket fraud, or selling drugs or weapons;
• someone's private details being shared;
• a complaint about a committee member;
• anything you're unsure about.

If you see anything that might be a sexual image of a child: don't download it, screenshot it, forward it or show it to anyone, even to report it. Report it in the app and hide it. We handle it and report it to the National Crime Agency. Sharing it yourself can be a crime even if you mean well.

If someone is in immediate danger, call 999 first.

Take it down. If someone used “I'm in this photo”, the photo is already hidden and our moderators decide; you can't put it back, and you won't be told who asked. Don't try to find out.

Moderating can be upsetting. You can always step back and leave something to us. If something you've seen is bothering you, talk to your Students' Union or your university's wellbeing team, or Samaritans on 116 123. If committee members misuse these powers, we may remove their committee access.