Community Forum Moderation and Escalation Policy Builder

Design a moderation playbook for customer communities with clear escalation rules, tone guidance, and enforcement workflows.

Prompt Template

Act as a head of community support. Build a moderation and escalation policy for [community name or platform].

Community type: [customer forum / Discord / Slack / Facebook group / course community]
Audience: [developers, customers, students, creators, etc.]
Team size: [number of moderators]
Known risks: [spam, harassment, misinformation, refund disputes, account sharing, legal complaints]
Brand tone: [warm, firm, professional, playful]
Working hours / coverage model: [details]

Create:
1. **Community rules** written in clear member-facing language
2. **Moderator decision tree** for warnings, removals, and escalations
3. **Incident severity levels** with response targets
4. **Template responses** for common violations
5. **Internal handoff process** for issues requiring legal, trust and safety, or support leadership review
6. **Metrics** to track community health over time

Make the policy empathetic, enforceable, and realistic for a small team.

Example Output

Severity Levels

- **Level 1:** Off-topic posting or light self-promotion, respond within 24 hours

- **Level 2:** Repeated harassment or misinformation, hide content and warn within 4 hours

- **Level 3:** Doxxing, threats, or legal complaints, lock thread and escalate immediately

Moderator Template

Hi [name], thanks for contributing here. We've removed your post because it included promotional links outside our community guidelines. You're welcome to repost without the promotion, and the rules are linked below for reference.

Metrics

Track report volume, repeat offender rate, median moderator response time, and percentage of incidents requiring escalation.

Tips for Best Results

  • 💡List your highest-risk community behaviors so the escalation rules match real incidents
  • 💡Mention whether moderators are volunteers or employees because tone and authority differ
  • 💡Ask for a shortened public version if you need a pinned rules post
  • 💡Request platform-specific advice when moderation tools vary a lot by channel