Moderators can’t spend every minute watching the queue, which is why notifications play such a critical role. They act as an alert system, making sure you know when urgent issues arise, whether you’re on the dashboard, in Slack, or checking email.
While admins handle the setup and routing of these notifications, moderators need to understand how they’ll receive alerts and, most importantly, how to respond quickly and consistently once they do.
How Notifications Are Set Up
Moderators don’t configure notification systems themselves; that responsibility belongs to admins. Admins decide:
- Which channels to use (dashboard, Slack, email).
- What severity levels trigger alerts (e.g., only escalate urgent violations like threats or harassment).
- Who receives which alerts (to ensure clear ownership and prevent alert fatigue).
For moderators, the key is knowing where alerts will appear and how to act on them quickly.
Notification Channels for Moderators
Once configured by admins, alerts can reach moderators in several ways:
- Dashboard Alerts: Highlight unreviewed items and queue health as soon as you log in.
- Slack Alerts: Real-time pings sent to dedicated moderation channels for urgent issues.
- Email Alerts: Summaries or digests for lower-priority items or after-hours coverage.
Each channel plays a different role: dashboards for visibility, Slack for speed, and email for coverage.
Responding to Alerts Quickly
When you receive a notification, it is your responsibility to act, not configure. The standard workflow is:
- Acknowledge the alert and let your team know you’re handling it.
- Open the dashboard and navigate directly to the flagged item.
- Review context and check conversation history, prior notes, and user behavior.
- Apply the right action to delete, approve, escalate, or ban as needed.
- Leave notes to document your reasoning for consistency.
- Close the loop and resolve the alert in the system so it doesn’t stay open.
Example Scenarios
- Slack Ping: You get a real-time notification of a violent threat during a livestream. You review context, escalate to admins, and block the offender immediately.
- Email Digest: The daily summary highlights rising spam activity. You batch-review the posts, bulk-delete them, and tag for trend tracking.
- Dashboard Alert: When logging in, you see a surge in flagged items compared to yesterday. You reprioritize your queue work to focus on the spike.
Best Practices for Moderators
- Know Your Channels: Be clear on where alerts will reach you (Slack, email, dashboard).
- Act, Don’t Configure: Leave setup to admins, your focus is on timely responses.
- Acknowledge Ownership: Signal when you’re taking an alert to avoid duplicate effort.
- Stay Consistent: Always follow the review → context → action → notes → closure flow.
Why This Matters
By separating admin responsibilities (setup) from moderator responsibilities (response), your team creates a clear, scalable workflow. Notifications ensure moderators can act quickly without constant queue-watching, and admins can fine-tune the system to balance urgency with sustainability.
With notifications in place, moderators can move confidently between proactive monitoring and reactive response, ensuring community safety without burning out.
Now that you know how to stay on top of alerts and respond in real time, the next step is moving from reaction to reflection. Moderators don’t just handle individual incidents; they also play a key role in spotting patterns and unusual situations. In the next lesson, we’ll look at how to share insights from flagged content to help improve rules, policies, and the overall health of your community.