# Forum moderation policy

How MNW handles communities that drift into neglect or hostility. This is the public version of the policy; the working internal version lives in the Multithreaded source tree.

## Principle

MNW communities are creator-moderated. We are not the content police. But we do enforce a quality floor: communities that stop being maintained will be addressed, because neglected spaces harm fans and reflect on the platform.

The goal is always to give the creator a real path forward, not to punish.

## State ladder

Every community sits in one of four states. State changes are reversible: a community can move freely between them. The audit log records every transition with the actor and timestamp.

### Active

The default. Members can start threads, reply, and use forum features as their Fan+ status allows.

### Restricted

New thread creation is disabled for non-moderator accounts. Existing threads still accept replies. Mods and platform admin keep full access.

Typical trigger: unresolved flags older than ~14 days, or a pattern of reports going unaddressed.

### Frozen

Read-only for everyone except moderators performing moderation actions. Members cannot post, reply, footnote, or endorse. Mods can clear the backlog, ban bad actors, and remove posts. Once the queue is addressed, they unfreeze.

Typical trigger: continued inaction after a Restricted period.

### Archived

Behaves like Frozen and is hidden from the default forum directory. Still reachable by direct URL. Surfaces under the explicit "View archived" filter.

Reactivation is just a state change back to Active.

## Clean slate

A creator (or platform admin acting on the creator's behalf) can request a clean slate: every thread, post, footnote, endorsement, and flag is deleted. The community row, categories, settings, members, bans, and mutes are preserved.

After the wipe, a single pinned, locked notice is posted in the first category recording who reset the forum and when. No explanation. No blame. No platform statement.

The clean slate is irreversible at the data level, so the admin UI requires typing the community slug to confirm, the same pattern GitHub uses for repository deletion.

The creator's account, project, tier, payment history, and fan relationships are untouched by a clean slate.

## What MNW never does

- Public announcement explaining why a community was reset or moved between states.
- Marking the creator's profile, project page, or storefront with the moderation history.
- Discussing the situation with other creators or fans.
- Using forum moderation history as a factor in unrelated account decisions.
- Naming or shaming in any context.

## Authorization

State changes and clean slates require either:

- A community **Owner** or **Moderator** acting within that community, or
- The **platform admin** acting from the dedicated admin view.

A per-permission system is on the roadmap; for now, this two-layer model is what the Multithreaded forum software enforces.

## Reporting a problem

If you encounter content or behavior that violates a community's rules, use the flag button on the post. Flags route to that community's moderators first. If the community's mods are non-responsive, MNW staff review unresolved flags as part of platform-level monitoring.