Moderate without killing the vibe

Write a short guidelines doc, run a 3-strike warning ladder, train a small mod team, and keep a playbook of ready responses so tricky situations don't get improvised.

Unmoderated communities rot into spam and conflict; over-moderated ones feel like a corporate lobby nobody wants to speak in. The goal is rules only felt when someone breaks them: a short guidelines doc, a consistent 3-strike ladder, a trained mod bench, and pre-written responses to the situations you know will recur.

AI can draft your guidelines and pre-write calm, on-brand responses to the tricky situations you'll face again and again. What it can't do is read the room in the moment or carry your values, that's you and a trained mod team on the platform itself.

In this lesson

Fastest path: one prompt, end to end
Or do it in 5 steps
Worked example: the Nextdoor case