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==Starting with Modtools==
'''ModTools''' is a website and app that gives volunteers the tools to moderate messages on their local Freegle communities.
You can use ModTools from any browser, e.g. Chrome, Edge or Firefox.  If you don't have a preference, use Chrome. https://modtools.org/modtools
__TOC__


If you're using a phone/tablet, then you should get the ModTools app from the Play Store or iTunes. That will work best, and you'll get notifications when there's stuff to do.
==Starting with ModTools==
You can use ModTools from any browser - Chrome, Edge or Firefox. If you don't have a preference, use Chrome: https://modtools.org/modtools
 
If you're using a phone or tablet, get the ModTools app from the Play Store or App Store - it works best, and you'll get notifications when there's work to do. See [[ModTools app]] for more.


Or do both.
Or do both.


==Getting Set Up==
==Getting set up==
First things first - set up ModTools for you and your community. Select ''Settings'' from the left-hand menu.
 
There are four tabs:
 
* '''Personal''' - ModTools settings just for you.
* '''Community''' - ModTools settings for each community you moderate, whether as an active moderator or a backup. The button to switch between actively moderating and backup is under Your Settings in this section. For more on shortlinks, see [[Shortlinks]]. Also see [[How to add a picture to a community home page]].
* '''Standard Messages''' - template messages you can use for moderating posts and members on your community. Substitution strings can be used in lots of messages - special terms you put in a standard message which ModTools expands before sending. See [[Substitution Strings]] for a full explanation.
* '''Bulk Operations''' - actions you can apply in bulk. Watch this space.
 
Get going with the basic features first, and come back to customise as you gain confidence or things change. It's also worth reviewing these settings annually, to check everything is still fit for purpose.
 
Once your settings are sorted, you're ready to go. ModTools should be mostly self-explanatory on each page, but here are some pointers to other sources, in the order they appear in the toolbar.


First things first - set up ModTools for you and your community.  Select ''Settings'' from the left hand menu bar.
==Dashboard==
The dashboard shows several useful things:
* A snapshot of current discussions on Discourse (our national discussion forum for volunteers)
* When volunteers on a community last took action in ModTools - select a community and click Update to see this. (To see when they last logged in or accessed Freegle Direct or ModTools, go to Members > Approved and select Moderation Team from the drop-down.)
* Popular posts and active members
* Stats about your community's activity and impact - see [[Statistics]] for more


You will see 4 tabs/sections for this:
==Messages==
For extra message templates, see [[Sample Messages]]. See [[Postcodes]] for how the website handles postcode and location information in posts, and [[Rippling out]] for how posts are shown to more people over time.


* '''Personal''' - these are ModTools settings just for you.
===Pending===
* '''Community''' - choose ModTools settings for each community you are moderating, either as an active moderator or a backup. The button to change you from actively moderating or back up is under Your Settings in this Community section. <br>For more information on shortlinks, have a look at [[Shortlinks]]. Also [[How to add a picture to a community home page]]
This is where messages needing moderation arrive, whether they came from the website, email, or [[Trash Nothing]]. The red notification badge shows those for communities where you're lead moderator; blue is for communities where you're backup.
*'''Standard Messages''' - these are a range of template messages that you can use for moderating posts and members on your community.
Substitution strings are used on lots of messages; they are a special terminology you can put in standard messages, which ModTools expands more fully before it sends a message. For a full explanation of these, have a look at [[Substitution Strings]].
*'''Bulk Operations''' - this section will have some actions that you can use - watch this space!


You may like to get going with the basic features offered and once you are confident, come back and edit as you gain confidence or things change. It is also a good idea to review these, say, annually to check that everything is still fit for purpose.
If messages are left for more than 48 hours, they auto-approve. This means a community can survive a gap in moderation, but it shouldn't be relied on - it's important to look at messages promptly, since both members and scammers will notice problem posts.


Messages that aren't otherwise subject to moderation may still be flagged here if they contain [[worry words]].


Now your Settings are sorted, you are ready to go.  ModTools should be self explanatory on each of the sections/pages, but for some more information and ideas, there are other sources/pages that might help - see below (in order of how they appear in the toolbars).
A red-letter message about crossposting means a message has been identified as very similar to one on another community.


==Dashboard==
'''Moving a message between communities:''' clicking Edit lets you make various changes, including a drop-down showing the community name. It will also show other communities the member belongs to ''and'' that you moderate, if any - use this to move a pending message to a different community. If you do, the message goes into pending messages on the second community, even if the member's posting status there is "group settings" (not available for TrashNothing members).
For more information on stats, have a look at [[Statistics]]


==Messages==
'''Marking a message as spam:''' you can mark just the message as spam, or also mark the member as a spammer. Under 'Other actions' there's a button to report a member as a spammer - only use this if you're sure the spam message isn't a one-off from someone who's otherwise a sound freegler. A message marked as spam is used behind the scenes to train our spam filters; the Delete button just removes the message.
If you need extra message templates to deal with any member messages, see [[Sample Messages]] for ideas. 
====Pending====
This is where the messages that need moderating arrive, whether generated on the website, email or via [[Trash Nothing]]. The red number shows those for communities where you are lead moderator, the blue for those on which you are back-up moderator.
If messages are left for more than 48 hours they will automatically approve.  This means a community can survive a glitch of non-moderation, but it shouldn't be relied on - it is important for the messages to be looked at as members and scammers will notice problem posts.<br>
Marking a message as Spam: If a message is spam, you can just mark the message as spam, or also mark the member as a spammer. Under 'other actions', there is a button to report a member as a spammer, but only use this is you are sure the spam message isn't a one off anomaly as the member seems to be a sound freegler usually. A message that is marked as Spam is used, behind the scenes, to train our spam filters.


====Approved====
===Approved===
The list of all messages on your community/communities.
The list of all messages on your community or communities.
====Review====
Messages that are not subject to moderation might have [[Worry Words|worry words]] involved, so these are flagged up here for you to review.


====Edits====
===Edits===
When members edit their approved posts, you can see the edits in this section.
When moderated members edit their approved posts, you can see the edits here. Edits from unmoderated members may go straight out.


==Members==
==Members==
[[Member Notes]] gives more information about moderator and system notes on a member's account.
[[Member Notes]] has more on moderator and system notes on a member's account.
 
===Approved===
List of all members in your community or communities. See [[Banning]] for banning and unbanning a member, and [[Trouble unsubscribing]] for help with unsubscribing. See [[Inactive Members]] for members not active for a long time. The default view shows all members, but you can filter to banned, bouncing, with notes, or on the moderating team. You can reactivate [[Bouncing members]] here too.
 
The "View profile" link takes you to the member's profile as seen by other members. You'll see it as if logged in to Freegle if you're using ModTools in a browser, but not if using the ModTools app.
 
;Moderation status
There are three status settings for members:
* '''Moderated''' - all offers and requests are held in pending until a moderator approves them. Under [[Best Practice Notes#Quick posting|Best Practice]], a member should normally come off moderated status as soon as they post an acceptable offer or request.
* '''Group Settings''' - posts go live straight away without moderation, unless they trigger a worry word, in which case they appear in Messages > Pending for approval.
* '''Can't Post''' - lets a member go through the posting process up to the point where it says 'Freegle it!', then nothing happens, so they know there's an issue. They'll usually contact volunteers or Support when this happens.
 
If you set a member to "Can't post", add a Note recording why. If they leave and rejoin, the "Can't post" setting is lost, but the Note remains, and is shown when their first new post appears in Pending messages.
 
===Member Review===
Flags members with unusual freegling behaviour - see [[Spammers]] for possible spammer behaviours and current measures.
 
There's no national rule on how many communities it's reasonable for one person to join - that's a local decision. Please don't ban a multi-joiner unless you have clear evidence of wrongdoing.
 
Replying to posts a long way apart is also flagged; the threshold distance is set per community in Settings, and this check only looks at posts within the last 90 days.


====Approved====
You can find more information via "Go to membership" - for example a green icon showing the number of replies to offers, and [[LoveJunk]] membership if applicable (these aren't always shown on the Member Review page currently).
List of all members in your community/communities.  See [[Banning]] for explanation of banning and unbanning a member. See [[Inactive Members]] for information about members not active for a long time.


====Member Review====
You can choose to ignore a flagged member - they'll reappear if they do something further flagged as a concern, on your community or others.
This section flags up members who have unusual freegling behaviour. Information about possible spammer behaviours and present measures can be found here - [[Spammers]].


There is no national rule about how many communities it is reasonable for one person to join, that is up to local discretion. But please don't ban a multijoiner unless you have clear evidence of 'wrongdoing'.  
===Chat Review===
Chats between members that include [[Worry Words|worry words]], or might be spam or scams, are sent for moderation - see [[Spammers#Chat_Review]] for more on chat in the context of spam detection, and [[Member Chat]] for the chat facility itself.


You have the option to ignore the member, they will pop up again if they do something that is concerning on your community or others.
===Related===
Members who've used the '''same device for different accounts'''. You can merge members you know have ended up with more than one account from Members > Approved; this section automatically detects likely matches and lets you send an auto-message asking if they want to merge. We can't merge TrashNothing memberships with Freegle ones.


====Chat Review====
If you can't see any connection between two members, click Ignore. If they do look connected, click "Ask member what they want" - if they choose to merge, the system completes it without referring back to you.
Chats between members which include [[Worry Words|worry words]] or might be spam or scams are diverted for moderation. This allows you to review the messages and catch anything that might be a concern. [[Spammers]] gives more information about spam detection.


====Related====
===Stories===
These are members who have used the '''same device for different member accounts'''. You can merge members who you know have ended up with more than one account within Members>Approved section, but this section automatically detects possibles and lets you send an auto message asking if they wish to merge.
Members are encouraged to submit stories of their freegling experiences. A selection is sent out in a newsletter to members, and posted on Discourse for volunteers to read.


We can't merge TN memberships with Freegle ones.
Stories submitted in your community are subject to your review in ModTools, so inappropriate ones can be declined at this point. Approved stories should be suitable for publicity - for public view on ChitChat, a community page, and so on. They then go into a pending list to be voted on at https://www.ilovefreegle.org/stories/fornewsletter for selection, and are reviewed and compiled into a newsletter by the Stories Team.


====Stories====
To search published stories, see https://www.ilovefreegle.org/stories/summary
Members are encouraged to submit a story of their freegling experiences. A selection are then sent out in a newsletter to members and as a post on Discourse for volunteers to read.


Stories submitted in your community are subject to your review in Modtools, so inappropriate ones can be declined at this point. The approved stories should be good for publicity purposes and suitable for public view on chitchat, a community page etc.  They are then put in a pending list to be voted upon at https://www.ilovefreegle.org/stories/fornewsletter for selection for publication and then reviewed and compiled into a newsletter by the Stories Team.
===Gift Aid===
Only available and visible to the team that checks Gift Aid consent forms.


====Feedback====
===Feedback===
See [[Feedback]] for more information about this.  [[Member Ratings]] also has some information.
See [[Feedback]] and [[Member Ratings]] for more.


====Microvols====
===Microvols===
We invite members to do some basic moderating tasks to encourage participation and identify possible new volunteers. See [[Microvolunteering]] for information about the continuing development of this facility.
Members are invited to do some basic moderating tasks, to encourage participation and identify possible new volunteers. See [[Microvolunteering]] for how this facility is developing.


====Notes====
===Notes===
Notes that have been added by volunteers for members on your communities, oldest first. Please keep the number and content of notes to an absolute minimum to comply with GDPR requirements.
Notes added by volunteers for members on your communities, oldest first. Keep the number and content of notes to an absolute minimum, to comply with GDPR. Review these regularly to ensure only genuinely relevant information is kept, and delete redundant notes.


==Misc Moderation==
==Misc Moderation==
===Events===
===Events===
Community event posts for your community can be reviewed here before publication.
Community event posts for your community are reviewed here before publication. Some events are added automatically from the [[Restart|Restart Project]], for Repair Cafes held across the UK.
 
If an approved event needs changing, you may need to contact the [[Geeks Team Remit|Geeks Team]], although a workaround has been reported: https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/help-needed-to-edit-or-delete-an-event/8293
 
Unlike offer/wanted posts, which are shown based on travel time by default, event and volunteering posts are shown and mailed purely by group membership. The weekly email is titled Community Event Roundup.


===Volunteering===
===Volunteering===
Posts asking for Volunteers can be reviewed here before publication.
Posts asking for volunteers are reviewed here before publication. See [[Reach Volunteering]] for our link with them.


===Publicity===
===Admins===
Facebook posts produced for the Freegle national page are provided here for easy sharing to individual community Facebook pages. If you want to see the full post on the national page, just click the post shown or go to https://www.facebook.com/Freegle
The method for sending Admins to your members. Members can't opt out of essential information from you, but can opt out of non-essential Admins - choose which via the first toggle: Essential or Newsletter.


The most popular post on a group is also offered here daily to share on Facebook. You can choose whether to share it or not. The idea is to get interest from those not currently freegling to go to the website and have a look.
There are three tabs when composing Admins: Pending, Create and Previous. Write the Admin in Create and send it; it goes to Pending; once approved, a copy goes to Previous for future use. "Call to Action" fields are explained here: https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/call-to-action-button-in-admins/5240. A pending Admin is erased if left pending for more than 7 days.


===Admins===
See [[Admins]] for templates for newsletter or admin messages.
See [[Admins]] for some templates you can use for Admin messages for your community. There are three options when composing Admins -
Pending, Create and Previous. Write the Admin in Create, send it, it goes to Pending, approve it, a copy goes to Previous for future use.
"Call to Action" fields are explained here - https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/call-to-action-button-in-admins/5240


===Spammers===
===Spammers===
See [[Spammers]] for a full explanation of how this spam system works.
See [[Spammers]] for a full explanation of how the spam system works.


==Misc Admin==
==Misc Admin==
===Logs===
===Logs===
See the chronological log of activity on your community - select your community, then messages or members, to see a list, or search for individual messages or members.
===Images===
Our system generates AI images for posts that don't include a photo or other image. Any images flagged by volunteers as needing regeneration can be reviewed and replaced here.
===Support===
Visible only to those with [[Support Tools]] access - a set of tools giving some national teams and roles more detailed information to help them carry out their role.
===SysAdmin===
System administration information about regular background work, and details of emails and digests sent out across the system.


You can see the chronological logs of activity on your community - select your community and then messages or members to see a list. Or you can search for individual messages or members.
===Rippling===
Rippling is how members' posts are gradually shown to more members over time. This section offers an interactive map of how rippling affects each postcode and address across the UK. See [[Rippling out]] for details.


===Settings===
===Settings===
See [[ModTools#Getting_Set_Up|Getting Set Up]] above for basic information. It is good practice to have a quick look through these on a regular basis to check they are all still fit for purpose.
See [[ModTools#Getting_set_up|Getting set up]] above. It's good practice to look through these settings regularly to check they're still fit for purpose.
 
There is now (July '26) a search bar at the top of the Settings pages, which makes it easier to find what you are looking for.


We have guidelines for deciding on community geographical areas in [[Community Mapping]] and [[Freegle Affiliated Community Area Guidelines]]. Maps for all groups can be found at https://modtools.org/modtools/map
Guidelines for deciding community geographical areas are in [[Community Mapping]], [[Freegle Affiliated Community Area Guidelines]] and [[Spammers]]. Maps for all communities: https://modtools.org/modtools/map


===Teams===
===Teams===
There are various teams and groups of people working nationally to deal with a variety of tasks.  You can see who they are and a brief description of what they do this section. If you are interested in volunteering to help with any of these, find out more information about them via the links on [[Getting Involved]].  If you wish to volunteer to do any specific piece of work or want to know what you could do, please don't hesitate to email volunteers@ilovefreegle.org. It will be great to hear from you!
Various teams and groups work nationally on a variety of tasks - this section shows who they are and what they do. If you're interested in volunteering to help with any of these, find out more via the links on [[Getting Involved]], or email volunteers@ilovefreegle.org - it's great to hear from you.


===Help===
===Help===
This brings you here!  If you can't find the help you want on this page or the links provided, ask on Discourse (click 'Us' on the top ModTools menu) to ask your question and/or to ask for more information to be included here.
Brings you here. If you can't find what you need on this page or the linked pages, ask on Discourse (click 'Us' in the top ModTools menu) to ask your question, or request more information be added here.


===Log Out===
===Log Out===
Self explanatory. Probably best to stay logged in, though, to save you having to sign in each time you wish to moderate.
Self-explanatory. It's probably best to stay logged in, though, to save signing in each time you want to moderate.


==Top Menu==
==Top menu==
===Red/Orange/Green Dot===
===Red/orange/green dot===
You will notice that there are different colour 'dots' that appear over the blue home icon at the top left of each page.  These dots denote the platform status - just click to see what is happening.
Different coloured dots appear over the blue home icon at the top left of each page, showing platform status - click one to see what's happening. Green means everything's fine, orange means a problem that's easily resolved, red means a serious problem. If action is needed for an orange or red dot, it will tell you.


===Us===
===Us===
This button on the top menu bar takes you to the Discourse website, where you will find all the national discussion groups. See [[Central Groups]] for more detail. All volunteers that are registered on Modtools are given automatic access to Discourse.
Takes you to Discourse, where you'll find all the national discussion groups - see [[Central Groups]] for more. All volunteers registered on ModTools get automatic access to Discourse.


===Chats===
===Chats===
This button will take you to the Chats section.  This is where all the emails can be accessed between you and your members, along with other emails from volunteers who work with you on your communities. Each of these chats (other than those you initiated) can be hidden from your view by clicking the downwards chevron on the top right of the chat screen.
Takes you to the Chats section, where you can access emails between you and your members, and other emails from volunteers who work with you on your communities. Each chat (other than ones you started) can be hidden from your view via the downward chevron at the top right of the chat screen.
 
If you have a chat with a community you don't moderate, it appears in your personal chat list, not your community chat(s).
 
A green tick at the bottom of a chat means the message has been read on the site; a small envelope means it's been sent out by email. There's a deliberate short delay before sending a chat message by email, since it would be irritating to get an email for a message you're already reading on the site.


If you see a green tick at the bottom of the chat, it means the message has been read on the site.  If you see a small envelope it means the message has been sent out via email. There is a deliberate small delay in sending out a chat message via email, as obviously it would be really irritating if you are reading the message on site and also getting emails at the same time with the same message.
Your chat list is pre-populated with the communities you're on, so you can use those to chat with the other volunteers on your team.


Your list of chats is pre-populated with the communities you are on, so you can use those to chat to the other members of your team in each of them if you wish.
If a member replies to volunteers by email, their reply appears in Chats, and you can reply to them there. Their initial message has a "View original email" button for a day or two after being received, which can help you check the context.


See [[Member Chat]] for more information about this feature for your members.
See [[Member Chat]] for how this feature works for members.


==Help and other links==
==Help and other links==
*Questions and help with using ModTools, contact [mailto:support@ilovefreegle.org support@ilovefreegle.org]
*Questions and help using ModTools: [mailto:support@ilovefreegle.org support@ilovefreegle.org]
*Questions, suggestions and observations about ModTools, post on https://freegle.in/tech
*Questions, suggestions and observations about ModTools: https://freegle.in/tech


Other pages that might help:
Other pages that might help:


*[[Freegle_Mobile_app#ModTools_app]]
*[[Add a Member using Mod Tools]]
*[[Add a Member using Mod Tools]]
*[[Photos]]
*[[ChitChat]]
*[[ChitChat]]
*[[Member Chat]]
*[[Member Chat]]
Line 144: Line 194:
*[[ModTools History]]
*[[ModTools History]]
*[[Trash Nothing]]
*[[Trash Nothing]]
*[https://wiki.ilovefreegle.org/images/Training_manual_for_modtools_2020.pdf Mentors' Training Manual for Modtools]
*[https://wiki.ilovefreegle.org/images/Training_manual_for_modtools_2020.pdf Mentors' Training Manual for ModTools]
 
 
 
 
 
 


[[category:ModTools]]
[[Category:Moderating with ModTools]]

Latest revision as of 11:45, 22 July 2026

ModTools is a website and app that gives volunteers the tools to moderate messages on their local Freegle communities.

Starting with ModTools

You can use ModTools from any browser - Chrome, Edge or Firefox. If you don't have a preference, use Chrome: https://modtools.org/modtools

If you're using a phone or tablet, get the ModTools app from the Play Store or App Store - it works best, and you'll get notifications when there's work to do. See ModTools app for more.

Or do both.

Getting set up

First things first - set up ModTools for you and your community. Select Settings from the left-hand menu.

There are four tabs:

  • Personal - ModTools settings just for you.
  • Community - ModTools settings for each community you moderate, whether as an active moderator or a backup. The button to switch between actively moderating and backup is under Your Settings in this section. For more on shortlinks, see Shortlinks. Also see How to add a picture to a community home page.
  • Standard Messages - template messages you can use for moderating posts and members on your community. Substitution strings can be used in lots of messages - special terms you put in a standard message which ModTools expands before sending. See Substitution Strings for a full explanation.
  • Bulk Operations - actions you can apply in bulk. Watch this space.

Get going with the basic features first, and come back to customise as you gain confidence or things change. It's also worth reviewing these settings annually, to check everything is still fit for purpose.

Once your settings are sorted, you're ready to go. ModTools should be mostly self-explanatory on each page, but here are some pointers to other sources, in the order they appear in the toolbar.

Dashboard

The dashboard shows several useful things:

  • A snapshot of current discussions on Discourse (our national discussion forum for volunteers)
  • When volunteers on a community last took action in ModTools - select a community and click Update to see this. (To see when they last logged in or accessed Freegle Direct or ModTools, go to Members > Approved and select Moderation Team from the drop-down.)
  • Popular posts and active members
  • Stats about your community's activity and impact - see Statistics for more

Messages

For extra message templates, see Sample Messages. See Postcodes for how the website handles postcode and location information in posts, and Rippling out for how posts are shown to more people over time.

Pending

This is where messages needing moderation arrive, whether they came from the website, email, or Trash Nothing. The red notification badge shows those for communities where you're lead moderator; blue is for communities where you're backup.

If messages are left for more than 48 hours, they auto-approve. This means a community can survive a gap in moderation, but it shouldn't be relied on - it's important to look at messages promptly, since both members and scammers will notice problem posts.

Messages that aren't otherwise subject to moderation may still be flagged here if they contain worry words.

A red-letter message about crossposting means a message has been identified as very similar to one on another community.

Moving a message between communities: clicking Edit lets you make various changes, including a drop-down showing the community name. It will also show other communities the member belongs to and that you moderate, if any - use this to move a pending message to a different community. If you do, the message goes into pending messages on the second community, even if the member's posting status there is "group settings" (not available for TrashNothing members).

Marking a message as spam: you can mark just the message as spam, or also mark the member as a spammer. Under 'Other actions' there's a button to report a member as a spammer - only use this if you're sure the spam message isn't a one-off from someone who's otherwise a sound freegler. A message marked as spam is used behind the scenes to train our spam filters; the Delete button just removes the message.

Approved

The list of all messages on your community or communities.

Edits

When moderated members edit their approved posts, you can see the edits here. Edits from unmoderated members may go straight out.

Members

Member Notes has more on moderator and system notes on a member's account.

Approved

List of all members in your community or communities. See Banning for banning and unbanning a member, and Trouble unsubscribing for help with unsubscribing. See Inactive Members for members not active for a long time. The default view shows all members, but you can filter to banned, bouncing, with notes, or on the moderating team. You can reactivate Bouncing members here too.

The "View profile" link takes you to the member's profile as seen by other members. You'll see it as if logged in to Freegle if you're using ModTools in a browser, but not if using the ModTools app.

Moderation status

There are three status settings for members:

  • Moderated - all offers and requests are held in pending until a moderator approves them. Under Best Practice, a member should normally come off moderated status as soon as they post an acceptable offer or request.
  • Group Settings - posts go live straight away without moderation, unless they trigger a worry word, in which case they appear in Messages > Pending for approval.
  • Can't Post - lets a member go through the posting process up to the point where it says 'Freegle it!', then nothing happens, so they know there's an issue. They'll usually contact volunteers or Support when this happens.

If you set a member to "Can't post", add a Note recording why. If they leave and rejoin, the "Can't post" setting is lost, but the Note remains, and is shown when their first new post appears in Pending messages.

Member Review

Flags members with unusual freegling behaviour - see Spammers for possible spammer behaviours and current measures.

There's no national rule on how many communities it's reasonable for one person to join - that's a local decision. Please don't ban a multi-joiner unless you have clear evidence of wrongdoing.

Replying to posts a long way apart is also flagged; the threshold distance is set per community in Settings, and this check only looks at posts within the last 90 days.

You can find more information via "Go to membership" - for example a green icon showing the number of replies to offers, and LoveJunk membership if applicable (these aren't always shown on the Member Review page currently).

You can choose to ignore a flagged member - they'll reappear if they do something further flagged as a concern, on your community or others.

Chat Review

Chats between members that include worry words, or might be spam or scams, are sent for moderation - see Spammers#Chat_Review for more on chat in the context of spam detection, and Member Chat for the chat facility itself.

Related

Members who've used the same device for different accounts. You can merge members you know have ended up with more than one account from Members > Approved; this section automatically detects likely matches and lets you send an auto-message asking if they want to merge. We can't merge TrashNothing memberships with Freegle ones.

If you can't see any connection between two members, click Ignore. If they do look connected, click "Ask member what they want" - if they choose to merge, the system completes it without referring back to you.

Stories

Members are encouraged to submit stories of their freegling experiences. A selection is sent out in a newsletter to members, and posted on Discourse for volunteers to read.

Stories submitted in your community are subject to your review in ModTools, so inappropriate ones can be declined at this point. Approved stories should be suitable for publicity - for public view on ChitChat, a community page, and so on. They then go into a pending list to be voted on at https://www.ilovefreegle.org/stories/fornewsletter for selection, and are reviewed and compiled into a newsletter by the Stories Team.

To search published stories, see https://www.ilovefreegle.org/stories/summary

Gift Aid

Only available and visible to the team that checks Gift Aid consent forms.

Feedback

See Feedback and Member Ratings for more.

Microvols

Members are invited to do some basic moderating tasks, to encourage participation and identify possible new volunteers. See Microvolunteering for how this facility is developing.

Notes

Notes added by volunteers for members on your communities, oldest first. Keep the number and content of notes to an absolute minimum, to comply with GDPR. Review these regularly to ensure only genuinely relevant information is kept, and delete redundant notes.

Misc Moderation

Events

Community event posts for your community are reviewed here before publication. Some events are added automatically from the Restart Project, for Repair Cafes held across the UK.

If an approved event needs changing, you may need to contact the Geeks Team, although a workaround has been reported: https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/help-needed-to-edit-or-delete-an-event/8293

Unlike offer/wanted posts, which are shown based on travel time by default, event and volunteering posts are shown and mailed purely by group membership. The weekly email is titled Community Event Roundup.

Volunteering

Posts asking for volunteers are reviewed here before publication. See Reach Volunteering for our link with them.

Admins

The method for sending Admins to your members. Members can't opt out of essential information from you, but can opt out of non-essential Admins - choose which via the first toggle: Essential or Newsletter.

There are three tabs when composing Admins: Pending, Create and Previous. Write the Admin in Create and send it; it goes to Pending; once approved, a copy goes to Previous for future use. "Call to Action" fields are explained here: https://discourse.ilovefreegle.org/t/call-to-action-button-in-admins/5240. A pending Admin is erased if left pending for more than 7 days.

See Admins for templates for newsletter or admin messages.

Spammers

See Spammers for a full explanation of how the spam system works.

Misc Admin

Logs

See the chronological log of activity on your community - select your community, then messages or members, to see a list, or search for individual messages or members.

Images

Our system generates AI images for posts that don't include a photo or other image. Any images flagged by volunteers as needing regeneration can be reviewed and replaced here.

Support

Visible only to those with Support Tools access - a set of tools giving some national teams and roles more detailed information to help them carry out their role.

SysAdmin

System administration information about regular background work, and details of emails and digests sent out across the system.

Rippling

Rippling is how members' posts are gradually shown to more members over time. This section offers an interactive map of how rippling affects each postcode and address across the UK. See Rippling out for details.

Settings

See Getting set up above. It's good practice to look through these settings regularly to check they're still fit for purpose.

There is now (July '26) a search bar at the top of the Settings pages, which makes it easier to find what you are looking for.

Guidelines for deciding community geographical areas are in Community Mapping, Freegle Affiliated Community Area Guidelines and Spammers. Maps for all communities: https://modtools.org/modtools/map

Teams

Various teams and groups work nationally on a variety of tasks - this section shows who they are and what they do. If you're interested in volunteering to help with any of these, find out more via the links on Getting Involved, or email volunteers@ilovefreegle.org - it's great to hear from you.

Help

Brings you here. If you can't find what you need on this page or the linked pages, ask on Discourse (click 'Us' in the top ModTools menu) to ask your question, or request more information be added here.

Log Out

Self-explanatory. It's probably best to stay logged in, though, to save signing in each time you want to moderate.

Top menu

Red/orange/green dot

Different coloured dots appear over the blue home icon at the top left of each page, showing platform status - click one to see what's happening. Green means everything's fine, orange means a problem that's easily resolved, red means a serious problem. If action is needed for an orange or red dot, it will tell you.

Us

Takes you to Discourse, where you'll find all the national discussion groups - see Central Groups for more. All volunteers registered on ModTools get automatic access to Discourse.

Chats

Takes you to the Chats section, where you can access emails between you and your members, and other emails from volunteers who work with you on your communities. Each chat (other than ones you started) can be hidden from your view via the downward chevron at the top right of the chat screen.

If you have a chat with a community you don't moderate, it appears in your personal chat list, not your community chat(s).

A green tick at the bottom of a chat means the message has been read on the site; a small envelope means it's been sent out by email. There's a deliberate short delay before sending a chat message by email, since it would be irritating to get an email for a message you're already reading on the site.

Your chat list is pre-populated with the communities you're on, so you can use those to chat with the other volunteers on your team.

If a member replies to volunteers by email, their reply appears in Chats, and you can reply to them there. Their initial message has a "View original email" button for a day or two after being received, which can help you check the context.

See Member Chat for how this feature works for members.

Help and other links

Other pages that might help:

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