Server settings

Moderation

Automatic rate-limit timeouts and the anti-spam registration check.

Two sections, both automatic defences: timeouts for users who hammer the API, and an optional screen of new registrations.

Auto-timeout thresholds and the registration screen live on one tab.

Auto-timeouts

The trigger is rate limiting, not moderation history. Every time a request to a community endpoint (/api/…/communities/{community}/…) is refused with HTTP 429, a per-user, per-community counter goes up. Enough of those inside the window and the auto-moderator bot issues a timeout on the spot. Admins and bot accounts are exempt, and nothing happens at all if no auto-moderator bot resolves.

1. Count rate-limit hits

   autoTimeoutHits 429 responses within autoTimeoutWindowSeconds trigger a timeout. The counter is per user per community and lives in Redis.

2. Apply the timeout

   The first one lasts autoTimeoutDurationSeconds, and the counter is cleared.

3. Escalate

   With autoTimeoutProgressive on, the duration is multiplied by a fixed ladder based on how many bot timeouts the user already collected in this community: 1× for the first, 3× for the second, 10× from the third on — then capped at autoTimeoutMaxSeconds. It is a three-rung ladder, not smooth growth.

4. Reset

   Only bot timeouts issued within the last autoTimeoutResetSeconds count towards the ladder, so a quiet stretch puts the user back on the 1× rung.

See Moderation for the human side of the ladder, and the Advanced tab for assigning the bot that issues these timeouts.

Anti-spam registration check

This tab also carries an Anti-spam registration check section — an opt-in, off-by-default screen of new registrations against StopForumSpam. See Anti-spam for the full guide, including the six settings and the GDPR wording to add to your privacy policy.