Lemmy: Guides for Moderators
You can ask your question in the c/newtolemmy community.
If you'd like to contribute, please get in touch.
Create a community
If you are on the main interface, you can create a community by selecting "Create Community" at the top of the page.
Name
This value cannot be changed after the community is created. It is a unique identifier for the community, and it is used to link to the community from other instances. It will also appear in the URL for your community. For example, if you enter cats: https://example.com/c/cats
It can only have lowercase letters and underscores, with no spaces, and it must be at least 3 characters long.
Shorter and memorable names are better.
Display Name
You can change this as often as you want. It is the name that will be displayed on the community page, in apps, and various other places.
A shorter name is still preferred, as long names can look weird on smaller screens.
TIP: Change the Display Name to reflect the status of the community
If you close a community, or lock it to redirect users somewhere else, you can change the display name to reflect that change. When users are searching for communities, this will help them identify which community to use without having to open the community to check.
For example: [closed] My Cool Community
Icon and Banner
These are optional, and allow you to customize the community the way you'd like.
An icon is recommended as it makes it easier to identify the community in a list of communities.
While support will vary on the app and interface, it is possible to include an animated image as the icon. Try uploading an animated webp file!
Sidebar
This is the place for a community description, rules, and other information. It is recommended to start with a short description of the community so people know what to expect.
You can use markdown formatting to make it nicer. See the markdown guide page for more information.
NSFW
If your community will primarily contain NSFW content, you should check this box. Untagged NSFW content will quickly be banned by various users, moderators, and admins.
Visibility
Public is the default visibility, and it will be accessible to all instances that are federated with your instance.
Local Only will only be accessible to users on your instance.
Only moderators can post to this community
This is self-explanatory, and you can use this to temporarily disable posting to the community.
Languages
You can enforce the use of specific languages for this community.
IMPORTANT
If you deselect Undetermined, users will be forced to select a language each time they post to the community. This can break functionality in some apps, so it is recommended to leave this option selected.
Adding and removing team members
If you want to add someone as a moderator, there are a few options.
On the default interface, you will need to wait for them to make a post or comment in the community. You can then select the three dots on that content and then appoint them as a moderator. For posts, you will need to open the post page before taking this action.
If your instance supports the Photon interface, you can add new moderators directly. For example, if you are a user on lemmy.ca and moderate the [email protected] community, you would do so on this page: photon.lemmy.ca/c/[email protected]/settings/team
Scheduled and Automated Posts
There are various third party tools that can create posts for you.
Scheduling:
LemmySchedule is a third party tool that can schedule posts ahead of time. It supports recurring posts, incremental numbering in post titles, scheduled pin/unpin, and more. You can use it to schedule out discussion threads ahead of time.
Automation:
RSS Ponder.cat is a third party tool that lets you request content from a particular RSS feed for your community. You need to be a moderator of the community in order to subscribe to feeds within that community.
The commands are as follows:
/add {rss_url} {community}@{instance} # Add a new RSS feed
/delete {rss_url} {community}@{instance} # Delete an existing RSS feed
/list {community}@{instance} # List all feeds for a community
/help # Show a help message