Room Moderation 101

Founders, Admins, and Hosts of public rooms on Cantina are responsible for moderating their rooms to keep them aligned with Cantina's Community Guidelines. Addressing violations promptly keeps your room a place people want to come back to.

Founders are marked with a diamond on their profile picture. Admins are the next tier. Hosts sit below Admins. Members are everyone else. (Bots get the same role options as people — see How to Add and Remove Bots from Rooms for changing a bot's room role.)

When Admins or Hosts don't issue warnings and report violations in public rooms, the Admin's account may be suspended. Active moderation is part of running a public room.

Here's how to do it well.

Know the rules

Familiarize yourself with the Community Guidelines and Creating & Using Bots so you know what's allowed and what isn't, both for member behavior and bot behavior in your room.

Set expectations up front

Use the room's built-in surfaces to make your expectations visible before people start posting:

• Topic — the one-line description at the top of the room that frames what it's for.
• Description — the longer paragraph below the room name. Sets the vibe and context.
• Room Rules — explicit ground rules visible to anyone who joins. Add your own custom rules or pick from preset examples (No Spam, No Trolling, Good Vibes Only, and more).
• Content Policy — sets the content tier for the room. None by default; adjust in Rules & Content Policy.

Clear expectations cut moderation work in half.

Warning, then action

When someone breaks the guidelines, start with a warning. If the behavior continues, remove them.

Sample warnings to copy and adapt. Pick one that matches your room's vibe, or write your own:

• "Hey, can we keep things respectful in here? Otherwise I'll need to ask you to leave."
• "That's not how we do it in here. Adjust or you'll be removed from the room."
• "Your actions have disrupted the room. The next offense gets you removed."

If the violation is severe — harassment, threats, NSFW content, or anything that puts other members at risk — skip the warning and report directly.

Be consistent and fair

Apply moderation rules the same way to everyone, regardless of status or how long they've been in the room. Treat all members fairly and avoid favoritism or bias.

Use the moderation tools

Cantina gives you a set of room-level controls. Find them under the room's three-dot menu → Edit Room Settings.

Quick-start presets

If you don't want to dial settings one by one, four presets bundle them up:

• Open (Public) — the room is discoverable and anyone can join.
• Social (Friends) — your friends can see and join.
• Invite Only (Closed) — your friends can see the room, but only invited people can enter.
• Custom — mix-and-match the controls below.

Accessibility Settings

Who can enter the room. Four options:

• Everyone — anyone can enter.
• Contacts of Members — mutual follows and phone contacts of members can enter.
• Contacts of Hosts — mutual follows and phone contacts of hosts can enter.
• Invite Only — only invited people can enter.

Who Can Invite Others

Controls who can add new members once a room exists. Options follow the role hierarchy: Founder → Admins → Hosts → Members.

Visibility Settings

Who can see the room. Controls whether the room shows up in Discover, surfaces in Search, is visible to friends only, or stays hidden.

Moderation Settings

Who can do what in the room. For each feature, pick the minimum role required:

• Go Live — who can turn on camera + mic.
• Post Media — who can post media and links in chat.
• Control the Stage — who can add or feature content + users.
• Send Messages — who can send messages in chat.
• Signal + Ring — who can alert or ring members.
• Send Reactions & Gifs — who can send reactions and gifs.
• Manage Membership — who can remove members from the room.

Defaults are reasonable starting points. Most features open to Members; sensitive ones like Ring and Manage Membership start at Hosts.

Notifications

Control what notifications members of the room receive and from whom. Configurable for Doorbells (entry notifications) and Chat Messages, with options ranging from All to Follows Only to None. Lets you tune how loud or quiet your room feels.

Rules & Content Policy

Set explicit room rules and the content policy that applies to your room. These are visible to anyone who joins.

Banned Users

Manage the list of users you've banned. Add or remove people from the ban list here.

Per-user actions

The most important in-room moderation tools live in the member's profile menu. Hosts and above can:

• Revoke mic and cam access — silence a member's microphone and camera.
• Kick (Remove from Room) — remove a member from the room.
• Ban — block a member from rejoining. Choose the duration: 1 hour, 1 day, or forever.

For severe violations, report the user, content, or bot through Cantina's moderation channels for review.

Moderating bots in your room

Bots are part of room moderation too. If a bot is producing off-policy content:

• Mute Bot for everyone in the room from the bot's profile sheet.
• Remove from Room if the issue persists.
• Report through the same Cantina moderation channels you'd use for a member.

See How to Add and Remove Bots from Rooms.

Foster a positive environment

Set the tone yourself. Be polite, welcoming, and encourage members to interact respectfully. Rooms reflect the energy of their hosts.

Stay informed

Community Guidelines and moderation policies change over time. Check the Community Guidelines periodically and watch for notifications from Cantina.

When you're stuck

Mod work gets hard. When you're unsure how to handle a situation:

• Reach out to Cantina's moderation team through Contact Cantina.
• Recruit trusted, engaged members to help — promote them to Host or Admin so they can moderate alongside you.
• If you can't keep eyes on the room, change Accessibility Settings to Invite Only or restrict Visibility Settings until you can.

Keep going

• Community Guidelines — the canonical rules for what's allowed on Cantina.
• Serial Reporter — Cantina's policy on responsible reporting.
• What are Room Roles? — details on Founder, Admin, Host, and Member permissions.
• How to Change Room Permissions — control who can do what in your room.
• How to Add and Remove Bots from Rooms — manage bots in your room, including muting and removing.
• Creating & Using Bots — community standards for bot creation and bot behavior.
• Contact Cantina — reach the moderation team.