Keeping a moderation log your team will actually use

Moderation decisions disappear fast. A warning sent on Tuesday is forgotten by Friday, especially if a different moderator is on shift. A shared log fixes that, and it doesn't need special software: a private group thread or a simple spreadsheet works for most teams.

What to write down

• The date and which moderator acted
• The member and a link to the content
• The guideline involved
• What you did: a note, a warning, a hidden post, a timeout or a ban
• One sentence on why

That last column is the one people skip, and it's the most useful. "Second warning about self-promotion, the first was in September" tells the next moderator everything they need.

Review it once a month

In Moderators HQ we spend twenty minutes at the start of each month reading the log together. Patterns show up quickly: the same guideline causing confusion, one category attracting most of the spam, one moderator carrying far more than their share. Those patterns tell you where your guidelines and your rota need to change.

Keep the log private to the moderation team, and write every entry as if the member might read it one day. That keeps the tone factual and fair.

Homework for the team: set up a log with the five columns above and backfill the last five actions anyone can remember. Agree that every new action goes in for the next month, and put the first review in the calendar now.