5. Community and moderation

This chapter covers your academy's community from the staff side: spaces and sections, writing posts, comments, reactions, saved posts, pinning and locking posts, the Moderation screen, the member directory and the leaderboard. Posts, comments and reactions work the same way for every role, so this description applies to learners too. How a learner uses the community day to day is in chapter 9.

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5.1. How the community is organised

What it is for: the community is the place for conversations in your academy. It is divided into spaces, which are topic channels (for example "Announcements" or "Questions"). Every post belongs to one space. You can group spaces into sections, which appear as headings in the community menu.

Who can see it: every academy member, when the Community feature is on. The feature is on by default on every plan (Free, Starter, Growth, Scale, Enterprise). Each person sees only the spaces they have access to. Admins, managers, trainers and moderators see all of the academy's spaces, including restricted ones.

Where to find it: side menu → Community.

What you see on the Community screen

• At the top, the title Community and the line "Share progress, ask questions, celebrate wins." Next to it are the Members button (directory, section 5.11) and the Leaderboard button (only when Gamification is on, section 5.12).
• On the left, the Spaces list, grouped by section, with the Saved posts link above it. Restricted spaces show a padlock icon. Staff see a + button (New space) next to the Spaces heading.
• In the middle, the feed: the post box, the filters (Latest, Popular, My posts, Pinned) and posts from every space you have access to.
• On the right, Active now: people who were active in the last 5 minutes, with an "online / total" counter and a See all link.
• On a phone, Saved posts and the spaces sit in one scrolling row above the feed.

How to turn the community on or off

1. Open side menu → Administration → Admin settings.
2. Go to Features.
3. Next to Community ("Posts and discussions"), flip the switch.
4. If you turn the community off while Gamification is on, you will see Disable in cascade?. Gamification depends on the community, so it is turned off with it. Confirm with Disable both.

The Features screen is described in chapter 8.

What happens automatically

• When the community is off, Community, Spaces and Moderation disappear from the menu. Posts, comments and spaces are kept and come back when you turn it on again.
• If you picked ready-made spaces in the setup wizard when creating the academy (see chapter 1), they were created automatically. If you did not tick any on that step, an announcements space is created where only staff can post. Its name is always in Polish: "Ogłoszenia" (Announcements).
• A new post appears for other people without refreshing the page. A bar above the feed then shows the number of new posts, for example "2 new posts · show".

Something not working?

• I see the screen "Community is turned off" → the community is turned off in your academy. An admin sees the Turn it on in feature settings button. Everyone else sees "This module is not turned on in this academy." and has to ask an admin.
• A learner cannot see a space that I can see → the space has restricted access (by role or by product). Staff see every space, learners only the ones they have access to. Check the Access tab in the space settings (section 5.3).

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5.2. Spaces: list, order and archive

What it is for: the Spaces screen shows all of the academy's spaces in one table. From here you change their order, assign them to sections, archive, restore and delete them.

Who can see it: admins (menu item under Administration). Managers, trainers and moderators have the same permissions for spaces but do not have this menu item. They create new spaces with the + button in the community (section 5.3). The Community feature must be on.

Where to find it: side menu → Administration → Spaces.

What the table shows

Above the table you see the number of spaces, for example "4 spaces · 3 active · 1 archived". On a phone the table shows only the name, status and actions.

How to change the order of spaces

1. Open side menu → Administration → Spaces.
2. In the Actions column, click the up arrow (Move up) or the down arrow (Move down) next to the space. On a phone the same commands are in the More actions menu (three dots).
3. The order is saved straight away.

The order from this table is used in the community menu. It also matters for the feed: a post written on the main community feed goes to the first space on the list that the author can see (section 5.5).

How to archive and restore a space

1. In the space row, click More actions (three dots).
2. Choose Archive. The status changes to Archived.
3. To restore the space, open the same menu and choose Restore.

How to delete a space

1. In the space row, click More actions (three dots).
2. Choose Delete.
3. You will see Delete space? with the text "Space "…" will be deleted. This cannot be undone."
4. Click Delete.

What happens automatically

• An archived space disappears from the community menu for everyone, staff included. Its posts disappear from the feed. Nothing is erased: after you click Restore, the space and its posts come back.
• A deleted space also disappears from the Spaces table and cannot be restored from the app.

Something not working?

• The message "Operation failed" or "Delete failed" → the change was not saved. Refresh the page and try again.
• I cannot see Spaces in the menu → the item is only in the Administration section, which admins see. Also check that the Community feature is on.

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5.3. Creating and editing a space

What it is for: you create a new space or change the settings of an existing one: name, appearance, type, who can see it and who can post in it.

Who can see it: admins, managers, trainers and moderators. The Community feature must be on.

Where to find it: side menu → Administration → Spaces → New space. Another way: side menu → Community → the + button next to the Spaces heading.

How to create a space

1. Click New space on the Spaces screen or + in the community.
2. On the Basics tab, enter the Name. The other fields are optional.
3. Choose the Icon, Accent colour and Space type. The preview above the icons shows how the space will look in the community menu.
4. Go to the Access tab and set Who can see the space and Who can post. By default all members can see the space and post in it.
5. Click Create space.
6. If you started from the Spaces screen, you go back to the list. If you started from the community, the new space opens straight away.

Form fields: Basics tab

Space types

Important: the type is a label. It is shown in the space header (for example "Space · Announcements") but does not change permissions. Who can see a space and who can post in it is set only on the Access tab. If you want only staff to post in an Announcements space, turn on the Announcements only switch there. In the same way, the Product type does not limit access to buyers: use the By product option for that.

Form fields: Access tab

Who can see the space (choose one option):

Who can post (choose one option):

Announcements only (switch): when on, only staff (admins, managers, trainers, moderators) can write posts. Everyone else reads, reacts and comments. The Write column in the spaces table then shows Announcements only.

The Advanced tab has no settings at the moment.

How to edit a space

1. Open side menu → Administration → Spaces.
2. In the space row, click Edit.
3. Change the fields on the Basics and Access tabs.
4. Click Save changes. You go back to the list of spaces.

A space created a while ago may have an emoji instead of an icon, or a different colour. In edit mode you see them as Current icon and Current colour. They stay until you choose new ones.

What happens automatically

• A new space goes to the end of the list of spaces.
• An access change works immediately. A person who loses access no longer sees the space in the menu or its posts in the feed. If they open a saved link, they see "You don't have access to this space."
• With By product access, anyone who buys a ticked product or is given access to it sees the space. When access expires, the space disappears for them.

Something not working?

• The "Create space" button is greyed out → the name is shorter than 2 characters.
• The message "Name must be at least 2 characters" → make the name longer.
• The message "Select at least one role for role-based access" → with Selected roles tick at least one role.
• The message "Select at least one product" → with By product tick at least one product.
• The message "Select at least one role for the write restriction" → with Selected roles for posting, tick a role.
• The text "No roles in the academy. Create roles in settings." → the academy has no roles to choose from. Roles are described in chapter 7.
• The text "No products. Create a product in /admin/products." → create a product first (chapter 2).

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5.4. Sections in the community menu

What it is for: sections group spaces in the community menu, for example "Materials" and "Discussions". The section name appears as a heading above its spaces. Spaces without a section are shown at the end of the list, without a heading.

Who can see it: every member sees the sections in the menu. Admins manage them on the Spaces screen.

Where to find it: side menu → Administration → Spaces → the Manage sections button.

How to add a section

1. On the Spaces screen, click Manage sections. The Sections panel opens on the right.
2. In the field at the bottom, enter the new section name (at least 2 characters), for example "Materials".
3. Click Add section.

The number of sections is shown in brackets next to the Manage sections button.

How to assign a space to a section

1. On the Spaces screen, find the space in the table.
2. In the Section column, pick the section name from the list. To take the space out of a section, choose No section.
3. The change is saved straight away.

The Section column is visible on a computer. On a phone, assign spaces to sections on a wider screen.

How to rename, reorder or delete a section

1. Click Manage sections.
2. Next to the section:
• pencil icon (Rename): type the new name and click the tick to save, or the cross to cancel,
• Move section up and Move section down arrows: change the order of headings in the menu,
• bin icon (Delete section): you see Delete section? with the explanation "Spaces in this section will not be deleted, they return to the default group." Confirm with Delete.

What happens automatically

• A section with no spaces that a given person can see does not appear in that person's menu.
• After a section is deleted, its spaces move to the group without a section. Nothing is erased.
• The space header shows the path Community / section name / space name.

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5.5. Posts

What it is for: a post is an entry in a space: text with an optional title. People can comment and react under a post.

Who can see it: any member allowed by the space settings (section 5.3) and not banned (section 5.10) can post. Posts are read by people with access to the space. Posts are not public: people outside the academy cannot see them.

Where to find it: side menu → Community → a space or the main feed.

How to write a post

1. Go into the space where you want to post. You can also post from the main community feed, but then the post goes to the first space on your list. The text in the box tells you which, for example "What's new with you? It will go to #Announcements".
2. Click the Write a post box. The form expands.
3. Optionally enter a title in Title (optional).
4. Enter the text.
5. Click Publish. On a computer you can also press Cmd + Enter (Mac) or Ctrl + Enter (Windows).
6. To give up, click Cancel. The text you typed is cleared.

In an empty space you see "This is just getting started" and buttons with ready-made post openings: Introduce yourself, Ask a question, Share a win. Clicking one fills in a title and the start of the text, which you can change before publishing.

Form fields: new post

How to format text

The bar under the text has these buttons:

• Bold (markdown): wraps the selected text in **,
• Italic (markdown): wraps the selected text in *,
• Bulleted list: adds - at the start of the line,
• Insert link: asks for the URL: and turns the selected text into a link,
• Preview: shows how the post will look. The Write button goes back to editing.

You can also type these markers by hand. The Mention, Emoji and Attachment buttons cannot be clicked at the moment: posts have no tagging of people and no attachments.

Feed filters

Inside a space, pinned posts are at the top under Pinned, with the other posts below.

What happens automatically

• A post appears straight away, without staff approval.
• The author cannot edit the post later or delete it themselves. Staff can delete a post (section 5.9).
• If Gamification is on in the academy, the author earns points for the post (see chapter 7).
• A post shows the author, their job title, the time of publication and, on the main feed, the space name (when the academy has more than one space). A post type label, for example Question, appears only on posts that are not a plain discussion.

Something not working?

• Instead of the post box I see "You can't post here" → the reason is shown below it. The reason is in Polish, for example "Tylko moderatorzy mogą tu pisać" (Only moderators can post here), "Tylko adminowie mogą tu pisać" (Only admins can post here), "Tylko wybrane role mogą tu pisać" (Only selected roles can post here), or in English "No permission to post in this space.". Change Who can post for the space (section 5.3).
• After clicking "Publish" on the main feed I see a message that only admins can post → a post from the feed goes to the first space on the list, and that space is announcements only. Go into the space where you want to post and publish there. You can also change the order of spaces (section 5.2).
• The message "Twoje konto jest zawieszone do …" or "Twoje konto jest zawieszone permanentnie: …" (Your account is suspended until … / permanently) → the person is banned in the community (section 5.10). This message is shown in Polish.
• The "Publish" button is greyed out → the text is empty or longer than 10,000 characters (the counter turns red).
• The message "Could not add it. Please try again." → the post was not saved. Check your connection and try again.

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5.6. Comments and replies

What it is for: people can discuss under every post. A comment can start a new thread or reply to another comment.

Who can see it: anyone who can see the post. Any member with permission to write in the community (learners too) can comment, as long as the post is not locked and the person is not banned. The Who can post setting of a space applies only to posts, not to comments.

Where to find it: click a post or the comment counter under it. The post page opens with its comments.

How to comment on a post

1. Open the post.
2. Type your text in the box "Write a comment, use @ to mention someone."
3. Click Reply or press Cmd + Enter (Mac) or Ctrl + Enter (Windows).

A comment accepts the same markers as a post (bold, italic, link). Mentioning people with @ does not work: text with @ stays plain text.

How to reply to a comment

1. Under the comment, click Reply.
2. Above the box you see "Replying to …". To give up, click the cross (Cancel reply).
3. Type your reply and click Reply.

Replies have one level. A reply to a reply goes into the same thread, under the first comment.

What happens automatically

• New comments appear without refreshing the page.
• When there are more than 5 threads, you see the 5 newest and a Show older (…) button.
• If Gamification is on, the comment author earns points (see chapter 7).
• Comments cannot be edited or deleted in the app. You can close the whole discussion by locking the post (section 5.9).

Something not working?

• Instead of the box I see "Post locked, commenting is disabled." → staff locked commenting. Staff can unlock it with Unlock (section 5.9).
• The message "Comments on this post are closed" → the post was locked while you were writing. Refresh the page.
• The message "You do not have access to this space" → you do not have access to the space the post is in.
• A message about a suspended account → the person is banned (section 5.10).

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5.7. Reactions

What it is for: an emoji reaction under a post is a quick way to say "nice" or "thanks" without writing a comment.

Who can see it: anyone who can see the post sees its reactions. Any member who is not banned can react. Reactions are added to posts, not to comments.

Where to find it: under the text of every post, in the feed, in a space and on the post page.

How to add or remove a reaction

1. Under the post, click the Reaction button with a plus (Add a reaction).
2. Pick an emoji from the list. You can search for it.
3. The reaction appears under the post with a counter. Your reaction is highlighted.
4. To join a reaction someone has already added, click it. To remove your reaction, click it again.

Hover over a reaction to see who added it (up to three names and the number of other people).

What happens automatically

• One person can add at most 6 different emoji to one post.
• If Gamification is on, the points for a reaction go to the post author, not the person reacting. Reacting to your own post earns no points (see chapter 7).
• The number of reactions sets the order in the Popular filter.

Something not working?

• I picked an emoji and the reaction disappeared a moment later → you already have 6 different reactions on that post, or you are banned in the community. Remove one of your reactions and add the new one.

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5.8. Saved posts and sharing

What it is for: you save a post to come back to it easily. You can add a private note. You can copy a link to a post and send it to someone else in the academy.

Who can see it: every member. The saved list and the notes are private: only their author sees them.

Where to find it: the icons in the top right corner of a post. The list: side menu → Community → Saved posts.

How to save a post

1. Click the bookmark icon in the corner of the post (Save post). The icon changes colour.
2. To remove the post from your saved list, click it again (Remove from saved).

How to add a note to a saved post

1. Click the note icon next to the bookmark (Add a note).
2. In the Note for the saved post window, type your text, max. 500 characters, for example "come back to this after the training".
3. Click Save. The post is also saved if it was not already.

On the Saved posts screen the note is shown under the post as Your note:. Posts are grouped by the date you saved them: Today, Yesterday, This week, This month, and older ones by month. The list shows up to 50 most recently saved posts.

How to share a post

1. Click the share icon at the bottom of the post (Share post).
2. On a phone, the system share window opens. On a computer, the link is copied and the icon briefly turns into a tick (Link copied).
3. Paste the link into a message.

The link opens the post only for someone who is a member of the academy and has access to that space.

Something not working?

• The message "The note is too long (max 500 characters)" → shorten the note.
• A saved post disappeared from the list → staff deleted the post or its space was archived.

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5.9. Pinning, locking and deleting posts

What it is for: staff tidy up discussions directly on the post page: pin important posts to the top, close commenting and delete posts that break the rules.

Who can see it: admins, managers, trainers and moderators. Learners do not see these buttons.

Where to find it: side menu → Community → a space → click a post. Under the post there is a Moderation box.

How to pin a post

1. Open the post.
2. In the Moderation box, click Pin.
3. To unpin, click Unpin.

A pinned post shows Pinned post above its text, sits at the top of the space under Pinned, and appears in the Pinned filter on the feed.

How to lock commenting

1. Open the post.
2. In the Moderation box, click Lock.
3. To allow comments again, click Unlock.

A locked post has a padlock icon. Existing comments stay visible, but nobody can add a new one.

How to delete a post

1. Open the post.
2. In the Moderation box, click Delete.
3. You see Delete this post? with the text "The post and its comments disappear from the space for everyone."
4. Click Delete post.
5. Go back to the space from the community menu. The page of the deleted post is no longer available.

What happens automatically

• A deleted post disappears from the space and the feed for everyone, together with its comments.
• The author of a deleted post is not notified.
• Pinning and locking take effect for everyone immediately.

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5.10. The Moderation screen

What it is for: the screen collects content reports, the list of people with a ban and the history of moderation actions.

Who can see it: admins, managers, trainers and moderators. The Community feature must be on. Anyone else who opens this address is sent back to the Dashboard.

Where to find it: admins: side menu → Administration → Moderation. Managers, trainers and moderators: side menu → Moderation (in the main part of the menu).

Screen tabs

Under the Moderation title you see the number of pending reports and active bans, for example "0 pending reports · 1 active ban". The screen has four tabs:

Any member reports someone else's post or comment from its actions menu (the three dots icon) → Report. They pick a reason, can add a description and click Send report. The report appears in the Pending tab and people with moderation rights get a notification. Your own posts cannot be reported. You can also delete or lock an inappropriate post directly on the post page (section 5.9).

How to lift a ban

1. Open the Moderation screen → the Banned tab.
2. For each person you see: name, the Permanent label or "Until …" with the end date, Reason: and the date the ban started ("Banned …").
3. Click Lift ban.
4. Confirm in the Lift the ban for this person? window with Lift ban.
5. You see the message "Ban lifted."

How to read the Audit log

The table has the columns Time, Action, Target and Reason. The action and target are shown as short codes:

The Target column shows the kind of target (post, comment, user, report) and the start of its identifier.

What happens automatically

• A banned person can still read the community but cannot publish posts or comments or add reactions. When they try, they see a message with the end date of the ban and the reason.
• A time-limited ban ends on its own at the given time. The person then disappears from the Banned tab.
• After a ban is lifted, the person can write and react again straight away.

Something not working?

• I cannot see Moderation in the menu → your role has no moderation permissions (learner), or the Community feature is off.
• The Banned tab shows a string of characters instead of a name → the person has no name set or is no longer a member of the academy.

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5.11. Member directory

What it is for: the directory shows academy members with their profiles. This is where you find a person and send them a message.

Who can see it: every member, when the Community feature is on. A member sees people with a public profile and themselves. The owner and admins also see profiles set to private, marked with a Private label.

Where to find it: side menu → Community → the Members button.

How to find a person

1. Open the directory.
2. In the Search people box, type a name, headline, job title or location.
3. From the role list, choose Everyone, Admins, Trainers or Members.
4. From the sort list, choose Recent activity, Alphabetical or Newest members.
5. Tick Online only to see people active in the last 5 minutes.
6. A page holds 24 people. Move on with Previous and Next.

A person's card shows their photo, a dot for people who are online, a role label (for example Trainer, Moderator), headline, location and up to three skills.

Member profile

Click a person's card. The profile shows:

• name, role, join date ("Joined …") and last activity,
• the Send a message button (opens a private conversation, see chapter 7),
• About, Points and badges, Completed courses with the number of certificates, Tags and skills, Links and Job title.

The person fills in their own profile under My profile (chapter 1).

Something not working?

• The profile shows "This profile is private" → the person has hidden their profile. Only they, the owner and the academy admins can see it.
• The text "We could not load the member directory" → refresh the page in a moment.

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5.12. Leaderboard

What it is for: the leaderboard shows the most active members by the points they have earned in the academy.

Who can see it: every member, when the Community and Gamification features are on. How points are awarded is described in chapter 7.

Where to find it: side menu → Community → the Leaderboard button.

How to change the leaderboard period

1. Open Leaderboard.
2. Choose 7 days, 30 days or All time.

The screen shows the Podium with the top three people, a Your position card (when you are in the top ten) and Remaining places up to the Top 10.

Something not working?

• I cannot see the Leaderboard button → Gamification is off. An admin turns it on under Admin settings → Features.
• The text "No leaderboard data yet" → nobody has earned points in the selected period yet.

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5.13. Community guidelines

What it is for: guidelines tell members what you expect in conversations. Cohorta has no separate screen for community rules, so you publish them as a regular post.

Who can see it: the guidelines post is visible to everyone with access to the space where you publish it.

Where to find it: side menu → Community → your announcements space.

How to publish guidelines

1. Choose a space that all members can see, for example an announcements space with the Announcements only switch on.
2. Write a post with a title, for example "Our community guidelines", and publish it (section 5.5).
3. Open the post and click Pin in the Moderation box. The post stays at the top of the space and appears in the Pinned filter.
4. If you do not want a discussion under the guidelines, also click Lock.

The academy is responsible for the content of conversations and for moderation decisions. Data protection and the Cohorta terms are described in chapter 11.