Guide: Turn on your first moderation rules
This page: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/getting-started/turn-on-your-first-moderation-rules
Topic: Getting started
Time: about 4 minutes
Who can do it: Owner, Administrator or Manager
Author: https://anantgupta.xyz (Anant Gupta, founder of CommentWatchDog)
Start in the app: https://app.commentwatchdog.com/en/inbox
Result when done: Your page hides spam, insults and competitor links by itself, and every catch says which rule caught it.
Context: Rules run on every new comment on one page. Each rule catches one kind of comment, and you decide whether a match is hidden or deleted. Rules belong to a page, so a page you have not set up is not moderated.

Before you start:
1. At least one page is connected. If none is, start with Connect Facebook and add your pages.
2. You are the owner, an administrator or a manager. Moderators can act on comments but cannot change rules.
3. Hiding is reversible on both platforms. Deleting is permanent and cannot be undone.

Steps:
Step 1 of 6: Open the page you want to protect, then Moderation.
Where: In the left sidebar under Pages, click the name of the page. The page opens on its comments, with tabs above the list: Comments, Messages, Moderation, Automation, Insights. Click Moderation. On a phone, tap the menu button at the top left, choose the page under Pages, then the Moderation tab in the row under the title.
Link: https://app.commentwatchdog.com/en/inbox (Open the app)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/moderation.en.webp (The Moderation tab of a page: the rules, each with its switch.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/moderation-phone.en.webp (The same on a phone.)
You should see: A list of twelve rules, each with a switch, a name and one line saying what it catches.

Step 2 of 6: Switch on the rules you want.
Where: Each rule is a row with a switch at its start: Profanity, Negativity, Custom topics, Impersonators, URLs, Emails and phone numbers, Mentions, Hashtags, Images, Emojis, Keywords, and Hide all comments. Open a rule to see real example comments it would catch and to give it your own words: URLs takes domains to allow, Hashtags takes hashtags to allow, Keywords and Custom topics take your own terms, and Negativity takes a note about your page so the AI judges comments in your context.
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/moderation.en.webp (The switch at the start of each rule turns it on.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/moderation-phone.en.webp (The same on a phone.)
You should see: The rule turns on and shows its examples. Rules run on comments that arrive from now on; nothing already on your page is touched.

Step 3 of 6: Choose hide or delete.
Where: Under Action, below the rules. Hide keeps the comment visible to its author and their friends only, which is what most pages want, and it can be undone. Delete removes it from the platform for good. You can set one action for all enabled rules, or a different action per rule.
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/moderation.en.webp (Hide or Delete at the end of each rule.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/moderation-phone.en.webp (The same on a phone.)
You should see: Each enabled rule shows the action it will take. Deleting is permanent: a deleted comment cannot be brought back.

Step 4 of 6: Add the words that must never be hidden.
Where: The Whitelist box, below the rules. Type a word and press Enter. A comment containing one of these words is left alone even when another rule matches it: your brand name, your product names, or a word like refund that you always want to see.
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/moderation-whitelist.en.webp (The whitelist under the rules: add a word, press Enter.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/moderation-whitelist-phone.en.webp (The same on a phone.)
You should see: The words appear as chips. Comments containing them are never hidden or deleted.

Step 5 of 6: Test a comment before you trust the rules.
Where: The Playground, at the bottom of the Moderation tab. Type any comment and press Test. It runs against the rules you have switched on and changes nothing on Facebook or Instagram.
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/moderation-playground.en.webp (The playground with a test comment and its verdict.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/moderation-playground-phone.en.webp (The same on a phone.)
You should see: One of three verdicts, with the rule that decided it: Would be left alone, Would be hidden, or Would be deleted.

Step 6 of 6: Copy the rules to your other pages.
Where: Apply to other pages, at the top right of the Moderation tab. Pick the pages and confirm. This replaces the moderation settings of every page you select and cannot be undone, so use it when a page is set up the way you want it.
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/moderation-apply.en.webp (Apply to other pages: pick the pages, then apply.)
Screenshot: https://commentwatchdog.com/media/shots/moderation-apply-phone.en.webp (The same on a phone.)
You should see: Settings applied, and every page you picked now runs the same rules.

If something is off:
Problem: A comment was hidden that should not have been
Fix: Open it in the inbox and press Unhide, then add the word or the domain to the Whitelist so it is left alone next time.
Problem: Nothing is being hidden
Fix: Rules only run on comments that arrive after you switch them on. Check that the page shows Receiving comments on the Pages tab, and that the rules are on for that page and not only for another one.
Problem: AI checks are unavailable right now
Fix: The rules that use AI (Negativity, Custom topics, Impersonators) retry by themselves on live comments. The word rules keep running while they do.
Problem: My other pages do not have these rules
Fix: Rules belong to a page. Use Apply to other pages on the page you set up, or open each page and set it there.
Problem: A deleted comment seems to be back
Fix: A deleted comment cannot return. What you are seeing is a new comment from the same person; the Bin keeps the record of what was deleted.

Common questions:
Question: Do moderation rules apply to comments already on my page?
Answer: No. Rules run on comments that arrive after you switch them on; nothing already on your page is touched. To clear an existing post, use Post cleanup: paste the post or ad link, every comment is fetched, and you hide or delete in bulk.
Question: Who can turn moderation rules on or off?
Answer: The owner, an administrator or a manager. Moderators can act on comments (hide, delete, reply, archive) but cannot change rules.
Question: Do more rules use more credits?
Answer: No. A comment counts once however many rules look at it: live moderation counts one credit per incoming comment, and a comment is never billed twice. Replies you write and hides you do by hand do not count.
Question: What does the commenter see when a rule hides their comment?
Answer: On Facebook the comment stays visible to its author and their friends and is hidden for everyone else; replies are hidden with it. On Instagram a hidden comment is visible only to you and the person who made it. Delete removes the comment from the platform for good.

Related guides:
- Your first look at the inbox: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/getting-started/your-first-look-at-the-inbox
- Connect Facebook and add your pages: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/getting-started/connect-facebook-and-add-your-pages
- Test a comment in the Playground: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/moderation-rules/test-a-comment-in-the-playground

Plain text of this guide: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/getting-started/turn-on-your-first-moderation-rules.md
All guides for assistants: https://commentwatchdog.com/help/llms.txt