Reports & Trust Score
Deep dives into every tool on stage
Reports & Trust Score
Content moderation on PlotLight is built around two principles: anonymous, low-friction flagging for users, and a transparent trust-weighted system that rewards accurate reports and limits abuse. This page covers both sides — how to flag content, and how the Reporter Trust Score shapes what happens next.
How to Flag Content
Any logged-in user can file a report. The report surface appears in the overflow menu (the three-dot icon) on:
- Discovery cards — any character, lorebook, preset, or persona in the browsing feed
- Content detail pages — the full page for any piece of content
- Stage Whispers posts — any Whisper or reply in the feed
- Portfolio blocks — any block on a creator's public portfolio (text block, featured card, embed, etc.)
- Creator profiles — the creator's profile itself (not just their content)
Tap the three-dot menu and select Report. A short form slides open.
The Report Form
| Field | Required | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Yes | Choose from the category list below |
| Description | No | Additional context — what's wrong, where to look, relevant history |
| Submit | — | Sends the report and starts the review queue |
The form is intentionally brief. Category selection is the most important signal — it routes the report to the right review path and feeds into automated thresholds.
Report Categories
| Category | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Mistagged content | Tags or content ratings don't match what's actually in the content (e.g. marked All Hours but contains explicit material) |
| Trigger warnings missing | Content that meets the threshold for Mild, Moderate, or Severe trigger warnings but doesn't have them set |
| Underage characters in sexual content | Any sexual content depicting characters presented as minors — this category is auto-escalated to senior moderators immediately, bypassing the normal review queue |
| Hate speech | Content targeting users or groups based on identity |
| Real-person impersonation | Content falsely presenting itself as a real, named individual |
| IP / copyright | Content that reproduces copyrighted material without transformation, or that clearly impersonates a specific IP |
| Spam / low-quality | Duplicate posts, content-farm filler, or non-functional content published in bulk |
| Off-topic for tag | Content that appears in tag filters it doesn't belong in |
| Broken / non-functional content | Characters, presets, or lorebooks that are malformed and fail to work as described |
The underage / sexual content category follows a separate escalation path with no standard cooldown — if you see it, report it immediately.
What Happens After You Report
Immediate: Queuing and Thresholds
The report enters the moderation queue. Simultaneously, automated thresholds run:
- If content accumulates a significant volume of reports in a short window, it may be temporarily pulled from Discovery feeds and search results while review is pending. The content still works for users who have it in their Library — only new-user Discovery visibility is suppressed.
- Reports that include the underage / sexual content category are flagged for immediate senior moderator attention regardless of volume.
- High-trust reporters (see Trust Score below) can accelerate automated threshold triggers. A single high-trust report can pull content faster than several low-trust ones.
In Queue: Moderator Review
A moderator opens the report and sees:
- The reported content in full
- The report category and optional description
- The reporter's Trust Score (but not their identity — reporters are anonymous to the creator)
- Prior reports on the same content or creator
- Any prior moderation history
The moderator chooses one of the following actions:
| Action | What it means |
|---|---|
| No action | The report was reviewed and the content doesn't violate the rules. Content is restored to full visibility if it was temporarily suppressed. |
| Warn creator | Content remains up, creator receives a private notification explaining the issue. |
| Require edits | Content is moved to pending_review status. Creator is notified and must revise before it returns to published. |
| Unpublish | Content is moved to private status. Only the creator can see it. They receive a notification with the reason. |
| Suspend creator | The creator's account is temporarily suspended. Content may also be unpublished depending on severity. |
| Permanent ban | The creator's account is permanently closed (see Bans below). |
All moderation actions are recorded in the creator's moderation history. Repeat violations can escalate the response even if individual incidents would normally result in a warning.
Creator Notification
The creator is notified when action is taken on their content. They see:
- The report category
- The moderator's action and reason
- Their appeal options (if applicable)
They do not see who filed the report. Reports are anonymous to the reported creator. Moderators see the reporter, but this information stays internal.
Appeals (For Creators)
If your content was unpublished, you received a warning, or you believe a moderation action was applied incorrectly, you can file an appeal.
How to Appeal
Go to Settings → Moderation History. Any action with an "Appeal" button is still within the appeal window (typically 14 days from the action date).
In your appeal, include:
- Why you believe the action was incorrect or disproportionate
- Any context the moderator may not have had — creative intent, prior conversation, relevant history
- Any changes you've already made or plan to make
Strong appeals address the specific report category directly. "I think this is unfair" isn't an appeal — "The content is tagged After Dark and all trigger warnings for the relevant categories are set; here's what was missed" is.
What to Expect
Appeals are reviewed by a senior moderator who was not involved in the original decision. You can expect a response within a few days for standard cases; escalated cases take longer due to the review required.
The outcome of the appeal can be:
- Upheld — The original action stands.
- Partially upheld — The action is adjusted (e.g. an unpublish becomes a warning).
- Reversed — The action is removed, content is restored, and the report is marked resolved with no action.
Appealing in bad faith — repeatedly filing appeals for content that clearly violates policy — is itself a factor that can affect your account standing.
The Reporter Trust Score
The Reporter Trust Score is a private internal metric tied to your account. It tracks the accuracy of your reports over time. You don't see a number — it works behind the scenes to weight your reports appropriately.
What Raises Your Score
- Upheld reports — A moderator reviewed your report and took action (warning, unpublish, suspension, or ban). Your score goes up.
- Consistent category accuracy — Using the right report category for the right content, consistently, over time. The system learns that your category choices reliably match what moderators find.
- First-flag reports — Being among the first reporters on content that later receives action carries more weight than pile-on reports after moderation has already started.
What Lowers Your Score
- Dismissed reports — A moderator reviewed your report and found no violation. Your score goes down.
- Retracted reports — If you retract a report before it's reviewed, it affects your score less than a dismissal but still registers.
- Abuse patterns — Filing reports on content from a single creator repeatedly with consistent dismissals is a pattern the system flags. Same for reports that consistently use the wrong category.
What Your Score Does For You
Benefits of a higher Trust Score:
- Your reports are reviewed earlier in the queue.
- Your reports are weighted more heavily when automated thresholds run. A single high-trust report counts for more than several low-trust ones in the volume calculation.
- If you maintain a very high score over a long period, you may be invited to participate in community moderation — reviewing low-stakes reports in certain categories, with moderator oversight.
Consequences of a low Trust Score:
- Reports go to the back of the review queue.
- You are weighted lower in threshold calculations — it takes more of your reports to trigger automated suppression.
- Your report cooldown increases. The standard cooldown between reports on the same content is short; low-trust accounts wait longer before they can file again.
- At a sufficiently low score, your ability to report may be temporarily suspended. You can still use the site normally; you just can't submit new reports for a defined period.
- Sustained malicious abuse — deliberately filing reports to harass creators — can result in a permanent report block tied to your account.
Cooldowns and Rate Limits
All accounts have a base cooldown between reports on the same piece of content. You can file a report, but you can't repeatedly re-report the same post every few minutes.
There's also a daily cap on total reports filed. The cap is set high enough that it doesn't affect normal good-faith reporting, but it prevents coordinated mass-report attacks. High-trust accounts have a higher cap; low-trust accounts may have a lower one.
Privacy of Reports
Reporter identity is anonymous to creators. If you report someone's character and a moderator takes action, the creator is notified of the category and the action but not who filed the report.
Moderators see the reporter. The moderation team can see who filed each report. This is necessary for managing Trust Scores, investigating abuse, and handling appeals. Moderation team members are bound by confidentiality — they don't share reporter identities externally.
Aggregated stats are private. The total report count and flag history for a piece of content or a creator is not displayed publicly. Engagement metrics on Discovery cards are always engagement-derived, not report-derived.
Content Cooldowns (Creator Side)
Creators who accumulate reports above a threshold enter a content review period. During this time:
- New content they attempt to publish moves to pending_review status instead of going live immediately.
- A moderator reviews new publishes before they reach Discovery.
- The review period lifts automatically once the creator's report rate normalizes and pending actions are resolved.
This is not a ban or suspension. The creator can still publish — content just goes through an extra review step. Most review periods resolve quickly if the creator isn't actively violating policy.
Bans
Temporary Suspensions
Temporary suspensions freeze an account for a defined period. Suspended users:
- Can read public content
- Cannot publish, create, or interact (no favorites, no reports, no Whispers)
- See a banner when logged in showing the suspension end date and the reason
Content published before the suspension stays up unless it was explicitly unpublished as part of the action.
Permanent Bans
Permanent bans close an account for site-wide policy violations. Banned users:
- Can read public content while logged out (they're not blocked from browsing)
- Cannot log in to their account
- Have all their content removed from Discovery — it won't appear in search or feeds
- Retain their data in the system (it's preserved, not deleted) — this matters for lineage attribution and for any active appeals
Permanent bans are reserved for severe or repeated violations: CSAM, coordinated harassment, sustained impersonation of real people, or account behavior that constitutes a site security threat.
If you believe a permanent ban was applied in error, you can file an appeal via the contact form on the support page. These are reviewed manually by a senior team member.
Stage Whispers Activity Feed
Stage Whispers has its own moderation surface. If you own a character on Stage Whispers, the Backstage Console (/stage-whispers/my-characters) gives you:
- A view of all flags on your characters' Whispers
- Per-Whisper edit, dismiss, and delete actions
- Export tools for preserving Whisper history
The Backstage Console is owner-only. It's separate from the platform-wide moderation team's tools — it's your per-character management surface, not a moderator surface.
The Flagged page (/stage-whispers/flagged) shows both:
- Whispers you've flagged yourself — with their current review status
- Whispers on characters you own that other users have flagged — your owner-facing moderation inbox
See the Stage Whispers doc for the full walkthrough of both surfaces.
Site-Wide Moderation Team
PlotLight's moderation team handles policy violations across the platform. They're separate from content creators and operate under internal guidelines that align with the Community Guidelines.
The moderation team:
- Reviews queued reports
- Has access to the full moderation toolset (warn, unpublish, suspend, ban)
- Reviews appeals
- Handles escalated reports (underage / sexual content, hate speech, real-person impersonation)
- Does not resolve reports on behalf of individual creators — creator-side moderation (dismissing flags on your own content) stays in your hands via the Backstage Console and the Flagged page
If you have a question the moderation system can't answer, use the support contact form.
Tips
Use the right category. The most common Trust Score damage comes from choosing the wrong category — filing "spam" for content you personally dislike, or "broken content" for something you just couldn't figure out how to use. Category accuracy is the single biggest factor in your Trust Score.
Add a description when it helps. The category alone is often enough, but a sentence of context — especially for mistagging or trigger warning issues — gives moderators what they need to act faster. One or two clear sentences is better than an essay.
Don't report things you disagree with but that don't violate policy. Disliking a character's premise, disagreeing with a creator's writing style, or personal taste aren't moderation grounds. Reports filed for those reasons will be dismissed and lower your Trust Score.
File and move on. You won't see real-time status on your reports. A report filed today may resolve in hours or in days depending on queue depth and category. Check your Reports history in Settings if you want to see what happened.
If something involves underage characters in sexual content, use that category. It's the fastest escalation path and has no standard cooldown. Don't use it for anything else — abuse of the escalation category is treated as a serious Trust Score violation.
Related Docs
- Stage Whispers — moderation within the Whispers feed and Backstage Console
- Community Guidelines — the rules that inform every moderation decision
- Discovery & Tags — how tagging and content ratings affect Discovery placement