Discord Moderator Vetting Process: From Application to Trusted Mod

Most servers hire moderators the same way: a "mod applications are open" post, a form that fills up overnight, and an owner who picks the names they recognise. It works until the first bad pick, the mod who bans a rival or vanishes after a week with the role still on.

Vetting is not a longer form. It is a process in stages, each costing a little more time than the one before, so weak applications drop out early. Below is the process we would run, with the Mico setting where one exists and plain "good practice" where it does not.

What does a moderator vetting process look like?

Eight stages, from "we need mods" to a moderator you trust with the ban button:

Stages 1, 7 and 8 happen outside any bot, and skipping them is how a well-run round still ends with the wrong moderator.

When should you open moderator applications?

When you can name the gap. "We need more mods" is a feeling. "Nobody is online from 02:00 to 08:00 UTC, and #trading gets scams every night" is a gap, and it tells you who to hire.

Decide three things before you post:

• How many you will accept. Accepting everyone good is how a team of six becomes fifteen nobody can coordinate.
• Which hours you need covered. You will read every availability answer against this.
• When the round closes. An end date gets more serious applicants than a panel that is always open.

Between rounds, press Pause on the panel: the Apply button turns grey and nobody can start. On Premium, a panel can also keep daily opening hours. And avoid opening a round in the middle of a raid or a public argument: you get applicants who want to win that fight.

Who should be allowed to apply?

Fewer people than "anyone". Gates run when someone presses Apply, before a single question, and cost your reviewers nothing. For a moderator panel, set these under Who can apply:

Someone who joined last week is told why, in the bot's words:

Mico counts days in your server, not the age of the Discord account. How each gate works, and the order they run in, is in stopping spam applications.

What should the application itself ask?

Mostly judgement: a couple of questions about the person, one or two about availability, and three or four scenarios from your own server. The moderator application template has ten you can copy. Two habits turn that form into a vetting tool:

1. Ask for hours in a time zone, not "how active are you". Check the answer against your gap. A great applicant online when four mods already are is not who this round is for.
2. Write down what a good answer says before the first application arrives. Each Mico question has a field for it, "What a good answer says". Only the AI reads it, and applicants never see it. Write a hard requirement there, such as "tells an admin before banning a regular", and an answer that clearly misses it is held down however well it is written.

Pin the same notes in your review channel, so the AI and your reviewers grade against one bar.

How do you screen applications without reading every word?

Let the AI score give you a first read. With AI scoring on, each application arrives in your review channel with a quality score, a "Looks AI-written" rating and a short reason, such as "74/100. Looks AI-written: 12/100."

Use it to decide what to read first, not who gets in. A high AI-written rating is a reason to talk to them, not proof; spotting AI-written applications explains why.

The panel's Automatic decisions can accept or deny from a score. For moderators, keep the bot's default: "None: your team decides every application." A score measures how well someone writes about moderating, not how they will moderate, and this role can ban people. At most, a low deny line clears out one-word applications. What the AI score can tell you covers the settings. How many scores a server gets each month depends on the plan; after that, applications arrive without one.

Who should make the decision?

One person per application, with the team advising. Give the panel a reviewer role under Who reviews, usually your head moderators (on Premium, ping it when an application arrives), and turn on the staff thread so each application gets a private thread for discussion.

For anyone who applied before, open History (Premium): earlier applications, who decided them, average scores. A third try in three months, denied twice for the same reason, reads differently from a first. Reviewing applications as a team covers the rest.

Why talk to an applicant before you say yes?

Because a written application is prepared, and moderating is not. Ten minutes of conversation shows how someone thinks when they cannot redraft. On the review message, press Talk to them. Mico opens a private thread with the applicant and posts:

Good things to do there:

• Follow up their weakest scenario answer: "You said you would mute first. What if it is a long-time regular?"
• Give them a fresh scenario from this week and ask what they would type
• Confirm their hours, and ask how they would take being overruled

Watch how they answer as much as what. Someone who asks a clarifying question before acting usually beats a fast, confident reply. If your team prefers voice, set a time in the thread.

How should a trial period work?

Every new moderator starts as a trial moderator. It is the only stage where you see someone act with real permissions, and the one most servers skip.

In Mico, open Messages and after a decision, then When accepted, and give a Trial Moderator role. When you accept, put the terms in the optional note for the applicant. They receive:

A useful trial has a shape:

Give the trial role less than a full moderator has: timeouts and deleting messages, not bans or role changes. Mico's own role must sit above Trial Moderator to give it; giving a role on accept shows the fix. Mico stops at the accept: it does not time the trial or take the role back, so pin the end date in staff chat.

When is a trial moderator ready for promotion?

Decide what "passed" means before the trial starts, and tell them:

Promotion is by hand: swap Trial Moderator for Moderator and say so in staff chat. If a trial does not work out, tell them in private, thank them, and remove the role. Saying on day one that trials can end makes that easier.

What red flags should you watch for?

Most bad picks showed a sign somewhere along the way. These are worth stopping for:

How do you decline a moderator applicant kindly?

Most people you turn down will still be in your server tomorrow. Say no clearly, give one reason they can act on, and say when they can try again.

Press Deny and type a short reason for the applicant; it goes into the message they receive. For example: "This round we need late nights in Europe, and your hours overlap with the current team. Apply again next round." Leave out anything from another member's report. More wording is in how to word a denied message.

What Mico does in this process, and what it does not

If applicants ask how to prepare, send them to how to write a staff application.