Just like all organizations, both in real life and online, Discord servers need managers to help take care of the community.

Most server managers, no matter their position on the hierarchy, are referred to as “mods” or “moderators” on Discord.

The responsibilities of mods largely depend on the type of server they’re moderating. If the server is an arts and crafts server with less than 200 members, the responsibilities are lighter on mods - but imagine a competitive gaming server with over 5k members. It’s a boiling pot for chaos, so the responsibilities of mods and the number of mods level up.

These responsibilities include things like memorizing the rules of the server, patrolling all channels of the server, engaging with the members, warning rule-violating members, deleting unwanted messages, timing them out, and even kicking and/or banning people who commit serious violations.

Discord has built-in tools to do all of the things above except for warnings - that’s where bots come in.

Yes, Discord has tools, but bots provide better ones most of the time - and this is why it’s almost a rule of thumb for server mods to know how to use Discord bots.

Can anyone be a Discord server manager?

A Discord server profile with the Admin role

All right, so we know what server mods do - can everyone become a mod?

Well, yes and no - again, in most things Discord server management-related, it depends on the server.

Imagine owning a Discord server about Python development - would you recruit a mod who doesn’t know a single thing about Python development but is a fine arts major? Probably not, but a server for artists would grab them in a heartbeat.

So, let’s talk about the bare minimum traits a mod has to have for any type of server.

Important traits for Discord mods

First of all, since Discord is an instant messaging app that focuses on text-based communication between people, the individual has to be somewhat good at communication. You wouldn’t want a moderator who doesn’t talk to members and just mutes them without any explanation.

Another really important trait is knowing how to use Discord - it might sound simple at first, but Discord is a pretty easy app to use, after all. However, when it comes to using Discord as a mod, which requires you to use moderation tools, it can be a bit complex. So, a mod needs to have a strong understanding of how Discord works for non-regular members.

Crisis management is another very important skill for mods. As Discord is one of the most popular social media platforms out there, it’s very likely to come across bad actors on servers. While it sounds a bit off, people who join a server and start cursing at everyone are some of the easiest griefers to deal with.

People who join your server to damage your community are called bad actors. They do not break any rules but disturb the community - they’re smarter than most griefers. While banning them on-sight to protect the server is a generally fine thought, it’s not always right - it might result in wrongful bans.

Types and tiers of Discord server managers

As we mentioned, there are tiers of server managers on Discord, and mods are just one of them. Of course, tiers will change from server to server - while a server has three staff tiers: admin, mod, and trial mod, another server can detail this up to a dozen roles. The most common server manager tiers are:

  • Owner - This is the individual who has founded the server and has all the admin permissions by default.
  • Admin - This is the group that has admin permissions and is the highest in the staff hierarchy after the owner.
  • Moderator - This is the group that doesn’t have admin permissions but timeout members, manage messages, manage nicknames, and more.
  • Trial Moderator - This is the group of the upcoming moderators. They have very minimal elevated permissions, such as timeout members and message management.

Pro Tip: Did you notice we haven’t mentioned the Kick Members permissions in any of the tiers, even though it’s a “no-brainer”? That’s because it’s not a no-brainer and is a very dangerous permission to grant. It allows people to purge inactive members, which could result in your server losing thousands of members in a span of minutes.

Discord server management checklist

Now that you know the basics of server management and the responsibilities, let’s take a look at the server management checklist we’ve created for server owners and moderators.

Checklist for server owners

As a server owner, here are the things you should have to be fully ready to launch a Discord server or improve your existing one:

Checklist for server moderators

As a server moderator, you should know how to use Discord to its fullest to keep the server fresh, clean, and safe for all members. The things you should know as a moderator are:

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