Why is my publication waiting for review?

In short: most publications and comments appear at once. Some wait until a moderator checks them, because they have links from a new member or look like spam. A person makes the final call, and an automatic decision can always be appealed.

What a moderator checks first

• Publications and comments with links from sprouts (L1). Links are the favourite tool of spammers, so a moderator looks first. From L2, links go live straight away unless the spam check below holds them.
• The first message of an account created on a busy network. When many accounts were created from the same network in a short time (an office, a campus, a mobile operator, or someone making accounts in bulk), the first publication or comment of each new account there waits for a moderator. It is not a penalty: once something of yours is published, the rest goes live as usual.
• Sponsored publications. Every ad is approved before it is shown.
• Anything the spam check holds — see below.

How spam protection works

Every publication and comment goes through the same check, in any of the 31 languages you can write in. The check doesn't depend on the language or the alphabet. It looks for things spammers do:

• links: link shorteners, sites that are blocked here, addresses that imitate well-known sites;
• look-alike characters: letters from another alphabet that look the same, or invisible characters inside words;
• contact details meant to move the talk elsewhere: phone numbers, messenger handles, email addresses;
• the same text sent recently from several accounts, or the same link posted many times;
• posting speed: many messages in a short time.

No single sign decides. We combine them, and trust matters: the higher your level, the less a single sign counts. We don't publish the exact rules, so spammers can't tune their messages to get around them.

What can happen

• Published. That's almost always the case.
• Held for a moderator. You see the publication or comment with a note that it is waiting for a check, plus the reasons in plain words. Others can't see it yet. You can still edit it.
• Not published. In clear cases the publication is not shown. You get a statement of reasons: what happened, why, that the decision was automatic and how to appeal.

A moderator decides on everything that is held. If they approve it, it appears and you get a notice. If they hide it, you get a statement of reasons.

If the decision is wrong

Open the statement of reasons from your notice or from the restrictions page and press Appeal. You have 180 days. A person reviews every appeal. How appeals work: Sanctions and appeals.

When a moderator marks an automatic hold as a mistake, we use that to tune the check.

It's taking too long

Moderators are people in different time zones, and we don't promise a set time. If you think a publication has waited too long, write to hello@muhamor.com with its link.