Improving Comment Moderation—Part of Our Commitment to Keeping Creators and Backers Safe

Creators have told us that they want more and better tools for managing comments and conversations on Kickstarter. So we’re excited to let you know about an important update to how comment moderation works on our platform. Now, when a creator reports a comment by flagging it for review, the comment is automatically hidden from public view until Kickstarter's Trust & Safety (T&S) team has made a decision about whether the comment will be allowed or permanently removed.

We’ve made this update as part of our ongoing commitment to keeping Kickstarter creators and backers safe. As we continue to invest in safety with further product development, we’ll detail the changes and improvements we make here on our blog, so please keep an eye out for additional news.

With this update:

• When a creator reports a comment to Kickstarter’s Trust & Safety (T&S) team, it is now automatically hidden from public view until T&S has reviewed it and decided whether it should be allowed/published or deleted.
• Creators can now select a reason for reporting a comment to provide context for why it should be reviewed by T&S.
• When a backer’s commenting privileges have been revoked due to a decision made by T&S, they will now see clearer information about when their privileges will be reinstated.

In order to minimize the impact that abusive comments have on Kickstarter creators, we’re using two complementary approaches. First, by automatically hiding comments once they have been reported by creators, we expect to limit the number of abusive comments that are exposed to the public to begin with. Then, by making it simple for creators to select a reason for reporting a comment, we plan to substantially reduce the amount of time it takes for T&S to identify and act on abuse.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll be looking at how these new features are utilized by our community and how they affect the experience of creators and backers on our platform. From there, we’ll decide on next steps for continuing our work towards keeping creators and backers safe. With this work we're being careful to care for the health of the whole system—creators need to feel safe, and backers need to be able to raise questions and concerns.

As we continue our safety work, we’ll be collaborating with a new group we’re calling the Kickstarter Community Advisory Council. The council, which launches in May, will be made up of a diverse group of Kickstarter creators who are able to offer insight and expertise across a wide range of creative industries. We'll look to the council for advice and guidance on a variety of matters, with a special focus on helping us prioritize the development of new features that help ensure that the platform is as useful, welcoming, and inclusive as it can possibly be. Please read our recent announcement about the council for more information on what it is and how it will work.