Use case: community servers
Keep a general community server safe without watching every channel
A community server brings together people who do not know each other, and anyone with the invite can post a picture. SfwBot removes nudity at the level you choose and handles the routine text problems, so your moderators can spend their time on the conversations that need a person.
The problem in an open community
Most members of a hobby, study or fan community never cause trouble. The trouble comes from a few accounts: someone who joins to post explicit pictures, an account that drops invite links to other servers, a member who floods a channel when an argument gets heated.
Volunteer moderators cannot be online all day, and a picture posted at night can stay visible for hours. Banning images altogether solves that, but it also takes away the photos, memes and screenshots that make the community worth visiting. What a community server needs is a line that is enforced all the time, and a clear record of what was removed and why.
Settings that fit a community server
Block from level 2, implied nudity
A new server blocks explicit content only. Many general communities move the line one step down so covered or implied nudity is removed too. Holiday and beach photos at level 1 stay allowed. See nudity detection.
Invite filter
Remove invite links to other servers, either every time or only when a member posts several in a short period. Invites to your own server and codes you allow can stay.
Spam filter
Switch on the checks you need: message rate, attachment rate, line breaks, capitals or emojis. Each has its own limit.
Link protection
Two domain lists, pornographic sites and scam sites, are updated daily. Switch on one or both.
Trust and strikes
A single mistake costs a member some trust and nothing more. Repeated violations lead to a strike and the action you set for it. See trust and strikes.
One log channel
Every removal is posted with who, where and which level, plus buttons to flag a wrong decision or act on the member.
What to configure first
Add the bot and run /setup
The setup command walks you through the basics in Discord. Everything can also be changed later in the web dashboard. The getting started guide covers both.
Choose a log channel
Pick a channel only your moderators can read. You will want to see the first removals to judge whether your level is right.
Set your nudity level
Start with the default or with level 2, watch the log for a week and adjust. If you have an age-restricted channel, it is skipped by default.
Switch on the text filters you need
The invite filter and link protection suit almost every community. Add spam checks when you see the problem, not before.
Exempt staff
Exempt your moderator role or a staff channel so the bot does not get in the way of moderation work.
Keeping members on your side
No image model is right every time, and a community loses patience quickly with a bot that removes harmless pictures. Three things keep that in check:
- A moderator can flag a removal as inaccurate from the log channel.
- A member can check their own standing with
/standingand report an image that was removed wrongly. - An image you add to your allow list is not removed again, and similar copies of it are recognised too.
The bot only sends direct messages to members who opted in with /dms. Everyone else gets a short notice in the channel that deletes itself.
What it costs to run
An AI scan of an image, GIF or video uses credits. The text filters and matches against your lists use none. The free plan includes credits every month, which is where most communities start. If credits run out, AI scanning pauses until credits are available again and everything else keeps working. See pricing for the plans and top-ups.
Questions and answers
Which nudity level should a general community choose?
The default blocks explicit content only. Many general communities block from level 2, implied nudity. Level 1 also removes swimwear and similar revealing outfits, which is stricter than most open communities need.
Does SfwBot moderate text as well as images?
It filters invite links, spam patterns and links to listed pornographic and scam sites, and it can manage Discord's AutoMod keyword rules for you. It does not judge the tone or meaning of a conversation.
Will members be messaged privately when something is removed?
Only if they opted in with /dms. Otherwise the bot posts a short notice in the channel that deletes itself.
Can I try it without removing anything?
Yes. Switch off automatic deletion and the bot only logs what it finds. Turn deletion back on when you are happy with the level.