Moderation -- Managing the Question Queue

Overview

Moderation gives you control over which questions appear publicly during your Q&A session. Whether you use automatic approval for casual sessions or manual moderation for larger events, the host panel provides tools to approve, reject, edit, send to the display, pin, reply to, merge duplicates, add private host notes, and remove questions in real time. Many of the same moderation actions are also available straight from the admin dashboard's session page, so you can tidy the queue without entering the host PIN.

Moderation Modes

Auto-Approve (Moderation Disabled)

When "Require moderation" is turned off (the default), every submitted question is immediately visible to all participants. This is the fastest flow and works well for:

• Small groups where you trust all participants
• Bible studies and informal discussions
• Situations where you want maximum engagement with minimal host effort

You can still reject or delete inappropriate questions after they appear.

Manual Moderation (Moderation Enabled)

When "Require moderation" is turned on, every submitted question enters a "Pending" queue. The host must explicitly approve each question before it becomes visible. This is recommended for:

• Large congregational settings
• Town halls or public events
• Sessions where sensitive topics may come up
• Any time you want full control over what the audience sees

Working the Pending Queue

Finding Pending Questions

1. Open the host panel.
2. Tap the Pending filter tab. A small red dot appears on the tab when new pending questions are waiting.
3. Pending questions are flagged in the queue with a "Pending" status badge.

Approving Questions

Tap the green check (Approve / Mark answered) on a pending question. The question immediately becomes visible to all participants. The same control is used to mark an already-approved question as answered.

Rejecting Questions

Tap Reject on a pending question. The question is hidden from participants and moves to the "Rejected" filter. Rejected questions are not deleted -- you can review them later from the Rejected filter.

During a fast-moving session, consider having a dedicated moderator handle the pending queue while the pastor or speaker focuses on answering.

Putting a Question On the Display

The host panel uses a "Send to display" action to push a single question onto the audience projector (the large display screen). Only one question can be on the display at a time.

How to Send a Question to the Display

1. Find the question you want to discuss.
2. Tap Send to display.
3. The question moves into the On display dock at the top of the host panel.
4. On the projection display, that question appears in large text.
5. Participants see an "On display" badge on the question, and a "Discussing now" banner highlights it in the participant view.

Taking a Question Down

Tap Take down on the On display dock (or Unhighlight in the question's actions) to clear the projector. The projection display returns to the idle screen (or shows only the active poll if one exists).

Sending a new question to the display automatically takes down the previous one.

Pinning Questions

Pinning keeps a question anchored at the top of your host queue, regardless of the sort order. Pinning is host-only -- it does not change what participants see.

How to Pin

1. Tap Pin on the question card.
2. The question gains a "Pinned" badge.
3. It stays at the top of the queue for the host.

Unpinning

Tap Pin again (now labeled Unpin) to return the question to its normal position.

Use pinning for questions you plan to address later. Multiple questions can be pinned at the same time.

Replying to Questions

The host can post a written reply to any question, and choose whether the reply is public (everyone sees it) or private (only the person who asked sees it).

How to Reply

1. Open the question (tap it to bring up its detail panel), or choose Reply from the question's More (⋮) menu.
2. In the Written reply box, choose a visibility:
   • Public — everyone sees
   • Private — asker only
3. Type your reply (up to 2,000 characters). You can also pick a saved Templates entry to insert pre-written text.
4. Tap Send Reply.

A public reply appears beneath the question for all participants, along with a timestamp. A private reply is shown only to the device that submitted the question. Posting a reply also marks the question as answered automatically.

Reply templates: Save common answers once and reuse them. Open the Templates dropdown in the reply box to insert, or use the template manager to add, edit, and delete saved replies for your church.

Editing Questions

The host can edit a question's text -- for example, to fix typos, clarify wording, or remove inappropriate content while preserving the core question.

How to Edit

1. Open the question's More (⋮) menu.
2. Tap Edit.
3. Modify the text in the Edit question body field (up to 1,000 characters).
4. Tap Save Edit.

Edited questions receive an "Edited" status badge so everyone knows the text was modified by the host.

Merging Duplicate Questions

When two or more people ask essentially the same thing, you can merge the duplicates into a single canonical question. The votes from each duplicate carry over to the question you keep, so the combined total reflects everyone who cares about the topic.

How to Merge

1. Open the duplicate question's More (⋮) menu (or use the Similar / Merge action).
2. Tap Mark as duplicate.
3. In the picker, search for and select the question you want to merge into (the canonical one).
4. The duplicate's votes are added to the canonical question, and the canonical question shows a "+ N duplicates" indicator.

Merged questions are hidden from the default host filters and from participants; their votes live on in the question you kept.

Host Notes (Private to Co-Hosts)

You can attach a private note to any question -- for example, "ask the pastor to address this after the offering." Notes are shared across everyone running the host panel for this session but are never visible to participants.

How to Add a Note

1. Open the question's More (⋮) menu.
2. Tap Add note (or Edit note if one already exists).
3. Type your note (up to 2,000 characters). Notes auto-save as you type, and you can also tap Save or Delete.

Marking Questions as Answered

How to Mark Answered

Tap the green check (Approve / Mark answered) on an approved question, or choose Mark answered from the question's More (⋮) menu. The question receives an "Answered" badge. In the host panel, answered questions are sorted to the bottom of the list so unanswered questions stay prominent.

Unmarking

Choose Unanswer from the More (⋮) menu to remove the answered status.

Hiding Answered Questions

Use the Hide Answered toggle in the host panel filter bar to temporarily hide all answered questions from view. This helps you focus on the remaining queue. When the toggle is on, the button reads "Unanswered" to show you're seeing only the open queue.

Deleting Questions

To permanently remove a question:

1. Open the question's More (⋮) menu.
2. Tap Delete.
3. Confirm the deletion.

Deleted questions are removed from the participant view but preserved in the admin dashboard's question history and in CSV exports.

Bulk Moderation

When you have a backlog to clear, use the host panel's selection mode to act on many questions at once.

1. Tap Select in the filter bar to enter selection mode, then choose the questions (or use Select all visible).
2. From the bulk action bar at the bottom, choose one action to apply to every selected question: Approve, Reject, Answered, or Delete.

Blocking Participants

If a participant is submitting inappropriate or disruptive questions, you can block them for the duration of the session.

How to Block

1. Open the More (⋮) menu on one of their questions.
2. Tap Block author.
3. A confirmation appears. Optionally check the option to also hide their existing questions from participants, and add an optional reason.
4. Confirm the block.

What Blocking Does

• The participant can no longer submit questions or vote.
• They see a banner indicating they have been blocked from the session.
• If "hide existing questions" was checked, all of their previous questions are hidden from other participants.
• Their questions remain visible to the host.

Viewing and Managing Blocked Participants

1. Open the More secondary-filter dropdown in the filter bar and choose Blocked.
2. You see a list of blocked participants showing a partial session identifier, the reason (if provided), and when they were blocked.
3. Tap Unblock to restore their ability to participate. (You can also choose Unblock author from any of their questions' More (⋮) menus.)

Exporting Session Data

After a session, you can download a complete CSV export from the session page in the admin area.

What the Export Includes

The export is a single CSV file with one row per question, including:

• Question ID, text, and author name
• Vote count
• Moderation status (approved, pending, rejected, edited)
• Answered, highlighted, and pinned flags
• Host reply text and reply visibility (public or private)
• Reply timestamp and submission timestamp
• Deletion timestamp (if applicable)
• The moderator who last acted on the question

Poll results are shown on the Polls tab of the session page in the admin dashboard. Export the questions CSV from the Questions area as described below.

How to Export

1. Go to the session page in the admin dashboard.
2. Click Download CSV in the Questions area.
3. The file downloads immediately. The filename always uses the prefix qna- followed by the slugified session title and the export date, for example qna-sunday-service-2026-02-16.csv.

The CSV export includes all questions, even those that were deleted or rejected, giving you a complete record of the session.

Moderation Best Practices

• Assign a dedicated moderator for large sessions. The host panel can be accessed from any device using the Host PIN, so one person can manage questions from their phone while another person speaks. Host notes are shared across co-hosts, so your team stays in sync.
• Start with "Collecting" status to build up a queue of questions before going live. This gives you time to review and organize.
• Use the bulk action bar to clear a backlog of pending questions quickly.
• Send one question to the display at a time to keep the discussion focused. The projection display only shows the question currently on the display.
• Pin upcoming questions that you want to address in a specific order.
• Merge duplicates so votes consolidate onto a single question and your queue stays clean.
• Reply to questions you cannot address verbally -- written replies (public or private) are a great way to answer overflow questions after the session, and saved templates speed up common answers.
• Export the CSV after each session for your records, follow-up, or to share insights with your leadership team.

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