Forum Discussion
Can we get more guidance and feedback on the moderation being done on the messages
I have been an active poster on the Excel forum but every so often my posts will just disappear. Sometimes our message will be there but an attachment will be missing. Sometimes messages disappear but then show up hours or days later. Can someone PLEASE give us some insight into what is happening. Is this an auto-moderator or actual person? Either way can we please get a message informing us that our message is being held or rejected and why. How are we supposed to learn if we get no feedback. I don't appreciate spending time re-creating a worksheet (because these new posters aren't even allowed to attach their excel file for us to see) and then create a formula solution, write up how it works and then just have it all disappear. Makes me think Microsoft doesn't really care for me to help.
And BTW, can you please revisit the reasoning behind not letting new accounts attach files. Is it a space/size issue? or is it a security issue? if the concern is space/size then make a limit on the file size. Security issue, make a limit on file types. All this tends to do is force members to ask the user to post the file using a file share service like onedrive, but if they use another service it can be a much larger security risk.
6 Replies
- Allen
Community Manager
Good afternoon everyone,
Firstly, thank you m_tarler it’s clear you invest real time helping others, and it’s completely understandable that it feels discouraging when a reply appears to “vanish” with no explanation.
On transparency: we can share the broad shape of how moderation works, but we generally avoid publishing the specific “signals” or thresholds that drive moderation decisions. That’s simply to help protect the community and keep the platform resilient against spam and abuse patterns. (In other words: we want to be transparent without making it easier to game the system.)
Thank you Surya_Narayana for the thoughtful response — you covered the key point well: moderation is a combination of automated protections and human review, and certain content can be held briefly in a review queue before it appears.
To address Hornblower409 point: the Microsoft Learn Q&A site and the Microsoft Tech Community are separate properties, with different operating models and moderation implementations — so issues seen there don’t always map 1:1 to what’s happening here.
Where I completely agree with you all is the lack of feedback/visibility when something is held for review. That gap can create exactly the behaviour you described — duplicate posts, because people reasonably assume the first attempt failed. We take that seriously, and we’re actively looking at how we can improve the user experience and communication around “held for review” states in upcoming sprints.
On attachments for newer accounts: this restriction is primarily a security safeguard. File upload is a permissioned capability (for example, “new community member” style restrictions can apply, and capabilities like file/link/video posting are granted via roles/permissions). We also grant file upload automatically to Microsoft employees and to community members once they’ve established some history/rank on the platform.
We do keep the balance under review, and your suggestion about file size/type constraints is a reasonable one — but for now, the current approach remains in place because it reduces risk to the broader community.
Finally, combating spam and security threats in online communities is a bit like keeping antivirus definitions up to date: it’s continuous, adaptive work. We’re also working on better ways to leverage AI to reduce how often legitimate posts require manual review, so that human reviewers can focus on higher-risk content and (ideally) speed up review times for everyone.
Thanks again for raising this and for continuing to contribute your expertise to the Microsoft Tech Community.
Allen Smith
AdministratorHi Allen I first want to thank you for that thourough and thoughtful response. I completely appreciate that the challenges you must have with maintaining and combating spam and security threats in an online community are vast and ever changing. I do want to f/u on a couple points and hopefully not beating a dead horse:
I do hope you will further consider the issues with blocking all file attachment because as I note, users will just provide links to online storage and sharing platforms (and in fact volunteers in the community regularly ask and suggest for them to do this) and instead of knowing that we are downloading a low risk .xlsx file we could instead be getting something much higher risk not to mention what site we are going to or may get redirected to. I know microsoft can claim that is outside their control and they are 'protecting the community' by not allowing those files, but if you are then pushing people to using and allowing links and web addresses in those same posts, are you really protecting them or pushing and exposing them to something more risky?
On a different note, do the algorithms take into consideration the account itself. So does an account with hundreds or thousands of posts and hundreds of likes and solutions get more benefit of the doubt than a basically new account? if not, can it?
As for the notification of being on hold and why I totally understand the why has to be limited but getting notified about some basic reasons would be very helpful, like attachment vs link vs language, etc... As for notification I'm sure you are aware of the all the options and I'm sure there are challenges on each but even a PM or a notification in the alert panel would be great.
Again thank you for all your work and listening,
-Matt
Hi Allen I first want to thank you for that thourough and thoughtful response. I completely appreciate that the challenges you must have with maintaining and combating spam and security threats in an online community are vast and ever changing. I do want to f/u on a couple points and hopefully not beating a dead horse:
I do hope you will further consider the issues with blocking all file attachment because as I note, users will just provide links to online storage and sharing platforms (and in fact volunteers in the community regularly ask and suggest for them to do this) and instead of knowing that we are downloading a low risk .xlsx file we could instead be getting something much higher risk not to mention what site we are going to or may get redirected to. I know microsoft can claim that is outside their control and they are 'protecting the community' by not allowing those files, but if you are then pushing people to using and allowing links and web addresses in those same posts, are you really protecting them or pushing and exposing them to something more risky?
On a different note, do the algorithms take into account the account itself. So does an account with hundreds or thousands of posts and hundreds of likes and solutions get more benefit of the doubt than an account that is basically new? If not, can it?
As for notification that your message was held and why. I understand you can't give too much information about why to prevent 'gaming the system' but basic information like it having to do with the attachment or language or link would be helpful. As for how to notify, I'm sure you are well aware of the many options and understand a immediate message in that thread may be challenging but what about a message to your PM or an alert in your notifications?
In any case, I appreciate you looking into this and sharing what information you are able to share.
-Matt
hi m_tarler Good to see you are taking the time and effort you put into helping others in the Excel forum. That kind of contribution genuinely matters and it's completely understandable to feel frustrated when that effort seems to disappear without explanation.
To address your questions directly:
The moderation process does involve a combination of automated filters and human review. Certain triggers like attachments, links, or specific keywords can cause posts to be held in a queue for manual review, which explains why some posts show up hours or days later rather than immediately. Hope team will recognize that the lack of notification during this process is a real problem and your feedback will reach them.
On the attachment restriction for new accounts this is primarily a security measure to protect the community from malicious files, but your point about file type and size limits being a smarter middle ground is a valid and practical suggestion. Pushing new users toward third-party file sharing services is arguably a bigger risk, and that's worth revisiting.
Your core ask that contributors receive a clear notification when a post is held or rejected, and why is completely reasonable. Nobody should be left guessing, especially when they've invested real time crafting a detailed answer. Hope this clarify
Your core ask that contributors receive a clear notification when a post is held or rejected, and why is completely reasonable
Yes! See the multiple request from numerous users asking for a Answer or Comment to be restored when it was deleted by the overly eager T&C filter on the Q&A forums.
Surya, Thank you for your reply and especially thank you for passing this feedback to the appropriate teams. I hope to see improvements in the future. Please note that we also see duplicate postings, which I believe are, at least in part, due to people posting something and not seeing their post and therefore trying again since they have no feedback why they don't see their post.
Thank you
