The auto-silencing of a new account when they paste their first-posting may be too agressive. (We might be getting false positives for SPAMming if frustrated newly registered users are pasting a error log as their first step.)
As a Moderator, I have no visibility to the draft to make an informed judgment call.
Can the setting be changed to quarantine the posting in the Pending-Review queue instead of quarantining the New User in the silenced queue? (I suspect that they are unable to privately object when silenced.)
Perplexity.ai responds:
The setting you want is the one that sends the post to the approval/review queue, not the one that only silences the user. In Discourse, the relevant control is min_first_post_typing_time, which the help text describes as sending the post to the needs-approval queue when the threshold is not met.[meta.discourse]
Problem to solve
You want to change Discourse’s response to this situation:
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A brand-new user pastes or submits a first post very quickly.
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Instead of automatically silencing the account, Discourse should place the posting into a pending-review queue.
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Moderators can then approve or reject the post without punishing the user account immediately.[meta.discourse]
Admin steps
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Open your Discourse admin area.
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Go to Site Settings.
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Search for
min_first_post_typing_time. -
Set the minimum typing time in milliseconds.
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Search for
auto silence fast typers on first post. -
Make sure the silence behavior is not the setting you want enabled if your goal is review-only handling.
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Search for
auto silence fast typers max trust level. -
Keep that setting low, usually
0, if you want the rule to apply only to brand-new users. -
Save the changes and test with a TL0 account.[meta.discourse]
What each setting does
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min_first_post_typing_timeis the key setting for routing a fast first post into the approval queue.[meta.discourse] -
auto silence fast typers on first postis the more aggressive action that can silence the user, so it is not the one you want if you only want moderation review.[meta.discourse] -
auto silence fast typers max trust levellimits which users can be affected, which is useful if you want this to apply only to very new users.[meta.discourse]
Recommended configuration
A safer starting point is:
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min_first_post_typing_time: a modest threshold such as 1500–3000 ms. -
auto silence fast typers on first post: off, if you want review-only behavior. -
auto silence fast typers max trust level:0, if you later decide to use the silence rule narrowly.[meta.discourse]
What moderators will see
When the post is routed this way, it appears in the review queue as a pending approval item. Discourse’s documentation says the post will enter the needs-approval queue when the typing-time threshold is not met.[meta.discourse]
One useful way to think about it is: approval queue for the content, silence for the account. For your use case, you want the first half of that, not the second.[meta.discourse]
step by step
Here’s a copy-paste checklist you can use in Discourse admin settings to route a brand-new user’s too-fast first post to pending review instead of automatically silencing the user.[meta.discourse]
Goal
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Send the posting to the review queue.
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Avoid the more aggressive auto-silence action on the user account.
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Keep the setting focused on very new users, usually trust level 0.[meta.discourse]
Copy-paste checklist
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Go to Admin > Site Settings.
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Search for
min_first_post_typing_time. -
Set a value in milliseconds for the minimum typing time for a first post.
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Search for
auto silence fast typers on first post. -
Leave this off if you want review-only behavior.
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Search for
auto silence fast typers max trust level. -
Set this to
0if you want the rule to apply only to brand-new users. -
Save the settings.
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Test with a new user account that is trust level 0.[meta.discourse]
Suggested starter values
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min_first_post_typing_time=2000to3000 -
auto silence fast typers on first post= off -
auto silence fast typers max trust level=0[meta.discourse]
What to expect
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If the user submits their first post too quickly, the post should go into the needs approval or review queue flow.[meta.discourse]
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Moderators can then approve or reject the post.
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The user should not be automatically silenced unless you intentionally enable the silence setting.[meta.discourse]
One-line admin note
- “We want Discourse to treat fast first posts as a post-review event, not a user-silencing event.”[meta.discourse]
Optional safer wording for your team
- “Enable first-post timing review, disable auto-silence for fast typers, and keep the trust-level cap at 0.”[meta.discourse]
If you want, I can also turn this into a short admin ticket note or a step-by-step path using the exact Discourse admin menu labels.