How Moderation Works

Tokyofishmarket communities are self-governed. Moderators are fans like you — here's what that means.

Self-governed communities

Every fandom community on Tokyofishmarket is run by its own moderators — real members who volunteered or were chosen by the community.

ILLUSTRATION — Community self-governance: members electing mods, setting rules

This means each community can set its own additional rules, enforce them at its own pace, and develop its own culture. But they all must follow the platform-wide rules. Moderators who abuse their power lose their privileges.

Who does what

Here's the hierarchy and what each role can do.

Member

The default role. You can post, vote, react, and participate in everything.

  • Post content and comments
  • Vote on polls and versus
  • Report content and users
  • Earn XP, badges, and rewards

Moderator

Community volunteers who keep things running. They enforce rules and help members.

  • Remove or edit content that breaks rules
  • Mute, timeout, or ban members
  • Set community-specific rules
  • Manage content filters and banned words
  • Pin and feature important posts

AutoMod

Automated filters that work 24/7 to catch rule-breaking content before it's posted.

  • Block messages with flagged keywords
  • Filter spam and suspicious links
  • Auto-timeout repeat offenders
  • Alert mods about flagged content

Community Admin

The person or team who created and leads the community. This isn't always a random user — admins come in different forms depending on the type of community.

  • Everything moderators can do
  • Add and remove moderators
  • Configure community settings and rules
  • Set verification levels and content filters

TFM Staff

The Tokyofishmarket team. We only step in for platform-wide policy violations, appeals, or when communities can't resolve issues internally.

  • Override any community action
  • Handle appeals and escalations
  • Enforce platform-wide policies
  • Suspend or terminate accounts

Types of community admins

  • Super Mods — Trusted members handpicked by TFM to run curated communities. They have a track record of fair, active moderation.
  • Official Licensor Communities — Run by the licensor themselves (Bandai, Good Smile Company, Aniplex, etc.) or their authorized representative. These are verified official spaces.
  • Pop Idol & Artist Communities — Official communities managed by an idol, artist, or their management team. Verified identity.
  • Gravure Idol Communities — Same as above but for gravure content. These are always flagged as age-restricted and follow strict NSFW policies.
  • Fan-Created Communities — Started by a passionate fan who grew the community organically. The most common type.

AutoMod

Every community has access to automated moderation tools. These run 24/7 and catch most common violations before a human mod even needs to look at them.

SCREENSHOT — AutoMod configuration panel with keyword filters

Keyword filters

Block messages containing specific words, slurs, or phrases. Mods can customize the list.

Spam detection

Machine learning filters that catch unsolicited ads, phishing, and repetitive content.

Mention limits

Prevent mention spam by limiting how many users can be tagged in a single post.

Bots & Automation Tools

Coming soon

We're building automation tools that will let admins and mods supercharge their communities — custom bots, automated workflows, scheduled posts, and more.

Bot support and advanced automation features are in active development and will roll out in upcoming updates. For now, AutoMod handles the heavy lifting for content filtering and spam prevention.

What's planned

  • Custom community bots with configurable triggers and actions
  • Scheduled posts and announcements
  • Automated welcome flows for new members
  • Integration with external tools and webhooks
  • Custom commands for mods

Want to become a moderator?

We're always looking for passionate, fair-minded members to help lead communities. There's no formal application — moderators are chosen by existing community admins based on their track record.

How to stand out

Be consistently helpful. Answer questions, contribute quality content, and treat people with respect. Active members who make the community better naturally get noticed.
ILLUSTRATION — Path from active member to trusted moderator

Moderator accountability

Moderators have real power, and that comes with real responsibility. All mod actions are logged in an audit trail visible to community admins and TFM staff.

Mods can lose their role

Moderators who abuse their privileges — biased enforcement, personal vendettas, ignoring violations from friends — will have their mod status removed. If it's serious, it can lead to their own account being actioned.