Discussion Moderation

Overview

Discussion Moderation covers the instructor-side tools for managing course discussion forums — reviewing flagged posts, removing inappropriate content, marking answers as endorsed, pinning announcements, and configuring discussion settings.

Moderation tools are embedded within the frontend-app-discussions MFE and are visible only to users with course staff roles.

Current State (2026)

• Flagging and review: Learners can flag posts; instructors/TAs see flagged posts in a moderation queue
• Endorsement: Instructors can mark an answer as "endorsed" to signal it's correct/authoritative
• Pinning: Posts can be pinned to appear at the top of threads
• Staff posts: Instructors can mark posts as "question" or "discussion" types; staff posts are visually distinguished
• Discussion settings: Course-level settings for enabling/disabling discussions, selecting discussion providers
• TA role: Teaching assistants can be given moderation permissions without full instructor access

Architecture

• Moderation tools in MFE: frontend-app-discussions surfaces moderation actions via the discussions backend API
• Backend: Moderation state (flagged, endorsed, pinned) stored in the forum backend (now forum Python service; previously cs_comments_service)
• Permissions: Django role system (CourseStaffRole, CourseTARole) gates moderation actions

Relevant Repositories

Repository	Role in This Feature	Activity Level	Notes
openedx/frontend-app-discussions	Moderation UI within discussions MFE	High	Integrated moderation
openedx/forum	Forum backend: moderation API endpoints	High	Python forum backend
openedx/openedx-platform	Role-based access for moderation, legacy moderation API	High	Permissions layer

Recent Changes

• Moderation features being maintained in forum (Python) as it replaces Ruby cs_comments_service

History

Origin

• Year introduced: ~2012–2013 (moderation launched with the original discussion system)
• Initial implementation: Moderation actions via the Ruby cs_comments_service backend
• Context: MOOC forums at scale (thousands of posts per course) required moderation tools for course staff to maintain quality

Key Milestones

Year	Milestone	Teams / People Involved
~2012–2013	Basic moderation (flagging, endorsement) in forum system	Unknown
~2020	Moderation UI in frontend-app-discussions	Unknown
~2022–2024	Moderation ported to Python forum backend	Unknown

People Who Shaped This Area

• Engineering: Unknown — open question for interview
• Product: Unknown — open question for interview
• Design: Unknown — open question for interview

Open Questions

• [ ] How did moderation work in the original Ruby forum system?
• [ ] What moderation workflows do course teams rely on most?
• [ ] How does the TA role permission model work for discussions specifically?
• [ ] What are the most common moderation challenges at MOOC scale?