# Moderating a channel
## Overview
Group discussions can be controlled and moderated in the following places: Channel settings, Conversation tools, User menu (through the member list), and Channel menu.
Moderation tools appear when the agent has been granted moderator rights
of that channel. Channel operators can give moderator rights to other agents.
{% hint style="info" %}
Once you have been granted moderator rights, please refresh the page for the change to take effect.
{% endhint %}
{% hint style="warning" %}
### Do not use moderator rights unnecessarily
Moderator rights should not be held to no purpose, especially on private team channels. So that e.g. moderator will not accidentally hide messages or delete users from the channel.
{% endhint %}
## Moderation tools
### Hide messages
Moderation tools allow you to hide messages from conversations, such as aggressive or irrelevant messages. See instructions below. In order to see the hidden messages yourself, you need to make the hidden messages visible in your settings. Follow the guide: How to organize group dissusion? > Moderator user settings.
{% content-ref url="organize-group-discussion" %}
[organize-group-discussion](https://support.ninchat.com/ninchat-support/english/public-group-discussions/organize-group-discussion)
{% endcontent-ref %}
### Channel settings
#### Who can write to the channel
The channel settings let you define how guests can write to the channel. For example, you can reduce inappropriate behaviors by automatically silencing new guests or automatically hiding messages from new guests.
For more information, see: How to edit channel seetings? > Who can write messages.
{% content-ref url="../team-channels/channel-settings" %}
[channel-settings](https://support.ninchat.com/ninchat-support/english/team-channels/channel-settings)
{% endcontent-ref %}
See more options under "Channel menu".
### Conversation tools
The tools for moderating comments during conversations appear when you hover over a comment.
| Tool | Function |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| 
**Hide message** | Hide this message from other users. |
| 
**Show message** | Show the hidden message. |
| 
**Silence user** | This user is muted for now. |
| 
**Silence this user for time being** | This user is muted for the selected period of time (after that he/she can write again). |
| 
**Hide all messages from this user** | All messages from this user will be hidden from other users. |
| 
**Toggle hide new messages from this user** | New messages from this user will be hidden/ shown as standard (moderators can manually hide/ show each message individually). |
### User menu
Click the desired user in the member list to open the user menu, and select an option you want.
| Option | Function |
| ----------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Silence** | This user is muted for now. |
| **Hide new messages** | New messages from this user will be hidden/ shown as standard (moderators can manually hide/ show each message individually). |
| **Hide all messages** | All messages from this user will be hidden from other users. |
| **Remove from channel** | This user will be completely removed from the discussion. |
### Channel menu
Click the channel name at the top left of the conversation section to open the channel menu, and select an option you want.
| Option | Function |
| ---------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **Silence all** | No one is allowed to write new messages. |
| **Unsilence all** | Allow all users to write messages. |
| **Enable autohide for all** | Messages from all new users are automatically hidden. Moderators can mannually reveal each message individually. |
| **Disable autohide for all** | Messages from all new users are automatically shown. |
| **Close channel** | The channel and discussion will be closed. |