The Comment Triage Protocol: Enterprise Moderation for Your Bedroom Studio

When I was Global Head of Marketing and Communications at SWIFT, we had a crisis protocol.

Every message was triaged into three categories: Ignore, Respond, Escalate.

We processed thousands of communications daily. Zero emotional breakdowns. Why? Because we had systems, not willpower.

THE PROBLEM

You open your phone. 47 comments. Three are lovely. Two are constructive. Forty-two are varying degrees of awful.

You read every single one. You feel every single one. By comment 30, you're questioning why you even do this.

This is not a sustainable moderation strategy.

THE RESEARCH IS CLEAR:

A study of 135 creators found that 82% view moderation tools favorably, but they cite massive gaps:

• Attackers circumvent detection constantly

• Lack of default filters for identity-based harassment

• Crushing emotional burden of manual review

Women and BIPOC creators report building custom bots and DIY filters because platform tools don't work. One Twitch creator said: "Male streamers don't even have harassment policies on their profiles. They're just not targeted by this stuff."

Meanwhile, Reddit moderators describe their volunteer work as making them "hate Reddit and Reddit's users." Burnout is endemic.

THE OPS PLAY

You need triage, not heroics:

I've adapted Fortune 500 crisis communication protocols for creator comment sections. It's called the Comment Triage Protocol.

Three tiers:

TIER 1: IGNORE (70-80% of comments)

• Obvious spam, bots, trolls seeking attention

• Generic negativity with no specific threat

• Bad faith arguments designed to waste your time

Action: Auto-filter or delete without reading. Your attention is finite. Spend it where it matters.

TIER 2: RESPOND (15-20% of comments)

• Constructive criticism (even if it stings)

• Genuine questions from your audience

• Positive engagement worth reinforcing

Action: Reply thoughtfully or heart/like to acknowledge. This is community building.

TIER 3: ESCALATE (5-10% of comments)

• Threats, doxxing, coordinated harassment

• Identity-based hate speech

• Repeated violation of your stated boundaries

Action: Document, report to platform, block user. If severe, report to law enforcement. This is not moderation. This is safety.

How to implement this:

1. Set up keyword filters for Tier 1 (I've included a starter list)

2. Batch-process comments 2x daily instead of constantly monitoring

3. Train a VA or mod using this framework (15-minute training doc included)

4. Review your Tier 3 log monthly to identify patterns

THE CREATOROPS PERSEPCTIVE

Before: You read every comment and felt every comment.
After: You process comments like a business operation.

Download The Comment Triage Protocol + Starter Filter List →

This isn't about being cold:

It's about being operational.

You can't engage authentically with your real community when you're exhausted from fighting trolls. Triage lets you spend energy where it matters.

The hard truth:

If you think you should read every comment because "engaging with my audience" is your job, you're confusing community management with emotional labor.

Community management is strategic. Emotional labor is unsustainable.

ACTION STEP

Implement Tier 1 filters this week. Track how many comments auto-filter. Reply with your number.

I'm betting it's 60-75% of your moderation workload gone. Instantly.

Amber
Founder, CreatorOps Weekly

P.S. The starter filter list includes common misspellings. One creator blocked 80% of hate comments by adding three words: "ugly," "annoying," "voice." Start there.

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