Skool AutoMod: How to Stop Spam in Your Community (2026)

AutoMod is Skool's automated moderation system, it is active in all communities by default, and it flags high-risk users along with their posts and comments for an admin to review. It does not delete anything on its own. Skool's guidance to admins is blunt: a flagged member is likely to spam or scam, their content may look innocent, and you should not let them in or engage with them. This guide covers what AutoMod does, exactly what to do with a flagged member, and the eight other anti-spam controls Skool gives owners. Updated September 2026.

What is Skool AutoMod?

AutoMod is Skool's built-in moderation layer that scores accounts for risk and surfaces the risky ones to admins. Skool describes it as looking at different signals to identify high-risk users, then flagging those users and the posts and comments they make. It runs in every community automatically, which means there is no plugin to enable and no settings page to configure.

The important design detail is that AutoMod is an alerting system, not an enforcement system. It hands you a judgement call rather than making one. Skool previewed it on a Skool News episode before the platform-wide rollout, which is why some owners recognise the name from a sneak peek long before it appeared in their own group.

What should you do when AutoMod flags a member?

Skool gives admins two explicit playbooks depending on whether the flagged account paid you.

1. Free member: ban them from the group, and block chat.
2. Paid member: refund the recent charge, remove them from the group, and block chat.

Skool also suggests reporting them to the platform moderation team so the account can be actioned across every community, not just yours.

The refund-first instruction on paid members is the part owners get wrong. It is tempting to keep the money and just remove the person, but a spammer who paid and then got removed with no refund is a chargeback waiting to happen, and chargebacks are worse for you than a refund. The mechanics of issuing one are covered in our Skool refund policy guide.

How do you ban a member on Skool?

Go to the Members tab, find the member, click the MEMBERSHIP gear button in front of their name or the gear at the top right of their profile, then choose Ban from group. Confirm, then press BAN. Banning stops them from accessing the group and from requesting access again.

The option worth knowing about sits in that same confirmation box: you can remove the last 7 days of their posts and comments in one step. Skool warns that this deletion is permanent. For a spammer who has been dripping offers into your feed for a few days, this turns a twenty minute cleanup into one click. Note that banning is a group level action taken by you, which is a different thing from Skool suspending an account platform-wide, a distinction we unpack in can you get banned on Skool.

Nine anti-spam controls Skool gives you

AutoMod is one layer. Skool documents eight more, and most of them ship switched off. The ordering below is ours, not Skool's, and reflects how much spam each control removes in practice:

Skool's own framing of the first row is the one to sit with: charging even $1 a year drastically reduces spam, because spam accounts avoid paid communities. That is a moderation argument for pricing, not just a revenue one, and it is a strong reason to stop running a free group by default. If you are weighing that decision, see how to price a Skool community.

How do Membership Questions filter spam?

Membership Questions put up to three questions in front of anyone clicking Join, and they must answer all of them to submit. On the approval screen you then see those answers alongside the applicant's bio, location and profile picture, which is what Skool means when it says the plugin lets you review a new member before approving them. Turn them on under SETTINGS, then Plugins, then EDIT next to Membership questions.

Answer types are text box, multiple choice, and email address, and you can only use the email address type once. Skool's stated trade is honest: harder membership questions mean a lower conversion rate but higher quality members. Its recommended structure is Q1 to qualify intent, Q2 for an email or social handle so you can reach people off platform, and Q3 to find out where they discovered you, which doubles as free attribution data alongside your ad tracking setup.

One caution that pulls the other way: Skool advises turning Instant membership approval ON if you are running ads or promoting a lead magnet to a free group, so people are not left waiting. That pulls against the anti-spam advice to turn it off, and Skool documents both, adding that if you see members joining and spamming your feed it is best to switch the feature off again. You cannot optimise for both at once. Pick based on which problem you actually have this month.

Skool moderation vs Discord and Circle

Skool's moderation model is smaller and more opinionated than its competitors', which cuts both ways.

Discord's AutoMod lets you write keyword and pattern rules and block messages before they post. Skool's does not let you write anything at all, which is either the whole appeal or the whole problem depending on how much time you want to spend administering software. Skool's bet is that a paid, level-gated, question-filtered community does not need a rules engine.

Frequently asked questions

What is AutoMod on Skool?

AutoMod is Skool's automated moderation system. It is active in every Skool community by default and flags high-risk users, plus the posts and comments those users make, so that an admin can review them. It flags for review rather than deleting or banning automatically.

Do I need to turn AutoMod on?

No. Skool states that AutoMod is now active in all communities, so there is nothing to enable and no settings to configure. The controls you do configure are the separate plugins for membership questions, instant approval, and unlocking chat and posting by level.

What does Skool recommend doing with a high-risk member?

For a free member, ban them from the group and block chat. For a paid member, refund the recent charge, remove them from the group, and block chat. Skool also suggests reporting them so the platform moderation team can act.

How do I delete a spammer's posts on Skool?

Use the ban flow. In the Members tab, open the membership gear for that member, choose Ban from group, and in the confirmation box select the option to remove their last 7 days of posts and comments. Skool warns that this deletion is permanent.

How do I stop spam DMs in my Skool group?

Raise the chat threshold in your Plugins settings so a brand new account has to earn its way to messaging privileges. Skool notes that spammers target direct messages, and that pushing the requirement all the way to the top level amounts to disabling chat in the group. More detail in Skool Chat explained.

Does charging for a Skool community reduce spam?

Yes, and Skool names it as one of the most effective options available. Its help centre says charging as little as $1 a year drastically reduces spam because spam accounts usually avoid paid communities.

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Updated September 2026. Verified against the Skool help centre articles on managing spam and AutoMod (184, last updated April 2026), banning a member (142), membership questions (57), using Plugins (176) and reporting content or a user (159). Competitor moderation features reflect publicly documented behaviour in 2026 and change often.