Substack announced on Wednesday a new feature called “Reply Rules,” designed to give creators greater control over how their audiences are able to respond.
With the feature, creators can establish specific guidelines for comments on their posts, in Notes, or in Chat. These guidelines might include requests to eliminate AI slop or profanity, or something silly like only requiring replies in haiku form.
Substack explains that the system learns from users’ actions, such as when they hide replies, and will automatically filter out comments that don’t match the creator’s preferences. Creators maintain visibility over these hidden replies and have the option to unhide them if they change their minds.
Currently, Reply Rules are available for all English-language publications.
Substack has always gone for a decentralized moderation approach, where writers are responsible for policing their own communities. Creators have access to tools such as the option to lock posts or threads to prevent additional comments, comment deletion, and the ability to ban or suspend users when necessary.
