Configuring the Plugin

This page covers the options available in Settings → Respectify. If you haven't connected the plugin yet, see Installation first. You can click Test at any time to verify your account is working.

What Respectify Checks

Respectify can evaluate comments in several ways. You can turn each one on or off depending on what matters for your site.

Comment Health

This is the core of what Respectify does: analysing comments to assess the quality of the reply, neutrally. A "healthy" comment is one that contributes to the conversation: it engages with the topic, understands who it's replying to, and communicates thoughtfully. Someone can disagree strongly and still do so in a healthy way; health is about how views are expressed, not what those views are.

Comments are analysed for things like low effort, logical fallacies, objectionable or rude phrases, and ways of writing that don't contribute to the conversation. Each comment gets a quality score from 1 to 5. A score of 3 is a normal, good quality comment; 4 and 5 are exceptional.

You can set the Minimum Score: comments below this will be sent back for revision with specific feedback.

You can also choose which factors matter for your site. Send comments back for revision if they:

• Seem Low Effort: very short or lacking substance
• Contain Logical Fallacies: common reasoning mistakes that derail discussions
• Contain Objectionable Phrases: language that's likely to upset others
• Have Negative Tone: unnecessarily hostile or dismissive

Topic Relevance

Sometimes comment sections drift off-topic. With this enabled, Respectify checks whether comments relate to what the article is actually about. This also allows you to prevent discussion of specific topics: useful for handling known bad-actor themes you've seen in your community.

Off Topic Comments: you can choose to:

• Allow them (the default: some sites like free-flowing conversation)
• Delete them
• Send them back for revision with a note about staying on topic

Undesired Topics: list specific topics you want to prevent, one per line. This is useful when you've noticed certain themes being used to derail your community's conversations.

Be specific. Instead of just "politics", try "US electoral politics": this helps avoid accidentally blocking legitimate discussion.

Dogwhistle Detection

Dogwhistles are coded phrases that seem innocent but carry hidden meanings, often used to signal harmful views while maintaining deniability. Respectify can detect these.

While Respectify can detect common dogwhistles, if this is relevant to your community you can improve detection by listing:

• Sensitive Topics: areas where dogwhistles tend to appear in your community
• Examples: specific phrases you've noticed being used this way

The default is to request revision, which treats the commenter as writing in good faith. You can also delete, or publish (though that defeats the purpose).

Spam Detection

Respectify checks for spam: commercial spam, bot content, and the like.

When spam is detected, you can either delete it (the default) or send it back for revision like other flagged content (though this is rarely useful for spam).

Anti-Spam Only Plan: if you have an anti-spam only subscription (a cheaper plan that doesn't include the other checks), enable this option. The other settings will be greyed out.

How This All Works in Practice

Here's what happens when someone submits a comment on your site:

1. Before the comment is posted, it's sent to Respectify for analysis
2. Based on your settings, the plugin decides whether to:

   • Publish it: the comment met your standards and appears immediately

   • Request revision: this is where the user learns. They see Respectify's feedback explaining how their comment could be improved, and can edit it before resubmitting.

     Over time, users who read this feedback become more aware of how they communicate: thinking more clearly, expressing themselves better. Respectify is a tool for you to moderate your website, yes, but our purpose in the world and which we hope you also find worthwhile is larger: one of edification, not moderation per se.

   • Delete it: for spam or severe policy violations

This happens in real time. There's no separate moderation queue to check.

Advanced Settings

Click Display rarely used settings to see options for custom server configuration. You won't need these unless Respectify support has specifically asked you to change them (for example, to access a beta version).