Whitelist and Member Trust — Exempt Trusted People

1Trust, without lowering the guard

Good moderation is not only about who to stop — it is about who to leave alone. Telm gives you layered trust: full exemption for people and domains you name, a softer automatic touch for members who have earned it, per-group relaxation of specific checks, and a lockdown mode for the tightest control.

The point of every level is the same: let the people you rely on speak freely without weakening the protection that applies to everyone else. Trust is targeted, so a single trusted member never forces you to open the door for the whole room.

2The trusted-member whitelist

Adding a member to the whitelist takes them out of moderation entirely — their messages are not checked at all. It is a single command in the chat: reply to one of their messages (or point at their account) with the add-to-whitelist command, and another command removes them again.

This is for your own content creators, partner announcement bots, and the regular experts who often post links that are perfectly fine. They can do what others cannot — share links, forward, post media — without you loosening the rules for the whole group.

3Domain allow lists

Trust applies to links too. The allowed-domains list in the link filter lets specific domains through no matter who posts them — your site, your docs, partner resources — while everything else stays subject to the filter.

The external promotion filter has its own allow list, so your own cross-posts are never mistaken for someone else's advertising. Use a domain allow list when a source should be open to the whole community, and the member whitelist when the exception is really about a person rather than a link.

4Member reputation softens checks automatically

Between everyone and the whitelist sits reputation. Members who have participated for a while and behaved well earn trust, and that trust automatically softens the checks applied to them — fewer false stops on people who have clearly proven they belong.

You do not configure this per member; it builds up from real behaviour. Newcomers get the closest look, established members get the benefit of the doubt. It is the reason a long-time regular rarely trips a filter that would catch a brand-new account posting the same thing.

5Relaxing specific rules for one group

Sometimes you do not want to exempt a person or a domain — you want to switch off one specific check that does not fit your community, while keeping everything else. Relaxed rules do exactly that: you name the anti-spam rules that must not score in this group, and they stop counting toward moderation here (they still show up in decision traces as relaxed, so nothing is hidden).

This is per group, so a trading community can relax a rule that fires on crypto talk without changing anything for your other groups.

6Whitelist-only mode

At the strict end is whitelist-only mode. When it is on, only whitelisted members may post — everyone else is blocked. It is the tightest possible setting and the mirror image of the open whitelist: instead of a short list of exceptions to moderation, it is a short list of the only people allowed to speak.

Use it for announcement-style groups, a locked-down channel discussion, or a temporary clampdown while you deal with trouble. Admins and the group creator can always post, so you never lock yourself out.

7Choosing the right level of trust

Each tool fits a different need — pick the narrowest one that solves your problem:

• One trusted person who posts links or media — add them to the member whitelist.
• A source everyone should be able to link — add the domain to the allowed-domains list.
• Regulars occasionally caught by strict checks — rely on reputation; it already softens over time.
• A single built-in rule that does not suit your topic — relax that rule for the group.
• A room where only a named few should speak — whitelist-only mode.