Chapter 9
Moderated rooms (Moderierte Räume)
A moderated room is a voice room in which only speakers talk. Everybody else is a listener: their microphone, camera and screen share are switched off and locked, but they hear and see everything and can still write in the chat. Listeners raise their hand to ask for the word, and a moderator lets them speak – with no time limit or for 1, 3 or 5 minutes. Use it for community events, all-hands meetings, office hours, panels, or any large room where people should not talk over each other.
Any voice room can be switched to moderated mode, and so can a session in a lobby. It works live: nobody has to leave or rejoin.
Switching it on#
You need the permission Manage moderated room (admins and moderators have it by default).
- In a call: open … in the voice controls and tick Moderated room. Moderation settings… opens the settings.
- In the room settings: open the room settings and choose Voice & media › Moderated room.
The settings are applied the moment you change them:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Moderated room | Switches the mode on or off. |
| Who may speak: from role | Members with this role or a higher one are speakers. You cannot choose a role above your own, so you never lock yourself out. Without a choice Coviqo picks the space's moderator role. |
| Speakers may let others speak | Off by default. When on, every speaker can let listeners speak – not only people with the permission Let listeners speak. |
| Allow Funk | Off by default. Funk (intercom) from people who would only listen in this room is delivered as well. Without it, only Funk from people who would be speakers here reaches the room. |
| Chat slow mode | While the room is moderated, everybody can send one message per interval (5 s to 2 min). Moderators are not affected. |
Meetings and stage rooms have their own rules for who speaks and cannot be switched to moderated mode.
As a listener#
The voice card shows Moderated room · You are listening. The microphone, camera and screen-share buttons are locked.
- Click Raise hand (in the moderation bar or in …).
- Optionally enter a short reason (up to 80 characters), for example "Question about the roadmap", and confirm.
- The bar shows your position in the queue. Lower hand takes it back at any time.
When a moderator lets you speak, you hear a short sound and see You may speak now. Your microphone stays off – switch it on yourself when you are ready. You can mute and unmute as often as you like; the word stays with you until the moderator revokes it, the time runs out or you leave the room. If a time limit was set, the remaining time is shown on your tile and in the bar for everybody.
When the word ends, your microphone is muted and you see Your speaking time has ended. If your raised hand is declined, you see Your raised hand was declined.
As a moderator#
People with the permission Let listeners speak (admins and moderators by default) see the queue of raised hands in the voice card – in the order people raised them, with their reason and the time.
- Let speak – the main button gives the word until you revoke it.
- The small arrow next to it gives the word for 1, 3 or 5 minutes. Everybody in the room sees the countdown.
- Decline hand – removes the hand from the queue and tells the person.
- Revoke – in the list of guest speakers, takes the word back.
- Mute all listeners – takes the word from every guest speaker and mutes every listener.
People who were given the word are highlighted as Guest speaker on their tile.
Good to know#
- The rules are enforced by the Coviqo server on the voice connection itself, not just in the app. A listener cannot publish sound or video, even with a modified client.
- Raised hands and given words belong to the current conversation. When everybody has left the room, they are gone. Leaving and rejoining also clears your own hand or word.
- The room activity shows when the mode was switched on or off and when all listeners were muted. Moderators also see who was given the word, whose word was revoked and which hands were declined. The reason you typed is not stored.
- Moderated rooms are available in every plan.
Permissions#
| Permission | Meaning | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Manage moderated room | Switch the mode on or off, choose who may speak and the options | Admins, moderators |
| Let listeners speak | Let speak, revoke, decline hands, mute all listeners | Admins, moderators |
| Always speak in moderated rooms | Always a speaker, whatever the minimum role | Admins |
All three can be changed per role in the space settings and overridden per room. External guests can never get Manage moderated room or Always speak in moderated rooms; bots get none of the three.