A Discord warn system lets moderators warn a member, keeps a record of every warning, and punishes repeat offenders once they reach a set number. Discord has no warnings of its own, only timeouts, kicks and bans, so you need a bot to keep that record. This guide sets one up with Noxyr.

Why use warnings at all

Most rule breaks do not deserve a ban, but a quiet word gets lost. A warning gives the member a clear reason, and gives your staff a shared history. A moderator can see that this is the third problem this month rather than the first, and members know the rules are applied the same way by everyone.

How to set up a warn system

  1. Add the bot. Add Noxyr to your server. It is free.
  2. Pick a log channel. Open the dashboard, go to Safety, then Warnings. Choose a staff channel so everyone sees each warning. In Discord, use /warn settings.
  3. Decide your steps. Add what happens at each count. A common ladder is a 1 hour timeout at 3 warnings, a kick at 5 and a ban at 7. Use /warn step in Discord.
  4. Give the bot its permissions. It needs Timeout Members, Kick Members and Ban Members for the steps you use, and its role must be above your members.
  5. Warn someone. Run /warn add, pick the member and write a reason. The member gets the reason in a DM if their DMs are open.

Reading and clearing warnings

Run /warn list to see a member's history, with the date, the reason and who gave each warning. Made a mistake? /warn remove deletes one warning and /warn clear deletes them all. The dashboard shows the latest warnings for the whole server.

Should warnings expire?

Set an expiry if you want old mistakes forgiven. After that many days a warning stops counting towards your steps, but stays on record so staff can still read it. Leave it at 0 for warnings that always count.

Who can warn who

Anyone with the Timeout Members permission can use /warn, but only on members below their own top role. Nobody can warn themselves, a bot or the server owner, which stops staff from using warnings against each other.

Write reasons people can act on

"Spamming" tells a member little. "Posted the same link in three channels, rule 4" tells them exactly what to stop doing, and it helps the next moderator too. Our free warning template generator gives you wording to start from.

Every option is covered in the warnings docs.