As a service provider hosting user-generated content, we need to take certain actions to protect our service and to protect the visitors who fill out our users’ forms.

Moderation is a way for us to temporarily disable a form until we can properly review its purpose and ensure that it is in compliance with our terms of service.

There are different types of abuses or terms of service violations that we address with form moderation.

1. Malicious Abuse

The first and foremost is malicious users creating deceptive web forms for the purpose of obtaining confidential information from unsuspecting visitors. This is often referred to as “phishing,” but it also covers a wide range of internet scams, from identity theft to advance fee frauds, wire transfer scams, and so on. We take these abuses very seriously and we cannot allow a form to go live if there’s any chance that it might be used for illegal purposes.

2. Insecure Collection of Credit Card Information

Another type of terms of service violation is the use of a form to collect credit card information without using the proper tools (our payment integrations). We are not a payment processor, and we cannot remain PCI compliant if our users store, retrieve, or transfer credit card information in an insecure manner (via our email notifications, for instance). It’s also typically against one’s merchant agreement to collect a credit card number in this fashion. When this issue is detected, we ask our user to remove the fields in question from the form and to get the payment information in an alternative way.

Moderation Review Process

1. Once a form triggers one of our automatic filters, or is flagged manually by our team, the form becomes moderated and form processing is disabled. A Moderation Notice is displayed on the form setting pages and an error message is displayed if anyone tries to load the form or submit a response.
2. On the Moderation Notice message, the “request review” link must be clicked to initiate a manual review from our team. If the review is not requested by the account owner, the form may remain moderated and disabled indefinitely.
3. Once the review is requested, it may take us up to 1 business day to look at your form. To facilitate the process, make sure that you have accurate and complete contact information in your FormAssembly account. Use of a generic/anonymous email account is discouraged. We may contact you by email if we have any questions, and we encourage you to get in touch with us as well.
4. If the review determines that your form is in compliance, we’ll remove the Moderation Notice and enable your form. If we need you to modify your form to comply with our terms of service, we’ll notify you by email and wait until the changes are made before we enable your form. Forms that are determined to be part of a fraud or scamming attempt are permanently deleted, along with the owner’s account.

False Positives

On occasion, a legitimate form will trigger our automatic filter and become moderated. We understand that this can be a cause of frustration and delay. We apologize for the inconvenience and hope that this document explains why this process is necessary. If you have any questions or concerns, please let us know.