How Discord ban appeals work, and how to take them on your server

Why a ban needs a way back

Most bans are fair. Not all of them. Without appeals, mistakes stick, and banned members slide into mods’ DMs or come back on another account. The usual cases

• A hacked account that spammed, since returned to its owner
• A mod who acted too fast over a misunderstanding
• A member who got the message and wants back after a few months

What Discord offers, and what’s missing

Server settings have a bans list where you can unban someone by hand. There is no appeal form for server bans: the appeals Discord handles cover Discord’s own actions on an account, not your staff’s decisions. Many servers patch it with a separate appeal server or a Google Form, disconnected from the record and from the unban itself

For the banned member: how to appeal

With Kotbo, the appeal happens on a public page on dash.kotbo.fr, specific to your server. Here is what the member goes through

1. 1

   They get the link

   If you turned it on, Kotbo DMs them the link when the sanction lands, before the kick so it still gets through. You can also put the link in your rules

2. 2

   They sign in with Discord

   Signing in is required: the appeal is tied to their real account, and nobody appeals on their behalf

3. 3

   They pick what to contest

   The page lists their appealable sanctions. They tick up to 3 by default and write their case for each, then answer the form

4. 4

   They follow up

   If staff asks for details, they answer on the same page. The verdict arrives by DM, or on the page if their DMs are closed

For staff: ruling on an appeal

Each appeal lands in your staff channel with buttons: accept, deny, deny permanently and ask for more info. The same appeal opens on the dashboard, in the Sanctions page’s ban appeals tab, with the member’s history

• One verdict per sanction

  For each contested sanction: uphold it, archive it (cancelled but kept on file), delete it, or uphold and lock it

• Accept

  The member is unbanned and gets a return invite by DM, with your message if you wrote one

• Deny

  They get your reason and have to wait before trying again, 30 days by default. A permanent denial adds them to the blacklist: no more appeals

• No ruling on your own case

  By default, the mod who issued the sanction can’t rule on the appeal against it. They are notified by DM and can add context

Setting up a Discord ban appeal bot step by step

The ban appeals module is off by default. You set it up on the dashboard’s Sanctions page, ban appeals tab

1. 1

   Turn appeals on

   The first switch makes the public page live and shows its address

2. 2

   Prepare the questions

   Create the default form, then edit its questions and theme under Forms. A warning and a ban can each have their own form

3. 3

   Pick the channels

   The staff channel receives appeals with buttons, and it can live on a linked staff server. The invite channel is used to create the return link

4. 4

   Decide what can be appealed

   Bans only, or also warnings, timeouts, kicks, softbans and temporary bans, each with its own wait between requests. A maximum age can close appeals on old sanctions

5. 5

   Tell your members

   Turn on the DM with the appeal link on permanent bans, or on every appealable sanction, and copy the public link into your rules

Checking identity before an unban

An accepted appeal can let an alt account back in. A few settings keep that in check

• With verification on acceptance, the member goes through an identity check before the unban: Kotbo compares their IP address and device with other verified accounts
• Per-moderator stats show how many of their sanctions get appealed and overturned, which points to sanctions handed out badly
• Ban hygiene scans the ban list daily and flags accounts Discord has deleted, with a button to clean them up