Knowledge base Making it yours
Blocking and filters
There is no central moderation team, because there is no centre. What Nymchat gives you instead is a set of filters that run on your own device, over what you have already received.
Blocking people and channels
Block a person from their context menu (Block User), or with
/block nym. Block a channel with /block #channel, or from the
channel's own context menu. /unblock reverses either.
Your lists live under Settings › Privacy & Security (Blocked Users) and Settings › Channels (Blocked Channels), where you can review and undo them.
There is also Hide, which is gentler: a hidden channel disappears from your sidebar but is not blocked.
Blocking hides that person's messages from you. It does not tell them, does not stop them sending, and does not remove anything from any relay. Blocking is also tied to the key, so someone using a fresh ephemeral identity comes back as a stranger. If you want to keep unknown people out entirely, set Accept Private Messages & Group Chat Requests to Friends only.
The opposite of blocking is the Friends list — Add Friend from anyone's context menu. Friends bypass image blur and message filters, and several settings have a "Friends only" mode that lets them see what strangers cannot.
Keyword filters
Blocked Keywords/Phrases, under Settings › Privacy & Security. Any message containing one of your keywords is hidden, whoever sent it. Matching is case-insensitive and matches anywhere in the message, so a short keyword will hide more than you expect — it matches inside longer words too.
The list applies as messages arrive and retroactively to what is already on screen, so adding a keyword clears out what is already there.
Flood protection
Automatic and always on, with nothing to configure. Two independent checks:
- Rate — more than 10 messages from one pubkey in a single channel within two seconds mutes them for you for 15 minutes.
- Repetition — the same message content three times from one pubkey within two minutes does the same, across every channel. This is the one that catches a spammer posting identical text into a dozen channels at once.
Both are entirely local: nothing is reported anywhere and the sender is not told.
Blurring images
Blur Images from Others, under Settings › Privacy & Security, is on by default. Incoming images arrive blurred and are revealed when you tap them, which is the difference between choosing to look at something and being shown it. Your own images are never blurred.
Three settings: blur by default, blur except from friends, or show everything unblurred.
Group chats have their own moderation, with real roles and real removals — see Owners, moderators and members. That is the only place in Nymchat where one person can act on what another person sees.