MxChat Chat Moderation

Block bad actors out of your chatbot by email address or IP. One-click bans from any transcript, a searchable ban list, and a dashboard that shows every active ban at a glance.

Overview

MxChat Moderation gives site owners a simple, durable way to keep abusive or spammy users out of their chatbot. Every banned email or IP is stored in a dedicated wp_mxchat_bans table with a timestamp, the admin who placed the ban, and optional notes. When you spot a bad actor in your Chat Transcripts, a single click bans them — no copy/pasting addresses, no modal popups. Bans are permanent until you remove them, so they keep working long after you've forgotten the incident.

This add-on focuses on identity-based blocking (email + IP). It does not run text through an external moderation API or scan messages for forbidden words — that's a different problem, and one MxChat handles via its core content controls and other add-ons.

Setup

1. Install the plugin via WordPress admin or upload the mxchat-moderation ZIP.
2. Activate via Plugins → Installed Plugins.
3. Activate your MxChat Pro license under MxChat → Pro & Extensions if you haven't already — moderation features stay locked otherwise.
4. Find the admin UI under MxChat → Moderation.

On activation the plugin creates the wp_mxchat_bans table automatically; from 2.1.6 it is also created if it goes missing later. No further configuration is required to start banning.

Settings

The Moderation admin page is built around the ban list itself, not a settings form. The pieces:

Dashboard

Top-of-page stat cards show total active bans, count of email bans, and count of IP bans. Useful for a quick sense of how much abuse you're absorbing week over week.

Add New Ban

Click "Add New Ban" to open the inline form. Fields:

• Identifier: the email address or IP to block. Sanitized as a text field.
• Type: email or ip. Auto-detected when banning from Chat Transcripts; chosen manually here.
• Notes: optional free-text reason for the ban (spam, abuse, harassment, etc.). Stored verbatim so you remember why the ban exists.

Ban List

Every active ban as a searchable, sortable table. Per-row actions:

• Edit notes — update the reason without removing the ban.
• Delete — unban the user. Two clicks, instant.

Search and Filter

A search box matches against both the identifier and the notes column. A type filter narrows the list to email-only or IP-only bans for quick triage.

Features

• Email-based bans: Block specific email addresses from chatting with your bot. Useful for repeat offenders you've identified via lead capture or signed-in users.
• IP-based bans: Block by IP address for anonymous abusers without a captured email. Stops the same source before it lands in your transcripts again.
• One-click ban from Chat Transcripts: A Ban button appears on every conversation in Chat Transcripts and creates the ban inline with a toast confirmation. From 2.1.6 (needs MxChat 3.2.26) it bans what actually stops the visitor: for a guest, the address the chatbot saw plus the email given in the pre-chat form when there is one; for a logged-in visitor, their account email. The button resets for every conversation you open, and it loads only for users who can ban visitors (administrators).
• Modern sidebar admin UI: The page uses the same shared admin shell as MxChat core, so the moderation experience matches the rest of the plugin's design.
• Searchable ban table: Full-text search across identifier and notes columns, plus a dropdown filter for ban type, makes it fast to find any specific ban among hundreds.
• Notes per ban: Each ban can carry an admin-facing note explaining why it exists, so the reason survives turnover and time.
• Dashboard with ban statistics: Top-of-page cards show total bans, email count, and IP count at a glance.
• Bans pause without a licence (2.1.6): If the MxChat Pro licence becomes inactive, the chatbot keeps working and bans are not enforced until the licence is active again. Before 2.1.6 the chatbot stopped with an error.
• Edit + remove inline: Quick actions on every row mean unbanning a user (or updating the reason) is a two-click operation.

API & Integration

The plugin exposes its ban logic through the MX_Chat_Ban_Handler class in includes/class-ban-handler.php. Useful methods for custom integrations:

• add_ban($identifier, $type, $notes = '') — programmatically add a ban. $type must be 'email' or 'ip'.
• check_ban($identifier, $type) — returns true if a matching ban exists. Use this if you're enforcing bans in a custom request flow.
• remove_ban($id) — delete a ban by its row ID.
• get_bans($args) — paginated query with search, type filter, and sort options.

Bans live in the {prefix}mxchat_bans table; reading directly is fine for reporting dashboards, but writes should go through MX_Chat_Ban_Handler so the data stays consistently sanitized.

There are no REST endpoints or public-facing filters in the current release.

Requirements

• MxChat (mxchat-basic): Required. The plugin shows an admin error and refuses to load if MxChat is not active. Banning a guest's pre-chat email from Chat Transcripts needs MxChat 3.2.26.
• MxChat Pro License: Required. Without an active Pro license the menu and features stay hidden behind an admin notice. See pricing.
• WordPress: 5.0 or newer.
• PHP: 7.2 or newer.
• Third-party: None. All ban storage is local to your WordPress database.

Troubleshooting

"MxChat Moderation requires MxChat Pro to be activated" notice

The plugin checks mxchat_license_status (and the network-wide equivalent on multisite). If it's not active, the entire feature set stays disabled. Activate your license under MxChat → Pro & Extensions and reload — the menu item should appear.

"Moderation" menu doesn't appear

Confirm both MxChat (mxchat-basic) and your Pro license are active. The submenu is only registered when both checks pass.

Chatbot stops with an error while the Pro licence is inactive

Update to 2.1.6. The chatbot now keeps answering while the licence is inactive, and bans resume once it is active again.

Banned visitor can still chat, or the wrong user got banned from Chat Transcripts

Update to 2.1.6 (with MxChat 3.2.26). Earlier versions could ban a value that did not stop the visitor. 2.1.6 bans a guest's address and pre-chat email, or a logged-in visitor's account email, and Banned At shows in the site's time zone. If a transcript captured the wrong identifier (e.g. the visitor was behind a shared proxy IP), find the ban in MxChat → Moderation and delete it. Add a note on any related bans explaining the false-positive context for future reference.

Ban-list pagination shows no results

The search box matches both identifier and notes. If you've typed a partial term that doesn't exist in either column, the table will empty out. Clear the search to see all bans.

Need to clear all bans

Deactivating + deleting the plugin removes the data per its privacy policy. For a softer reset, drop the {prefix}mxchat_bans table contents with a database tool — the table will be repopulated as you create new bans.

Last reviewed by Sage on 2026-10-18. Spotted an issue? Open a ticket and we'll patch the doc.