How public letters are reviewed
A moderator reads every letter before it appears in the public gallery. How you learn the decision, what is not accepted and which changes are reviewed again.
4 minutes to read
Nothing reaches the public gallery unread. When you switch on Also publish in the public gallery in the composer, the letter first goes to a moderator, a member of the FuturePostman staff. Only an approved letter is shown.
How the review works
You send or schedule the letter
The letter gets the status In review on My public letters. It is delivered to its recipient as planned, whatever the review decides.
A moderator reads it
The review page shows the subject, the text, the name you chose to show and the tags. It does not show the recipients or the attached files.
The letter is approved or not
An approved letter appears in the gallery: at once, or when it is delivered if you kept Publish when it is delivered switched on. A letter that is not approved stays out of the gallery and gets the status Not approved.
You get an email
The email goes to the address of your account. For an approved letter it says when the letter appears and gives its address in the gallery. For a letter that is not approved it gives the reason the moderator wrote.
What the statuses mean
- In review
- Approved
- Published
- Not approved
- Not public
| Status | In the gallery | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| In review | No | The letter waits for a moderator. A new name or new tags are read together with it. You can take the letter out. |
| Approved | Not yet | The review is done. The letter appears on the day shown. A letter that waits for its delivery shows When delivered instead. |
| Published | Yes | Anyone can read the letter. View in the gallery in its menu opens it. |
| Not approved | No | A moderator did not approve the letter, at the first review or after a report. The reason is shown with the letter. |
| Not public | No | You took the letter out yourself. Publish again sends it to review once more. |
A letter that waited in review past its planned day appears when it is approved.
What is not accepted
A public letter has to follow the acceptable use rules of the Terms of Service. They rule out:
- Illegal, abusive, harassing or infringing content
- Spam and unsolicited bulk messages
- Content that violates the privacy or the intellectual property rights of someone else
The terms also say that you are responsible for what you publish, and that FuturePostman may remove public content that breaks these rules or the law and may suspend the account behind it.
If your letter is not approved
- The letter is not shown in the gallery. Its delivery is not affected, and it stays in your account like any other letter.
- The moderator's reason is in the email. On My public letters it stands in the row of the letter after Reason: and in its dialog under The moderator's reason. A letter that was turned down before reasons were recorded shows none.
- The same letter is not reviewed twice. Publish again on a letter that has not changed is refused with A moderator did not approve this letter and it has not changed since. Change its title or text first, then publish it again.
- A letter that has not been delivered yet can be edited. A saved change to its subject or text sends it to review again and clears the earlier reason. A change to the recipients, the date, the name or the tags alone does not. See edit, reschedule or delete.
- A letter that is already delivered cannot be edited, so you cannot send it to review again. If you think the decision was a mistake, contact support. A moderator can still approve the letter.
Changes that are reviewed again
Everything a reader sees has to have been seen by a moderator. These changes put a letter back to In review, and a published letter is out of the gallery until it is approved again:
- A change to the subject or the text of a public letter. Only a letter that has not been delivered can be edited, and changing a letter that still waits for its date needs a plan that includes it. Plans that include it: Postmaster.
- A new Name to show.
- Showing a name again that was hidden when the letter was approved.
- New or removed tags on an approved letter.
- Publish again for a letter you had taken out of the gallery.
When you change the name or the tags of an approved letter, the dialog says before you save that the letter goes back to review. See change the name or the tags.
These changes need no new review:
- Switching Hide my name on
- Changing the recipients or the delivery date of the letter
After a letter is published
- Signed-in readers can report a letter. A moderator then looks at it again and either keeps it or takes it out. Taking it out needs a reason, sets the status to Not approved and sends you the email with that reason. See report a letter.
- Comments are not reviewed before they appear. Readers can report a single comment, and a moderator can remove it. As the writer you can delete any comment under your own letter.
- Share a letter in the public galleryPublish an email letter for anyone to read, signed with a name you choose or anonymously, and manage it afterwards on My public letters.
- Read, like, comment on and report public lettersFind letters in the public gallery by search or topic, like them, leave a comment, report a letter or a comment that breaks the rules and follow new letters by RSS.
- Terms of ServiceThe rules every letter has to follow.
- Contact FuturePostman supportHow to reach support, what to put in your message so the first reply can help, and what support can and cannot do for a letter.