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Feature deep dive

Discord Decay Score: A Fair Way to Manage Inactive Members

CleanerBot uses a Decay Score to help Discord staff manage inactivity without surprise kicks, hidden judgment, or message-content reading.

Invite CleanerBot View inactivity policy template

Tip: Start in Ghost Mode for a quiet, staff-only trial.

What is a Decay Score?

A Decay Score is an inactivity score for each member in your server. When a member stays quiet, the score slowly increases. When they participate again, the score decreases or resets, depending on your configuration.

That makes inactivity cleanup less sudden. Staff can use clear checkpoints before taking action.

Why simple days-inactive cleanup is too blunt

A fixed inactivity rule can be useful for quick cleanup, but it often misses the context that real communities need. Quiet supporters, returning players, students, volunteers, moderators, trusted contributors, and support customers should not all be treated the same way.

How CleanerBot uses Decay Score

1. Everyone starts safe

Members begin below action thresholds.

2. Score rises

No configured activity means inactivity becomes visible.

3. Members recover

Configured activity can drop or reset the score.

4. Thresholds trigger

Warnings, inactive roles, staff review, or optional removal.

Example Decay Score journey

Score range	What it means	Typical action
0	Recently active	No action
14+	Activity is fading	Friendly warning
28+	Inactivity is visible	Inactive role may be applied
60+	Final review threshold	Staff reviews removal or snoozes

The important part is the sequence: explain first, mark carefully, review before removal.

What counts as activity?

Admins choose which signals count. CleanerBot can count messages in allowed channels, reactions, voice or stage participation, threads, slash commands and buttons, scheduled event participation or RSVPs, poll or quiz interactions, and optional lightweight signals such as typing, member joins, message pins, or emoji adds.

Different communities need different rules. A bootcamp may use stricter signals. A product community may keep everything staff-only in Ghost Mode.

Privacy: activity signals, not message content

CleanerBot does not read or store message content. For inactivity cleanup, CleanerBot only needs to know that an allowed activity happened. It does not need to know what someone wrote.

CleanerBot also does not build cross-server reputation scores. Each server is its own world.

Decay Score vs Discord Prune

Discord Prune is useful for quick one-off cleanup, but it uses broad inactivity windows and does not provide the same member-facing explanation, warning checkpoints, inactive-role workflow, or staff review process.

Compare Discord Prune vs CleanerBot

Decay Score vs XP

Decay Score is not XP. XP asks who is most active or chatty. Decay Score asks who may no longer be present and what the fairest next step is.

Compare XP bots vs inactivity management

Member-friendly explanation

We use CleanerBot to manage inactivity fairly. CleanerBot uses an inactivity score called Decay Score. The score rises when someone has no configured activity and drops or resets when they participate again. Staff uses clear checkpoints for warnings, inactive roles, and review. CleanerBot does not read or store message content.

Recommended next steps

Read the inactivity policy template.
Choose a workflow that fits your server.
Start with Ghost Mode if you want staff-only observation first.
Use warnings and inactive roles before removal.
Keep auto-kick off until staff trusts the thresholds.

FAQ

Is Decay Score a punishment?

No. Decay Score is a signal that activity has faded. It helps staff use clear checkpoints instead of sudden cleanup.

Does CleanerBot read messages?

No. CleanerBot does not read or store message content. It can count that configured activity happened without storing what members wrote.

Can members recover?

Yes. When configured activity happens, the score drops or resets. Members can return before staff takes stronger action.

Is Decay Score the same as Activity Health Score?

No. Decay Score is member-level and helps with inactivity workflows. Activity Health Score is server-wide and helps staff understand community health trends. AHS does not kick, warn, or change roles by itself.

Should I use auto-kick?

Start with manual review. Auto-kick is optional and should only be enabled when your thresholds, staff channel, permissions, and guardrails are understood.

Start with a fair inactivity workflow.

Use Decay Score with warnings, inactive roles, staff review, and clear member-facing policy text.

Invite CleanerBot Start with the policy template