# Best Practices

A short, opinionated checklist for getting the most out of Strom Bot. None of it is required — but following it avoids the most common configuration mistakes.

# Roles & hierarchy

• Place Strom’s role high. Drag the Strom Bot role above every role it needs to manage (mod roles, role rewards, muted role). Discord blocks actions on members ranked above the bot — silently.
• Use a dedicated mute role if you rely on role-based mutes, and make sure it denies Send Messages and Speak in every channel. Discord timeouts (/timeout) avoid this entirely and are the safer default.
• Grant the minimum that works. A single Administrator role is simplest; if you’d rather be precise, see Required Permissions.

# Moderation

• Start spam protection in a low setting. Turn it on with /spam status state:On, watch /spam health for a few days, then tighten the threshold on the dashboard.
• Exempt staff and bots. Add moderator roles and trusted bots to the ignore lists so automation never acts on your own team.
• Always set a reason. Reasons land in the case log and audit log — /warn @user reason is far more useful later than a bare warning.
• Layer your defences. Strom’s behaviour-based Anti-Spam and Discord’s native AutoMod complement each other; run both. See Moderation.

# Channels & logging

• Give Strom its own log channel that members can’t see, and point Audit & Logs there.
• Check channel overrides. A feature failing in one channel almost always means a permission override is denying View Channel, Send Messages, or Embed Links.
• Keep welcome and log channels separate so greetings don’t get buried in event noise.

# Announcements & engagement

• Schedule broadcasts in advance with /broadcast schedule instead of posting manually — it survives restarts and keeps timing consistent.
• Preview before publishing. Use /broadcast preview <id> to catch formatting mistakes before they reach members.
• Tune leveling for your size. Smaller servers feel better with faster XP; large servers usually want slower curves and a few role rewards.

# Reliability

• Don’t kick the bot to “reset” it. Removing Strom can wipe per-server state. To reset a feature, use its dashboard toggle or the Reset Server flow instead.
• Review permissions after big server changes. New role layouts or channel restructures are the most common cause of a feature that “suddenly stopped working.”
• Watch the Changelog. Behaviour and new options ship regularly; the changelog is the quickest way to see what changed.