While most recognition is positive, occasionally bonuses are shared that aren't right for your team. This guide covers how to identify, review, and resolve suspicious or inappropriate activity using manual reports and the automated Bonus Quality Bot.
You must have Global Admin permissions to access these features.
How posts get flagged
There are two ways a post ends up in front of you for review:
A user reports it. Anyone on your team can flag a post they think is inappropriate or suspicious.
The Bonus Quality Bot catches it. The bot watches for patterns that look like abuse (for example, the same user sending the same post to the same person over and over) and acts on them automatically.
When either happens, you'll get an email letting you know there's something to review.get an email letting you know.
To review what's been flagged, head to Admin Tools > Recognition > Reported.
The Reported Posts page has two tabs:
Pending- Reports that still need a decision from you.
Resolved- Reports you've already acted on, with the outcome shown on each card.
Within each tab, reports are grouped into
Reported by your team (manual user reports) and
Flagged by Quality Bot (automated). Every action on the page tells you exactly what it will do — and what it won't do — before you confirm it.
Reported posts are already hidden from everyone while they await review. As soon as a post is reported, it disappears from the feed for the whole company until an admin resolves the report. Nothing on this page is visible in the feed.
Handling User Reports (manual)
When someone on your team reports a post, it shows up on the Reported page for any Global Admin to review.
Reading the Reported posts table
Each card represents one reported post and shows:
Flagged by [name]. The person who reported the post.
The reporter's note. The free-text explanation they wrote when reporting.
A preview of the post. A scaled-down preview you can click to expand and read in full. (If the post was already deleted, the preview comes from a snapshot saved with the report.)
Resolution actions. The options for what to do next.
Resolving a user report
You have four options on a user report. Each one shows a confirmation explaining what it will and won't do:
Return the post to the feed. Restores the post so everyone can see it again and dismisses the report. Nothing is deleted, no media is removed, and points are unchanged. Use this when the post is fine.
Remove the media only. Strips the attachment (gif, video, image, or audio) and returns the post to the feed without it. The post itself isn't deleted and points aren't returned. Use this when only the attachment was the problem.
Keep the post hidden. Leaves the post hidden from everyone and closes the report as upheld. The post isn't deleted, its media isn't removed, and points aren't returned. Use this when the post shouldn't be visible but you don't want to delete it.
Delete the post entirely. Permanently deletes the post for everyone and returns the points to the giver. This can't be undone from this page. Use this when the post needs to be removed for good.
What happens to points when you delete a post
When you choose Delete the post entirely:
Giver's points. If you delete the post in the same month it was given, the points go back to the giver's monthly allowance. If the month has already rolled over, the allowance has reset and there's nothing to return.
Receiver's points. The points are removed from the receiver's rewards balance.
This keeps your team's points totals honest after a removal. (Restoring a post, removing only its media, or keeping it hidden leaves points unchanged.)
The Bonus Quality Bot (automated)
The Bonus Quality Bot watches the recognition feed for patterns that look suspicious, like the same user sending nearly identical posts to the same person on a loop. When the bot is confident something's off, it doesn't wait for you to weigh in. It takes action right away.
What the bot does on its own
When the bot crosses its threshold, it:
Deactivates the giver. The sender's account is automatically disabled.
Archives their suspicious posts. Those posts are hidden from the feed.
Sends notifications. Both admin and the sender are notified by email.
Generates a Deactivation Report. That report shows up on the Reported page for you to review.
The bot acts fast on purpose, so a suspicious pattern doesn't keep growing while it waits for an admin to log in.
Resolving a Deactivation Report
Because the bot has already disabled the account, your job is to confirm whether that was the right call. Open the report from the Reported page (click View Details) to see exactly which posts and patterns the bot picked up on. You have three options:
Restore giver and posts. Reactivate the giver's account and put the removed recognition posts back in the feed. Use this when the bot got it wrong.
Restore giver only. Reactivate the account but leave the posts removed. Use this when the person should keep using Bonusly, but those specific posts shouldn't go back up.
Restore nothing. Keep the account deactivated and the posts removed. Use this when the bot was right.
Viewing past reports
By default, the Pending tab shows reports you haven't resolved yet. Once a report is handled, it moves to the Resolved tab.
Switch to the Resolved tab to see what's already been handled and how — each card shows the outcome you chose. It's a good way to look back at how a similar report was resolved before, or to share patterns with your team.
FAQs
What's the difference between a user report and a Quality Bot report? A user report is something a person on your team flagged manually. A Quality Bot report is generated automatically when the bot spots a suspicious pattern. In both cases the reported posts are hidden from the feed by the time you see them with a user report the post is hidden for everyone the moment it's reported, and with a bot report the giver's account is also already deactivated
Can I undo deleting a recognition post? No. Deleting a post (Delete the post entirely) is permanent. If you're not sure, choose Keep the post hidden instead it keeps the post out of the feed without deleting it, so you can revisit later.
Do points get returned when I delete a post? Yes. If you delete the post in the same month it was given, the points go back to the giver's monthly allowance. Restoring a post, removing only its media, or keeping it hidden leaves points unchanged.
Can the Quality Bot deactivate someone unfairly? The bot uses conservative thresholds. That's why every Deactivation Report still lands in your queue for review. If the bot got it wrong, choose Restore giver and posts to bring the account and the posts back.
Questions? Send us a note to [email protected]; we'd be happy to help!
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