Softban, Timeout, and Undeafen: Discord Moderation Actions Explained

Discord's own moderation vocabulary doesn't include "softban" at all — it's a convention bot ecosystems adopted, so there's no single authoritative definition, and different bots can implement it slightly differently. Timeout and voice-deafen are native Discord concepts, but the specific limits (how long a timeout can last, how to reverse one) aren't obvious from the interface alone.

Timeout and server-deafen are both native Discord moderation tools, available to anyone with the right permission directly in Discord's own member context menu. Softban isn't native at all — it's a pattern (ban immediately followed by unban) that bots implement as a convenience, since doing it manually means two separate actions performed in the right order.

All three run through the unified /mod command, with Airwavy handling the exact mechanics and limits.

1. For a softban: run /mod softban, select the member, optionally set how many days of messages to delete (0–7), and add a reason.
2. For a timeout: run /mod timeout, select the member, set the duration in minutes (up to 40,320), and add a reason.
3. To end a timeout early: run /mod untimeout on the same member.
4. For voice: run /mod deafen to server-deafen a member, and /mod undeafen to remove it.
5. Review the action afterward with /mod case or /mod modlog if you have a moderation log channel configured.

• Expecting softban to keep someone out — it doesn't; the whole point is the ban is immediately reversed, so the member can rejoin.
• Using softban just to delete a few messages when a smaller action (deleting the messages directly, or a short timeout) would do the job with less disruption.
• Forgetting timeout has a hard 28-day ceiling — for anything longer, a real ban or a documented recurring timeout is the only option.
• Assuming undeafen also unmutes — deafen and mute are separate voice states; check which one is actually active before assuming undeafen fixes a muted member.