If you see a message saying ‘Your post will be checked and approved shortly’ after submitting a post, then the post needs to be manually reviewed by a staff member before it is shown to the public. In most cases, this will happen when you’re a new member who doesn’t have many points yet.
While the ‘checked and approved’ message is still being displayed on your post, it is waiting in a moderation queue that can only be accessed by editors and moderators. When we check the post, we will ensure that it isn’t spam and follows our rules – and if there are no problems, we’ll approve the post. Otherwise, we will reject it.
Posts that are waiting in the moderation queue are invisible to the public but become accessible instantly after we approve them. They retain their original date and time, so your posts won’t lose their chronology if they go through us first.
The process of approving a post can take a few minutes or even multiple hours, depending on our availability. Please endure the process with us – we do our best to be quick! If you're having trouble locating your question after you've submitted it, then you may find this guide helpful.
If we reject a post, it will be treated as ‘hidden’ and won’t be accessible to the public. (Read this guide for detail on what that means.) Rejected posts appear faded white, like hidden posts. Use this thread if you’d like to dispute your post’s removal.
Note that you won’t have to deal with this process forever! If you have over 25 points in the section you’re posting on, you will skip the approval process completely and your posts will be public the moment you submit them. The only exception to this occurs on the main section, where you need extra points to answer old questions without manual review. Learn more about what points can do in this post.
