How to open and run a voice room on Opia
TL;DR
On Opia, a voice room is an audio-only channel inside a community. The community's owner, founder or an admin opens it. Members join as listeners and ask to speak to go on stage. Moderators can mute people, move them back to the audience and remove them from the room. Speaking needs 18+ age verification and consent; voice is never recorded, and reports are reviewed within 48 hours.
What is a voice room?
A voice room is an audio channel inside an Opia community. It appears in the community's channel list, in the Voice rooms section below the chat channels. While someone is inside, the room shows a live indicator and how many people are there right now.
Voice rooms are audio only:
- There is no video, no live streaming and no recording.
- There is no text chat inside the room; writing happens in the community's chat channels.
- Only members of the community can enter.
How do I open a voice room?
The community's owner, founder or an admin can open a voice room:
- Open the community's page.
- In the channel list, press the + button next to the Voice rooms section.
- Choose Voice room as the channel type.
- Give it a name that says what it is about and a short description, then save.
The room shows up in the channel list straight away and members can join. You can change its name and description later with Edit channel.
Listeners and the stage: who does what
Everyone joins as a listener. While you listen, your microphone is off and its permission is not even requested; the microphone permission is asked only once, the first time you go on stage. Allow it when your browser asks. If you blocked it by mistake, you can change it in your browser's site settings (see the sources below).
A listener who wants to talk presses Ask to speak. A moderator brings them on stage from the list of raised hands with Invite to speak. Moderators can step straight onto an empty seat. The stage has a limited number of seats; when it is full, you can be invited once a seat frees up.
People on stage can turn their microphone off and on at any time, and return to the audience with Leave the stage. Leave takes you out of the room whenever you like.
| What can they do? | Listener | Speaker | Moderator |
|---|---|---|---|
| Listen to the room | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ask to speak | Yes | — | — |
| Turn their own microphone on and off | No | Yes | When on stage |
| Invite a raised hand to the stage | No | No | Yes |
| Mute, move to the audience, remove from the room | No | No | Yes |
Moderators are the community's owner, founder, admins and moderators.
Running the room: moderator tools
A moderator taps a person in the room and picks from the menu:
- Invite to speak: brings a raised hand onto the stage.
- Mute and Unmute: turns a speaker's audio off or back on; the person is notified.
- Move to listeners: takes a speaker off the stage.
- Remove from room: removes the person from the room for 10 minutes.
- Ban from community: keeps the person out of the community for 24 hours.
A few tips for a relaxed room:
- Write a name and description that explain the topic, so people know what is being discussed before they join.
- Bring raised hands on stage in turn; a small stage keeps the conversation easy.
- Try muting first; keep removing and banning for clear rule breaks.
- The community guidelines apply to everyone in the room.
Safety: 18+, blocking and reporting
- Opia is for adults aged 18 and over. Speaking on stage requires age verification and agreeing to the current terms; until then you can keep listening.
- When you Block someone in the room, you still see each other in that room but you no longer hear each other. You can unblock them from inside the room.
- You can report someone who bothers you. Reports are reviewed within 48 hours; child-safety reports come first.
- Voice is not recorded.
For more, see the Safety page and the voice rooms overview.
Frequently asked questions
- Do I have to speak in a voice room?
- No. You join as a listener; the microphone permission is asked only once, the first time you go on stage.
- Are voice rooms recorded?
- No. Voice is not recorded. Voice rooms have no video and no live streaming either.
- Who can open a voice room?
- The community's owner, founder or admins. Only members of the community can join the room.
- What happens if a speaker breaks the rules?
- Moderators can mute them, move them to the audience, remove them from the room or ban them from the community for a while. You can also block and report them; reports are reviewed within 48 hours.