Posts pending moderation disappear from user profile, causing data loss confusion

[peopleinside]

Description:

Summary: When a user submits a new topic or reply on the WordPress.org support forums that gets flagged for moderation, the content immediately vanishes from the user's view upon page reload or navigation. There is no visual indicator in the user's profile or the thread that the post is "Pending Moderation." This creates a critical usability issue where users believe their post was deleted or failed to submit.

Expected Behavior:

After submitting a post that requires moderation, the user should see a clear notice stating: "Your post is awaiting moderation."
The post should remain visible in the user's Profile > Replies/Topics list, ideally with a "Pending" status badge.
The user should be able to see the content they submitted to verify it was saved correctly while waiting for approval.
Actual Behavior:

Upon submission, the system accepts the input but redirects the user without a persistent confirmation message.
If the user navigates away and returns to the forum or checks their profile, the post is completely missing.
There is no section in the profile for "Pending Posts."
Impact: Users frequently assume the system deleted their post or that the submission failed. This leads to:
Duplicate postings (spamming the queue).
Unnecessary support threads created to report "lost" posts.
General frustration and distrust in the forum system.
Steps to Reproduce:

Log in to a standard WordPress.org forum account.
Navigate to a support forum topic.
Submit a reply containing keywords or links that typically trigger the moderation queue (or test as a new user with low trust level).
Observe the immediate success message (if any).
Refresh the page or navigate to the user's profile (wordpress.org/support/users/[username]/).
Attempt to locate the submitted reply.
Environment:

Site: WordPress.org Support Forums
User Role: Standard Contributor / New User
Browser: Brave
Date: June 17, 2026
Suggested Fix: Implement a "Pending Moderation" view in the user profile and ensure that posts awaiting approval remain visible to the author with a clear status label, similar to how WordPress core handles comment moderation for logged-in users.

​https://wordpress.org/support/topic/feedback-on-user-profile-navigation-and-visibility-of-posts-pending-moderation/#post-18940753

[r-a-y]

See #3353, #3430.