Moderator discussion of forum features

[planthelper]

Is it only in our own forums that "warn status" is visible? It used to be visible to all members.

EDIT: Warn level that is.

 

yes, we can only see the warn status, in our sub forum, where we are mod's.

Edited December 20, 2011 by planthelper

[ballzac]

i found now the page wher it ask's you, on the left

remove from view, and on the right delete from topic, i guess thats what you mean tort.

but i thought, what you call a soft delete (the left click), would leave the the text, but it doesn't.

the only difference is, that the member name stay's, in the empty frame of the post.

if as a mod, you would like to be reminded what the post was about, one would have to make notes and fill out the report.

what i say is, tort want's all queued deleted, so that one would be alerted by new troublesome posts, by the queued icon.

but if we do that, the subject matter of the queued posts will be lost.

as a mod i would prefere, to leave the subject matter, so i know what has caused the trouble.

this is more important for me than to, try not to have any queued topics.

i mean, a new troubled post will stick out anyway.

torts info, was far too vague for me, and the term soft delete doesn't excist in the software.

this is how you click:

click a tick into the # number of the post you want to delete.

click, show moderation tools

click delete posts at the right bottom window.

click, with selected

popup asks, are you sure?

click, ok

page appears with two options, left, remove from view, or right delete from topic.

and i think you want us to use the left side option, right?

 

The text is still there. You need to click "toggle post content" to see it. Also, you can just click on "delete" at the bottom of the post in place of the first four steps of your way. The first time I did it, it came up with both options, but now it only has "remove from view", presumably because that's what I chose the first time. However, you can choose to then delete it entirely at a later time (I think through the control panel) If you want to for some reason.

[Torsten]

'soft delete' is a generic term, not one used in this software. here it is called "delete > remove from view". But you've found it, so all good. yes, the left option. The right option is only for double posts or other logistical matters where there is absolutely no need to keep the content.

yes, the content will be removed, but you can put a small summary in its place to remind you why it was deleted and who deleted it. Much more efficient than having to trawl a long post [and also much clearer to your co-mod why the post was removed]. also, if you want to check what the content was just undelete the content temporarily. The content is still there, but it isn't taking up any space by being hidden.

ballzac, warn points are not visible to anyone except mods and the member himself. That's how it has been for most of the time [except a brief bit at the beginning where warn points were visible to everyone which turned it into a sport].

warn points can only be given in your forum, but you can give them to any member [as long as he has posted in your forum] so you have access to one of his posts.

[Torsten]

The text is still there. You need to click "toggle post content" to see it. Also, you can just click on "delete" at the bottom of the post in place of the first four steps of your way. The first time I did it, it came up with both options, but now it only has "remove from view", presumably because that's what I chose the first time. However, you can choose to then delete it entirely at a later time (I think through the control panel) If you want to for some reason.

 

yes, there are two ways to get to the delete function. Either one is fine, but ph's is a little longer.

[planthelper]

you can just click on "delete" at the bottom of the post in place of the first four steps of your way.

not, correct, as i mentioned befor, the delete button you describe, does not excist in the opening post!!

maybe you can use the other delete function the one on the left, instead aswell, than the one on the right.

one thing im, not clear about....

is it correct that now, all mod's can see the queued icon at any given subforum? can eg, for example, see my queued icon at the ethno forum?

i think, thats what tort meant, why deleting is important, because if the icon suddenly appears, than one has to be alert.

edit:

in other words, the way, the ethno displays the queued topis, is not the way you want it.

ballzac say's he knows, what do to, but i guess, it has not happend yet.

as said before, i am not sure, what you realy want, and on top of it, i have problems clicking it the right way.

Edited December 20, 2011 by planthelper

[ballzac]

Ah, sorry. I missed that detail. That's strange one option is missing from the opening post, especially when you can still access it via another avenue.

[planthelper]

i just tried to find one of my old posts, and often i do/did that by, just, "scanning" with my eyes for my (or a) membername.

with the new upload the membernames are so faint, i can't, use my methode anymore.

[ballzac]

not, correct, as i mentioned befor, the delete button you describe, does not excist in the opening post!!

maybe you can use the other delete function the one on the left, instead aswell, than the one on the right.

one thing im, not clear about....

is it correct that now, all mod's can see the queued icon at any given subforum? can eg, for example, see my queued icon at the ethno forum?

i think, thats what tort meant, why deleting is important, because if the icon suddenly appears, than one has to be alert.

edit:

in other words, the way, the ethno displays the queued topis, is not the way you want it.

ballzac say's he knows, what do to, but i guess, it has not happend yet.

as said before, i am not sure, what you realy want, and on top of it, i have problems clicking it the right way.

 

From my understanding, I believe that's how it works.

Regarding the issue with soft-deleting the first post. I feel the point is largely moot, because most times there is a significant problem with the first post in a thread, it is the entire thread that you will want to delete, not just the first post. The only time I can think of it being suitable to delete the first post and leave the rest of the thread is if we miss a rule-breaking post for a couple of days, but in the mean time the thread itself turns into an interesting discussion. Then we may want to remove the rule-breaking post but leave the discussion.

Are you finished with the "mod testing" thread? If so, we should approve it and then delete it (or maybe it doesn't need to be approved first ) so that the "queued" symbol goes away.

[Torsten]

In regards to first posts, if the rest of the thread is valuable then there is always the option of editing the first post to make it fit the rest of the thread. I've even had threads where I deleted the full content of the first post (but not the post itself) just so that the thread could stay.

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

If a post is edited by a mod, is there anyway after this to view the original content?

[Torsten]

If a post is edited by a mod, is there anyway after this to view the original content?

 

no. however, if the post was first reported, then the original post at the time of the report will be copied into the report centre for mods/admin to see [and any edits will not affect this original]. So if you think someone is going to edit their post before the mods can get to it or if you want to make sure that there is a record of the original for some reason then use the report function.

[Torsten]

All moderators have mod powers in the chat and classifieds section.

As already suggested elsewhere, the chat rules can probably be relaxed a little in terms of minor selfincrimination as there is no permanent record of it, but the rules on racism, sexism, etc should be enforced the same as on the forums [or maybe even tighter].

[ballzac]

Queued topics will be pink in the topic list. Queued posts will also be pink, but the topic title won't be. Hovering over the icon will tell you how many threads and posts are queued.

 

In addition to this, a thread with a queued post will have a little 'exclamation mark in a yellow triangle' icon (where the "preview this topic" icon is). Clicking on this will take you to the queued post. Took me a while to find the queued post because it doesn't have a big "queued" marker on the left like the queued threads do.

[ballzac]

Torsten, am I meant to be able to see the report centre? I've noticed the "active reports" link next to the "moderatorCP" for a while now but have never been able to view the page. I just noticed that a thread had been reported in "ethnobotany" but also get an error when I click on that report centre icon.

Also, does a thread automatically get queued when it is reported. The thread in question is the DMT plants thread: http://www.shaman-australis.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=31563

I had already spoken to the poster and edited the dodgiest part out of his post for him, and he seems very understanding, so I was happy to leave it be after that (I'm pretty sure the thread will probably fade into oblivion pretty quickly anyway). I thought it must have been ph that queued it, but I spoke to him, and it wasn't him, and I'm assuming if it was EG or Alchemica that queued it they would have pm'd either me or ph, so the only other explanation is that it got queued by being reported.

Cheers.

[Evil Genius]

Yes it was reported and i unapproved it for you guys to figure out what to do with it. Dont get into the report center either but get an email when there is a Report.

[ballzac]

Ah, okay. It would be cool if there was somewhere we could log anything done so as to avoid any confusion. Maybe just a pm conversation between all mods where we just post every time we perform any kind of moderation in any forum. For example, someone might moderate a post in their own forum. Their decision might be to warn the member but not delete the post. I see the post and think it should be queued for the relevant mod, but I check the conversation and see a comment by the relevant mod saying "thread: "blah blah blah". Post #4. Member warned for attacking other member", so I realise it's been dealt with and I do nothing. Alternatively, I see the thread first and decide to queue it. The relevant mod sees it has been queued and checks the conversation and seed a post from me saying that I queued it and what the reason was.

As far as I know, the only feature like this built into the moderation centre is the warn level where it logs who warned a member and what the reason was.

[Evil Genius]

Possible this is built in the report center but cant say for sure. I do not moderate outside my forums . Neither does Alchemica. So if you find a unapproved post that wasnt unapproved from your co-mod, it must have been reported. Its standard routine that a reported thread is being set as invisible (if there is enough reason to believe its justified) and left for the mods to decide. Torsten does this is as well if he gets the report first and i dont think he´ll be messaging mods whenever he sets something as invisible. If two moderators share a forum, they´ll surely have to coordinate their actions whenever they find an unapproved post. I usually message a mod whenever i set a reported thread as invisble. But we have lots of reports some days. Had like like 10-15 reports in the past two weeks and informed most mods of the forum about em as they dont get them themselves. Some days there were up to five reports. Some justified, some not. Logging every action creates quite an amount of work for the fact that the unapproved post can only be from the colleague or because of a report. But i understand the problem. It would be good if there would be an automated log-center that loggs the actions without moderators actually having to write down every thing themselves. bye Eg

[ballzac]

I didn't realise there were so many reports You're right, it would make it unfeasible to log every single action unless it was automatic. I guess the first thing I will do from now on when a thread is queued is check whether the report icon is there, and if it is then I can assume that the report is the reason it was queued. Maybe one way to deal with it is to make sure if you're in your own forum then you almost never queue a post, but soft delete it instead. That way it's pretty clear that a queued thread is moderated by a supermod. I think that's the way most of us are doing it anyway, but I hadn't really thought about it like that until now.

[Evil Genius]

Not sure if we usually have so many or if it were just two busy weeks. Im only able to see the reports for a few weeks now and dont really know the average. One thing i just found out is that the report button has a checkbox that can be clicked. When its clicked, you can see someone did anything in regard to the report. Dont think this will solve the problem but i thought it might be worth mentioning.

When i started moderating, i always wondered whenever i found unapproved posts in the chill space that werent from me or WT. Always thought i didnt do a good enough job and that Torsten had to moderate some stuff i missed. Took me a few months till i realised its because they´ve been reported. Since then, i kinda got used to it. Thats why i always soft delete the posts to make sure you get aware of it directly whenever theres a new unapproved thread. Without doing this, you´ll probably have it a lot harder to keep track of who did what. Will definately message you guys when there´s a report in your forum. Thought you would get an email in case of a reported thread as well.

Edited April 4, 2012 by Evil Genius

[Torsten]

I don't think reported posts automatically get queued. I think your initial hunch was right as I usually queue them and leave them for the mods to deal with.

Sorry I've not been too active in getting the new mod system sorted, but I've been away a lot and it just needs me to actually be here for a few weeks so we can test and tweak everything. Ideally I'd like all the mods to see the report centre as you can make comments there that are not public. will get it working eventually ;)

[Torsten]

Mods and supermods should now have access to the report centre. Please confirm.

All members should now be able to report offending classifieds and mods & supermods should be able to see these reports.

Supermods should be able to edit in all forums. Please try making a thread or post invisible and see if it works.

[Evil Genius]

Can edit posts in other forums but still not able to get into the report center.

[ballzac]

Can edit posts in other forums but still not able to get into the report center.

 

Ditto.

[#2018] You do not have permission to access the report center.

[planthelper]

no problems here accessing the report centre.

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

No problems seeing the reports now