Question Moderate this User: Username (id)

Hi, I'd like to remove the 'Moderate this User: Username (id)' link from the moderation section on my site. My site requires that I give temporary moderation to users and I need to remove the ability to ban. How can I do this?

Also, I'm not certian I put this in the right place. If it is not in the correct section, could someone move it for me?

I've moved this topic to the K 1.6 Common Questions category because your question raises many questions, not only the specific one that you've sought an answer for.

When you assign moderator privileges to a user's account there's an implied element of trust involved, namely that the person will use those privileges wisely, responsibly and with discretion.

It's arguable whether there should be finer level of granularity over the specific actions that moderators can perform, for example, whether they should be able to lock/unlock, move, edit, delete/restore or rename topics just as much as whether they should be able to ban/unban users.

Allowing all users of a forum to be moderators (with the rights that I've just listed) is the most unusual thing that I've ever heard of and (forgive me for saying so) is reckless and irresponsible forum management. There may be reasons why this could be useful but are they genuine or are they merely inspired because those who could do the moderation job are just too lazy?

Banning a user is not the most dangerous misuse of moderator privileges that I can imagine. If you are a moderator you can also edit someone else's messages and completely destroy the effectiveness of a forum. In the end I can only see such a forum, where anyone can edit, delete, lock, split, merge or do whatever they like to anyone else's posts or topics will ultimately be the ruin of the forum.

So, before we get to answering the question about whether or not you should define a user's "moderation rights" on a per-user basis as

• Can edit another user's post
• Can delete another user's posts or topics
• Can split a topic
• Can merge two topics together
• Can move a topic from one category to another category
• Can ban a user
• Can lock a topic
• Can sticky a topic

I think it's time for a bit of self-examination of the need. What, specifically, is the need to make all users moderators? Is there some other, less dangerous, way of achieving the need without resorting to giving everyone all-powerful privileges to disable the effective and efficient operation of your forum?

Oh, you misunderstood. My forum hosts logic based forum games. These games are best run when the host can edit/delete posts and lock his designated thread. So usually, I'll give whichever hosts have signed up authority over a single section. Usually, only two or three players have this privilege at a time and it is immediately taken away whenever the game comes to a close.

Seeing as they are not global moderators and I do not freely hand out the host privilege, there is no damage that can be done unless aside from banning. It's a bit unprofessional of me to say "DON'T PRESS THIS BUTTON" when I could simply remove it for all moderators and handle banning myself.

Hope this clears things up. All I need is to know where the code is located that add this: "Moderate this User: Username (id)"

I don't know the answer to the specific question you have asked. Presumably you can disable the functionality (for all moderators) by modifying the Kunena source code but, off the top of my head (and because I am not a developer) I don't know which file you need to modify.

You can give users the means to delete their own messages and you can define the conditions (to an extent) when they can do that.

Locking a thread is a moderator function. For every forum that I have been associated with, only moderators have the right to lock a topic.

A simpler approach would be to create two categories, one for active games and the other for closed games. Define the category for closed games as locked and, when games are completed, have the game "master" send a message to a global moderator/administrator to have their topic moved to the locked category. It's easy but it does require that someone has to do some work.

In a perfect world, perhaps, every forum would have a dedicated group of people whose job involves nothing more than routine administration. We do not, however, live in this utopian virtual reality. Forum administration is hands-on and, sometimes, that "hands on" takes time and effort. I wish there was an easy way of saying this but there isn't. You need to select a team of moderators whose task is to serve the needs of the community, to respond efficiently to the requests made by the community to fulfil their wishes. Delegating that task to "anyone" is not really much of an option or it's an option that comes at the cost of effective management in other areas.

I can't help you. Maybe someone else can. I hope I've given you a few things to consider.

Good luck. Yours is not a task I would want to have to wrestle with (thank goodness).

k.

Hopefully, a developer can reply to this.

You're right: only global moderators should be able to ban users (they should be able to do harm in their own category only).

Fixed it for K1.6.6
github.com/Kunena/Kunena-1.6/issues/55

Wow, thanks a bunch!