Question Moderator tools

During the last months it has become very clear to me that one of the most important tools for a forum is the moderator tools.

As soon as you start getting some traffic, you need to be able to do the job with a minimum of stress.

Do anyone know what moderator tools are available in 1.6? Are there any screenscasts available that show this?

Some of the things I am hoping for:

Move, merge, split topics (I think I have seen a comment that this is possible)
Moderator control panel with an overview of the latest activity.
Possibility to send warnings to users
Possibility to ban users for aq limited time and permanently
Multiple levels of moderators and admins: Moderator for one board or multiple boards, moderator for a category, global moderators.
Wordfilter to filter unwanted words in the forum
Possibility to make a copy of a thread and decide where the new copy should go (nice to make copies of threads that should be saved unaltered for the future in a "moderators only" area).
Possibility to make rules where you can link to specific paragraphs - nice to be able to link to a paragraph from a user warning to tell them what forum rules that has been violated.

Any tools I have forgotten?

Oceanwatcher wrote: During the last months it has become very clear to me that one of the most important tools for a forum is the moderator tools.

As soon as you start getting some traffic, you need to be able to do the job with a minimum of stress.

Do anyone know what moderator tools are available in 1.6? Are there any screenscasts available that show this?

Some of the things I am hoping for:

Move, merge, split topics (I think I have seen a comment that this is possible) INCLUDED
Moderator control panel with an overview of the latest activity. INCLUDED
Possibility to send warnings to users CAN BE DONE USING A PM SYSTEM
Possibility to ban users for aq limited time and permanently INCLUDED
Multiple levels of moderators and admins: Moderator for one board or multiple boards, INCLUDED
moderator for a category, global moderators. INCLUDED
Wordfilter to filter unwanted words in the forum
Possibility to make a copy of a thread and decide where the new copy should go (nice to make copies of threads that should be saved unaltered for the future in a "moderators only" area).
Possibility to make rules where you can link to specific paragraphs - nice to be able to link to a paragraph from a user warning to tell them what forum rules that has been violated.

Any tools I have forgotten?

i have added the red text for the included ones and for an extra here a picture of them too.

USER MODERATION:



FORUM MODERATION:



The colours are different as this is my dark template but function are the same.

G'day, Oceanwatcher, and welcome to Kunena.

We started the process of introducing users to the new features of Kunena 1.6 about 5 months ago and you can read about some of those new features in my "'blog" as I often refer to it: Kunena 1.6 - a moderator's view . As, I'm sure, you will appreciate, it takes many hours to consider the "newsworthiness" of which features to describe, make the screenshots, write the text, check for errors, etc. and it's difficult to assemble all the information that you've requested in one place.

Different forums offer different features; some forums have advantages over others and it's probably impossible to provide everything for everyone particularly considering that Kunena is open source software and is available free-of-charge. Of course, if users have specific needs that they're willing to pay for then these things can be re-examined.

I honestly believe that the best way to ascertain the functionality and the suitability of a product for your website needs is to download the software and test it for yourself in a test environment. If you have specific questions about how certain functions work, we will be only too pleased to try to answer them as best as we are able.

Thank you, Cerberus for the quick walk through. The warning system is the only major one that I see missing. A PM system is only half way there. The warning system should show a count and a list in the profile for each user (only visible to moderators). This way it is easier to keep track of the number of warnings a person has gotten.

Yes, I know it takes time to write things, I do it a lot myself. But when it comes to forums, the moderator tools are often the part people do not think too much about until they actually use some of them. And by using a few different forum systems, you quickly find features that definitely will make sense in any system.

considering that Kunena is open source software and is available free-of-charge

This is not unique at all anymore and if someone is coming here not knowing it, it does not help pointing it out. They would have to be both blind and deaf!

My requests regarding moderator tools is based on experience with other (open source and free-of-charge) systems. I am hoping that as soon as 1.6 is released, it will be possible to add feature requests that will be considered for the next version. It would be nice to see Kunena catching up with some of the others

Of course, it's not very easy to discuss all the issues that I can see would be involved in designing/developing a customisable, flexible, easily manageable rules base so that you could have a "violation chooser" at your disposal when you want to give your users some "helpful advice" about things. Yes, we can spend ages designing and developing the technology that can address non-technical problems like how to have a friendly word in someone's ear ... like using e-mail, for instance?

I'm currently working on writing a list of the features in Kunena and it is our intention (at this stage) to showcase this information in our companion Wiki site . My problem at the moment is cutting down 2 dozen pages of notes into a simple table!

Cerberus wrote: USER MODERATION:

Ummmmm. Can we enter in USER MODERATION if kunena use jomsocial profile?

sozzled wrote: Of course, it's not very easy to discuss all the issues that I can see would be involved in designing/developing a customisable, flexible, easily manageable rules base so that you could have a "violation chooser" at your disposal when you want to give your users some "helpful advice" about things.

I don't see any issues at all in this... Others have managed to do it, and I am sure the Kunena devs are up to the task some time in the future when they get to it. It is all a matter of priority, and as this is not on the list for the next version, the easy thing is to get in into the list of features for a future release

Yes, we can spend ages designing and developing the technology that can address non-technical problems like how to have a friendly word in someone's ear ... like using e-mail, for instance?

You mean I should send the devs an e-mail with my suggestion? I'm ok with that, just let me know what address to use. I'll put together a good overview of the suggestions and try to do some graphics on how it could look as well. Good idea!

I'm currently working on writing a list of the features in Kunena and it is our intention (at this stage) to showcase this information in our companion Wiki site . My problem at the moment is cutting down 2 dozen pages of notes into a simple table!

Good luck with your write-up. I know how difficult it is. Currently moving a site over to Joomla with 1226 articles in the archive and no direct migration path. Got most of the text in, but every single article needs some adjustment. And the pictures has to be added manually... :S Just a few thousand of them...

I've thought of supporting warnings in the ban system and almost everything else is in place but giving "warning" as a choice (others are block from the site and ban from the forum) and sending email/pm when warning has been issued.

Thank you for taking the time to answer. I am really looking forward to get the new version running on a couple of my sites!

The reason why I see a need for a warning system is that with a big board an multiple moderators, you do not want any confusion. So it is necessary to keep a list of the warnings that a person get in their profile (only visible to the person himself and the moderators).

Another reason is that we need to make the job as easy and efficient as possible for the moderators. most of the time, they are volunteers giving generously of their time and it is good to show that we appreciate the work they do.

And yes, a PM needs to go out if they get a warning. If an e-mail should be sent out should rather be decided on their setting for PM. If they have chosen to get an e-mail when they get a PM, then it should follow this. Otherwise, I do not think a PM is necessary. But it could be an option to display the message that they have a PM waiting in red.

I have seen many cases where people get a little too hot headed and needs a reminder about the forum policy. Most of the time, a warning is all that is needed to get the tone in the forum back to what it should be In a warning, it would even be a good idea to link to the specific forum rules that have been broken, so it would be nice if the forum rules support html anchor links.

The nice thing is that when you have a list of the warnings, other moderators can see if a person has got a warning before. If it is a repeat offender, it might be time to take out the ban-sledge and give the person a little vacation to cool off a bit.

A list of the latest warnings given should also be included in the moderator dashboard. Always good to see when you log on for your part of the day