Move Conversation to thread

[Alpha1]

On my big board I get multiple conversations from my members per day which belong in the forum. For some reason new members mistake the function or think its appropriate to ask the staff general questions.

It would be very useful to have a function to convert conversations to threads. Please consider to add this.

Not only because the function is very useful to have, but also so that addons can implement the same function through a XF helper.

 

[Martok]

This could be useful in some situations as described by the OP. It could be a dangerous permission though if just added to the user group permissions if admins incorrectly assign permissions (especially when coming from another forum software to XenForo) - it could end up with ordinary users moving private conversations unintentionally or maliciously into the public forums. Therefore if implemented, maybe some safeguard such as only allowing staff members (as marked in the ACP) the ability to move conversations to threads should be implemented.

 

[Alpha1]

It would fall under moderator usergroup permission just like moving other content.

 

[Martok]

It would fall under moderator usergroup permission just like moving other content.

The moderating user group doesn't make someone a moderator though, that is only done my adding someone to Moderators in the ACP. Anyone and any user group can be given the permissions listed in the sections labelled with Moderating and it's easy for admins to accidentally assign the wrong permissions. However, some things can only be seen by Moderators such as the Moderation Bar, the Moderation Queue and Reported items which need a user to be a Moderator plus have a particular combination of permissions.

https://xenforo.com/help/moderators/

 

[Alpha1]

Yes, I know. The staff flag and the moderator flag are different things.
There are plenty of sensitive usergroup 'Moderator' permissions; like 'manage threads'. Admins should simply be careful with giving such usergroup permissions.
I would be happy to see this permission active with or without staff flag.

 

[Martok]

I would be happy to see this permission active with or without staff flag.

Fair enough on the staff flag (which can be assigned to anyone in the ACP). Personally I think that a user should be a Moderator assigned in the ACP though to get to use the permission (same as for the Moderation Queue and Reported Items) as arguably conversations are more sensitive than threads, particularly as users making them generally expect conversations to remain private.

 

[Alpha1]

arguably conversations are more sensitive than threads,

I once had a whole forum destroyed, because a hacker used the 'manage threads' usergroup permission to merge 5000 threads in a forum into one big mess.

 

[Martok]

I once had a whole forum destroyed, because a hacker used the 'manage threads' usergroup permission to merge 5000 threads in a forum into one big mess.

 

[Alpha1]

Almost every day of the year I receive a forum question through conversation. It would be so helpful to be able to convert such conversation to a thread.

I know this thread has gone off topic a bit, but if I am experiencing this almost every day of the year then surely there must be a lot of admins out there with the same problem.

I recently had @NixFifty add a 'convert conversation to Ticket' function. It took him less than an hour to implement.

 

[Mr Lucky]

I have already liked the thread, but I have got round the issue by making a big CONTCT MODERATORS button that directs to a forum where only mods and thread start can see the thread.

So it is like a conversation between the member and all mods, but in a froum and so you can move the thread to a public forum if appropriate.

This is also the forum I direct reports to

 

[Alpha1]

Some question types I get every day:

• Question on how the site works. (can be answered by the community as we have a forum for such queries)
• Questions were they can find certain information. (can also be answered by the community)
• Posts that are basically a thread that belongs in a specific forum. (The user either thinks its faster to use the admin as their personal oracle or they don't understand how a forum works)
• Account Support questions. (These I can now convert to @NixFifty Tickets and it saves me a ton of work)

By way of comparison, we also have @NixFifty 's Tickets as a helpdesk and there our members also post the same queries. We have a function to convert tickets to threads and when we do so then the community instantly answers those Queries instantly and comprehensively. On some days we have 20 such queries on which staff can spends 1-2 hours answering or a few seconds by converting it to forum threads. Thats the amazing difference it makes to be able to convert to threads.

 

[Mr Lucky]

yes, those are the sort of things I used to get.

Another thing you can do is put a dirty great notice on the create conversation page saying to post on the forum if it's a forum issue question.

 

[Alpha1]

Another thing you can do is put a dirty great notice on the create conversation page saying to post on the forum if it's a forum issue question.

The problem with this is that its 99% new members who do this and they already have a ton of notices. You cannot exclude notices from specific pages, which means that the notice for conversations will just be one of many sliding by. Too many notifications render the whole notification function useless.

 

[Mr Lucky]

You cannot exclude notices from specific pages,

You can if you just have it on conversation_add, then it doesn't show any else

 

[Alpha1]

You can if you just have it on conversation_add, then it doesn't show any else

It will still show all the notices that do not have page criteria. I try to keep those down to 5 per member group/state.
Also: a notice will then be displayed for any conversation. While we only need a notice when the conversation is to a staff member.