Native Moderator Control Panel

[Foxtrek_64]

I use @AndrewSimm's Moderator Panel addon to give my moderators a one-stop-shop for moderation needs. This works really well, but given the number of moderator improvement addons in the marketplace I feel like it may be a good idea to make this a native component of XenForo. While Andrew's addon is free, I notice that it tends to not have a lot of external integration with the panel and the result can be a disjointed moderation experience, depending on the number of mods installed and what they do.

Of course, this could always be fixed by more developers choosing to integrate with Andrew's mod panel, but I feel if we're going to have a de facto solution it should probably be something native to XenForo.

Edit:

As a bit of a clarification, here's exactly what I'm proposing with this suggestion.

1. This MCP should provide a unified location for third-party moderation tools to hook into for
   1. Metrics/logs
   2. Bulk moderation
   3. Exposing additional functionality only available through the ACP.
2. House the standard moderation queue.
3. House thread and user reports.
4. Provide expanded functionality for moderators, such as pages for:
   1. Deleted content (with their deletion reason, should such a thing apply)
   2. IP Address searches (with permission)
      1. Users associated with a particular IP address.
      2. IP addresses associated with a particular user.
   3. Member Management
      1. List of banned members
      2. List of moderated members
      3. List of members pending approval.
      4. Ability to search for users and modify profiles
         1. May include the ability to modify primary/secondary user groups, if permissions have been granted.
      5. User notes.
   4. Recent warnings - if another moderator warns a user, display that here.
   5. Separated addon pages for official addons (allows for approval/review/etc.)
      1. Gallery posts
      2. Resources
5. Extended permissions for accessing items from the MCP rather than the ACP.

As an example of a plugin which integrates with the MCP, perhaps I have a plugin that lets me build application forms where users can apply to be a part of certain staff teams. The MCP could be a plausible location where current team members can review applications and accept or deny as needed. If the plugin supports voting/comments on the application, such as to get feedback from team members on whether they want the applicant to join their team, this functionality could also be housed here. Such a plugin would have its own page for members who want to see available positions and apply to them, but management of those applications would go into the MCP. The ACP on the other hand would allow admins to see all open applications, not just ones for the teams they're a member of, manage permissions (who is allowed to see, review, approve or deny, and comment on applications), and create and manage teams (which would be associated with a particular user group).

I hope that covers just about everything. Feel free to ask any particular questions you may have and I can update this post as needed.

 

[Paul B]

You will need to explain exactly what the suggestion is.

What features and functionality are you looking for?

The majority of moderator functions in XF are performed inline, the rest are done via the approval queue and reports.

 

[Forsaken]

You will need to explain exactly what the suggestion is.

What features and functionality are you looking for?

The majority of moderator functions in XF are performed inline, the rest are done via the approval queue and reports.

It provides a dashboard with metrics and access to moderation tools in one spot, as well as activity of moderation.

Here are features (at least listed from resource manager) offered by @AndrewSimm add-on:

• User file, similar to a criminal profile, displays key metrics about a user all in one place. The user file can be accessed by either selecting user file from the member card dropdown or by searching for the user in the moderator panel. The follow is displayed within the user file:
  • Current ban
  • Warnings
  • Reports
  • Thread bans
  • Ignored by
  • Ignoring
  • IP Addresses
  • Notes
    • Added to user file by moderators or user group with permission
    • Visible with count on moderator tools drop down
  • Change log
• Require moderators to have "ban protected users" permission to ban users in a protected user group
  • This can be used to prevent moderators from banning users that more senior staff should be involved in banning
  • Can be enabled or disabled
• Moderators can discourage users
  • Permission to discourage users and protected users
  • Option is available on the user edit screen (this screen is not used by admins)
• Moderators can moderate users
  • Permission to moderate users and protected users
  • Moderated user group needs to be defined in the ACP
• Moderators can update secondary user groups of users
  • Permission to update user group of users and protected users
  • Available user groups defined in admin panel options
• Force ignore users
  • Force one user to ignore another user
  • Two way force ignore option
  • Users that are force ignored cannot remove force ignore
  • Reporting shows who set force ignore and the date
• View thread warnings
  • View who has received a warning in a thread under more options
• Require moderators to enter a reason for banning a user
  • This benefits site staff who may not understand why a user was banned
  • Can be enabled or disabled
• IP Data Enhancements
  • Added support for the following APIs: IpStack.com, VPNAPI.io, FeeIPAPI.com, ProxyCheck.io, and AbstractAPI.io
  • Added Country, Region, City, Zip, Latitute, Longitude, Continent, isp, organization, flag, and proxy details to IP view
• User data (reporting)
  • Banned users
  • Recently warned users
  • Discouraged users
  • Thread reply bans
  • Forced ignored users
  • Moderated users
  • User notes
  • Recently registered users
  • Most warned users
  • Most reported users
  • Most ignored users
• Logs
  • Moderator log - same as admin panel
  • User change log - same as admin panel
  • User name change log - same as admin panel
  • Rejected user log - same as admin panel
  • Spam user log - same as admin panel
  • Spam trigger log - same as admin panel
• Reports and Approval queue will display on the moderator sidebar

Widgets

• Recently banned users
• Recently warned users

Inline moderation works for in the moment moderation, but the moderator control panel helps when there are a lot of moderators and a lot of moderation activity.

I would go further to say that reports and approval queue could be overhauled and everything housed in the moderator panel, with better streamlining and QoL improvements overall.

 

[Paul B]

A lot of those are admin level permissions and functions, not moderator.

Some of them are for features which don't exist.

Suggestions of this nature are unlikely to be implemented - they include too many things for a single suggestion.

(Don't shoot the messenger ...)

 

[Foxtrek_64]

Thanks for the clarification @Forsaken!

Suggestions of this nature are unlikely to be implemented - they include too many things for a single suggestion.

(Don't shoot the messenger ...)

Thanks for the insight Paul! I will definitely clarify my initial post somewhat, but as a high level of what I'm looking for is a standardized, unified panel for moderator functions. Inline moderation is great, but just like the approval queue helps to aggregate all of my pending approvals in one location, the admin panel should provide similar functionality for other moderation functions.

A lot of those are admin level permissions and functions, not moderator.

Some of these functions being brought to the front-of-house adds a lot of convenience, though I do understand why they're kept as admin functions in stock XF.

Some of them are for features which don't exist.

I don't know if absolutely everything needs to be added in a stock implementation (I'll clarify what I feel should be added in my edit to the original post), but having a standardized location means that plugin developers can now register their own MCP features in a similar manner as adding their own tabs to the ACP. I think that's probably the core intent of this suggestion.

 

[alfaNova]

I like this idea and recommendation.

 

[Forsaken]

A lot of those are admin level permissions and functions, not moderator.

Some of them are for features which don't exist.

Suggestions of this nature are unlikely to be implemented - they include too many things for a single suggestion.

(Don't shoot the messenger ...)

Figured most of those would not be, however a dashboard that helps to consolidate some of the management/moderation of a board would be helpful, especially to see what actions have been taken by other moderators.

It sounds like it would be best for this to be a suggestion to overhaul the way approval and reports are currently handled, and to make it a centralized moderation center, and for there to be expansion as to what moderators can see or have access to (historical view of past infractions, moderation actions etc) and possibly a way to have conversations about a specific user through a user note feature.

 

[AndrewSimm]

A lot of those are admin level permissions and functions, not moderator.

Some of them are for features which don't exist.

Suggestions of this nature are unlikely to be implemented - they include too many things for a single suggestion.

(Don't shoot the messenger ...)

The core idea behind the moderator panel is that moderation isn't binary and data can help moderators make better decisions. For example, knowing an user is ignored by X number of users may drive a decision on the severity of a punishment. Another feature is the ability to set users as protected users, which requires an additional permission for them to be banned.

In a perfect world I would be adding features to an already existing moderator panel and others would be expanding the functionality.

 

[KSA]

I would like also to suggest a minor improvement to the report centre to Inculde beside current actions (resolve/reject/do nothing/assign):

Delete
delete and warn
Edit

Without the need to go to content.

Also show the actions on the reported content itself without the need to go the report centre.

Current behaviour is tedious; go to report centre, go to content, back to report centre, take action. Yukky