Remove posts/content while allowing the author to view and edit

[MaximilianKohler]

On a lot of forums I see admins editing user's posts. I find it unnerving that my content gets changed by someone else and I have no record of what was removed or changed. It feels like my intellectual property has been violated. I wrote something "as me", and now someone changed it significantly and it's still being presented "as me" when it's not anymore.

Or posts I put a lot of effort in to get deleted and I lose all access. That makes me not want to contribute at all anymore.

Having a historical record of things is important to me.

I think an option to allow users to view and edit their content after it's deleted would be essential. Mods can then temporarily delete the content and notify the user what needs to be changed in order to approve it again. A highlight feature would be great to go along with this.

I found this previous suggestion:
Allow Author to View Posts Deleted by a Moderator https://xenforo.com/community/threads/allow-author-to-view-posts-deleted-by-a-moderator.188876/

And "Use the warning system and they get a quote of the post" was the only suggestion. I don't think that's ideal.

1. On forums I use the mod didn't bother using that to give me a copy of the posts.
2. It can be difficult/impossible if an entire thread gets deleted, or multiple posts, especially across many threads.
3. It may make threads not make sense since it would make the newer re-post out of order.
4. I think this method is easier and preferable to using the warning system.
EDIT: 5. You want to delete a thread with many participants. It would be difficult/impossible to give them all copies of their content.


BTW, that link above automatically embedded. I don't like that. I thought things only automatically embedded if you have them on a new line, but that wasn't the case for this.

 

[philmckrackon]

On my forums I have some rules that I expect mods to follow.

• Before any post or thread is changed it is copied to a private forum so an original copy is saved.
• When the user is informed, in the reason field a link to the original copy is supplied as well as an explanation.
• The private forum is read only except for myself.
• No thread or post can be hard deleted except for myself.
• I always have debug mode on only for my IP so I can easily view the history of any edits.

 

[MaximilianKohler]

That seems fairly complicated, and also not ideal since the private forum would be visible to all members instead of only particular users seeing their own content.

From what I know about how Xenforo works, my suggestion should be pretty easy and simple to implement, while having relatively large benefits on making the moderation experience better, and encouraging participation/avoiding scaring off users.

 

[philmckrackon]

That seems fairly complicated, and also not ideal since the private forum would be visible to all members instead of only particular users seeing their own content.

From what I know about how Xenforo works, my suggestion should be pretty easy and simple to implement, while having relatively large benefits on making the moderation experience better, and encouraging participation/avoiding scaring off users.

It's actually quite easy, only extra step is to copy the thread / post.

 

[FTL]

@MaximilianKohler

When a post is edited by a mod, a History option shows up, allowing the full original post to be viewed and also reverted to, if necessary. Only mods can see this though and I don't think there's any way to let regular users see their post history.

Editing a user's post is perfectly legitimate when there's a good reason to and depending on the kind of edit, say correcting grammar and / or spelling errors. This actually improves the quality of the post, including clarity while keeping the message the same.

Say that user says something racist say, but the post is otherwise ok, then it's fine to censor that bit out and then message the user about it and perhaps sanction them, depending the exact circumstances.

These are just two examples of where it's perfectly legitimate to edit a user's post, but there are hundreds of other scenarios too.

I think what you're worried about is the situation where this power is abused and unfortunately this is widespread on forums as it allows mods and admins to become little Hitlers in a dictatorship and is something that greatly puts me off. In fact, it was my main motivation for setting up my own forum.

 

[MaximilianKohler]

Say that user says something racist say, but the post is otherwise ok

I would prefer to remove the post and have them edit it themselves, then approve it after.

I think what you're worried about is the situation where this power is abused

Not really. I've had my posts edited on various forums and I just think it's not an ideal way to do things. I'd rather leave it up to the user.

In fact, it was my main motivation for setting up my own forum.

Yeah, I've also left various forums because of poor moderation, which is one of my motivations to implement things like this to make users more comfortable.