Grover
Well-known member
(edit 08-08-2012: see this post http://xenforo.com/community/threads/task-manager.10479/#post-394896, where I mention how Facebook has now actually implemented the thing I am searching for in a professional forum package. If you like that to be in XenForo, please [like] this suggestion below. Thanks.)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am very pleased to see XenForo offering taskmanagement-functionality that helps administrators/modertators in their day-to-day moderating duties, like this: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/managing-reported-content.2192/
Assigning tasks and having statuses on these tasks is something I have been requested for a product like vBulletin (my 6-million-hit site is still powered by vB 3.8) for more then 6 (!) years now: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php/120033-More-management-capabilities-for-our-private-Thread-Discussions-(staf-zone). Remarkably only co-member Alfa1 seemed to get the importance/value of such a request, because as you can see I am having a monologue with myself there...
Enough of this introduction. What I would like to see, next to the already great task-management-functionality when handling Reported Posts in XenForo, is a solution for this:
Situation
In my Staff Zone we (like so many other sites) have forums where we discuss problematic users and threads. In the past I (as the admin) used to be involved in these thread/user discussions heavily, but since a few years I have taken a step back, so now our Moderators are for 95% responsible for these discussions and subsequent thread/user management. I am hardly even reading those discussions anymore, but obviously there are moments when action of me as an administrator or owner is needed.
What happens is that if my involvement is needed, a Moderator opens a new thread inside a forum called ´To-do Webmaster´ and puts inside for example: a quote taken from a particular thread/user discussion where it will say something like 'Webmaster, can you please ban this and this IP address?´ or they will do without any quote and give me just instructions there or they just insert a link to the specific post in the Staff Zone that needs my attention. This work process is really starting to become annoying to say the least. I don´t have the time or energy or need to follow every single exhausting thread/user discussion amongst our staff team, but I do need to know immediately when action from my side is needed. How to achieve this in the most easy/efficient way possible?
Solution
How about a way to be able to poke the administrator or any other staff member from within the post to let them now their attention is needed? Just like you already can Report a Post. Just press a link (called 'Attention') and a popup... pops up... where you can select a person (by radio-buttons in front of the avatar, or a smart way that you actually select multiple avatars without any radio-buttons) from your Staff (every staff member should be listed, below is just a simple example) that you are addressing in that specific post.
Example:
(a staff member is addressing the Webmaster to ask him to ban some suspicious IP, but this request is buried deep inside the extensive discussion and the Webmaster never reads those discussions anyway. And if he does, it's easily overlooked)
Then this staff member will receivean automatic PM or maybe even better (trying to avoid another discussion outlet through PM): an alert... alerting her/him of this post that needs her/his immediate attention.
Next to `Moderation queue:0´ ´Reported Items:1` XF could display `Attention needed:4' or something like that.
Example:
This way we don't have go through all the hassle to manually PM a Moderator or put (repeat...) something inside the `To-do Webmaster´ forum in yet another new thread to get somebodies (much needed) attention. Key: We can leave everything, the whole workprocess concentrated, in one single thread/user discussion thread.
(^ That's why I also feel that it needs to be separated from the already available Report Post functionality, because this attention functionality works on (already available) threads)
(I am not sure about the implementation above, but I definitely need some kind of solution).
(I will add more to this first posting in due time)
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am very pleased to see XenForo offering taskmanagement-functionality that helps administrators/modertators in their day-to-day moderating duties, like this: http://xenforo.com/community/threads/managing-reported-content.2192/
Assigning tasks and having statuses on these tasks is something I have been requested for a product like vBulletin (my 6-million-hit site is still powered by vB 3.8) for more then 6 (!) years now: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php/120033-More-management-capabilities-for-our-private-Thread-Discussions-(staf-zone). Remarkably only co-member Alfa1 seemed to get the importance/value of such a request, because as you can see I am having a monologue with myself there...
Enough of this introduction. What I would like to see, next to the already great task-management-functionality when handling Reported Posts in XenForo, is a solution for this:
Situation
In my Staff Zone we (like so many other sites) have forums where we discuss problematic users and threads. In the past I (as the admin) used to be involved in these thread/user discussions heavily, but since a few years I have taken a step back, so now our Moderators are for 95% responsible for these discussions and subsequent thread/user management. I am hardly even reading those discussions anymore, but obviously there are moments when action of me as an administrator or owner is needed.
What happens is that if my involvement is needed, a Moderator opens a new thread inside a forum called ´To-do Webmaster´ and puts inside for example: a quote taken from a particular thread/user discussion where it will say something like 'Webmaster, can you please ban this and this IP address?´ or they will do without any quote and give me just instructions there or they just insert a link to the specific post in the Staff Zone that needs my attention. This work process is really starting to become annoying to say the least. I don´t have the time or energy or need to follow every single exhausting thread/user discussion amongst our staff team, but I do need to know immediately when action from my side is needed. How to achieve this in the most easy/efficient way possible?
Solution
How about a way to be able to poke the administrator or any other staff member from within the post to let them now their attention is needed? Just like you already can Report a Post. Just press a link (called 'Attention') and a popup... pops up... where you can select a person (by radio-buttons in front of the avatar, or a smart way that you actually select multiple avatars without any radio-buttons) from your Staff (every staff member should be listed, below is just a simple example) that you are addressing in that specific post.
Example:
(a staff member is addressing the Webmaster to ask him to ban some suspicious IP, but this request is buried deep inside the extensive discussion and the Webmaster never reads those discussions anyway. And if he does, it's easily overlooked)
Then this staff member will receive
Next to `Moderation queue:0´ ´Reported Items:1` XF could display `Attention needed:4' or something like that.
Example:
This way we don't have go through all the hassle to manually PM a Moderator or put (repeat...) something inside the `To-do Webmaster´ forum in yet another new thread to get somebodies (much needed) attention. Key: We can leave everything, the whole workprocess concentrated, in one single thread/user discussion thread.
(^ That's why I also feel that it needs to be separated from the already available Report Post functionality, because this attention functionality works on (already available) threads)
(I am not sure about the implementation above, but I definitely need some kind of solution).
(I will add more to this first posting in due time)
Upvote
24