Core: Show who deleted a post, and create a new "moderation notes" extension

Created on 19 Jan 2016 · 10Comments · Source: flarum/core

The flags extension adds an entry in a discussion when a action occurs in the thread. For moderators it would be highly valuable (big understatement) to be able to see who deleted a post or discussion. We could probably implement the same functionality with the post history, from what I understand so far it's a custom Post type, selected on Post creation.

For mods: see this moderated discussion.

typfeature

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luceos

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Moderation Notes should then have a checkbox or dropdown for visibility. Sometimes you only want to add a note to your fellow mods and not to OP and sometimes you might want to make it public..

But in general :+1: because this will immensily assist moderative tasks!

luceos on 21 Mar 2016

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All 10 comments

This would only apply to posts deleted using the Flags extension UI. It might also be nice to add information about why a post was deleted to posts that are deleted directly using the post controls.

Another way to handle this would be to modify the post delete function so that it would pop up a modal dialog (or something) allowing the moderator to:

Select a reason from deletion from a list of options (e.g. radio buttons or dropdown list)
Optionally type specific details about the deletion in a text box.

This information could then be appended as an edit to the deleted post, with a bit of formatting such as:

_Moderator action:_ _This post has been deleted as_ <reason>.
<details>

This would facilitate documentation of moderator action regarding both flagged and unflagged posts.

dcsjapan on 22 Feb 2016

@dcsjapan my request is more about who deleted the post. Because at this time you can't differentiate between posts deleted by the author or by a mod.

luceos on 22 Feb 2016

_(Edited because I thought of a couple things that would make my solution less practical.)_

Adding information as an edit to the deleted post, as I suggested, _would_ make it possible to distinguish between moderator-deleted posts and those deleted by the user. However, it wouldn't be effective unless the system also takes steps to prevent the user from re-editing the post and remove that information.

That might be a good idea in any case ... otherwise one could end up with a situation where a user could modify a deleted post to make it seem less offensive, then claim a moderator acted unfairly. (Or if we want to be really paranoid: a user could delete his own post, then edit in information fitting the pattern to make it seem as if a moderator had deleted a post unfairly.) Without a record of who edited what when, it would be hard to unravel.

If it's impractical to prevent the editing of posts once they're deleted, then the "additional entry" method proposed by @Luceos would be the best way to do this.

dcsjapan on 22 Feb 2016

OK so the first part of this issue is simply exposing a post attribute that already exists (hide_user_id) in the UI. That can become part of core, easy.

To attach a deletion reason, I think the best way to do this is to implement a new attribute called hide_reason or hide_notes. When a post is deleted, there can be a little button that says "Add notes" or something, which opens a text field when clicked. The notes are visible right below the post to the OP and moderators, but only editable by moderators.

This also raises the question of whether we should implement a similar thing for edited posts. If a moderator has edited a post, they may want to explain to the OP in private why they have done so. Perhaps the attribute could be generalised to be named moderation_notes, and the "Add notes" could be a moderator control on every post, regardless of whether it's deleted or not.

This could be a new core extension called "Moderation Notes". Or we could come up with some other snazzy single-word name like "Whispers". What do you think @dcsjapan + @Luceos?

tobyzerner on 20 Mar 2016

Sounds good!

When a post is deleted, there can be a little button that says "Add notes" or something, which opens a text field when clicked.

You could also autofill that information using the reason specified in the Flags modal, if the post has been been flagged prior to deletion. The moderator could then edit or add to that information as needed.

This also raises the question of whether we should implement a similar thing for edited posts.

That sounds like a good idea ... it would be wonderful if it could be done as a single action. Would it be possible to extend the "edit post" composer when both (1) the person doing the editing is a moderator, and (2) that person is editing someone else's post?

This could be a new core extension called "Moderation Notes". Or we could come up with some other snazzy single-word name like "Whispers".

How about "Psst!" as a name? (Leave the exclamation point off in code, I guess.) :wink:

dcsjapan on 20 Mar 2016

Moderation Notes should then have a checkbox or dropdown for visibility. Sometimes you only want to add a note to your fellow mods and not to OP and sometimes you might want to make it public..

But in general :+1: because this will immensily assist moderative tasks!

luceos on 21 Mar 2016

👍4

Moderation Notes should then have a checkbox or dropdown for visibility. Sometimes you only want to add a note to your fellow mods and not to OP and sometimes you might want to make it public..

That's a great idea!

dcsjapan on 21 Mar 2016

@franzliedke and I discussed and have decided to call this extension "Moderation Notes", because unlike "Whispers" or "Psst", it gives good insight into what it actually does without a more comprehensive description.

tobyzerner on 6 Apr 2016

👍1

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