Suggestion: Moderated Threads Notification

[destinedjagold]

Hello and good day to all.
I dunno if this has been brought up or has already been added as a new feature, but if it already has been brought up, then please close this thread.

Anyway, there are many sub-forums in our little(?) community forum that newly created threads need a staff's attention to bring it live for the public to view.
If your new thread's brought down, sometimes, or more likely, the staff won't tell you that your thread was not approved.

I am here to suggest that we should receive User Notifications whenever a staff approves/declines a thread we have submitted, and if declined, we'll receive both the notification and a message to tell us why it has not been approved.

So what do you guys think...?

 

[Melody]

I strongly agree with this one, and I really don't think it'd be hard to implement. Even if it's just a one-liner text field for the acting staff member to briefly explain why a thread was rejected...it would be great. None of this, "PM THE MOD" crap...the mods have lives too ya know, and they may not remember every thread they toss in the can...especially in areas which are busy. Not to mention there are some of these sections with multiple mods...and they can't read the other mod's mind, so won't know why they did it unless it was documented. :/

 

[Alternative]

I have to disagree with this idea. There are only like, 2-3 sub-forums that actually need approval from a moderator before and usually the members of that area will discuss and ask about whether it'd be need or not. If this idea is to go further though, I'd at least make it a sticky in a thread, which will tell members what most recent threads have been approved and which haven't and also explaining their reasons in the thread, and the thread could be updated every week or so.

 

[Taemin]

^ Assuming the moderators wouldn't mind giving the time needed that it took to PM the creators of said disapproved threads, that'd be a good alternative idea. I think members deserve to know why their threads were rejected, and that helps them improve. Even when I was regular mod, and my area was waaay outside of all the game-making related forums, I still got PMs from people asking why their threads didn't get accepted. > >;

Apparently, most people are afraid to ask the mods of those areas, but I don't think they should feel that way. D: It wouldn't take too long for moderators to send a PM consisting of one or two sentences, on why they rejected certain threads.

 

[professor plum]

It's neither a feature, nor a pre-existing plugin we could use, which means we'd need to hook into it. Given time constraints for anyone who could even dare write the code to get this working (you know who can, you know that he can't do it right now), it's not actually feasible to do.

The obvious thing to do would be to shove the onus of notifying a member that their thread's been denied onto the moderator.

With a little bit of modificaton, wouldn't this plugin work? o-o

 

[Sydian]

I wouldn't mind this at all. So many threads get declined in Challenges, but usually only because one rule was broken, and I follow my rules to the bone. It's a waste of potential. I usually tell the member if it was just that one rule they broke though, but there have been cases where I tossed so many challenges in one day that I just couldn't wait to get out of there and go post somewhere else. lol But this idea has ~potential~ I think.

 

[Taemin]

The plugin is a good idea to some level, but members would still be confused on the reasons why their threads weren't allowed to pass. So they'd still PM moderators, even if.. said moderators.. were NU/W, Other Chat, or Pokemon General mods. xD;

 

[Yuoaman]

I usually try to PM members when I don't approve their thread, but often when I'm in a hurry or it's obvious the member didn't even try looking at the rules I'll skip that. Having the member notified automatically would make it a lot less of a hassle, though.

 

[Melody]

^ Assuming the moderators wouldn't mind giving the time needed that it took to PM the creators of said disapproved threads, that'd be a good alternative idea. I think members deserve to know why their threads were rejected, and that helps them improve. Even when I was regular mod, and my area was waaay outside of all the game-making related forums, I still got PMs from people asking why their threads didn't get accepted. > >;

Apparently, most people are afraid to ask the mods of those areas, but I don't think they should feel that way. D: It wouldn't take too long for moderators to send a PM consisting of one or two sentences, on why they rejected certain threads.

Assuming that a thread doesn't get approved, why don't we simply allow members to see their own unapproved threads/messages? Threads that aren't approved are kept right where they're posted, but are invisible to all but the members who posted them or the staff members. This way staff can post inside of it, and let you know why they didn't approve the thread. Aside from that you could just make a garbage can subforum for each moderated section...and as I described above, you can only see and reply to your own threads, while staff can see all of them at a glance. Again, this lets the poster EDIT and FIX the problem and resubmit the thread. Mods can be given a tool to post in there when it's moved that says it wasn't spam and can be fixed. (Link to rules thread) and auto-moves it to this special forum where it's out of sight.

You'll see your submitted thread, but it'll say it's moderated in some way am I correct? At any rate, being able to see your own unapproved threads that are sitting in ModQ will stop the silly "WHERE'S MY THREAD" questions and allow you to notice when it's locked as "unapproved"

 

[Platinum Lucario]

I guess that could, if modified to tap into the Notifications system. Still, even these solutions would fail to communicate the reason for a thread disapproval.

Best if it was made so that people would get a PM notification of it rather than fitted to a totally new notification. The PM notification for unaproved threads should work similar to what the infraction PM notification works. That way... with a little editing... to make sure that the comment from what the moderator typed in for unapproving would link to that coding in the reason box. Then the PM notification will say the reason. If I was good at editing plugins... then I might've been able to fix it. ;D

 

[Nick]

Assuming that a thread doesn't get approved, why don't we simply allow members to see their own unapproved threads/messages? Threads that aren't approved are kept right where they're posted, but are invisible to all but the members who posted them or the staff members. This way staff can post inside of it, and let you know why they didn't approve the thread. Aside from that you could just make a garbage can subforum for each moderated section...and as I described above, you can only see and reply to your own threads, while staff can see all of them at a glance. Again, this lets the poster EDIT and FIX the problem and resubmit the thread. Mods can be given a tool to post in there when it's moved that says it wasn't spam and can be fixed. (Link to rules thread) and auto-moves it to this special forum where it's out of sight.

You'll see your submitted thread, but it'll say it's moderated in some way am I correct? At any rate, being able to see your own unapproved threads that are sitting in ModQ will stop the silly "WHERE'S MY THREAD" questions and allow you to notice when it's locked as "unapproved"

When a thread isn't approved, it's deleted. That would mean we'd have to allow members to be able to see deleted thread reasons, which isn't something I'm comfortable with. Posts are one thing, but whole threads...

I'd much rather a new notification for when a thread is approved. If you don't get a notification in 24 hours, it wasn't approved. Since when a thread isn't approved, usually the moderator tells you in a PM.

 

[Deleted member 143209]

Why not make a "Check to see if your hack/team thread was approved" thread, much like the Roleplay Corner once had?

Just lock it, and a mod would post in it stating what they have approved and not approved. The member would then have the option to PM a moderator asking why it was not approved.

 

[Guy]

Why not make a "Check to see if your hack/team thread was approved" thread, much like the Roleplay Corner once had?

Just lock it, and a mod would post in it stating what they have approved and not approved. The member would then have the option to PM a moderator asking why it was not approved.

That isn't a bad alternative, and even then the moderator(s) could put a small note next to the title of the thread that was unapproved stating why. If the user has further questions about it, then they can PM the moderator asking for more specific details.

It shouldn't take long to do considering it's easier than having to PM each individual who's thread was unapproved.

 

[JakeyBoy]

If they do it that way then it's no different from PMing them, except that the reason is public.

 

[Deleted member 143209]

Nope, I suggested PM'ing for the reasoning. the reasoning shouldn't be published, just whether or not their thread was approved. It worked in Roleplay for many years, it would work in ROM Hacking too.

I don't see why it wouldn't work, nor should it be a problem to PM a mod after your thread is declined for reasons as to why it was turned down.

 

[Nick]

Why not make a "Check to see if your hack/team thread was approved" thread, much like the Roleplay Corner once had?

Just lock it, and a mod would post in it stating what they have approved and not approved. The member would then have the option to PM a moderator asking why it was not approved.

I'd say that's a better solution to the problem.