Moderation

Included in every Jcink forum are many ways to manage your posts and members. Here are the most common methods:

The JFB Moderator Control Panel (Mod CP) is a reworked version of the original IPB based one (as seen here). By entering the Mod CP from the Navigation Bar, the Mod or admin will be given an overview of the various logs within the Mod CP. If there are any actions to be done, the Mod CP link will have a number after it, telling how many things require attention. EX- Mod CP (2)

From here, Mods and Admins can:

• View all Moderator Queued posts.
• View all reported posts.
• View all the saved moderation logs.
• Prune Topics.
• Edit Members.
• Use the Warn Panel (Only if enabled from the ACP first though.)
• View the logs for all warned members.
• Use the IP Tools.
• View the validation bin.

From this page in the Mod CP, the mod/admin is shown all the posts that users have made while on moderation queue. It gives the following information about each post:

• Posted by - This is who created the post.
• The Post - This is a link to the post itself.
• In Forum - This tells you where the post is located.
• Topic Title - This is the name of the topic where the post is.
• Time of Post - This tells you when the post was entered.
• IP Address - This gives you the IP of the person who made the post.

By clicking “View pending post”, a pop up will open showing you the post along with several options. In the bottom right of the post, a drop down menu will allow you to either approve the post or delete it. The pop up also allows you to send a personal message to the user concerning the post if you want. (You can enter the message in the text box below the “Message to user” heading. Then you click the check box “Send message above to user”.) When you've decided what to do, click the “Submit” button at the bottom to enforce the action you've chosen.

This is where all posts reported gets logged.

• Reported by - This is the member who filed the report.
• Report Reason - This is the reason that the member filled in the box for why they've chosen to report the post.
• In Forum - This tells you where the reported post is.
• Direct Post Link - This is a direct link to the reported post in question.
• Time of Report - This tells you when the report was made (in the time zone you've set for your account.)
• IP Address - This is the IP of the person who sent the report. (Which is useful if users abuse the Report system. )
• Status - This tells you whether the report has since been solved, is still pending or has been marked invalid.

Staff can filter reports to show only reports of a certain status by choosing that status from the drop down menu after “View:” (Located in the lower right hand of the report table).

After viewing a report, staff can mark a report by clicking the checkbox under the “select” column, then from the drop down box they choose which status to apply to it from “Mark as Done”, “Mark as Invalid” or “Delete Report(s)”

This section shows the latest 5 actions done by those with moderator powers. It shows:

• Member Name - Who made the change.
• Action Performed - What was done to the topic.
• Forum - The forum where the action took place in.
• Location - An exact link to the topic.
• Time of Action - When the action was executed.
• IP Address - The IP of the person who performed the action.

This section also allows staff to search for specific actions taken by any of the options listed above. (By choosing them from the drop down menu titled “Search by…” under the log's table then clicking “Search”.) This is useful if a topic was moved to a new location and other staff can't find it anymore and more than 5 actions have occurred since the topic was moved.

This allows staff to easily delete or move all topics that meet a certain (staff specified) criteria.

To use the pruner:

1. Choose which forum should be pruned from the “Forum to Prune” drop down menu.
2. Use the drop down menu titled “Prune Action” to choose whether the forum should be pruned or if (and where) the topics should be moved.
3. The 3rd box ”(Re)move topics with no new posts over [x] days.” allows you to specify how old topics with no posts can be before they're affected.
4. Using ”(Re)move which type of topic?” you can also specify whether to affect only open, only locked, the moved topic shells or any topic.
5. The checkbox “Leave Pinned Topics?” allows you to decide whether you want the pinned topics to be exempt from the system pruning or not.
6. ”..with less than [x] replies” allows you to remove topics that only have less than the number of replies you set.
7. ”…started by member” allows you to remove all topics by a certain member. (Very useful if a member posts a lot of spam topics in a certain forum section.)
8. Once you've entered the relevant info in the above steps, click “Check Form Submission” to have the pruner go to work.
9. The pruner will then return with the total number of topics and the number that are affected. If you want to affect the topics in the specified manner, click “Remove the Topics”

WARNING - The Prune system can delete topics even if the Trashcan mod is enabled! Be very careful using this method because it does not tell you exactly which topics will be deleted… It only gives a number.

This section allows the staff to edit a member's public profile information.

To use this:

1. simply enter all or part of the user's name that you want to edit in the text box.
2. Then click “Find user”.
3. The page will then list all user's that match the name (or part of the name) entered in a drop down menu. Pick the username from the drop down menu that matches the user you want to edit.
4. Then click: “Edit users profile”. You will be taken to a page where you can:
   • Choose whether to remove their avatar.
   • Choose whether to remove their photo.
   • Edit their Title.
   • Edit the Website they've entered.
   • Edit their entered Location.
   • Edit their entered Interests.
   • Edit their entered Signature.
   • And edit any custom profile fields the Admin has created.
5. When you're finished, click “Edit users profile” to set the changes.

These are methods that manipulate topics from the forum view (where all the topics inside that particular forum can be seen). These methods are useful because they can be executed on multiple topics all at once.

1. From the forum view, (the url bar showing “showforum=#”), look to the far right of the table where the topics are listed. The very last cell will be a check box. Tick the check boxes for the relevant topics you want to lock.
2. Now, at the bottom of the page on the right, you will see a dropdown menu with ” » Topic Moderation Options « ”, from that select “Close topics”.
3. Then beside the dropdown, click the button “With Selected (#)” (Note - The number will change depending on how many topics are selected.) All the selected topics will then be locked.

1. From the forum view, (the url bar showing “showforum=#”), look to the far right of the table where the topics are listed. The very last cell will be a check box. Tick the check boxes for the relevant topics you want to move.
2. Now, at the bottom of the page on the right, you will see a dropdown menu with ” » Topic Moderation Options « ”, from that select “Move topics”.
3. Then beside the dropdown, click the button “With Selected (#)” (Note - The number will change depending on how many topics are selected.)
4. The page will change and it will show you all the topics you have selected to move. From here you can uncheck the box before the topic name if you decide not to move it afterall.
5. From the dropdown menu, select where to send the topics.
6. Finally, click the “Move selected topics” button to send them to their new home.

Note - Unlike when moving individual topics, for the mass moving there is no option to leave a “shell” topic that links to the new one.

1. From the forum view, (the url bar showing “showforum=#”), look to the far right of the table where the topics are listed. The very last cell will be a check box. Tick the check boxes for the relevant topics you want to delete.
2. Now, at the bottom of the page on the right, you will see a dropdown menu with ” » Topic Moderation Options « ”, from that select “Close topics”.
3. Then beside the dropdown, click the button “With Selected (#)” (Note - The number will change depending on how many topics are selected.) All the selected topics will then be deleted.

Important - You will not get a confirmation screen before the mass delete! So be absolutely sure you want to delete those topics before you hit the “With Selected (#)” button. (Unless you have the trash can mod enabled) all topics (and posts in them) are gone for good if you press the delete button.

Why would an admin want to move a topic? Because sometimes a member creates a topic within the wrong section (sometimes accidentally or because they weren't sure where to put the topic). So to keep things organized and easier to find, the admin moves it to the right section. Other times a topic may start off fitting in one section, but later be decided that it really suits another section better (depending on how the discussion goes.)

1. Go to the topic you want to move.
2. At the bottom (on the left), there will be a drop down menu with the default being “Moderation options”, from this menu, choose “Move this topic”.
3. Then click the “Go” button next to the drop down.
4. On the page that loads, use the first drop down menu to select where to send the topic.
5. The second drop down menu (“Leave a link to the new topic in the source forum?”) allows you to choose whether a redirect to the moved topic will be left where the topic originally was. (It defaults to yes… So if you want it not to leave a link then you have to manually select “No”.)
6. Finally, click the “Move this topic” button.

Notes

1. If you moved the topic but forgot to click “No” for the “Leave a link to the new topic in the source forum?” option, you can go delete this shell.
2. If you send a topic to the wrong forum accidentally, but can't find it later. You can use the Mod CP's Moderator Logs area to locate the forum where the topic was moved to.

Locking a topic prevents members (without staff privileges)from being able to add new replies to a topic. This is useful for when topics dissolve into members trading insults or if a question was asked and a satisfactory answer given (like on the Jcink Support Forums).

1. Go to the topic you want to lock.
2. At the bottom (on the left), there will be a drop down menu with the default being “Moderation options”, from this menu, choose “Close this topic”.
3. Then click the “Go” button next to the drop down.

The topic will be locked.

Note - If you have the Trash Can mod enabled (which it starts off enabled by default) then any topic that is selected to be deleted will only be moved to the designated Trash Can forum. The topics cannot be deleted (even from the Trash Can section) while the Trash Can mod is enabled.

1. Go to the topic you want to delete.
2. At the bottom (on the left), there will be a drop down menu with the default being “Moderation options”, from this menu, choose “Delete this topic”.
3. Then click the “Go” button next to the drop down.
4. The next screen will be a confirmation screen, asking you if you are sure you want to delete the topic. If you are certain, click the “Delete this topic” button.

Warning -(Unless you have the trash can mod enabled) all topics (and posts in them) are gone for good if you press the delete button. So make certain you want that topic deleted before hitting the “Delete this topic” button.

Why would you want to merge 2 topics? Because sometimes people make topics about the same subject. They may not get a lot of posts, so to help clean the forum up and keep from being overrun with all the same topics, admins may want to combine the topics.

To merge 2 topics:

1. Go to the 1st topic you want to merge. Get it's url. (EX- “yourforum.b1.jcink.com/index.php?showtopic=#”)
2. Go to the topic you want the above to be merged into.
3. At the bottom (on the left), there will be a drop down menu with the default being “Moderation options”, from this menu, choose “Merge topic”.
4. Then click the “Go” button next to the drop down.
5. On the page that loads, enter the new topic name (if you want a new one) and new description (if you want a new one).
6. Then paste the URL you got from step 1 into the 3rd box. (The one that states: “Enter in the URL of the topic that you wish to merge with this one.”)
7. Click the “Merge Topics” button at the bottom to actually combine the topics.

Note - The posts will be sorted by date posted. So this means if you have: Topic 1's opening post - June 10th and Reply 1 - June 12th Topic 2's opening post - June 11th and Reply 2 - June 13th

Then the order will be: Topic 1, Topic 2, Reply 1, Reply 2.

Why would an admin want to split a topic? Because there may be times when a discussion breaks off into an entirely new discussion but rather than close the original topic for going off topic, they split the topic into 2 so both can be pursued.

1. Go to the topic you want to be split into 2 topics.
2. At the bottom (on the left), there will be a drop down menu with the default being “Moderation options”, from this menu, choose “Mass Split topic”.
3. Then click the “Go” button next to the drop down.
4. On the page that loads, enter the new topic name and new description (if you want a new one)
5. Then using the drop down menu marked: “Forum for new topic” choose where the new topic will be sent.
6. Now, beside each post you will see a check box. Click only those that you want to be split off and made into a new topic.
7. Finally (after you have all the post selected that you want split), click the “Split the selected posts” button at the bottom to actually split the topic into two.