ocPortal Tutorial: Basic forum moderation

Written by Chris Graham, ocProducts

The term 'moderation' is usually (in web applications) applied only to discussion forums and refers to the managing of topics, posts and polls, and managing the community in general.

This tutorial will explain what is possible in ocPortal, although these features are all very easy to find and use.

Table of contents

ocPortal Tutorial: Basic forum moderation

Moderating topics

Moderation actions are presented underneath topics when they are individually viewed

Topics may be individually moderated from inside the topic, or mass moderated from the forum-view, by using the 'mark topic' feature in conjunction with the 'topic actions' drop-down list.

Topic moderation actions are:

moving topics
deleting topics
editing topics
closing, pinning, and cascading topics (these are available individually, or together by editing the topic)
validating topics

Mass moderation of topics is performed by selecting topics and then choosing an action

When editing a topic, various options may be simultaneously changed

All these actions are very straight-forward.

If you want to do mass moderation, but the topics don't all fit on a single page, you can put '&max=400' (or an otherwise larger than normal number) onto the end of the URL in order to force the display of more topics. The same can be done for post mass moderation if desired.

Moderating posts

Moderation links are present underneath posts

Posts may be individually moderated, or mass moderated. Both these actions are done from inside the topic where the posts reside.

Post moderation actions are:

moving posts (this can only be done with mass moderation)
deleting posts
editing posts
validation posts

Mass moderation of posts is performed by selecting posts and then choosing an action

Some other forum systems have a 'split topic' feature that has the same purpose as our 'move posts' feature. However the 'move posts' feature is much more powerful because you get a choice to either:

move posts to a new topic, in a chosen forum
move posts to an existing topic

When moving to a new topic, the title of the topic is as of the first moved post. If the first moved post has no title the topic will be titled as 'N/A': but you may edit it to give a new title.

Deleted posts will be kept behind in the 'post history'. Post history can be accessed in three ways:

Clicking the 'history' button next to a post (for edited posts only)
Clicking the 'post history' link in a member profile
Selecting the 'topic history' topic action

The 'post history' feature allows you to view past text, and restore deleted posts. It is also possible to delete post history. The 'post history' feature was designed so you can track moderations, including moderations done by actual posters (in case they are trying to cover something up).

Mass moving posts results in this interface

Self moderation

Whether members may moderate their own posts and topics depends on their access level to a forum, and their specific permissions.

Validation

If a member has a low access level to a forum they may not be able to make topics and posts without them being marked as unvalidated. If you have chosen to configure your forum like this then you will need to check all unvalidated topics and posts for suitability of content, and choose to validate or delete them depending on this.

Important posts

Moderators may choose to flag a post of theirs as important. This will usually be used to carry one of three meanings:

the post contains important information
the moderator is exerting their authority
the post was created by a multi-moderation, and hence is automated or otherwise standardised

Concepts

Moderation: The process of managing a discussion forum's content and community
Mass moderation: Moderation applies simultaneously across multiple items of content