Allow author to moderate discussion?

Jonathan W

I'm trying to find a plugin, or get some direction to write my own, that will allow an author to self-moderate a discussion.

Example:
UserBob posts a new discussion about a topic.
UserTroll replies with unhelpful, derogatory, or offensive content.

I would like UserBob to be able to hide individual comments, or simply remove UserTroll from the discussion entirely. If removed, all of that user's comments would be hidden and they would not be allowed to post further comments. Perhaps even a hook into YAGA for loss of points.

I say hidden, because I would like other people to be able to click to show the offensive comments. Only a moderator should be able to completely remove them. This would help prevent abuse by the author.

Any thoughts? I'll admit, I haven't really looked at writing it myself. I just couldn't find anything similar already made. It's been ages since I last did anything with PHP and JavaScript.

hgtonight

This is an interesting idea.

You essentially want the author to be able to "bury" specific users' contributions per discussion?

Jonathan W

Basically yes. I'd like them to simply be collapsed, so others can read them if they wish. A moderator can decide if it warrants deletion.

I was actually thinking that this could be expanded into both local (user side) and global (per discussion) hides. So a reader can hide personally offensive material and an author can hide material that takes away from the topic.

Secondary would be a way to exclude someone from posting comments on that topic.

I've been looking over the framework, and I think I know where to begin, but I'm more afraid of doing things wrong - like bad practices.

whu606

You might want to look at how this plugin works. It allows users to hide comments from specific users, but works across threads. Might give you some pointers, though.

http://vanillaforums.org/addon/ignore-plugin

Jonathan W

Thank you! I will check that out later on tonight.

hgtonight

That ignore plugin has the burying aspect down pat. You just need to customize it to per discussion granularity.

Jonathan W

I took a look and yes it does. My biggest issue is that when I look at these plugins, I still don't understand exactly what they're doing yet. I think I might clone my forums and pick a plugin to intentionally break so I can work out how it all works. Without knowing that, I just can't wrap my mind around it all. I've tried reading the tutorials, but again - without getting my hands dirty, it just doesn't make sense.

hgtonight

@Jonathan W said:
I've tried reading the tutorials, but again - without getting my hands dirty, it just doesn't make sense.

I am happy to walk you through what is happening if you post code or share a link.

Good luck!