Approve messages from NEW members?

[Paul Scholes]

I noticed today that regular members can lock discussions that they started.  This is terrible, we have the option not to let member delete their own discussions, but we do not have the option to disable this other function.  We had a great discussion, everyone was contributing and suddenly the person who started it decide to lock it.  WTF? If I wanted this person to be able to lock threads then I would make him a mod, but as much as I like him, he should not be able to decide when a thread is locked.  Only people I gave administrator privileges should be able to do this.

Will it be possible to add the option to disable the option that allows regular members to lock threads?

By the way, Ning still does not offer the most needed feature for the forum.  All other platforms offer options to moderate new members' messages and every time I requested this I was giving the option to set the website to "new members need approval".  I have done that, but often it is impossible to verify new members.  If I had the option to approve new users' messages everything would be much easier.  I could wait until new members had 10 messages approved to switch their memberships to unmoderated.  This is by far the most important thing that Ning is missing.  Is it that hard to give us this option?

Please if someone answers this do not send me to use stuff like the spam filter or do not tell me that having to approve messages takes too much time.  We should have that option and if I want to spend the time then I do not see how it affects Ning.  It's been a year and I am still waiting for one of the most basic features offer even by yahoo groups.

[Eric Suesz]

To answer your question: Yes, regular members can close discussions. You can, of course, reopen closed discussions. So, you might try that. We don't have plans to change the way this currently works. 

Thanks for letting us know that the features in the forum aren't satisfactory for you. You may want to read about the ability to moderate new discussions if you feel like this level of control is right for your members. We added that based on requests from NCs. 

[Paul Scholes]

Thanks for your quick answer Eric.  Let's forget the question about members locking their posts.

Let's talk about the other concern.  You are giving me a link that explains who to moderate new discussions, but that has nothing to do with my question.  I am not trying to moderate new discussions, I am trying to moderate posts made by new members.  The option you gave me does not work, because will let new members reply to any discussion that is already open.  Besides, members that have been on the website for several months do not new do not need moderation.  This is just about new members, not about new threads.  Eric, you do not think that would make things way easier to be able to approve messages from new members? (at least to have that option and use it with those we think might be trolls/spammers)?  We could let everyone in and then switch them to unmoderated as they show us that they have good intentions.  This would be the best gun to kill spammers and trolls.  

I know you guys offer other options, but I think my question is pretty straight forward.  Is this feature to have moderated and unmoderated members even being considered?  We need it badly, this would mean we would never have to turn anyone away anymore because we'll be able to approve their messages.

[Eric Suesz]

I sent you to that link because it seemed to be the closest thing to what you wanted -- an extremely high level of control over your members' ability to post. That's the highest level of control we offer. My apologies for pointing you to somewhere you didn't want to go. I'll try to provide a more straightforward answer: We don't currently offer a way to designate probationary members with specific privileges. That's not something we have on our Product Roadmap, and it's not something we're considering right now. 

[Paul Scholes]

Eric, thanks a lot for your answer.  Although I am still disappointed by not having this feature, at least I know now that is not going to be available any time soon.  All I wanted, and I wish we get it someday because I know that other platforms offer it, it is the option to have members whose messages require the mods' approval.  I think that such a feature would help a lot, because there would not be a need to reject new members or be scared that someone might spam the network or be a troll. 

I hope you see my point and how useful this would be.  Thanks a lot for getting a straight answer to my question.

[John Stewart]

I am a member of Paul's Website Eric and one of the Admin/Moderators on there. What Paul said is spot on. We are lucky at the moment that we have a lot of members that respect the way we Moderate. But to have a feature in our "tools" which we can (Moderation ability) use and then find out that current members, old or new can use also is quiet frustrating. There was a case the other day where a member started a debate where he had a lot of posts replying to his post. It was a good debate where there were a lot of members giving their point of view. Then, because someone did not agree with him, he closed the post down from anybody else answering. That was when we, as Admin/Moderators, found out that other members who were not Admin/Moderators, could do the same. I only found out when one of the other Admin/Moderators told me by a Private Message what he had done and he was just as confused as what I was, and then I let Paul know who did not know either. I then unlocked the post in question and told the member not to do that again without informing us (Admin/Moderation) first if it was OK. I feel the same way as Paul on this one as so do all of the other Admin/Moderation team. We should have the "tool" only for doing this and not a normal member. Paul's Website is growing by the day with new members and it is coming up to one year old with over 3,000 members. I do feel you should look into this and see if you can fix the problem. Cheers.

 

 

John.

 

[Eric Suesz]

Hey, John. I can totally see how a feature like this would be very useful in your particular situation. It wouldn't be for everyone, but it would be great for networks that are focused on forums and conversation. I will advocate for this type of feature to be built and hopefully we can get to something like this at some point. 

Congrats on 3,000 members in the first year. Pretty good. And enjoy the Euro 2012. 

[John Stewart]

Cheers Eric for the positive reply. Much appreciated and I look forward to any new feature you might possibly provide. And thanks for the kind words about the 3,000 members. Paul has worked hard over the year and all the good work has come from him. I am enjoying the EURO's and a post that one of our Admin/Moderators in Daniel created the "EURO 2012 PREDICTION GAME" for all our members is going well. My first selection in a 1-1 draw between Poland v Greece gave me 5 points but my second selection between Russia v Czec. Republic is not looking so good. I had the Czech's to win 1-0 but the last time I heard they were 2-0 down. Still, you cant win them all.

John

   

[Eric Suesz]

We have it on a screen here at the office, and, well, the Czechs aren't doing so great. 4-1 as we speak. Ouch.