Posts deleted by moderators aren't "deleted"

[DarkReaper]

I'm looking for a way to make it so posts/threads that are deleted by moderators appear deleted to them and other forum users, but are actually moved to a special forum - "The Recycle Bin" if you will - which is invisible to all but admins. How would I do this?

[Admin]

That's actually a good idea, but kinda ruins the whole idea of mods.
I mean, they should help you, and doing what you want is basically taking the force from them.

You still have to go over the threads, so where's the point?

Maybe just full threads, I dunno.

[DarkReaper]

This is allowing the mods to help, but its also allowing a security buffer. I will be opening my boards soon and some of the moderators will be mods of their hosted forums. If I have a mod go bezerk and delete his entire board - if he is kicked out of his clan, for example - then I would like to be able to restore the posts. I already have the moderator logging hack installed but this only allows me to see if a mod has gone nuts, and doesn't let me do anything about it.

[Admin]

Yeah well... I just think it would be a lot of work for the admins.

Anyway, my suggestion is setting a daily backup of the database. And I'm sure your host will have a backup too, so the last thing you need to worry about is your mods.

[DarkReaper]

How can I do a daily backup of the database? And won't that take up a lot of space?

[Admin]

Umm, I don't know, I suggest you go to the server forum and ask there.

[Justice]

Not much hacking is really required. I thought about doing this a while ago myself.

All you do is create a forum called "Recycling Bin," and fix the settings so that only admins can enter. Then remove the delete option from the threads. That way, your mods can only move the threads, and there you have it.

[DarkReaper]

But I don't want them to move the threads. I want them to be able to delete the threads just as normal, but when they do delete it it gets moved.

[Justice]

isn't there an option to delete a thread while moving it?

that's how it is in UBB. I just assumed vB's move function was similar. You click on move thread, and you can select if you want the thread deleted or closed on the forum you're moving from.

[DarkReaper]

I don't know about that, but I don't think you understand what I want to do. Take the following series of events as an example:

A moderator sees a thread, and deletes it.
When they finish the delete process, instead of being deleted, the thread is moved to a "recycle bin" forum which is invisible to everyone but admins.
When the admin checks the moderator logs, if anything that shouldn't have been deleted was deleted, it can be restored.

[Justice]

did you read my original post?

Originally posted by Justice
All you do is create a forum called "Recycling Bin," and fix the settings so that only admins can enter. Then remove the delete option from the threads. That way, your mods can only move the threads, and there you have it.

How is this any different than what you just said? You could always move the threads from the Recycling Bin folder back to the other board whenever you chose to.

[DarkReaper]

Its different because it requires the mods to select "move thread" instead of "delete thread."

[Justice]

what is wrong with you? If you MOVE a thread to the "Recycling Bin" forum while deleting it from it's current forum, that's the EXACT same thing as DELETING a thread while MOVING it to a "Recycling Bin." There's no difference

[Freddie Bingham]

The next major version release should have an automatic recycle bin option.

[Admin]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Justice
what is wrong with you? If you MOVE a thread to the "Recycling Bin" forum while deleting it from it's current forum, that's the EXACT same thing as DELETING a thread while MOVING it to a "Recycling Bin." There's no difference

[Palmer ofShinra]

The mods aren't supposed to know about the Bin. That's the key... as far as they know, it's been deleted POOF.

[DarkReaper]

Exactly. Just as they aren't going to know about the logging system.

"Honesty is what you do when no-body's watching"

[Meirion]

Well why does it matter if they know about the bin or not? What is it to them?
I think this is a very good idea.

Tell them it for your own saftey just so you have records of posts for legal reasons or something like that, say in case of any disputes.

With a bit of fiddling on the moderator "delete/move" teplate I'm you could change the delete radio button and put in another hidden form field (I'm pretty sure) to make it move to the recycle bin but still read "Delete post".

[DarkReaper]

Lawsuits? Disputes? I'm not planning into getting into any lawsuits over not telling my moderators about this. That's the most absurd idea I've heard in a while.

Why am I not telling them? As I said a few posts ago...

"Honesty is what you do when no-body's watching"

[Meirion]

Sorry, I don't mean tell them about the bin vs keeping it secret!! rofl :D

What I'm saying is does it really matter if they know or not? If they get suspicious that it's because you don't trust them then what I meant was: say you're keeping the deleted posts as a record, to refer to if anything went 'tits up'. Ok legal reasons was a silly phrase to use.


Err, aren't they going to behave more honestly if they know you can review which posts they deleted? :confused: Have to say, if I worked at McDonalds and was going to nick a burger - I'd do it when no-one's watching. ;)

[DarkReaper]

Originally posted by Meirion
Err, aren't they going to behave more honestly if they know you can review which posts they deleted? :confused: Have to say, if I worked at McDonalds and was going to nick a burger - I'd do it when no-one's watching. ;)

Exactly, But I want to see them for who they really are. I don't want a lying scumbag moderating a part of my forums who only looks good when nobody's looking :)

[Mark Hewitt]

What is all this about?!!

I have a bin forum (I call it Pulled Posts) and I have gone through the templates and removed all the options to delete a thread and delete a post.

Instead my moderators must move threads in the pulled posts forum. If they want to remove a post they must do a split -> move.

I cannot for the life of me think why you would wish to keep the pulled posts forum a secret from the moderators.

And I don't keep this forum as a safety against the moderator going crazy but rather just to keep a record of everything.

Then if there is trouble with a user we can just go back to them and say you said this and this and this. If you allow deletion there is no record of that at all.

This does not need a hack, just some small template edits!

[Meirion]

My point exactly, Mark.

DR, I still can't quite see why you want to keep it a secret though. It seems almost as if you *want* your moderators to cock up, so that you can catch them out then wag a stick at them saying "why did you delete this one eh?"

Ultimately you want your mods to remove the kind of posts you don't allow, but not strech their liberties to killing other posts which are acceptable. So if you tell them you will review all their deletions you will most likely have well behaved mods.

Hey, I've got loads of lying scumbags - their my users... can you send me all your corrupt mods... could be useful to me!

[DarkReaper]

Lets take this example:

I run forums where clans can be hosted. If a moderator is kicked out of the clan, there is a lapse between him being kicked out and being removed from moderator status. If he actually had to be kicked from the clan, he's probably going to be very pissed and do something - such as deleting lots of posts. If I had this logged then I would be able to catch him, and remove his access, but would it matter? All the posts would be gone.

Making moderators move things is a pain in the ass.

[Jawelin]

Simply, could the
* 'DELETE THREAD' replaced by a move to a particular forum (Recycle Bin)
and
* 'DELETE POST' replaced by a move to a particular forum (Recycle Bin) within a new thread called the same way of the original one
????


Everything under the control of everybody (i.e. with a Recycle Bin accessible by the entire staff)...
More, only for admins should be an option like 'empty thrash'... :)

This should be just a facility to admin and mods to REMEMBER THEMSELVES to move safely threads and posts to a rollbackable place, without hiding nothing to nobody of the trustable users...

What do you think about ?

P.S.: I think the once-a-day backup shouldn't be a secure (as delayed) solution....

Thanks

[mvigod]

I agree that this feature would be good. 2 days ago a mod mistakenly blew away a post. This was a post I had just spent 10 minutes writing a reply to nonetheless! I could not get it back as my last DB backup was the night before.

Just curious...if I have a full database backup and let's say the thread that was blown away could be recovered from the back how could I get that row/table entry from the database back into my vb database? My backup is on my server off site so is there a way to get that entry over the network and into the real live vb database and how would I accomplish this?

Thanks!

[Jawelin]

phpMyAdmin .... ;)

There's also an hack to log (with thread/post #s) all moderator's activity...
Very useful NOT to check them who are trustable by definition, but to friendly recover any possible error, even by the admin themselves...

Don't you make mistake ? Never ?
:)

[Jawelin]

What do you think about modifying only the 'delete' functions in functions.php to move thread instead deleting it from the db ??
I'm not sure it'll be enough to modify such a single file to realize this hack.
???

Thanks

[TELEK]

OOH! OOH! Yes this is a very good idea! I really want this! It should be easy, you should just be able to edit the delete command to a move command. But I would want it so only I could see it, not all of the admins. I want to know what people are posting and if a MOD is on a deleting spree.

OH, but then if you deleted posts/threads from the Recycle Bin what would happen?

[Jawelin]

I mean to check, when deleting thread/post, the current area.
If a normal forum, move thread/post to RECYCLE BIN.
If recyclebin forum (and the user has permission, for example managed like prunelog permission), actually remove the thread/post from the DB.

Should be a very useful enhancement, I think.

Thnaks

[JamesUS]

I have done a very comprehensive 'Recycle Bin' hack for my forums. It's a tad more complicated than what you're describing but the basic principle is the same. I will take a look at it when I get a chance and try and tidy it up for release.

[Jawelin]

Definetively waiting for your work to be published !! ;)
Thanks a lot.

[Psychdrone]

Yes that would be wonderful James, bud:)

[Jawelin]

Originally posted by JamesUS
I have done a very comprehensive 'Recycle Bin' hack for my forums. It's a tad more complicated than what you're describing but the basic principle is the same. I will take a look at it when I get a chance and try and tidy it up for release.
Just a reminder, JamesUS.... :D

BUMP!!!

[TECK]

hehe Jawelin.. persistent.. ;)

[Jawelin]

Yeah! ;)
I don't think that should be too complex. I though to hack simply the delete() functions making a move to a particular forum, instead... Better than modifying many and many php files...

I'm working to it now, but I have some problems about the VB chinese-box flow ... Can't understand something, yet... Eheheheh
Bye

[inetd]

This hack released?

[Jeremy W.]

Either one, this one or James' one. We already use this kind of system, but it requires Mods to actually move to the specific forum.