[sv1cec]

Zero Tolerance,

As I ... promised above, here is the outcome of our experiments with the hack and the discussion with our moderators:

First of all, the hack is great and we all think it is a great addition to any forum. In the interest of seeing this hack becoming even better, we would like to see the following improvements, which will make the mods and admins life easier:

1. Each offence should have a points rating (as it does now), but should also include a "maturity" period. In other words, a period after which the points will automatically be removed from the user's record.
2. Each offence should have a check-box, which will define it as an "Instant Ban" offence. In that way, each forum can decide which offences carry the heavy penalty, of instant banning the member.
3. Each offence which is an "Instant Ban" offence, should also have a "Ban Duration" field. In that way, the admins can decide that offence A deserves a ban, but only for one month, while offence B is serious enough to deserve a permanent ban. So I assume the "Ban Duration" should accept values in days/weeks/months (whatever) plus the word "Permanent". A drop-down menu with 1,2,3,4 weeks, 1,2,3,4,5,6 months, and Permanent values, maybe.
4. Of course, cron jobs should exist, which will remove the points which mature from the member's record, and the bans which expire, automatically.
5. We would appreciate if the PM message could be in a more "customizable" format, so that we can tailor it to our needs. A template maybe?
6. The phrases and params used, should made "global" so that they can be used anywhere in the vB. For example, I have the Warn Points of each user shown in postbit, but I cannot use the "$warn_options[points_before_banned]" there.
7. In the hack's setup (in Admin CP), the admin should be able to define which groups will be able to see the "Warn User" and "View User's Warnings" links. For example, in our site, I have set it up so moderators can warn a user only in the forums they moderate, but they can see every user warnings. Registered users can see the Warnings of other users, as a number only in the forumbit, they cannot see the "Warn XYZ" or the "View XYZ's Warnings" links, so obviously they cannot warn anyone, nor can they see details of how that member earned those points.
8. In the PM send to the user, we would like to see the followings:

- Who warned the member.
- For which post (it might be a good idea if the post could be copied in the offence's record, since the moderator might want to remove it from the forums. Of course, the moderator has to first warn the member and then delete or edit the post).
- Date and time.
- What the offence was (the description of the warning).
- How many points were awarded and what is the current total of the member.
- When these points will be removed.
- If the offence implied an "Instant Ban" and for how long.
- What comments the moderator has added.
- The e-mail of the admin or the super moderator, if the user has objections.

I guess this is pretty much what we would like to see in this excellent hack.

Finally, one other issue, for some reason, the redirecting screen does not always redirect. I am not sure what happens, but that page does not come up like any other redirecting page in vB, it comes up with header and navbar etc. and it just doesn't redirect. Any ideas?

Kind regards, and again thanks for the lovely hack.

John