Moderators Functions - DTO Thread Move Notification - automatically send friendly message when moving thread

Overview

DTO Thread Move Notification is a free product that automatically sends thread authors a friendly private message when a moderator moves their thread to another forum. By automating the process this tool delivers a consistent moderation ?tone? in communicating with thread authors as well as speeding the task of moving threads. When set to active thread notifications are sent in the following ways:

• If the thread is moved from a forum that the author can see to another that he/she can see the author will receive a notification via private message.
• If the thread is moved from a forum that the author can see to another that he/she cannot see, the moderator performing the move will receive a private message notification reminder to contact the author and let them know why it was removed from the publicly visible forum.
• If the thread is moved from a forum that the author cannot see to another that he/she can see the author will receive a notification.
• If the thread is moved from a forum that the author can see to another that he/she can see and a redirect is left in the previous forum the author will receive a private message notification that includes text to inform them a redirect was left and the duration the redirect will remain active.

Key Features

• Messages based on phrases
• Easily translated
• Host of variables available to customize messages to meet the needs of your site
• Fully documented
• Fully supported

Compatibility

• Fully compatible with vBulletin 3.6.8 through vBulletin 3.8.x
• PHP 5.X or later is recommended.

Mac OS X users - Please Read
Information on downloading and decompressing product packages

Installation & Configuration for vB 3.6.x through vb 3.8.x

1. Prior to installation/upgrade we recommend that you perform a back up of your site's database and files.
2. After unzipping the attached package open readme.html in your browser.
3. Click on the ?Documentation & installation instructions? to view the complete documentation for Thread Move Notification.
   
   Alternatively, you can also access documentation by visiting our web site under the Support tab.

Copyright & Licensing

• DTO Thread Move Notification is copyright protected by Drive Thru Online, Inc.
• You are free to download and install this plugin on any vBulletin forum for which you hold a valid vB license.
• Unauthorized distribution of any code and/or documentation, whole or in part, included here is strictly prohibited.
• In addition, any supplied copyright notice must be maintained.

Other Drive Thru Online Products

• DTO Garage ? free garage features for all your members
• DTO Garage and Garage Plus vBadvanced Modules ? free vBadvanced modules for Garage and Garage Plus
• DTO Clubs, Garage Plus, ShowCase, and Vendor Tools - paid products designed to grow your membership and create revenue from your site

Support

We will provide support in this thread on an as-needed basis to members that have marked this modification as Installed. Additional support resources can be found on our site under the Support tab.

Release and Version History
1.0.3 - October 29, 2009
Bug fix release

Fixes

• Corrected documentation linking in help.

1.0.2 - October 27, 2009
Enhancement and Bug fix release

Enhancements and Fixes

• Updated Thread Move help template to be XHTML compliant.
• Added additional check to insure that thread copy does not trigger thread move notification functions.

1.0.1 - October 26, 2009
Enhancement and Bug fix release

Enhancements and Fixes

• Removed cache_templates plugin as no templates are being delivered that required dynamic loading via plugin.
• Removed init_startup plugins as phrasing is now loaded directly by thread move function.
• Resolved phrasing conflict with AddonChat plugin reported by customer.

1.0.0 - October 20, 2009
Initial release

[mferguson]

Originally Posted by MuhammadC

Love the idea, but have a couple questions:

1. What happens if the entire thread isn't moved, but rather specific posts in a thread?

The mod only addresses threads that are moved and not actions on individual posts. While managing our sites we never have had a need to move individual posts. If you can provide more information on the conditions by which you move posts or take action on them it may give us enough information to extend the mod in future releases.

Originally Posted by MuhammadC

2. Regarding the second scenario:

If the thread is moved from a forum that the author can see to another that he/she cannot see, the moderator performing the move will receive a private message notification reminder to contact the author and let them know why it was removed from the publicly visible forum.

It would be nice if it would send a default PM to the author instead of the moderator. 99% of moved posts can be covered by a default PM.

The reason we didn't PM them in this scenario is that you may not necessarily want to let them know you've moved their thread to an area that they can't see. On our sites there were two cases that we used this for. The first was if the thread creator was a vendor who had no advertising agreement in place and we wanted to pull it out of circulation so we could have time to review them and follow up with the vendor. The other case would be that the thread author violated some type of site guideline and we would pull it so that the entire moderation team could review it and have a chance to determine a course of action.

Again, let me know your use cases and perhaps we can provide additional options to support both types of behaviors.

Originally Posted by MuhammadC

3. Can you specify one username that all PMs come from? This would be nice to have them come from the Admin account so members don't get in arguments with moderators over posts that are moved/removed.

In our case we wanted to be able to demonstrate that a multitude of moderators were in place and working together rather than just a single person. This would prevent the impression that there was just a single person managing the site.

The bottom line is that we are willing and interested in extending Thread Move further. To do so just provide us with some detailed use cases on how you would want features to work, how you currently do it on your site, and we'll see what can be done. The biggest thing for us is making sure that we include features that the majority of sites can make use of.

Thanks!

Mark

[mferguson]

A new version of DTO Thread Move (1.0.1) has been released. This is primarily a fixes release that resolves some phrase loading issues experienced by some users.

Thanks!

Mark

[BadgerDog]

Is this ZIP file download corrupt?

Thanks ...

Regards,
Badger

[mferguson]

[S]It looks like it might be. Let me reupload the file. This may explain the problem that a couple of other users are seeing.[/S]

The issue was due to downloaded and attempting to unzip the file using a Mac (which I use as well and have reproduced the problem). The issue is that, by default, the later versions of OS X do not include Stuffit Expander which properly handles zip files from the desktop. The standard decompressor can't handle the file format. Luckily there are two ways to address this:

1) If you are comfortable using the Terminal application just "cd" to the directory where you downloaded the zip and run the following command:

unzip dto_thread_move_1_0_1_1.zip

This will expand the file properly

2) Install the latest version of StuffIt Expander. Once installed launch the application and click on StuffIt Expander >> Preferences. Scroll down the list presented, click on ZIP, and click on Assign to StuffIt Expander.

Double click on dto_thread_move_1_0_1_1.zip using the Finder and it should decompress properly.


With this information we'll be adding some additional information on this for Mac users to our product release notes on vbulletin.org.

Thanks!

Mark

[mferguson]

With help from dandanch and Kolbi I was able to identify and resolve a couple of issues with the 1.0.1 version of Thread Move. I've just provided a new release (1.0.2) that includes fixes for the following:

• Updated Thread Move help template to be XHTML compliant
• Added additional check to insure that thread copy does not trigger thread move notification functions

Enjoy and, if you like DTO Thread Move, be sure to mark it installed and nominate it for Mod of the Month. Thanks!

Mark

[Wonksta]

Anyone using this in 3.8.6?

[Wonksta]

I am having the same issue as Tommy did you find the solution?

[mferguson]

As we are still working on getting all of our paid products supporting vb4 I have not been able to revisit Thread Move. That said I can say that if you are using the inline moderation tools no PM will be sent. Only if you are viewing a thread and choose to move it from within that interface will the notification be sent. Once we revisit this we'll likely extend the functionality to include inline moderation.

Thanks

Mark