Moderators Functions - Disemvowelr? - A new passive-aggressive form of moderation..

Keywords: Disemvowel, Devowel, Revowel

Description:
Where to start? Basically, this modification will allow you (the moderator) to strip a post of it's vowels (ie. "disemvowel" -- get it? See what I did there? Oh yes..) Why would you want to do this? Well, I can think of a multitude of reasons.. none of them relevant, but I digress. Disemvoweling has been made e-famous by popular blog sites such as BoingBoing and Gizmodo.


Details:
So, what is disemvoweling exactly?

Here's what Wikipedia has to say about it:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

In the fields of Internet discussion and forum moderation, disemvoweling is a technique used to censor unwanted postings such as spam, internet trolling, rudeness or criticism and yet maintain some transparency, both of the act and the underlying word. Disemvoweling (also spelled disemvowelling) appears to model the word "disemboweling" and involves removing vowels from questionable text, either as a form of self-censorship or as a technique used by forum moderators and newsgroup operators. The net effect of disemvoweling text is illegibility or legibility only through significant cognitive effort; thus the technique helps to suppress unwanted comments.

Neat idea, huh? Yea.. I thought so, too.. and here we are!

Cliff-Notes (y'know, for the slow..):
This mod will turn this:

This site sucks, you (and your dog) suck too. I'm going to go eat paper, bye!

... into this!:

Ths st scks, y (nd yr dg) sck t. 'm gng t g t ppr by!

(FYI, if you need pictures.. I attached those too.)

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Installation:

1. Download and unzip the attached archive.
2. Upload included files to their respective directories.
3. Import product-disemvowelr.xml via the Product Manager.
4. ???
5. Profit!

Notes:
All template edits are done automagically for you. However, if you'd like to do them yourself in an alternate location, color, whatever -- simply disable the auto-template editor plugin via the Plugin Manager.

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Comments:
As with all my hacks, this modification is provided free of charge. However, if you find this product useful and have money burning a hole in your pocket, feel free to make a small donation, I won't mind.. really.

Version History:

• 1.0 - Initial release, here's to hoping..
• 1.1 - Added a FAQ entry as to what disemvoweling is and linked to it from within the disemvoweled post.
• 1.1.1 - Added auto-template support for postbit_legacy
• 1.2 - Icons! Yay! Also included instructions for manual template edits (see README.TXT)
• 1.3 - Fixed a problem when disemvoweling a post with quotes (or possibly any BBCODE). Now the post is stripped of BBCODES before disemvoweled. No more broken quote tags.

* Please note that this modification was developed on a forum with a userbase of 1 (myself). I've tested it for basic functionality but I cannot guarantee functionality or behavior on your forum. So, please -- make backups before installing this product!

[magnus]

Originally Posted by Hugo Holbling

Am I reading the coding correctly insofar as this only functions with the default postbit, not postbit legacy?

Correct, the auto-template feature (currently) only modifies postbit, and not postbit_legacy. Edits would need to be made manually.

I'll include postbit in the auto-template edits in a quick update.

Originally Posted by Hugo Holbling

I agree and think it would be better to replace the postbit text with an icon.

I'm a programmer, not a designer. Plus, there are so many different styles out there -- finding an icon that goes well with all of them is a futile task. Hence, text.

I'll have an update with a few customization options. To choose between text or a user-specified icon, postbit or postbit legacy, etc.

[imedic]

Great idea for a mod. I never have enough moderators tools to make my life easier .

I am too looking forward for a postbit legacy version.

[Hugo Holbling]

Great, thanks magnus. Looking forward to the update and the ability to choose postbit legacy.

[ericgtr]

Originally Posted by imedic

Great idea for a mod. I never have enough moderators tools to make my life easier .

I am too looking forward for a postbit legacy version.

Originally Posted by Hugo Holbling

Great, thanks magnus. Looking forward to the update and the ability to choose postbit legacy.

Thirded.

Installed though.

[SoloX]

I changed postbit to postbit_legacy in the following code to make it work for legacy!

PHP Code:

<phpcode><![CDATA[if(isset($vbulletin->templatecache['postbit_legacy']))
{
    $find = '<strong>$post[postcount]</strong></a> &nbsp;") : (""))."';

    $replace = '<strong>$post[postcount]</strong></a> &nbsp;") : (""))."
        ".((can_moderate($thread[\'forumid\'], \'canmoderateposts\')) ? ("
            ".((!$post[disemvowel]) ? ("[&nbsp;<a href=\"disemvowelpost.php?do=disemvowel&p=$post[postid]\" name=\"vB::Disemvowel::$post[postid]\">$vbphrase[disemvowel]</a>&nbsp;]") : ("[&nbsp;<a href=\"disemvowelpost.php?do=revowel&p=$post[postid]\" name=\"vB::Revowel::$post[postid]\">$vbphrase[revowel]</a>&nbsp;]"))."
        ") : (""))."';

    $vbulletin->templatecache['postbit_legacy'] = str_replace($find, $replace, $vbulletin->templatecache['postbit_legacy']);

    $find = '<!-- message -->';

    $replace = '".(($post[disemvowel]) ? ("
            <div align=\"center\" style=\"color: red; background-color: white; border: 1px solid black; padding:2px\">
                $vbphrase[this_post_has_been_disemvoweled]
            </div>
        ") : (""))."
        <!-- message -->';

    $vbulletin->templatecache['postbit_legacy'] = str_replace($find, $replace, $vbulletin->templatecache['postbit_legacy']);
}]]></phpcode> 


[ericgtr]

Originally Posted by SoloX

I changed postbit to postbit_legacy in the following code to make it work for legacy!

PHP Code:

<phpcode><![CDATA[if(isset($vbulletin->templatecache['postbit_legacy']))
{
    $find = '<strong>$post[postcount]</strong></a> &nbsp;") : (""))."';

    $replace = '<strong>$post[postcount]</strong></a> &nbsp;") : (""))."
        ".((can_moderate($thread[\'forumid\'], \'canmoderateposts\')) ? ("
            ".((!$post[disemvowel]) ? ("[&nbsp;<a href=\"disemvowelpost.php?do=disemvowel&p=$post[postid]\" name=\"vB::Disemvowel::$post[postid]\">$vbphrase[disemvowel]</a>&nbsp;]") : ("[&nbsp;<a href=\"disemvowelpost.php?do=revowel&p=$post[postid]\" name=\"vB::Revowel::$post[postid]\">$vbphrase[revowel]</a>&nbsp;]"))."
        ") : (""))."';

    $vbulletin->templatecache['postbit_legacy'] = str_replace($find, $replace, $vbulletin->templatecache['postbit_legacy']);

    $find = '<!-- message -->';

    $replace = '".(($post[disemvowel]) ? ("
            <div align=\"center\" style=\"color: red; background-color: white; border: 1px solid black; padding:2px\">
                $vbphrase[this_post_has_been_disemvoweled]
            </div>
        ") : (""))."
        <!-- message -->';

    $vbulletin->templatecache['postbit_legacy'] = str_replace($find, $replace, $vbulletin->templatecache['postbit_legacy']);
}]]></phpcode> 


Didn't work for me. This isn't too hard to figure out but it has to be picked apart so I'll do it when I get home and if magnus doesn't have it up by then I will share it. Many people use legacy so I am surprised it's not added.

[imedic]

Unfortunately does not work.
If I copy paste your code it gives error on product upload. I have manually replace it and still no luck to see the link in postbit.

[magnus]

The above code has been wrapped in <phpcode><![CDATA[ ... ]]></phpcode> tags. Those will need to be removed.

Anyway, I have postbit_legacy support finished .. I had intended to finish the other features before releasing, but since the demand is there, I'll release the minor changes. I'll have it posted tomorrow morning (the code is on my work machine).

[magnus]

As promised, I made v1.1.1 available which will detect which postbit layout you're using and modify accordingly. Nothing else has changed.

[Hugo Holbling]

Thanks, magnus - much appreciated. It works great.

I'll try to figure out how to replace the text (Disemvowel/Revowel) with icons; I suggest the famfamfam font_delete and font_add silk icons would work nicely.