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Moderating Message Boards

Message Boards includes features that enable effective forum moderation. This includes thread locking, thread moving and merging, user bans, and thread flagging. Users with the appropriately designated permissions are able to use these tools. See the Message Boards Permissions Reference for more information on assigning Message Boards permissions to a role. To learn more about the generic Roles and Permissions, see Roles and Permissions.

Locking Threads

Site administrators can halt activity on a thread by selecting Lock from the thread’s Actions menu. Once a thread is locked, additional responses are disallowed.

To lock a thread:

  1. Click (Actions) next to the thread to be locked.

  2. Click Lock.

    Locking a Thread

To unlock a thread:

  1. Click (Actions) next to the thread to be unlocked.
  2. Click Unlock.

The thread is now unlocked.

Moving Threads

Moderators can move threads from one category to another. To move a thread, follow these steps:

  1. Select Move from the thread’s Actions menu (Actions).

  2. Click the Select button and select the new category.

  3. To add a post explaining the move, check Add explanation post.

    Moving a Thread

  4. Click Move to move the thread.

The thread is now in the new category.

Banning Users

  1. Click on the thread that contains the user to be banned.
  2. Click the post’s Actions menu (Actions) and select Ban this User.

Banning a user

The user is now banned.

To reinstate a banned user:

  1. Navigate to the Site Administration.

  2. Click Content & DataMessage Boards. (If there is a page scope, select the scope from the scope selector.)

  3. Click the Banned Users tab.

  4. Click on Actions menu (Actions) next to the user and click Unban This User.

    Unbanning a user

This user has been reinstated.

Reviewing Flagged Threads

When a thread has been reported for possible abuse, the Message Boards app uses the Notifications widget to notify a moderator to review the thread. A red number around their icon appears around their profile icon.

Notification icon

To review flagged threads:

  1. Click your User Avatar.

  2. Click Notifications.

    Notifications widget displays message boards

  3. Click on the reply that has been reported.

Moderators have the option to delete the flagged reply. To delete a flagged reply:

  1. Click Actions (Actions)

    Deleting a flagged reply

  2. Click Delete

  3. Click OK to confirm the deletion.

The reply is now deleted.