The discussion centers on a feature request by Zeemah to allow moderators to view user replies to “revise post” private messages. Currently, when a post requires revision, the system sends a PM instructing the user to reply to it for clarification. However, replies often go unanswered because the message is not automatically copied to the moderation team. Zeemah argues that enabling this visibility would foster better communication, allowing mods to address valid counter-arguments or explain rejection reasons more effectively.
Firepup650 suggests a workaround by adding moderators to the site contact group name setting, but Zeemah dismisses this as insufficient, particularly for category-specific moderation groups. The group proposes a logic where the moderators group and the relevant category moderation group are automatically added to the PM.
Lilly and Heliosurge argue against replying to system-generated emails, suggesting instead that the template should include a link to contact moderators or clearly mark the message as automated to prevent confusion and potential toxicity. Zeemah counters that replying is more user-friendly, especially for low-trust users who may be restricted from creating new PMs.
JammyDodger confirms that the current UI explicitly suggests replying to the PM, making the lack of moderator visibility problematic. md-misko agrees, noting that the text “reply to this message” is misleading if no one is monitoring the thread. flarsric highlights that this limitation causes them to avoid using the automated revision feature entirely. Finally, Moin clarifies that the “reply to this message” instruction only appears if a site contact group is configured, linking to a related meta topic discussing this behavior.
I think it would be great for moderators to be able to see replies made by users to their “revise post” PMs.
This could be specifically helpful to allow further insight and conversation into why exactly their post was rejected and requires revision. We may require revision for a post, but they may reply with a valid counter argument which may decide to post the reply/topic.
Otherwise, we may be able to explain further why their post is not allowed and thus can help relations between moderators and users.
hmmm, I think that system emails shouldn’t be replied to and perhaps some text could be added to the email template to contact the moderators if they need to discuss.
I can understand that argument. Could the ‘sender’ of the PM not be changed so that it comes from the moderator who requests revision? Though, I suppose that can invite personal hatred/dislike towards that moderator if the user disagrees with their point.
I think it would be a lot more friendly for the user to simply just reply to the PM rather than having to create a new message to site moderators. What happens in the case where the user is less than TL2 and the site restricts users of that and below from creating PM’s?
I guess the latter seems the only viable option if you don’t intend to break practices with system PMs.
Maybe add a link to message moderators with or link to category moderators
Add notification that it is an automated message similar to Automod on Reddit.
Have system close message so no reply possible.
An alternative to closing or creating a new pm the link in the system message could be to invite moderators & link to invite category mod. An mci code could be used for the category mods similar to mci codes used in template messages.
I think we do actually suggest they reply to the PM if they have any questions so it would certainly be useful if there was someone on the other end by default.
I have plenty of cases where people reply to system messages where it is obvious that the message is not monitored, but in this case it explicitly states reply to this PM, therefore either @moderators should be added to PM automatically (this would be a logical choice, because the PM is a direct result of a moderator action), or text should be changed from “or reply to this message” to “or send PM to @moderators”
Although we frequently request revisions on queued items on our server, we never use the Request Revision feature to do it, precisely because it doesn’t cc all the mods. I don’t actually understand how the default text says “reply to this message” if the response doesn’t go to all the mods, or at a minimum, to the mod who requested the revision.
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