Force post approval for specific users only?

[haydenjames]

I’m looking for a way to require manual approval for all future posts from a specific user (or a small set of users), without changing their trust level or moving them into a different group.

The goal is to essentially “flag” certain users so that every post they make goes into the moderation queue until a staff member approves it, and then be able to toggle that behavior off later if needed.

Is there a built-in way to do this per-user? Or would this require a plugin or custom solution?

[chapoi]

No built-in way.

Could take a look at this maybe Force specific users through moderation

[haydenjames]

Thanks. I noticed the plugin hasn’t been updated in about 7 years, so I’m a bit hesitant to install it.

In the meantime, what’s the recommended setting to require approval for all new users (TL0)? I’d like every post from new members to go into the moderation queue until approved by staff.

Which site setting(s) control this?

I think I found it, yes?:

Edit 2:

I’m a bit confused by these settings:

Do I need to remove “trust_level_0” from these two settings? The wording has my head in a spin/over my head.

Edit 3:

Also any additional reading/documentation on this setting? (what are “staged” users?):

[Moin]

I wrote this overview a while back:

Configuring automatic post review triggers

This guide explains the various settings and options for requiring post approval in Discourse. You’ll learn how these settings interact and best practices for implementation. Summary Requiring approval for posts can be beneficial in several scenarios, such as: Preventing spam and inappropriate content Maintaining quality control in professional or academic forums Moderating discussions in sensitive or controversial topics Managing communities with strict content guidelines Discourse offers s…

Staged users are users created when a user posted via email but didn’t sign up. This usually happens through email-in (you can also create one by sending a PM to an email address).

[haydenjames]

Thanks.

Is this the better approach than setting an Approve post count #?:

[Moin]

I think I’d use the group-based approval setting and Discourse Dynamic Groups.

You create a group of users whose posts should always require approval - e.g. watched_users.
Then you create a dynamic group with all users of the trust-level-0 group^[1] but without the members of watched_users and name that group, for example, trusted_users.
Adding that group to the approve unless... settings should result in posts of watched_users requiring approval without limiting other users.

Of course, you could also use, for example, the tl1 group, but not watched_users, if you also want new users to require approval. But since invited users often start with TL1, the setting for the fixed number of posts that need approval is more reliable to track activity of new users.

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1. everyone who signed up ↩︎

[haydenjames]

Thanks! That said, the current setting I have (in most recent above screenshot) will require new posts/topics by TL0 members to be approved first correct?