Hey there! Is it possible to implement a feature that allows moderators to send a post back to its author for review?
For example, when in a moderated forum, if a user creates a post and that post has some minor inappropriate things and either deleting it is too much of a measure or making an edit before approval might cause the post to lose its original meaning thus the moderators are not willing to edit it.
Also it could be that moderators can highlight the problematic bit of the post before sending back for review so the author would be more aware of the needed correction.
This is especially useful for large forums that are run by or focused to businesses, enterprises and/or government subjects that needs a formal language to be present but sometimes a few inappropriate behavior are shot as words here and there inside posts.
AI-generated summary
Send moderated post back to author for review
The discussion revolves around implementing a feature to send posts back to authors for review, particularly in moderated forums. ggurbet proposed this feature to address minor issues in posts without deleting or editing them, allowing authors to correct the content while maintaining its original meaning.
Mittineague suggested temporarily unlisting the topic or moving it to a message, posting a reply addressing concerns, and then deleting the back-and-forth posts. codinghorror recommended flagging the post as a moderator, which hides the post and sends a PM to the user inviting them to edit it.
ggurbet thanked the users for their suggestions and plans to try them out. Mittineague added a note about the “move to message” approach, warning that the post will go to the default “Uncategorized” category when moved back to public view, and suggesting to keep a note of the original category.
You could try temporarily Unlisting the topic or moving it to a Message. Post a reply addressing your concerns, Then once to your satisfaction delete any back and forth posts and relist / move back to a public category.
For the most part Unlisted is not discoverable, but if a link to it is followed it could get replies whereas a message could not.
It is a bit invasive, but you can flag a post as a moderator using the Take Action button, and that will simultaneously hide the post, and send a PM to the user inviting them to edit their post to have it unhide.
@Mittineague @codinghorror Thank you for the suggestions. These seem like good solutions. I will try to use them and see how things work out on our case.
One thing to keep in mind if you go the move to message approach. When moving a message out to public view they go to the default Uncategorized regardless of where it it had started. So you may want to keep a note of what category it should go in if you think that might be a problem.