It is not an uncommon task that you or a moderator might need to edit a member of your community. Whether the member has uploaded an inappropriate personal photo, posted links to a competing website in their signature, or needs to be temporarily suspended so they can "cool down", managing members is a common task that moderators carry out on every community. We are happy to announce that we have improved this functionality in IP.Board 3.2.0 to make managing your members from the front end easier than before.
Some Background
In IP.Board 3.1.x, there is an "Edit Member" for those with permission on every user profile, allowing you quick access to a page where you can remove inappropriate content quickly without having to login to the ACP. On the profile as well is a link to view the member's warn logs, issue a new warning, and reduce the member's current warn level, and these same links are available on each one of the member's posts in the forums. The interesting thing we have determined through various feedback sources is that many of our customers are not even aware this functionality exists in IP.Board, because it is not obvious that you can click the + and - icons next to the user's warn level where-ever it is displayed.
IP.Board 3.1.x additionally allows administrators to leave notes on the user's account, but only through the ACP. These notes are then displayed in the warn logs along with any other warnings the member has received.
These tools are very powerful and very useful, but also very disconnected and spread about the software, while all serving the same general purpose: managing your members.
Combining The Tools
In IP.Board 3.2.x, all of these tools have combined into one easy to use page. Whether you click on the user's warn log link or the edit member link, you are taken to the same page. From this tabbed page you can do all of the same things you could previously:
- Issue a new warning (or warning reduction)
- Edit the member's profile details
- View stored warn logs and notes
- Add a new note to the member account
You will note in the list above that we have added the ability to leave a note on the member's account to the front end of IP.Board now, removing the requirement for an admin to login to the ACP to leave such notes and expanding the ability to moderators who previously had no ability to leave notes.
Through this combined tabbed interface, you can now manage all aspects of the member from one area, making it easier than ever to deal with members that need to be dealt with, without making you skip from page to page to do so. We believe that these changes will also better showcase features in IP.Board that many customers were not even aware were possible, such as banning or suspending the member from the front end interface.
Feel free to comment on this blog entry below or, if you have feedback unrelated to this blog entry, start a new topic in our feedback forum. Be sure to check the What's New in IP.Board 3.2 topic for a running list of announced changes!