Moderators on the development forum should be able to “bar” specific users from posting to a started topic if they are negatively affecting the conversation as a whole and would otherwise cause the thread to be locked by their own bad behavior.
This would save a lot of threads from being locked due to bad apples.
If the user has a problem with being barred they can take it up on the moderation disputes section of the Dev forum.
I’d suggest dealing with these “bad apples” directly, because this is starting to sound a whole lot like enabling blocking for PMs back on Kunena instead of dealing with the problem users – PM harassment stopped and they went on to cause the same trouble through a different medium. In this case, if you try to prevent them from posting on certain topics, they’ll go cause trouble elsewhere or start their own topics.
It’s pretty obvious that someone is causing trouble when they continually keep getting their posts hidden and threads they post on locked, so I think it’d be great if community moderators brought these users to the attention of the staff, who then could verify that said users were having posts hidden and threads locked and then take appropriate action.
No it’s not. These users are recognized as being a recurring problem but instead of giving them a timeout from the forums or getting rid of them altogether if they show they won’t ever contribute, you’re approaching them indirectly by trying to prevent them from posting on certain threads. Don’t tackle the symptoms – go for the root of the issue. These users are the real problem, not the threads they post on, and they need to be shown the door if they refuse to stop being a problem.
I could see both solutions used together. If the user isn’t a known nuisance and still causes a problem, then there is not really a solution to it with @EchoReaper’s solution. But if said user was to be removed from that thread through this “barring” @ROBLOX_MANNN proposed , it would prevent another locked thread that shouldn’t be locked (such as just talking about No Man’s Sky).
Another thing to add, is if the user gets a certain amount of flags in a week/month, or gets barred enough times in a longer period, then I can see taking further action, such as removal from the forums.
This way, we can get rid of not just the constant off topic posters, but all major problem posters (hopefully).
That’s my input. Might work, might not. Just a quick idea.
If you’re trying to block someone out who isn’t a recurring problem then yes barring them from the thread would be the appropriate solution. Does Discourse even allow this though?
The purpose of this is to protect threads from wrongful lock.
I want to structure this a little more.
Inherently the actions of the moderation having to bar a user from posting on threads not only protects the threads at hand, but also acts as a sort of flagging system to better gauge the validity of “directly” dealing with the “root” of the problem.
Example: Frequently barred players should be up for review in terms of their place on the forum.
My suggestion helps deal with the person directly in the sense it build up a moderation history for moderators to refer to when making direct decisions against a user AND it protects discussions. I fail to see how that is bad.
You would rather people who are constantly being flagged to just stay on the forums? Having this barring, as well as the banning(or possible warnings of banning) Echo is mentioning, would prevent a lot of these threads from being locked from all of the off topic discussions. Keeps the thread on track, makes the developer forum more mature, it’s a win win for everyone. Well, except those who are constantly flagged that is.
That really also closes off communication and artificially disallows people participating in a thread in a relevant way if the formerly made post is muted to an aspiring poster.
I have the ability to mute people on Twitter and only do it when I see someone being disgusting. Said user could be very helpful or productive but if they’re mean to me I don’t wanna see them.