Admin/moderation features complete
KeskusteluNew features
Liity LibraryThingin jäseneksi, niin voit kirjoittaa viestin.
1timspalding
Okay, as of now, I think the admin/moderation features for LibraryThing groups are complete, or close to complete.
The basic move here is to give groups admins more useful features, and to allow for more extensive moderation. The net result is to give groups a degree of admin involvement, independence and autonomy not previously available.
Some of these features are around promotion. Others concern moderation. LibraryThing has sometimes struggled laying down rules that can apply to every group. By and large there has been little need for strong policing—the only group to have administrative powers before used them only once, to ban a particularly quarrelsome member. But there are legitimate concerns about both offensive and disruptive behavior. Such concerns are often about context—certain behaviors or topics are acceptable in one context and unacceptable in another. So it makes sense to let the group, through its admins, do their own policing.
The rest of this post lays out the features as they currently exist:
Every group admin has the following features available to them:
1. Admins can pin topics in talk. Pinned topics look like this:
Pinning is effected on the topics like this:
2. Admins can do various things to messages, under "Admin Actions" for each message.
3. For your own messages, you can mark them as "A Message From Your Group Admin," in other words as "official." This feature is designed to help admins indicate when they are speaking ex cathedra and when not. For example, admins may wish to use it to inform members when it's time to cool down, or warn that something risks getting people banned from the group.
4. For others people's message, you can mark them as:
Hidden messages are hidden, but available to be inspected with a click. Removed messages are truly removed.
5. Members who admin a group get a "Groups You Admin" link on your main groups page, like this:
Groups You Admin, shows all the groups you admin. If you don't admin any, it will be blank.
6. "Groups You Admin" show you all your groups, and alerts you to groups that have gained members since you last checked.
These notifications are NOT treated as comments. They do not bother your profile and are not emailed to you.
7. The "Groups You Admin" page is also where you approve membeship in truly "closed" groups--groups that require members to request to join. These groups are rare, and most people don't need to worry about them. If, however, you are itching to start a truly private group with two LibraryThing friends, this is where you'll approve their membership.
8. When you're the admin of a group, you get a special "Administer" page for it.
9. The "Administer" page for a group allows includes a list of all members and when they joined. It also includes two basic options:
Which expands to a full list of options:
These buttons do as follows:
Edit Group. Change the group description and other options, like language or whether non-members can post.
Add an Admin. All admins can invite other members to become admins for the group. If some agrees, they can help you out. There is no "super-admin" above all admins.
Open to Admin Applications. If you choose this, the group gets a notice like this, and members can apply to join the group.
Remove Member. This removes a member from the group. The button is only present if it's going to do anything--that is, if the group requires membership approval.
Ban Member. Group admins can ban a member from posting. (And if they ban someone they can un-ban them.)
We hope this feature is rarely used, and we hope it is used fairly, adhering to a posted policy, where possible. But we are making it an unlimited power. If members dislike the admin's decisions, they are free to start their own group. Having LibraryThing staff over these decisions is simply not workable.
Although admins can now remove and ban, we urge them to pass serious problems onto staff. Banning a spammer or someone who violates another TOS rule, like the one against personal insults, may help the group, but it will not help the site. Bad actors are likely to just hit another group. So flagging and reporting are still worthwhile.
Resign as Admin. Does what it says.
Delete Group. Does what it says, but is only available for smaller and less active groups. If you need to delete a group with many members, contact staff. We reserve the right to transfer such groups to another willing admin.
Other features under consideration:
Lastly, we are considering some other features, such as providing some way for admins to close topics, or mark them as resolved. But this is where we are now.
10. UPDATE: Admins can now change topic titles.
Example: https://www.librarything.com/topic/329081
Group Admins have this option on all topics.
The basic move here is to give groups admins more useful features, and to allow for more extensive moderation. The net result is to give groups a degree of admin involvement, independence and autonomy not previously available.
Some of these features are around promotion. Others concern moderation. LibraryThing has sometimes struggled laying down rules that can apply to every group. By and large there has been little need for strong policing—the only group to have administrative powers before used them only once, to ban a particularly quarrelsome member. But there are legitimate concerns about both offensive and disruptive behavior. Such concerns are often about context—certain behaviors or topics are acceptable in one context and unacceptable in another. So it makes sense to let the group, through its admins, do their own policing.
The rest of this post lays out the features as they currently exist:
Every group admin has the following features available to them:
1. Admins can pin topics in talk. Pinned topics look like this:
Pinning is effected on the topics like this:
2. Admins can do various things to messages, under "Admin Actions" for each message.
3. For your own messages, you can mark them as "A Message From Your Group Admin," in other words as "official." This feature is designed to help admins indicate when they are speaking ex cathedra and when not. For example, admins may wish to use it to inform members when it's time to cool down, or warn that something risks getting people banned from the group.
4. For others people's message, you can mark them as:
Hidden messages are hidden, but available to be inspected with a click. Removed messages are truly removed.
5. Members who admin a group get a "Groups You Admin" link on your main groups page, like this:
Groups You Admin, shows all the groups you admin. If you don't admin any, it will be blank.
6. "Groups You Admin" show you all your groups, and alerts you to groups that have gained members since you last checked.
These notifications are NOT treated as comments. They do not bother your profile and are not emailed to you.
7. The "Groups You Admin" page is also where you approve membeship in truly "closed" groups--groups that require members to request to join. These groups are rare, and most people don't need to worry about them. If, however, you are itching to start a truly private group with two LibraryThing friends, this is where you'll approve their membership.
8. When you're the admin of a group, you get a special "Administer" page for it.
9. The "Administer" page for a group allows includes a list of all members and when they joined. It also includes two basic options:
Which expands to a full list of options:
These buttons do as follows:
Edit Group. Change the group description and other options, like language or whether non-members can post.
Add an Admin. All admins can invite other members to become admins for the group. If some agrees, they can help you out. There is no "super-admin" above all admins.
Open to Admin Applications. If you choose this, the group gets a notice like this, and members can apply to join the group.
Remove Member. This removes a member from the group. The button is only present if it's going to do anything--that is, if the group requires membership approval.
Ban Member. Group admins can ban a member from posting. (And if they ban someone they can un-ban them.)
We hope this feature is rarely used, and we hope it is used fairly, adhering to a posted policy, where possible. But we are making it an unlimited power. If members dislike the admin's decisions, they are free to start their own group. Having LibraryThing staff over these decisions is simply not workable.
Although admins can now remove and ban, we urge them to pass serious problems onto staff. Banning a spammer or someone who violates another TOS rule, like the one against personal insults, may help the group, but it will not help the site. Bad actors are likely to just hit another group. So flagging and reporting are still worthwhile.
Resign as Admin. Does what it says.
Delete Group. Does what it says, but is only available for smaller and less active groups. If you need to delete a group with many members, contact staff. We reserve the right to transfer such groups to another willing admin.
Other features under consideration:
10. UPDATE: Admins can now change topic titles.
Example: https://www.librarything.com/topic/329081
Group Admins have this option on all topics.
2PawsforThought
Is the "ex cathedra" feature live? Because I can't post messages as being from the administrator in the group I admin.
3SandraArdnas
Looks good.
Does that finish the group overhaul and what comes next then?
Does that finish the group overhaul and what comes next then?
4MarthaJeanne
>2 PawsforThought: I don't see that either.
5thorold
>2 PawsforThought: >4 MarthaJeanne: I didn’t see it when I posted a test message earlier today, but it seems to have appeared now under “More” | “Admin features” at the bottom of the message.
6PawsforThought
>5 thorold: Yeah, it seems to be there now, but not immediately after posting - I had to update the page before it appeared.
8lorax
anglemark (#7):
Can you unban a member?
Tim says in his original post
Ban Member. Group admins can ban a member from posting. (And if they ban someone they can un-ban them.)
I see the post was edited, so perhaps that parenthetical wasn't there when you asked.
Can you unban a member?
Tim says in his original post
Ban Member. Group admins can ban a member from posting. (And if they ban someone they can un-ban them.)
I see the post was edited, so perhaps that parenthetical wasn't there when you asked.
10PawsforThought
>8 lorax: The note about being able to un-ban was there when I posted my message, if that's any help.
11timspalding
>6 PawsforThought: Oh, interesting. I could see why that's so. I'll look into it, but… irritating!
12melannen
This looks great, thanks!
Ability to close a thread to new posts while leaving it visible would also be helpful, agreed, but I like what you worked out so far.
Ability to close a thread to new posts while leaving it visible would also be helpful, agreed, but I like what you worked out so far.
14anglemark
If I try to ban someone who isn't a member from posting in a closed group, the result is a message saying the member is now banned, and on the Admin page an entry is created in the Banned members table for a member called 'error'.
15cpg
>14 anglemark:
Any member called "error" is just asking for trouble. Although, I guess it's better than "Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--".
Any member called "error" is just asking for trouble. Although, I guess it's better than "Robert'); DROP TABLE Students;--".
18timspalding
Okay, admins can now change topic titles.
Example: https://www.librarything.com/topic/329081
Group Admins have this option on all topics.
Example: https://www.librarything.com/topic/329081
Group Admins have this option on all topics.
19amanda4242
>18 timspalding: Thanks!
20LyndaInOregon
WHAT IN THE H** HAVE YOU DONE TO THE "GROUPS" LINKS?
When I click on "What Are You Reading Now?" under "My Groups", I get a listing of topics with hundreds of subject lines. The only way I can quickly find "What Are You Reading the Week of ____" is to search for "2021" -- but eventually, that's also going to bring up dozens of topics.
It reverted to the old style briefly, a couple weeks ago, but is now back in this massive dogpile.
Please put it back! I'm not interested in wading through topics with 400, 500, or 600 posts, dating back two years and more.
When I click on "What Are You Reading Now?" under "My Groups", I get a listing of topics with hundreds of subject lines. The only way I can quickly find "What Are You Reading the Week of ____" is to search for "2021" -- but eventually, that's also going to bring up dozens of topics.
It reverted to the old style briefly, a couple weeks ago, but is now back in this massive dogpile.
Please put it back! I'm not interested in wading through topics with 400, 500, or 600 posts, dating back two years and more.
21MarthaJeanne
>20 LyndaInOregon: You are totally off topic. But click on 'Last Message' at the top of talk.
24Karlstar
I ran into a situation just now, it is probably one of those things where I don't understand the admin features. A user posted in the pinned 'Welcome New Members' thread in the Science Fiction Fans group. That user was then removed as spam. I tried both removing and hiding that post, but it won't go away. Is that not possible?
25SandraArdnas
>24 Karlstar: Sounds like a bug
26kristilabrie
>24 Karlstar: >25 SandraArdnas: Not a bug. "Removed" will remove the message entirely (whereas "Hidden" will hide it with the option to show), but the actual post and post number must remain for reference's sake. Particularly if someone were to tag post 7, and then post 7 was removed, post 7 wouldn't be post 7 anymore. All this to say: the removed post looks okay in your Science Fiction Fans group! Hope this helps.
27SandraArdnas
>26 kristilabrie: Ah, sorry, I misunderstood, thought that the post is completely visible and cannot be hidden after the member is removed for spam
28Karlstar
>26 kristilabrie: Thanks for the explanation.
29Drystol
Hey, when do we get news on the form? I filled it out a bit ago and another person in my group said that they also filled it out a few months ago. I apologize if you're busy.
30kristilabrie
>29 Drystol: Can you clarify your question a bit? What form are you talking about, exactly? What news are you looking for? I should be able to give you some info with some specifics, thanks in advance!
31Drystol
>30 kristilabrie: I was talking about the form to apply for admin. The group we are in doesn't have any admins yet so we've been trying to get some set up. https://www.librarything.com/ngroups/7179/Manga-and-Anime-Addicts
That is the link to the group
That is the link to the group
32darrylheath3 
Tämä käyttäjä on poistettu roskaamisen vuoksi.
33norabelle414
>30 kristilabrie: In January 2021 a request was put out for people to apply to administer groups that did not have an active admin. As of July, no admin had been appointed for those groups even though they had many applicants. As far as I can tell nothing has happened since then.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/328882#7545209
https://www.librarything.com/topic/328882#7545209
34kristilabrie
>31 Drystol: >33 norabelle414: Got it, thanks. I'm guessing when we changed over staff this ball got dropped. I'll look into it and report back.
35Drystol
>34 kristilabrie: Ok thank you
36clamairy
>35 Drystol: Do you really think you're mature enough to be an admin after posting random vulgarity in other groups?
37Drystol
>36 clamairy: What do you mean? Can you send a link?
40lilithcat
>37 Drystol:
And this: https://www.librarything.com/topic/339047#7764362
Posting nonsense in other groups, even after you have been told that it's inappropriate, suggests that you do not have the ability to moderate a group.
And this: https://www.librarything.com/topic/339047#7764362
Posting nonsense in other groups, even after you have been told that it's inappropriate, suggests that you do not have the ability to moderate a group.
42clamairy
>41 Drystol: It sounds as though you're admitting that the only reason you want admin powers is so you can kick someone else out of that group.
44clamairy
>43 lilithcat: Exactly. And I noticed no apologies for the initial post...
45clamairy
Well now he's deleted both comments. LOL Luckily one of the admins posted a screenshot of that first one.
46norabelle414
>45 clamairy: Is deleting inappropriate comments not exactly what someone is supposed to do?
47clamairy
>46 norabelle414: Yes, if one is doing it for the right reason. In this case I highly doubt it.
482wonderY
Question! I created a group for a class project. I was able to add the proper members, and even started a couple of topics. But I can’t SEE the messages. Other members can, but I don’t see them on the group page or my Talk feed. What am I doing wrong?
49clamairy
>48 2wonderY: It's a glitch. The same thing happened to me when I created a private group for the admins of the Dragon. I had to leave the group and have someone re-add me, and then I could see everything. Very weird!
502wonderY
>49 clamairy: So… appoint another admin and then quit?
51clamairy
>50 2wonderY: Well I had made everyone in the group an admin, so it was easier. But yes, that will work. I assume this is only a problem with Private groups.
52AnnieMod
>49 clamairy: I think that if you just wait, it clears itself in a few hours.
54clamairy
>53 MrAndrew: Of course! Rebooted the phone, cleared the cache, yada yada...
57aspirit
Can we delete a topic? I'm not seeing a way to do that with the current Admin tools, but I'm not sure I'm looking at them all.
58kristilabrie
>57 aspirit: You can remove or hide individual messages, but not entire topics.
59aspirit
>58 kristilabrie: Got it.
When duplicates created on my side, I'll continue editing the topic into a new topic. (ETA: And when duplicates are created by others...? We'll figure it out. This seems to be happening frequently more, though.)
For an out-of-control topic that has grown too large to moderate... I guess there isn't anything the admins can do. Unless the LT team can delete one?
When duplicates created on my side, I'll continue editing the topic into a new topic. (ETA: And when duplicates are created by others...? We'll figure it out. This seems to be happening frequently more, though.)
For an out-of-control topic that has grown too large to moderate... I guess there isn't anything the admins can do. Unless the LT team can delete one?
60norabelle414
>59 aspirit: For the too-long topic, maybe edit the topic name to something like "Closed - do not post" and see if that deters people?
61kristilabrie
>59 aspirit: I'm not sure why we would delete a thread unless it's straight up spam or outside of our TOS. I think do what you can, as the group admin, and leave it at that. If there's something larger to deal with, please do let us know.
62lilithcat
>59 aspirit:
And when duplicates are created by others...?
As the moderator, you can edit the topic to a new one even is someone else created it. (Obviously, you wouldn't do that if there were posts in both, and you might drop a comment to the OP about it.)
For an out-of-control topic that has grown too large to moderate
In addition to what >60 norabelle414: says, you can also continue it in another topic.
And when duplicates are created by others...?
As the moderator, you can edit the topic to a new one even is someone else created it. (Obviously, you wouldn't do that if there were posts in both, and you might drop a comment to the OP about it.)
For an out-of-control topic that has grown too large to moderate
In addition to what >60 norabelle414: says, you can also continue it in another topic.
63aspirit
If you are an admin to any group and can open the thread linked below, I'd be happy to consider inviting you to admin the Manga and Anime Addicts group long enough for you to change the topic title, check for site TOS abuse, and perhaps post another reminder that there should be no new posts there.
https://www.librarything.com/topic/179761
https://www.librarything.com/topic/179761
64aspirit
>61 kristilabrie: The thread is impossible to moderate at this point. New admins were chosen too late to get it under control, and the last I saw, members who continue to post were delighted about its state.
65gilroy
>63 aspirit: Is that the monster thread that's over 3300 posts that even on an i9 processor with a decent bandwidth takes almost 5 minutes to load?
66Covid_Karin
>65 gilroy: I'm the other admin and yes it is. It's causing people computers to burn up or just completely stop. We were thinking of a way for users to no longer use it.
68amanda4242
>66 Covid_Karin: It's a radical option, but you could ban members who continue to post in that thread. I'd change the title to something like "closed thread: new posters will be banned from group" and post an official warning message in the thread.
69norabelle414
>63 aspirit: I can. I sent you a PM
70wcarter
Is the trading of books on LT permitted?
Please check posts 1, 7, 11, 13, 15 and 30 on this thread
https://www.librarything.com/topic/309592
Thanks
Please check posts 1, 7, 11, 13, 15 and 30 on this thread
https://www.librarything.com/topic/309592
Thanks
71anglemark
>70 wcarter: I think it is a longstanding thing in the Special Press groups.
72gilroy
>70 wcarter: Those types of groups (the special press groups) all allow trading and sales in their groups. Nothing wrong with the posts.
73wcarter
Can someone please explain to a simple minded administrator how to mark a message as a "A Message From Your Group Admin".
74aspirit
>73 wcarter: Post your message first. Then you might need to refresh the page. After that, select "More" beneath your new post to see/hear "Admin Actions".
75MarthaJeanne
>74 aspirit: Thank you for that, I couldn't find it.
76aspirit
>75 MarthaJeanne: You're welcome!
77wcarter
>74 aspirit:
Thank you from me too!
Thank you from me too!
78John5918
Yes, me too. I usually manage to do it by trying lots of different options until I finally find the correct one, but by the next time I've forgotten which option worked and have to start from scratch again!
80John5918
Apologies if this has already been asked/answered, but as Group Admin of a group which has members-only posting, can I ban members of the group from posting in that group, or alternatively remove them as members?
I know I can approve/dismiss people who apply to join the group, but once somebody is already a member, or once I have initially approved their membership, do I have the option of removing them?
I know I can approve/dismiss people who apply to join the group, but once somebody is already a member, or once I have initially approved their membership, do I have the option of removing them?
81kristilabrie
>80 John5918: Yes, if you go to the "Administer" page for your Group then click "More" next to the "Add an Admin" button, you should find buttons to both remove and/or ban a member.
