Mute/Kick/Ban Offensive members off of Shoutbox

[Tohsaka Rin]

Due to the recent decision that Proboards has made to take a chat box under their wing, and develop it for their sites, I was surprised to see that there is no ability to control the members in the box.

Sure, there is the fact that if they are members on your site you can give them warnings or give them bans, but that doesn't really stop them from being in the box as guests; or even keep offensive things like bots and guests off the box with any ability of moderation.

I am whole-fully fine with being unable to see the IP addresses in the box, as you can actually just click the name of the person and (if they are registered) you can see their IP through the security log.

These are things, that in my rite feel are necessary for any chat box to support, as I have worked as an IRC-Op for many, many, years.

• Mute:
  

- The ability in which to "mute" a user from sending text across the shoutbox so long as they remain on the list.

---- There are a few ways to regulate this.

1. Mute List: Probably the most simple thing to do. Create a pop-out box in which shows the user's name, the icons for "muted" and "banned" as well as the inclusion of a (discrete) IP listing to show who is on what list and remove them after action has been taken.
   1. (Discrete) IP listing: The lists should contain "users name" as well as the simple 1.0.0.xxx IP so you can cross-reference with security logs, banlist, or to see if there have been multiple names under the same IP that have been included in mutes and bans.
      
   
   
2. Have mutes last x amount of time as set by an admin/moderator in the Proboards>Admin>Security>Shoutbox area inclusion.
   

• Kick:
  

- The ability in which to "kick" a user from a shoutbox.

---- There are a few ways to do this.

1. Auto-Kick: Kick a user whom has sent x amount of messages over x amount of time. (Easily dissuades things like bots.)
   
2. Kick Timer (Auto): Once a user is kicked, they cannot return for x amount of time as set up within Proboards.
   
3. Kick Timer (Manual): Once a user is kicked, they cannot return for x amount of time as designated by an admin or moderator. Proboards>Admin>Security>Shoutbox area inclusion.
   

• Ban:
  

- The ability in which to "ban" a user from a shoutbox; both guest and member.

1. Ban Timer (Auto): Once a user is banned, they cannot use the chatbox (as guest or member) for x amount of time as designated within Proboards>Admin>Security>Shoutbox (until they are removed from the list.)
   1. Timed Ban: A ban which lasts x amount of time as designated by an admin or mod.
      
   2. Infinite Ban: Never expires, unless removed from the list.
      
   
   

• Banlist (inclusion): Any member, email, or IP address listed within Proboard's security feature should automatically reflect in the chat box.
  
  1. If x member was banned from the forum for violating TOS, they are automatically unable to use the shoutbox as any user name or guest so long as they remain on that list.
     
  
  
• Security Log (inclusion): Any action taken on the chat box, "mutes", "kicks" or "bans" should be included in the security logs.
  
• Moderators: You should be able to set up "moderators" to the chat box by designating which group ranks you want to have those privileges.
  

---

The "Mute", "Kick" and "Ban" icons should show up along the "edit" area or an area that is simple to use.

This should be something "standard" amongst any sort of chatbox and is a good start of being able to regulate it without violation by bots, crawlers, and bad members/guests.

Merely having the shoutbox be "unusable" by guests does not really show that you are willing to answer questions to potential members who (should not be punished) over something one or few other users did to force you to block the chat from being viewed by non-registered users.

The problem really just stems from bots/crawlers and those whom have been removed from the site for whatever purpose.

[Earlier thread before request.]

[RedBassett]

This has been suggested, however since the chatbox is now part of the forum, it should be handled the same way as the rest of the forum through warnings, account disabling, and banning.

[flyoffacliff]

Dec 9, 2012 15:32:34 GMT -8 Tohsaka Rin said:

Due to the recent decision that Proboards has made to take a chat box under their wing, and develop it for their sites, I was surprised to see that there is no ability to control the members in the box.

Sure, there is the fact that if they are members on your site you can give them warnings or give them bans, but that doesn't really stop them from being in the box as guests; or even keep offensive things like bots and guests off the box with any ability of moderation.

I am whole-fully fine with being unable to see the IP addresses in the box, as you can actually just click the name of the person and (if they are registered) you can see their IP through the security log.

These are things, that in my rite feel are necessary for any chat box to support, as I have worked as an IRC-Op for many, many, years.

• Mute:
  

- The ability in which to "mute" a user from sending text across the shoutbox so long as they remain on the list.

---- There are a few ways to regulate this.

1. Mute List: Probably the most simple thing to do. Create a pop-out box in which shows the user's name, the icons for "muted" and "banned" as well as the inclusion of a (discrete) IP listing to show who is on what list and remove them after action has been taken.
   1. (Discrete) IP listing: The lists should contain "users name" as well as the simple 1.0.0.xxx IP so you can cross-reference with security logs, banlist, or to see if there have been multiple names under the same IP that have been included in mutes and bans.
      
   
   
2. Have mutes last x amount of time as set by an admin/moderator in the Proboards>Admin>Security>Shoutbox area inclusion.
   

• Kick:
  

- The ability in which to "kick" a user from a shoutbox.

---- There are a few ways to do this.

1. Auto-Kick: Kick a user whom has sent x amount of messages over x amount of time. (Easily dissuades things like bots.)
   
2. Kick Timer (Auto): Once a user is kicked, they cannot return for x amount of time as set up within Proboards.
   
3. Kick Timer (Manual): Once a user is kicked, they cannot return for x amount of time as designated by an admin or moderator. Proboards>Admin>Security>Shoutbox area inclusion.
   

• Ban:
  

- The ability in which to "ban" a user from a shoutbox; both guest and member.

1. Ban Timer (Auto): Once a user is banned, they cannot use the chatbox (as guest or member) for x amount of time as designated within Proboards>Admin>Security>Shoutbox (until they are removed from the list.)
   1. Timed Ban: A ban which lasts x amount of time as designated by an admin or mod.
      
   2. Infinite Ban: Never expires, unless removed from the list.
      
   
   

• Banlist (inclusion): Any member, email, or IP address listed within Proboard's security feature should automatically reflect in the chat box.
  
  1. If x member was banned from the forum for violating TOS, they are automatically unable to use the shoutbox as any user name or guest so long as they remain on that list.
     
  
  
• Security Log (inclusion): Any action taken on the chat box, "mutes", "kicks" or "bans" should be included in the security logs.
  
• Moderators: You should be able to set up "moderators" to the chat box by designating which group ranks you want to have those privileges.
  

---

The "Mute", "Kick" and "Ban" icons should show up along the "edit" area or an area that is simple to use.

This should be something "standard" amongst any sort of chatbox and is a good start of being able to regulate it without violation by bots, crawlers, and bad members/guests.

Merely having the shoutbox be "unusable" by guests does not really show that you are willing to answer questions to potential members who (should not be punished) over something one or few other users did to force you to block the chat from being viewed by non-registered users.

The problem really just stems from bots/crawlers and those whom have been removed from the site for whatever purpose.

[Earlier thread before request.]

I agree with most of this. We do need more shout-box control. But what is the difference between kicking and banning?

[Thesealion]

After a kick someone can come back It's like a warning and it will often stop bots

[Tohsaka Rin]

Dec 9, 2012 17:47:13 GMT -8 RedBassett said:

This has been suggested, however since the chatbox is now part of the forum, it should be handled the same way as the rest of the forum through warnings, account disabling, and banning.

That does not stop bots, guests, script crawlers nor provide actual security logs for stuff you do not want on your shout box that not only violates each forum's own specific (personal) TOS but also the TOS of Proboards itself.

Think about it like this:

- A bot comes on posting smut links; your site is browsed by a Proboards admin and you are given warnings that your site is violating their TOS and you can loose your site.

How was it your fault? You had no way to remove the offensive scripted messages, images, or anything like that from what obviously is a "3rd party attack" that did not come from your members?

See why the shoutbox needs a little more security?

Again, its not just for members, its for guests, bots, crawlers and anything else that you cannot control. You can only control yourself, and the ability of where the box is located and/or if it is viewed by members or guests. Doing this won't solve the larger issue of moderating the box itself with the ability of providing security logs to back up what you might need to send to Proboards later about intrusions!

[RedBassett]

I still don't see why you would want to ban a bot from your shoutbox but not your forum.

[Thesealion]

Can guests post on the shoutbox?

[RedBassett]

Dec 9, 2012 19:56:59 GMT -8 Thesealion said:

Can guests post on the shoutbox?

That is a forum setting.

[Ryan Roos]

First. Nearly every concern I have read can be addressed by a single setting. Disable Guest posting. That just solved 80% of what I read above.

Second. You can in fact delete posts from the shoutbox if you have the power from anywhere. You can also ban members directly from the shout if you are viewing the shoutbox in the admin area.

Third. We don't seek out and delete forums for a single bad post (or shout) made by a single member. This is a false concern.

Fourth. We already have planned updates to make the shoutbox better. Many features have been requested and we have added them to our future features list for future v5.x updates. Many of your ideas or similar are on that list already.

Lastly. You can still install another chat system (with the features you want) into your forum if you aren't happy with ours. However as pointed out by RedBassett why would you want to moderate a chat separately from your forum? A spammer (bot) could just as easily spam your forum as your chat. You may as remove them entirely. Or if they're a member punish them accordingly and have all the staff notes on the member in one account.