Discussion replies get stuck in limbo for hours before becoming visible

[Michael A. Lowry]

I've seen this a few times over the past few months, and this morning @Joel Wiesmann reported that he has seen the same thing.

Occasionally, when I post a reply to an existing discussion, the reply appears to be accepted, but it does not appear immediately in the thread.​ Sometimes it will appear hours later, usually after I have already rewritten and successfully posted the reply I wanted to post originally. This results in lots of needless extra effort, and duplication of replies in discussion threads.

[Jason McClellan]

@Michael A. Lowry  @Joel Wiesmann-  we have created a document explaining why some posts hit moderation even after their first post has been validated.   One of the issues with the vendor platform is that when a post is flagged the offending word is not highlighted so the moderator has no idea why the post was flagged.  We have a product enhancement idea opened with the vendor to allow us to evolve our filter list removing words that are catching posts when they should not.   Most of the time, I see technical posts caught in the filter.

Lastly,  moderators work all hours depending on the product community.   I check posts in the AM and at the end of the day to catch posts that our main admins and moderators may have missed.    Also, posts created late on Friday afternoon or evening are not moderated until Monday.  Again it depends on the team.

Thx ~jm​​

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Thank you
Jason
Broadcom Community Platform Admin, IT
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[Michael A. Lowry]

Is the author given any indication when a post is in moderation limbo?
Ping @Jason McClellan

[Jason McClellan]

@Michael A. Lowry  in both scenarios where a user's post is sent to moderation there is a message posted on the page in the green banner.   It might be better as a popup so the user reacts to it.   

First Post Message

After the users, first posts, the watch words filter can be triggered, with this test post it was and here is the message to the user in green.

​

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Thank you
Jason
Broadcom Community Platform Admin, IT
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[Michael A. Lowry]

It would be preferable if the user saw his posts that were awaiting moderation, with a banner indicating that the post is awaiting moderation and thus not yet visible. It would also be preferable if the reason the post triggered moderation were disclosed.

[Michael A. Lowry]

The poor implementation of the moderation feature is leading to duplicate posts.

E.g., How to get the alias name of the parrent?

[Jason McClellan]

@Michael A. Lowry  - we are working on improving moderation for both stopping the onslaught of SPAM and making it easier for confirmed users who have a history to post faster.   That being said, behind moderation are people, and during the holidays, we are human, and there may be delays.   Thx ~jm​

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Thank you
Jason
Broadcom Community Platform Admin, IT
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[Michael A. Lowry]

I got hit by the poorly implemented moderation mechanism again today.

Last night I posted a new discussion, and this morning I wanted to make an edit to the thread so I went to the forum and tried to find it. It was nowhere to be seen, so I thought perhaps there had been a problem posting it. I always edit posts in an external editor, so I still had the original text. I posted the thread again with the intended edits. That's when I saw the little green warning.

Thank you for submitting your message. It should be reviewed and posted shortly. 

This was the first time I understood why the original post had not appeared. I must not have seen the banner when it appeared yesterday. The banner appears for only a few seconds, and if you're not paying attention, it's easy to miss. There's also no way to see or edit posts waiting for moderation. 

It's possible that the post was flagged for moderation because it contains the word Broadcom.

[Jason McClellan]

@Michael A. Lowry - your post was flagged by our watchwords filter by accident.   We've seen technical posts flagged for no apparent reason before and tried to release them quickly.   We continue to evolve our filter list to stop SPAM, but sometimes it catches valid posts.   Nothing is perfect.     

The moderation banner flashes on the screen if it is your first post, for if you post, hit the SPAM Watch words filter.  It's been in use from day one.

As for moderation, as I mentioned before, we have global moderators, and Monday, Feb 21st, was a holiday that could cause a moderation delay. 

Jason

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Thank you
Jason
Broadcom Community Platform Admin, IT
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[Jason McClellan]

My post was stuck in moderation - it is common for employees and community users to get flagged by watchwords by the filter.  We are working with the vendor to improve the moderation system.

Screenshot of my post, which I just released.

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Thank you
Jason
Broadcom Community Platform Admin, IT
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[Michael A. Lowry]

I just edited a reply I made last week. The reply disappeared from the discussion thread. I made a new reply with the same content and only then noticed the fleeting green banner informing me that the reply had been flagged for moderation. Neither reply appeared in the list of replies.

The design of the moderation feature is sub-optimal, to be kind. The developers might benefit from exposure to more mature public discussion platforms. 

Failing that, here are some basics:

• Posts flagged for moderation should be visible to, and editable by, the author.
• Posts flagged for moderation should be clearly marked in lists as awaiting moderation.
• Posts flagged for moderation should bear a persistent notice at the top, indicating that they are not publicly visible.

[Jason McClellan]

@Michael A. Lowry   - any time there is an edit, there is a risk of a user introducing "content," so it must be returned to moderation.    In terms of messaging - at the time of the edit, the user can see on the screen that the content was sent back to moderation.    Also, I need to confirm, but I believe under the user's profile/list of contributions, the post will show under moderation.    I didn't see any email triggers for moderated content; that might be another way of communicating that the post is in moderation.  I'll check with the vendor on my weekly call and ask.  ~jm

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Thank you
Jason
Broadcom Community Platform Admin, IT
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[Michael A. Lowry]

As far as I can see, posts flagged for moderation do not appear in the list of all contributions.

Also, it should not be necessary to switch to a completely different view to see one's posts caught up by the moderation system. They ought to be visible to the author in the forum where they're posted.

Last, my edit to the post did not add content. I only removed content. Still, the shortened post was flagged.

[Michael A. Lowry]

I edited the reply with MessageKey eb1d5cff-ce28-4096-9ccf-2c95dce5c15c in the thread GENERIC_ACTIVITIES_LIMIT and COMBINED_ACTIVITIES_LIMIT. I removed part of the message (the embedded Original Message), and saved the change. The reply disappeared from the thread. No banner appeared indicated that the post had been flagged for moderation. The message does not appear in my list of contributions.

Perhaps it was not flagged for moderation. Perhaps it was simply removed.

[Michael A. Lowry]

I confirmed that messages flagged for moderation do not appear in the list of all contributions. 

[Jason McClellan]

Thanks, @Michael A. LowryI did meet with the vendor yesterday and confirmed there was no feature currently available for users to see what content is in moderation, so it essentially goes into a vacuum with no visibility.   I have opened an idea for a product enhancement with the vendor.   Thx ~jm

From the vendor:

I can confirm that content pending approval sits in a "moderation limbo". Members cannot view content that is moderation pending status.

I believe this is by design to ensure that a potentially sensitive post doesn't sit in the community forum until approved. I'm unsure whether our team would approve it for enhancement, but if you'd like to submit this to Ideation, you're more than welcome!

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Thank you
Jason
Broadcom Community Platform Admin, IT
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[Michael A. Lowry]

Par for the course for HL. Thanks for trying.

[Michael A. Lowry]

I just edited the thread Known problems not listed in Release Notes tool, updating the number of KB articles from 19 to 22. When I tried to save this minor edit, the following message appeared:
"This message is currently awaiting approval by the moderator."

Simultaneously, the entire thread and all replies became inaccessible.

[Jason McClellan]

@Michael A. Lowry  - by the time I checked this morning the moderators/admins released it.   It was more than likely due to watch words catching something technical.    We are working hard with the vendor for this to be fixed but no sign of it on their immediate roadmap.  ~jm

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Thank you
Jason
Broadcom Community Platform Admin, IT
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