Probation was originally planned to be a “moderation queue” for bbPress. The more I thought about it, the more similarities I drew between it and the core plugin “Bozo Users”. In fact, they both do exactly the same thing with one small difference. Both plugins allow administrators to mark users as spammers and have their posts only show up to themselves until a moderator approves them.

The only difference is that my plugin hasn’t been written yet. And never will.

Now, it’s your turn to pitch in. I’m just about done developing the bbPress Moderation Suite until someone can give me a reason to make a change.

How you can help

• Translate the plugin (or improve other translations) – Email me if you need help or have a translation ready.
• Go on a bug hunt – Download the latest development version from the bbPress Plugin Repository. If you find anything wrong with it, be sure to tell me on my blog or somewhere on bbPress.org.
• Write a review – Go ahead, be a critic. Write a blog post about the bbPress Moderation Suite. Be sure to tell me about it!
• Submit a feature request – Think the plugin is missing something? Send in a request for your feature!
• Just use it – If you don’t want to help me, help yourself. The plugin is freely available at bbPress.org.

Mod Log

Keeps track of important moderator actions.

So far, it logs the following actions:

• Plugins
  • Activation
  • Deactivation
• Forums
  • Deletion
• Users
  • Bozo (on, off)
  • Deletion
• Posts
  • Status change (delete, spam, undelete, unspam)
  • Editing (by other users)

Now I need YOUR help

BAD SPANISH TRANSLATION MAN has been able to (badly) translate the plugin into Spanish. If anyone out there knows a foreign language, please translate the bbPress Moderation Suite into your language. German and French are a good place to start.

Even if you don’t know a foreign language, you can help by finding actions that should be logged in addition to the ones listed above.

I also need help testing the plugin. Subversion is a big help if you want to test the newest code. Simply schedule a task to run SVN UP on the plugin’s directory. The SVN repository is at http://plugins-svn.bbpress.org/bbpress-moderation-suite/trunk/.

WILL IT BLEND?

No, just kidding.  The question most people are probably asking right now (or at least the little people in my imagination) is “WILL HE EVER STOP RELEASING THESE THINGS?  WHY DOES HE HAVE TO RELEASE A NEW ALPHA EVERY FIVE SECONDS?”

I’ll answer your question in two ways: first, in a contradiction, and second with actual content.

Answer 1

I have not released any within the last five seconds.

Answer 2

There’s quite a bit of new content in this one that I’m sure at least a few people can appreciate.

Caching

Sir Soybean has prepared a documentary on this issue. Watch it before reading any more of this post, or you won’t understand anything.

Warning

Now, as an added bonus, the Warning helper ACTUALLY WORKS.  We have added lots of shiny new buttons, and gave it a time out for its behavior in the previous release. About the only thing it can’t do is polish your shoes — it has no hands.

As usual, you can see the log messages and edits I made to the code, and download the plugin.

Although the Warning helper made its first appearance in this version, it is not the star of the show.  Instead, there are a few bug fixes that are more exciting:

Idiot-proofing

Now, don’t be offended, it’s just a term. People use WordPress and the core plugins go to the same place as plugins they add on their own.  However, bbPress has a different opinion on what should go where.  While the bb-plugins directory does work for non-core plugins, the my-plugins directory is where you’re supposed to put them.  The Report helper does not function properly when it is installed in the wrong directory!  Simply put, bbPress Moderation Suite puts a little notice on its activation page if you put it in the wrong place.  In the future, it might even be able to move itself!

Warning prototype

While the version of the Warning moderation helper included in 0.1a3 is not by any means “final” or even “usable” , it has most of the features that the final version (or at least the first non-alpha version).  There’s really not much to say about it yet.  I wouldn’t even recommend using it in this release unless you’re really into the bbPress Moderation Suite.

.5

In the time between alpha 2 and alpha 3, about half of the total commits to date were made.  This means that alpha 3 has about twice as many new or fixed features as the previous two alphas.  Either that or I’m just fixing all my mistakes.

Either way, you can see the changes made to bbPress Moderation Suite between alpha 2 and alpha 3 and the log messages I made on the way. Here’s my todo list for future versions of bbPress Moderation Suite: