Submission Approval Module v. 0.5

[Nick]

Description of Submission Approval Module v. 0.5

Updated to v.0.5.1 on February 25th 2009

This module puts submissions from a new user into moderation, and notifies the administrator via email (and a "pending" section in Admin) that there are stories awaiting approval. This is a powerful spam deterrent!

If the administrator approves one of the stories then any future submissions by that user go straight to "upcoming" without needing approval first. See the attached screenshot.

Instructions

• Upload the submission_approval folder to your modules folder. Install it from Module Management in Admin.
• Add the following at the very, very bottom of /templates/your_template/submit_step_3.tpl:
  

  {checkActionsTpl location="tpl_submit_step_3_end"}

Approve or discard submissions by clicking Approve or Killspam in either the email or on the Admin page. In both cases, you will be sent directly to a confirmation page. Note: You must be logged in as the god or admin user to killspam users.

In Admin, you can also choose the god or admin users you want submission notifications sent to. You can even add additional email addresses. Handy if you need them sent to your cell phone.

Revision History

• v0.5 2009/02/02 Nick - Fixed installation process to avoid clash with Pages module (includes fix for #14).
• v0.4 2009/01/28 Nick - Added ability to send email notification to multiple admin users.
• v0.3 2009/01/14 Nick - Added ability to change where email notifications are sent.
• v0.2 2009/01/13 Nick - Added approve and killspam links to the email and admin page.
• v0.1 2008/11/25 Nick - First version, inspired by redwine's work here.

[Geoserv]

Looks promising, installed.

Thanks for the hard work creating.


Geoserv.

[Jessemn]

I love this idea. It is a powerful spam deterrent indeed.

Currently I have a modified karma and submit antispam working together to allow new users to only post 1 new story per day (the karma works like a points system which starts at zero and the submit antispam checks against that value to determine if they are allowed to submit more than one story). I found that this drastically cut down my spam, however I still wake up to find at least 9-10 new blatant spam stories per day.

Do you think implementing this sort of rule would scare potential users away? I'm afraid that people would see this sort of thing and worry about control-freak moderators. I'm not sure if I should implement this or not... hmmm.

However, this is a definite solution to spam. With this installed you can have complete control over submission. Excellent idea and very well implemented. Well done.

[Geoserv]

This is only for the first story they submit. 

So, it shouldn't turn anyone off.


Geoserv.

[davemackey]

Beautiful! I love it!
Dave.

[Nick]

CRITICAL UPDATE to Submission Approval module. Please upgrade to v.0.2!

Details: v.0.1 needed a template hook at the bottom of submit_step_3.tpl. I assumed it was a standard hook and was in all templates. Wrong! It was only in my own template  . What this means is that when your new users have submitted a story, they have NOT been shown the message about their submission going into moderation. I've updated the instructions with the required template hook.

By way of an apology for this shocking oversight, I've added some new features to v.0.2 making it well worth the upgrade:

- Email notification now shows the full content of each new first-time submission.
- Email notification includes direct links to the approval and killspam pages (you must be logged in as the "god" user to access them).
- The Admin page also includes direct links to the approval and killspam pages.

Now you can approve or killspam in just 2 clicks! 

[Nick]

Hot on the heels of v.0.2 is Submission Approval v.0.3! This latest version lets you change where you want the email notifications sent. You can change this in the Submission Approval admin panel. The default is the same as the main site's email address, but this one is independent from the main address, so you can direct emails to your cell phone or another "god" user, for example.

Note: You must disable and remove the old version and then install this new one to update settings in the database.

[nothingman]

Nick, as a suggestion, it'd be great to let the site owner/admin enter multiple emails for the Emails will be sent to field. I have 4 other admins taking care of my site and as I'm not ALWAYS on my site, I'd like the notifications to be sent to the other admins too ...Nevertheless, I LOVE this mod! 

[Nick]

Submission Approval updated to version 0.4.

Changes:
- The Admin page shows a list of "god" and "admin" users. Check the boxes of those you wish to send the email notifications to.
- Add additional email addresses from the same page.

Nothingman, this was a bit of a rush job without much testing, so I'd appreciate your feedback after you've tested it a bit. Thanks.  

 

[nothingman]

Wow Nick, that was quick! Tested and no issues

[Bluecat]

Hi,

I can't find
 /templates/your_template/submit_step_3.tpl

I've looked in the /templates folder, at the module/templates/ folder but there doesn't seem to be a your_template folder anywhere.

I've also looked for a "thepeoplescouncil" template folder, but couldn't find it either.

Do I need to set up this folder, or am I looking in the wrong place?

David

(Nick: Resolved here)

[Nick]

Submission Approval updated to version 0.5.

Changes:
- Made a change to the installation process to avoid a clash with the new Pages module.

Please upgrade if you intend to use the Pages module. Thanks, and sorry for the inconvenience.

[catchpen]

A small bug, it seems the story tags sneak by without approval.
Other than that, great module, I use it instead of Akismet now.

[Nick]

Well spotted. A small bug, but not an easy fix. It also raises questions about how killspam should deal with tags, but that's going off topic.

[athanasiusrc]

Fatal error: Cannot redeclare enumget() (previously declared in /home/catechet/public_html/pickafig/modules/pages/pages_install.php:45) in /home/catechet/public_html/pickafig/modules/submission_approval/submission_approval_install.php on line 59