Potential issue with Flagging Posts

JAST Games Your Suggestions To Us
#1

I wanted to ask here to ensure that if you flag a comment, that it remains private. (With only the Forum Staff being able to see flagged posts)

From what I understand, Flagging is how Reporting on other Forums works. It is used when you want to privately bring issues to the Forum Staff, and an issue I’m seeing here is that it seems it is possible to view posts that have been flagged publicly here, with these being examples:

http://discuss.jastusa.com/discussion/255200/flag-forum-feedback/p1
http://discuss.jastusa.com/discussion/255146/flag-???ose77-com??888???/p1

I wanted to verify that flagging a post remains private, as it is not good to allow anyone who views the Forum to view posts that have been flagged by others.

#2

That’s not good. Better flag it!

#3

Good find, @Aurora3500 . I have a question that might be important in helping JAST resolve this: where are you seeing the flagged posts?

As moderators, @sanahtlig and I have access to a section of the forum specifically for Moderator Discussions, and there is a subcategory within that for flagged posts. I am not able to see this area of the forum at all when not logged in, so I assumed it was invisible to everyone else. If you are able to see it when logged in as a non-mod, that might be a problem. (No offense meant to you specifically, BTW! I just mean that it might be problematic from a permissions standpoint and what shows up as public view.)

If you found some kind of weird workaround that lets you view the “flagged” category somewhere else on the site, please let us know that, too. Reporting inappropriate content is a greatly-appreciated service to those trying to keep the forum in good order, and you are absolutely right that it should remain confidential.

#4

@jacksprat1 said:
Good find, @Aurora3500 . I have a question that might be important in helping JAST resolve this: where are you seeing the flagged posts?

As moderators, @sanahtlig and I have access to a section of the forum specifically for Moderator Discussions, and there is a subcategory within that for flagged posts. I am not able to see this area of the forum at all when not logged in, so I assumed it was invisible to everyone else. If you are able to see it when logged in as a non-mod, that might be a problem. (No offense meant to you specifically, BTW! I just mean that it might be problematic from a permissions standpoint and what shows up as public view.)

If you found some kind of weird workaround that lets you view the “flagged” category somewhere else on the site, please let us know that, too. Reporting inappropriate content is a greatly-appreciated service to those trying to keep the forum in good order, and you are absolutely right that it should remain confidential.

I feel like there was a spot somewhere on the Forums that allowed you to see the section for Flagged posts, but I don’t remember where this spot was. I’ll post again if I can that specific spot again.

It can also be found by clicking the “For Mods” Tag on the main page of the Forums with the list of other Thread Tags there. That leads to the main Thread of the Flagged Posts section.

It’s possible to find Flagged posts as a Non-Mod now by simply searching “Flag” in the Search Bar, and that brings any Reports made on the Forum that are actually classified as Flags, which can then lead to this section: http://discuss.jastusa.com/categories/flagged-posts by clicking on the “Flagged Posts” Category at the top of the post where a Thread normally starts. It doesn’t look like it’s possible to view the Moderator Discussions section, but the Flagged Posts section can be seen by any member of the Forums.

No offense taken. Reports are supposed to be confidential for sure and I shouldn’t be able to see them. Hopefully it’ll be able to be fixed from the info I gave here.

#5

Thank you very much for the information, my friend. You the real MVP! :wink:

@Gobbo , can you take a look at this and see about closing this backdoor into the flagged posts section?

#6

Thanks for the find @Aurora3500 We’ll try to get it patched up.

#7

Thanks for letting us know @Aurora3500
It is now fixed, so only Mods, Admin, and Staff can see flagged posts.

#8

@jacksprat1 said:
As moderators, @sanahtlig and I have access to a section of the forum specifically for Moderator Discussions, and there is a subcategory within that for flagged posts. I am not able to see this area of the forum at all when not logged in, so I assumed it was invisible to everyone else. If you are able to see it when logged in as a non-mod, that might be a problem. (No offense meant to you specifically, BTW! I just mean that it might be problematic from a permissions standpoint and what shows up as public view.)

The reason was an incorrect permissions flag for members, which is why you couldn’t see anything when logged out and why @Aurora3500 could see something when logged in.

I apologize for the error, and at the same time I’m thankful that we have such an awesome community that’s willing to lend a hand. My thanks, to all of you!

#9

One other thing I notice:

  1. Log out
  2. Visit “http://discuss.jastusa.com”
  3. You will be prompted to login on an unencrypted page! It should redirect you to the HTTPS page.
#10

Fixed :slight_smile:

#11

Thanks @Gobbo