Do your moderators have the ability to ban and/or infract members? Or is this reserved only for administrative use?
Moderators cannot, super moderators can. In fact, super moderators can as much as the administrators.
Of course they can. They'd be pretty useless/inefficient if they couldn't. Although they can't IP ban, but they can give maximum infractions to induce perma-ban.
I'll give super moderators the ability to ban, but I won't do so with standard moderators. It's more of a security thing, if anything.
My site is small so it's only me but I can't see having a mod who can't at least do a temp ban. How would they deal with spam if I'm not around?
This is vB specific: Our mods cannot get to the mod control panel. They can highlight posts by clicking on the little boxes and using the pull down menus at the bottom and things like that. Even though they do not have any mod control panel access, the drop down box at the bottom has a 'delete as spam' option. Using that brings up the next screen which will allow those mods to ban the user from 1 day to forever. That comes standard with my copy of vB. I've asked them not to use that unless really needed.
Moderators and super mods can give infractions. Bans are based off infraction points - this is automatic.
I have two that have admin rights and can ban. I need to re-explore vB's options on what 'mods' can do without being admins ... or make an admin group with limited powers. Mods working with members should have that power. Any who would abuse it should not be mods. It's important for some mods who are available to do it to be able to ban. As hard as it is to imagine a real SWAT emergency on a forum, last year we had one member flip out and just rain the forum with posts, pm's, vm's with threatening messages - she wouldn't stop. I was away, not online. The mods had to ban her to stop her. They had never done it and had to figure it out.
Might want to re-read my previous post. In the stock vB software 'delete as spam' brings up another screen that gives them the option to ban someone.
nope, only the admin can ban, cause of the "staged hacking" of a forum i used to be on (where half of the forum woke up to find that their accounts had been deleted. after reregistering they found that the forum post count had dropped down from nearly 10000 to 4000. looking at the admin log, one of the other admin had done this)...so the less people who can ban, the better.
We allow more established moderators to ban and unban once they have been successful with their trial moderator period.
Every staff member I have is extremely trust worthy, and aside from accessing the admincp, they have every permission available.
What if their accounts were compromised? Usually I am fine with giving moderators the ability to hard-delete and such, but when I consider the facts that 1) they can change from trustworthy to not trustworthy in an instant and 2) if their accounts were compromised, I doubt it would be by somebody who is trustworthy, then I decide to give them minimal abilities will still allowing them to easily perform their duties. So I agree with BananaQueen's philosophy of, the less with power, the better (and safer).
Well #2 would be the only concern I'd have, but it has never been a problem for me and I guess I'll go the ignorant route and keep it the way it is until it becomes one.
Moderators (who moderate certain boards) cant ban but can infract, Global Moderators can Infract and Ban.
I have a small forum (myBB software supported),therefore I have asked my two Full Mods to ban only on the obvious,such as Hacking or spamming.I reserve the rest for for me to decide.I made that clear in the hidden Moderator forum! I have to agree with BananaQueen,who states that fewer Mods who can ban,the better off we are.