MantisHub Moderate Plugin for MantisBT

Victor Boctor @ MantisHub

Overview

The Moderate plugin enables moderation of new issues and notes before they become visible to other users and trigger email notifications. This is useful for:

• Preventing spam submissions
• Moderating user-generated content in community projects

Features

• Issue Moderation: Queue new issues for approval before they are created
• Note Moderation: Queue new notes for approval before they are added to issues
• Auto Approval: auto-approve when appropriate.
• Simple Queue Management: Easy-to-use interface for reviewing and approving/rejecting items
• Email Suppression: Email notifications are only sent after items are approved
• Auto Truncation: Auto-truncation of entries moderated more than 30 days ago.

Installation

1. Copy the Moderate directory to your MantisBT plugins directory
2. Log in to MantisBT as an administrator
3. Navigate to Manage > Manage Plugins
4. Find Moderate in the available plugins list and click Install
5. After installation, click Configure to set up the plugin

Configuration

The plugin provides the following configuration options accessible via Manage > Manage Plugins > Moderate > Configuration:

Moderate Bypass Threshold

Users at or above this access level can create issues and notes without moderation. Users below this threshold will have their submissions queued for approval.

Default: DEVELOPER

Moderate Threshold

Users at or above this access level can manage the moderation queue and approve or reject items.

Default: MANAGER

Notify Reporter on Rejection

When enabled, reporters will receive an email notification when their submission is rejected. The email includes the submission details and information about who rejected it and when.

Default: ON

Notify Reporter When Marked as Spam

When enabled, reporters will receive an email notification when their submission is marked as spam. Note that after this notification is sent, the user's account will be disabled.

Default: ON

Auto-Approval / Bypass Moderation Rules

The plugin automatically bypasses moderation in the following scenarios, meaning the issue or note is created immediately without requiring approval:

1. User Access Level Bypass

Rule: Users with an access level at or above the Moderate Bypass Threshold bypass moderation for all their submissions.

Configuration: Set via the "Moderate Bypass Threshold" setting (default: DEVELOPER)

Example Scenarios:

• If bypass threshold is DEVELOPER (55), then:

  • ✅ DEVELOPER, MANAGER, and ADMINISTRATOR users bypass moderation
  • ❌ REPORTER and UPDATER users require moderation

• If you want only MANAGER and above to bypass moderation:

  • Set bypass threshold to MANAGER (70)
  • DEVELOPER, UPDATER, and REPORTER users will require moderation

Use Case: Trusted contributors and staff members should be able to report issues and add notes without delays.

2. Own Issue Notes Bypass

Rule: Users adding notes to their own issues (issues they originally reported) automatically bypass moderation.

Rationale: Issue reporters should be able to freely update and add information to their own issues without waiting for moderation approval. This is essential for effective issue tracking.

Example Scenarios:

• User A (REPORTER level) creates an issue → Goes to moderation queue
• After approval, User A adds a note to their issue → Bypasses moderation (created immediately)
• User B (REPORTER level) adds a note to User A's issue → Goes to moderation queue

Exception: This bypass applies regardless of the user's access level. Even users below the bypass threshold can add notes to their own issues without moderation.

3. Proven track record

A user who has more than N entries (issues or notes) that were already approved in the past, will be auto-approved for future submissions.

Project-Based Access Control

Moderation access is enforced on a per-project basis:

• Moderators can only see and moderate items from projects where they have the "Moderate Threshold" access level. This should be higher or equal to access to private issues and notes.
• All Projects View: When "All Projects" is selected, moderators see items from all projects they have moderation access to
• Specific Project View: When a specific project is selected, only items from that project are shown (if the moderator has access)
• Access Denied: Users without moderation access to any project cannot access the moderation queue

Usage

For Moderators

1. Navigate to Manage > Moderation Queue
2. The queue has two views accessible via tabs:
   • Pending: Shows items awaiting moderation
   • History: Shows all items including already moderated ones.

Moderation Actions

When reviewing items in the moderation queue, moderators have several actions available:

• Approve: Creates the issue or note. Email notifications are sent at this point. This action is used for legitimate submissions.

• Reject: Marks the item as rejected without creating the issue or note. Use this for items that don't meet quality standards, are duplicates, or are off-topic but are not spam. If email notifications are enabled, the reporter will receive an email explaining the rejection.

• Spam: Marks the item and all pending items from the same reporter as spam and disables the reporter's account. This is a powerful action intended for clear spam submissions. If email notifications are enabled, a spam notification is sent before the account is disabled. The user will no longer be able to sign in or submit new issues. Only users with "Manage Users" permission can use this action.

• Delete: Permanently removes the item from the moderation queue. This action cannot be undone and should be used sparingly.

Note that moderated queue entries are deleted 30 days after moderation.

For Users

Users whose submissions require moderation will submit issues and notes normally through the standard MantisBT interface. After submission:

• The user will see a confirmation message
• The item will be placed in the moderation queue
• The item will not appear in issue lists or searches
• No email notifications will be sent
• Once approved, the item will appear normally and notifications will be sent

How It Works

Technical Details

1. Plugin determines if current user may be subject to moderation and may show messages to indicate that their submissions will be moderated.
2. When an issue or note is submitted, the plugin examines if the issue/note should be moderated or auto-approved.
3. Issues/notes that need moderation will be intercepted and are added to the moderation queue. The issue or note are not going to be created at this time and user will be notified that their submission is pending moderation.
4. The moderator will moderate the submission and decide if it is going to be approved, rejected, deleted or considered spam.
5. Approved entries are allowed to create the appropriate entity and trigger the appropriate email notifications.
6. Rejected entries may result in an email notification to the user to let them know.

REST API

The plugin provides REST API endpoints for programmatic access to the moderation queue:

Endpoints

Get Pending Queue

GET /api/rest/moderate/queue?project_id={id}

Returns list of pending moderation items. Optional project_id parameter filters by project.

Response:

{
  "items": [
    {
      "id": 123,
      "type": "issue",
      "project_id": 1,
      "reporter_id": 5,
      "bug_id": null,
      "date_submitted": 1234567890,
      "status": 0,
      "status_name": "Pending",
      "moderator_id": null,
      "date_moderated": null
    }
  ]
}

Get Moderation History

GET /api/rest/moderate/history?project_id={id}&limit={count}

Returns moderation history (approved/rejected items). Optional parameters:

• project_id: Filter by project
• limit: Maximum items to return (default: 50)

Response: Same format as queue endpoint, with status, moderator_id, and date_moderated populated.

Approve Item

POST /api/rest/moderate/approve/{queue_id}

Approves a pending moderation item and creates the issue/note.

Response:

{
  "queue_id": 123,
  "status": "approved",
  "type": "issue",
  "result_id": 456,
  "bug_id": 456
}

Reject Item

POST /api/rest/moderate/reject/{queue_id}

Rejects a pending moderation item. If email notifications are enabled, the reporter will receive an email with the rejection details.

Response:

{
  "queue_id": 123,
  "status": "rejected",
  "type": "issue"
}

Get Statistics

GET /api/rest/moderate/stats?project_id={id}

Returns moderation queue statistics. Optional project_id parameter filters by project.

Response:

{
  "pending_count": 5
}

Limitations

• When an issue or a note requires moderation, attaching files is not allowed. If a user submits an issue and it gets approved, they can submit notes with attachments as a follow up. Once user meets the proven track record threshold, then they can submit issues or notes with attachments.

Future Enhancements

Potential improvements for future versions:

• Show a hint in the UI for moderators when there are items pending moderation.
• Supports submissions of issues or notes with files for moderation.
• Notification to moderators when there are entries pending moderation with direct link.

License

This plugin is released under GPL v2 license.