acts_as_moderated

ActsAsModerated is a plugin that allows specific columns of a model to be audited by a moderator at some later point.

ActsAsModerated is good for:

spot-checking user generated content
being notified when new content is created
tracking changes within a record
spam checking

Setup

Create the moderated_records table like so:


    create_table "moderation_records", :force => true do |t|
      t.integer  "recordable_id"
      t.string   "recordable_type"
      t.integer  "state_id",             :default => 0
      t.integer  "decision_id",          :default => 0
      t.boolean  "flagged",              :default => false
      t.integer  "moderator_id"
      t.string   "reason"
      t.datetime "created_at"
      t.datetime "updated_at"
      t.text     "inspected_attributes"
      t.boolean  "rejected",             :default => false
    end

    add_index "moderation_records", ["decision_id"], :name => "index_moderation_records_on_decision_id"
    add_index "moderation_records", ["flagged"], :name => "index_moderation_records_on_flagged"
    add_index "moderation_records", ["moderator_id"], :name => "index_moderation_records_on_moderator_id"
    add_index "moderation_records", ["recordable_id", "recordable_type"], :name => "index_moderation_records_on_recordable_id_and_recordable_type"
    add_index "moderation_records", ["rejected"], :name => "index_moderation_records_on_rejected"
    add_index "moderation_records", ["state_id"], :name => "index_moderation_records_on_state_id"

Usage

ActsAsModerated has two integration points. The first is within the model(s) to be moderated, which can be done like so:


    class Comment < ActiveRecord::Base
      acts_as_moderated :body
    end

The second integration point is the class that acts as the moderator. Typically this is some user or account class. The idea is that behind
this integration point is to create an audit trail for decisions made by the moderator if you ever need to watch the watcher.


  class Account < ActiveRecord::Base
    acts_as_moderator
  end

The plugin also supports an after_moderation callback on the record being moderated, which you can use to take action based on what the
moderator did. For example:

Delete the record if it is inappropriate or spam
Email the content creator that their content has been approved / denied

There are several dynamically created methods added to every acts_as_moderated class which moderators can use as a shortcut for making
decisions. For example where moderator is an object with acts_as_moderator applied: @comment.marked_spam_by_moderator(moderator)
comment.marked_scam_by_moderator(moderator, :reason => ‘this is obviously a scam, please delete.’)

Default Ordering, Callbacks & Flagging

The ModerationRecord class has a named_scope called “queue”, which will return records sorted oldest to newest. However, if you flag a record
it will be returned first regardless of its age relative to unflagged records. This is useful if you want to ensure that moderators see
potentially dangerous records first. A good way to flag a record is using the after_moderated callback for example:


    class Comment < ActiveRecord::Base
      acts_as_moderated :body

      def after_moderated(moderation_record)
        moderation_record.flag! if body =~ /viagra/i
      end
    end

The moderation record will attempt to make callbacks on the model being moderated after a record is first created “after_moderation”
and when a moderator rejects a record “after_rejection” here is an example of what they might do:


    class Story < ActiveRecord::Base
      acts_as_moderated :body

      def after_moderated(moderation_record)
        update_attribute(:moderated, true)
      end

      def after_rejection(moderation_record)
        update_attribute(:rejected, true)
      end
    end

Skipping moderation

The moderation plugin adds an attr_accessor called “skip_moderation”, which when set to true will prevent a moderation
record from being created for that instance of a save. This is useful if you need to create records programmatically, which
don’t need to be moderated initially but will need to be moderated at some later point. For example:


  @story = ModeratedStory.create #creates a moderation record
  @story = ModeratedStory.create(:skip_moderation => true) #does not create a moderation record

A word to the wise however, since this attr_accessor prevents records from being moderated you will want to protect it from
mass_assignment in your model.

Known Bugs

Presently if you use the :always_moderate flag on a STI model it will produce a never-ending series of record updates.
I’ll keep working on this bug, in the meantime please do investigate!

Changes

1.0.0: Initial release

Credit

Written by Mark Daggett (mark@humansized.com)
Code for this plugin was inspired by aspects of acts_as_textiled, can_flag, and delayed_job, which are all excellent plugins in their own right.

heavysixer / acts_as_moderated