Nick Barr
Nick Barr
November 18, 2009
Goodbye banning, hello better member management
5 (100%) 2 votes

Running a Ning Network is a lot like hosting an awesome party. But no matter how rocking it is, sometimes people leave and sometimes you have to kick people out. On Monday, we’ll be introducing more flexibility to the experience members have when they leave your Ning Network, and to the experience you have when you need to remove a member. These improvements will facilitate member management and keep the party going strong.

Suspending members from your Ning Network

Now, instead of banning a member, you’ll have the ability to suspend the member instead. This is much more than a language tweak; in fact, you’ll see three new options enabled with suspending:

  • When you suspend a member, you choose to delete that member’s content or leave it up on your Ning Network
  • You can reinstate members that you’ve suspended, which allows them to return to your Ning Network and access their content if you kept it
  • You can add and update notes about why you suspended a member

The “Suspend” option completely replaces member banning, and you’ll see it in exactly the same place. Just go to the Manage Members page, check the box next to one or more members, and click “Suspend” in the “Actions…” drop-down menu. Here’s what you’ll see:

suspend_lightbox-sm

The option to delete all of the member’s content will be checked by default, but you can uncheck it and keep the content on your Ning Network. If you do that, people will see a stripped down My Page for the suspended member. Here’s how it looks:

suspended_mypage-sm

As a Network Creator or administrator, you can reinstate the suspended member or remove their content from this page.

Additionally, if you suspend a member but leave their content, the suspended member can delete their own content when they try to sign back in. Here’s what they’ll see:

suspended_member_signin-sm

The other new option is to add and update a private note explaining why you suspended a member. This is valuable for remembering your rationale and sharing it with administrators on your Ning Network. You can also edit the note at any time on the Manage Members tab. It won’t ever be visible to members.

Managing content and profiles of members who leave your Ning Network

In addition to introducing the “Suspend” option, we’ve made some key improvements to the experience members have if they choose to leave your Ning Network. For starters, a member will have the option to delete the content they contributed, or leave it on your Ning Network. Here’s what they’ll see when they leave:

Leave-Member-Management_sm

If a member leaves the Ning Network but chooses to keep their content, their My Page will look exactly the same as if they had been suspended. As a Network Creator, you can always go ahead and delete their content by clicking “Delete Content” in the Admin Options box of their My Page. If they choose to leave your Ning Network and to delete their content, then their My Page will be deleted as well.

Members will also be able to leave an optional note to administrators why they’re leaving. If you want to receive an email every time a note is sent, you can check “A member notes why they left” on the Email Settings page. This option will be off by default. Network Creators and administrators will also be able to read these note in a brand new tab on the Manage Members page, titled “Left.”

On the “Left” tab, as well as the “Suspended” tab, you’ll be able to export a CSV of the list of members. Additionally, the “Suspended” tab now has a column for “Date Suspended,” rather than “Date Joined.”

And that’s it! Let us know on Ning Creators or in the Ning Help Center if you have any questions.