Consider improving the "Needs more information" functionality

[emilghittasv]

Currently the "Needs more information from the user" functionality inside the AAQ question page calls the question.set_needs_info() and adds the needsinfo tag.

Needs more information checkbox

needsinfo tag

So we have:

• An unexplained checkbox and a question page that never (obviously) mentions the state.
• The OP is not notified that someone has asked for more information about the question (No banner, No email, no UI notification)
• The OP can flag their own question as needs more information (which doesn't make any sense)
• Even a simple (non-moderator or non-contributor) user can request or clear the needs info request.

Proposal
Before a ni? request was raised

• Raising a Needs more information flag should be possible only for moderators, SUMO staff, Mozilla Employees and registered contributors. The OP should not be able to raise the ni? flag (only to clear it)

• We should probably rename the Needs more information from the user to Request more information from the OP:

  • 

• We could also display a dropdown menu when the Request more information from the OP checkbox was checked giving the moderators or registered contributors the option to choose from a list of action items needed from the OP

  • 

After a ni? request was raised

• The OP is going to see a banner when accessing the question which should highlight that a NI? request was made.
  • 
  • The "read {requester's} message" button should link to the question message in which the ni? was requested.
• The Requester should also see a banner with the option to cancel the "NI request"
  • 
• Moderators should also see the banner with the option to clear the request
  • 
• Non-moderators should not see the ni? banner or should see an informational one only
  • 
• The checkbox to clear the ni? becomes visible to the OP (and checked by default)
  • 
• The OP is e-mail notified that a ni? was requested
  • 
• The OP is visually notified inside the /{username}/{questions} page that a certain question has the ni? flag
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  • We should also consider temporarily prioritizing the question (bringing the question higher up in the question list until the flag is removed)
• Add the "red-dot" notification for the "My Questions" top-navbar section as well
  • 

[emilghittasv]

Feedback and new ideas/improvements are highly welcomed !

[denyshon]

Hi @emilghittasv, thanks for filing this!

First, I strongly disagree with limiting this option to moderators only. Requesting more info is a normal (and common) part of forum contribution workflow, and without any doubt any contributor should be able to do it. (We can disable it for non-contributors, though)

Cancelling ni?, though, should probably be limited to mods.

I don't think the reporter should be able to cancel ni? without posting a reply – but I'm open for discussion here

The ni? reason seems to be optional, but probably nice to have for email notifications.

IMO ni? should not be a separate email, but a part of the new answer email.

I do support other suggestions. (Renaming the flag doesn't seem to be really necessary, but I don't mind if you want to)

A couple of other ideas:

• We need to define scenarios where ni? is cleared automatically: e.g., choosing a solution, locking the question, archiving the question, marking the question as spam etc.
• Removing the needs-info tag should clear the request immediately (not sure about how to handle adding the tag the best)
• The status label should probably be displayed always and for everyone

[emilghittasv]

• I agree. Let's also add the registered contributors (but maybe we should disable for non-contributors)
• Yes, cancelling the ni? should be limited to mods.
• The OP should not be able to cancel the ni? without posting a reply. The banner should only have a button to bring the answer in which the ni? was requested into view. The ni? should only be cleared by the OP if a reply was made and the checkbox was checked (similar to what we currently have in prod).
• Yes, the ni? reasons can be treated as optional & nice to have.
• Yes! Let's use it as part of the new answer email.
• Renaming the flag is optional.
• Yes, the flag should be cleared automatically if a solution was chosen or if the question was marked as spam. Maybe similar with locking and archiving?
• Ideally I would prefer to have the ni? removed only via the checkbox (or banner by a mod) and not by the tag removal. In an ideal world that ni? tag should be view only and the deletion/addition to occur only when the ni? flag was removed/added.

[denyshon]

@emilghittasv our mental connection works in full strength!

+1 to all the above, and I also thought about making the tag readonly... but that would require introducing a completely new concept, and probably cannot be justified by the scope of this issue