return if ($USER->{node_id} == $NODE->{author_user});

This has come up before among the janitors. It seems like the rough consensus was that it's not wrong to approve your own node for the frontpage, but it's usually a little gauche. Then again, I don't speak for the rest of the janitors, and we don't seem to generate a large amount of SoPW questions either. :)

Back in the days of MUDs, talkers, and BBSes, it was pretty common for someone to become a room moderator, builder, sysop, or some other sort of admin who later became upset with the admin staff as a whole or a senior admin and left... erm, 'in a blaze of glory'. This was even from people who posed no problems as normal users.

I would guess that this is thought unlikely to happen here, and that may be true. I do think, though, it's worth serious consideration, because one or two mean-spirited nodes on the front page can do serious harm to a first impression when a new user visits a site -- or if someone is doing a review for a magazine or such.

This is just my $0.02 US, but it's coming from a decade of experience with dial-up and Internet-accessible message systems as a user and often as an administrator.

Chris

Try again and then click your browser's "Back" and then "Refresh" buttons. The behavior you describe happens when you approve any node, not just your own. It is just that the approval nodelet isn't initially updated after you submit.

You can certainly approve and frontpage your own nodes.

        - tye (but my friends call me "Tye")