Patent ID: 8499053

Claim:
A computer-implemented method comprising: under control of one or more computer systems configured with executable instructions, receiving a request from a user of a computing device to perform an action with respect to a selected thread of a plurality of threads on an electronic message board, wherein the action includes modifying a posted message in the selected thread or removing a posted message from the selected thread; retrieving access criteria associated with the action to be performed on the selected thread, each of the plurality of threads on the electronic message board having access criteria for each of a plurality of actions capable of being performed with respect to each thread, the access criteria for the selected thread specifying at least a strong level of authentication and a weak level of authentication; determining a required level of authentication specified by the access criteria for the selected thread and the action to be performed with respect to the selected thread, the required level being determined to be at least one of the strong level of authentication or the weak level of authentication; accessing user profile information associated with the user using a user profile module configured to obtain the user profile information from at least one data store; determining whether the user is authorized to perform the action by validating the user profile information against the required level of authentication, the user profile information capable of being validated using a transactional account associated with the user for the strong level of authentication and capable of being validated using at least one of a gender, an age, a birthdate, a location, an identification, or an organization membership associated with the user for the weak level of authentication; and performing the action with respect to the selected thread when the user is determined to be authorized.