SPLIT threads mod

[Chris Russell]

Nah. Definitely not a trend.   The great part about YaBB and all the associated mods is that it's a free community, with a free exchange of ideas. I'd never want to see that go. It would just be a one-time sponsorship-type thing.

[groundup]

anyone for an estimate?

[Nossie]

why do people so grudgingly want to do it ? :-|

people are always moaning how things go offtopic and in all honesty this is the only way I think to solve that...

I cant see why it hasnt been done before... especially since vB and the likes has it already :-|

[groundup]

when you mention money, people want to do it.  The only reason that people don't sit at home writing mods and scripts all day is because we need to make money.

[Nossie]

very true Groundup and I *totally* agree with you...

in fact even to the extent that, thats why vB is worth $160 ... hmmm well maybe not *lol*

I just personaly feel that this mod/feature is more important than a hell of a lot of the mods that have been done... and not one little (time to be politically correct) computer litterate minded person has given it a go ....

I honestly don't know how hard it would be.. I have to admit, and maybe it *might* be better waiting to put it into se2 ? I dont know

I just dont understand why someone hasnt already impliented this...

but then .. since I have no means to pay...
who am I to say?

[groundup]

it appears to be pretty complex.  You must think of all the steps involved.

you need a button to do it with, it has to create a thread, remove the old one, reorder them, user must get another post accredited, moderator may want to have a reply saying that it has been broken off.  There is so much involved.

[Nossie]

well ok... your point is taken...

but how about just copying the thread and editing the content..

would that be too hard?


:-|

[groundup]

do you mean making it look like the moderator posted it?  If  you want that, than just quote the person.

If you mean using the user's info, that is just as much work as I just said.

[Nossie]

ahh of course...

because all the IDs would conflict? and stuff like that...


hmmmm bugger

[groundup]

how would you pick and choose which posts to place in another thread?  Would you just do one or would you pick multiple?  Would the multiple posts just be all posts after a certain point or would you use a checkbox?  Would you be able to move one thread to another?  Would this effect any other features?  

The list of 'ifs' are endless.

[Radio]

Well, for splitting thread, the posts need to have a thread-oriented id (as in the reply #) which seems to already have been done. So all that really needs to be done is adding a thread entry to the table and then renumbering the posts that are going into the new thread. This also includes the simple operation of altering their thread id.

Merging might be a little different. going backword wouldn't work in this case since orienting it by the timestamp would only mix up the hybrid thread. So all the posts from thread A are dumped into an array which is then array_merged to a prepared array containing the posts from thread B. Of course the posts in the Array B would need to be renumbered accordingly in order for the thread to appear correctly. That would append the posts in thread B to thread A.

[David]

When splitting a thread you should have it so you don't pick and choose posts.  Normally there is a turning point when the thread should be split unless you let it go too long.

[groundup]

I agree with david.

[Chris Russell]

I also agree. Just a simple "split" button, which breaks the thread off at that point and creates a new one. I really don't care much about merging at this point; I really haven't come across a situation where I've wished for a merge function. I *do* encounter a lot of situations where a split function would be very useful.

What exactly would need to be done? Here's how I see it:

First, there's the code for the button itself, which shouldn't be too hard. Then, there's the code for the actual split. Forget about fancy features for now. If you just enter a new title for the topic, the code could create a new thread, then change the thread ID for the posts that are at and below the split button. It seems to me (and I could very well be wrong here) that each post already has a unique number associated with it, which would eliminate the need for a renumbering process. Fill in the blanks for the thread's properties, and you're done.

If I knew a thing about php and mysql, I'd make an attempt at it myself. However, I don't, so I won't. It just seems to me that a really experienced person could hammer out a very simple version of this much-desired mod very quickly (and earn a whole lot of heartfelt thanks in the process).

[David]

Well, I am not a "mod writer" but will make an attempt at writing this mod.  If I am not going to write it then I will let you all know by the end of the day.  If I do write it should I write it for 1.3.1 and 1.4 or just one of them?  I am inclined to write it for 1.3.1 and 1.4.1.