Implemented Discussion Thread Integration

[Bob]

During Beta testing, it was brought up that instead of having a comments system, it would be better if each item had its own discussion thread (similar to the resource manager).

This is being considered and is currently being researched.

 

[Qwk86gn]

If this gets implemented, I guess it would be possible to promote a showcase thread using things like XenPorta?

 

[Bob]

Don't see why not.... it would be a regular discussion thread, only that the top part of the thread (with the Tabs like the RM) would be displayed. Not sure if that would effect xenporta functionality or not (or if it would hurt showcase functionality). What does promoting a thread do?

 

[Qwk86gn]

It just promotes the thread to the front page (home page in our case) like an article preview.

http://gamerexit.com

 

[Bob]

It just promotes the thread to the front page (home page in our case) like an article preview.

http://gamerexit.com

Ah, ya.. then that should work fine. Looks like he's just grabbing the first post content alone with thread title. Shouldn't be an issue

 

[ibenick]

I really like the idea of having each item have it's own discussion thread, but I would also love the option to leave the comment system in the showcase on as well. It may be application specific, but for my site, we plan to have discussion threads for each showcase item (created manually for now) but use the comments system in showcase for users to post quick 'conditions' updates for each showcase item. So if I go hike a specific canyon or trail and find that there is a dangerous situation like the trail being washed out or it's overrun by bears, I can go hop on the showcase page for that hike and give a quick conditions update that shows right there with all of the other info in that showcase. In depth discussion still happens in the discussion thread.

 

[Mathis Neumann]

Well,
I am not a fan of that if it replaces the comment system. I like the comment system because it is simple and directly accessable, a thread would (as I think) be on a seperate page, which needs to be clicked - who does that?
For example: If I watch a youtube video I would never click a link which leeds to an external comment system/threads, but when the information (comments) are already there and I just need to look down and I really do read them sometimes, even post one.
In Addition: threads are big. Comments are just about 100-150px high which leads to a clear look and you can overview every comments easily, the threads are huge, packed with signatures and (depending on the site) packed with a lot of information. If there is a real conversation in the thread a commenter would have to read through pages and pages of posts or at least needs to go to the last page.

Something that could be cool is a system more like xenforo resources, because there are both comments and threads. So basicly comments for a quick "I like what you did" and the threads for real discussions or questions.
But at least I, as a forum owner, would like to decide which feature to use - comments or threads.

Thanks and Greetings from Germany

 

[Bob]

Comments are NOT being removed, the only thing that I have agreed to consider is the addition of Threads similar to how they are being used in the RM. If I DO add Threads at some point, you will be able to use one or the other or both.

 

[Realystic]

Basing able to link a discussion thread to a tab would be great similar to idea of having the ablity to link url's to tabs would prob cut I hope a lot of work out for you

 

[Bob]

Basing able to link a discussion thread to a tab would be great similar to idea of having the ablity to link url's to tabs would prob cut I hope a lot of work out for you

na, I am not going to do that in the core addon. If I do it, its going to be done correctly which is creating a new thread when a showcase item is created which ties the two together properly. That might be a fun idea to mess around with on your own for customizing the addon, but I won't be adding in something like that in core... sorry.

 

[Russ]

Just want to show my thumbs up for this idea as well.. the ability to have threads involved could help expand on this a ton.

 

[ibenick]

I know this solution wouldn't work for most, but I created a custom field so I could have discussion thread integration now. In my system the thread has to be manually created but then the user or admin needs to just put the thread URL into the item and it creates a link at the bottom of the showcase item.

I just launched my showcase today, but you can see an example of how I did discussion thread integration here:

http://backcountrypost.com/forum/index.php?trail-guides/priord-lake.4/

 

[Bob]

Dude, that turned out amazing!!

 

[Mathis Neumann]

Dude, that turned out amazing!!

I have to underline that!

@Bob: Maybe a bit offtopic, but I do think the ability to create url tabs is pretty cool. I e.g. use social groups (by waindigo, user managed little forums) which a lot of my item authors use to start discussions. (Every item in my showcase is mostly a virtual town project for Minecraft, so many people create a town/project together). With a tab like this every town could have a direct link to the corresponding group.

 

[Russ]

I know this solution wouldn't work for most, but I created a custom field so I could have discussion thread integration now. In my system the thread has to be manually created but then the user or admin needs to just put the thread URL into the item and it creates a link at the bottom of the showcase item.

I just launched my showcase today, but you can see an example of how I did discussion thread integration here:

http://backcountrypost.com/forum/index.php?trail-guides/priord-lake.4/

How'd you go about doing the custom field? Also how did you get the custom things in the Profile section on the right?

Lastly... you did an amazing job, puts my installation to shame, I have some work to do!

 

[Bob]

How'd you go about doing the custom field? Also how did you get the custom things in the Profile section on the right?

Adding new fields to the items table, then making code modifications to the methods add and edit methods in the controllers as well as modifying the Item DataWriter to include the new fields in the table. Then edit the templates associated with Adding and Editing. And lastly, editing the item template to display the new data that is being added into the system.

I spent a couple hours on the phone with him walking him through the process for 1 field and then he just went to town with the rest lol

 

[ibenick]

I'd be happy to do a little screen recording of the process to add a field if it would be helpful to others and to thank Bob for helping me.

 

[Russ]

I'd be happy to do a little screen recording of the process to add a field if it would be helpful to others and to thank Bob for helping me.

That would be pretty awesome, make this thing even more flexible.

Also are you using custom fields for like the Overview/Trailhead/The Hike inside the overview or just neatly put together.

 

[ibenick]

Also are you using custom fields for like the Overview/Trailhead/The Hike inside the overview or just neatly put together.

For the Overview/Trailhead/The Hike, etc., I wanted to be able to force the header formatting on people and make it stupid simple what information they should complete. I also really wanted them to be able to have an editor so I took the TinyMCE editors that were under tabs 2, 3, 4 and 5, and moved them all into the main tab so instead of rendering one editor in that tab, it renders all of them with my styled headings in between. The remaining tabs are either populated by custom fields, such as the map, or by a 6th and 7th TinyMCE editor that I added for the Videos and Trip Reports tabs (not as easy as adding custom fields). I then applied some xen:if statements so that sections that had no content would not still render the heading for that section.

If you'd like to check out what I did on the backend, you can get a good feel for it by signing up on my site and clicking the 'Create Trail Guide' button. If you do actually create one, it goes into moderation so no worries on posting junk. Site URL: http://backcountrypost.com

I'll work up that screen recording sometime this weekend.

Bob - sorry if this thread has gotten off topic, feel free to move to a more relevant thread/section.

 

[Bob]

no worries.. this place is all about sharing knowledge and helping each other out.