Discussion threads - assign to already existing thread?

[RobParker]

I haven't had a chance to play with the latest release yet but the discussion threads sound like a great idea.

I was wondering, would it be possible to assign an already existing thread as a discussion thread for an item?

I'm thinking of the case where you already have a thread discussing something (say a sports team member in our case) but then create a showcase item for him. It'd be nice to link that thread to his showcase item rather than creating a new discussion thread for him.

 

[Bob]

Yes. If you have the Showcase Moderator Permission 'Manage Thread Association' set to yes, you can edit an item and there will be a field at the top of the edit form that allows you to modify the thread id associated with the item. Simply change 0 to the thread Id and hit save. The pre save will check to see if that thread exists and if it does, it will then check to make sure it is not already associated with another showcase item. If either of the two checks fail, you will get a error message and the save action will abort.

 

[RobParker]

That sounds perfect

 

[Ludachris]

Yes. If you have the Showcase Moderator Permission 'Manage Thread Association' set to yes, you can edit an item and there will be a field at the top of the edit form that allows you to modify the thread id associated with the item. Simply change 0 to the thread Id and hit save. The pre save will check to see if that thread exists and if it does, it will then check to make sure it is not already associated with another showcase item. If either of the two checks fail, you will get a error message and the save action will abort.

Hey Bob, should non-Moderators see the Thread Association field in Edit mode? I have the permission set to Allow for the Registered group but I've verified that they still don't see that field. Is this meant to be a moderator-only field?

 

[Bob]

There are THREE Showcase MODERATOR permissions involved with being able to Manage the Thread association.

Edit items by anyone
Approve / unapprove items
Manage thread association

Any "Moderation" done in the Item Edit mode is driven by the first two of the above. The 3rd one is specifically for Managing Thread association (in other words, you can give moderators the ability to moderate the item which allows them to the switch category & state controls (visible/moderated/deleted), but limit them from being able to associate a discussion thread).

Giving users (and even moderators) the ability to associate a discussion thread could lead to serious disasters.. ie, they can chose ANY thread ID (like one of your stickies in a support forum) and that thread would then be associated with a showcase Item.

It is NOT designed for Item owners. Its more of a ADMIN control than a Moderator control as well.

 

[Ludachris]

Sorry for the delayed reply Bob - makes sense. It will be a manual process for the Mods and myself then. I've already gone through a ton myself.