Allow option for comments to be completely flat (no threading in database)
| Project: | Drupal |
| Version: | 7.x-dev |
| Component: | comment.module |
| Category: | feature request |
| Priority: | normal |
| Assigned: | Unassigned |
| Status: | active |
I want my forums to be completely flat. I currently have them displayed this was, but, in reality the 4.7.3 will still always store the nodes with their hierarchy. The problem with this is users cannot edit their comment once somebody has responded to it. I see two options, enable an option to let users edit their node even if somebody has responded, or have an option to make postings flat (do not store the hierarchy). I believe the second is the better way to do this because of the second issue - I want to be able to delete a comment without having the problem of deleting all comments where people did a "reply" to the comment I want to delete.
The default could be to retain the hierarchy for those who find it useful, but be able to disable it for folks who want a more flat board (like most other message boards) this could be very helpful.
#1
Just to clarify, I mean the comments should be flat within a specific thread. The existing container / forum hierarchy is obviously still desirable.
#2
I'd also really like this feature.
We use flat forums and it makes it impossible for users to edit their comments once someone's replied to it, and without the visual cue of threaded discussions, there's no logical reason (for them) why that's the case. I've not tested it, but does this also have implications on "comment-mover"?
Reminds me to submit a feature request for forums.module as well ;)
#3
I don't think it should conflict with comment_mover. The way I have implemented it, it just treats every comment that is posted to a thread as if the user requested to reply to the main posting -- without regard to which "reply" they actually clicked on. In my implementation, all that is left, I think, is to define a setting in administer | forums | configure, I think. I just haven't looked into how to add that option... then of course to read that option instead of using the hard coded variable $flatComments that I have added. See my attached comments.module around the variable $flatComments.
#4
#5
I really really need this feature, I 2 am running a flat forum look and feel but then having the heirachy of comments nested gets very confusing and is a real pain to admin once wihtout deleting subsequent replies made by hitting the wrong comment link
#6
In HEAD/5.0, I believe you can use hook_link_alter to just remove the reply links from comments.
#7
Being able to delete the reply links from comments doesn't really help in this circumstance - if you've got a forums thread of 100 posts, having to scroll up to the top to reply is no fun. I guess you could just use the quote module instead of "reply", and rename the link, but I'm not sure how the quote module deals with replies to comments either.
#8
[quote=webchick]In HEAD/5.0, I believe you can use hook_link_alter to just remove the reply links from comments.[/quote]
In my opinion, as somebody here already stated, this solution feels inelegant as it is nice to just just "reply" next to the message. The solution I have suggested would allow for hierarchical or threaded, whatever the sysadmin wants with no change to the visual of having reply next to each message, which I think people like (I know I do).
#9
I think this can be easily done with a contributed module unsetting $form[pid]['#value'] on the comment_form via hook_form_alter.
#10
For those urgently in need: http://drupal.org/project/flatcomments
#11
#12
This is still a feature request.
#13
There's at least two bugs associated with this - both due to end-users hitting reply at random, but that qualifies as a usability bug to me:
1. Deleting comments deletes a "thread" - no such thing exists in a flat forum and users don't respect that their posts are threaded in the database (also affects viability of comment mover).
2. editing a comment updates the timestamp, which causes replies to move before the posts they were replying to - again due to internal threading.
Will leave it as feature request for now to avoid back and forth, but that's my reasoning for what it's worth. Replying to threaded comments is a completely different social process to replying to flat comments. With threaded discussion can branch, with flat users will often reply to a couple of posts at once, quoting the relevant sections since that provides more clarity with multiple conversations. The storage should reflect this and imo it's currently hardcoded to one method.
#14
Subscribing
#15
Re: #6 - Possible, but not a solution for this. For one thing, reply links are still useful all over the page. Second: We're trying in fact to fix usability bug, and for such a thing, using alters should NOT be required. Bugs need fixing, not recommending (difficult for mere mortals) workarounds.
Re: #13 -
Point 1 is valid, I agree.
Point 2 - that's a different issue ( http://drupal.org/node/55277 ) probably not fixed by this.
I add - there's also the issue with users inconsistently able/unable to edit their comment (depending on other comments invisibly hanging on it as 'replies').
Flat forum is a very common case, and since Drupal supports it visually, it should also support it's common logic. Do what users expect - or be called buggy!
For me this is a critical usability issue.