Making replying in a new thread easier

[Gengulphus]

In viewtopic.php?p=317604#p317604:

But one click on " <type answer> and one click on "submit" is much more likely for me to bother with than

Hit the quote button as usual.
Compose a reply
Open a new tab in the browser
Navigate to tlf
Create a new thread
copy reply to new thread and post
delete original reply.

don't you think?

Agreed it "isn't especially difficult..." but it's also not far from "I can't be ar$ed"

This is IMHO quite a significant issue with using TLF (especially as the technique dealtn describes needs a bit more fiddling around if one is to help readers find where the quote comes from, as I've done in this post). It's significant because quite often a reply that is off-topic for its thread would be fine if posted in a new thread, on the same board or a different one if also off-topic for its board - but people don't do it and so reports are liable to be made for being off-topic, increasing moderator workload. The reasons why people don't do it almost certainly vary, but I suspect it's often for the reason dealtn indicates, i.e. that replying in a new thread is decidedly fiddly and tedious compared with replying in the same thread!

So I'm posting this to ask people (especially stooz) whether there's anything that can be done technically with phpBB to make the process of replying in a new thread simpler and easier. My guess is that the answer is "Yes, but only by developing a new phpBB extension" :-( - but it seems worth asking to make certain the question has been considered.

Gengulphus

[GrahamPlatt]

There might be a way to partially address this by copying the example of e.g. the comments section in the Guardian. Each post can be the foundation of a subset of replies to that particular post (& hence, hopefully “squabbles” can be contained therein), leaving the rest of the thread to continue addressing the main topic. It would also be useful if these sub-threads were collapsible, to allow people to collapse & ignore them. Don’t know if that’s possible with the phpBB system, or whether it’d be useful in practice (as it’d complicate matters & some people just wouldn’t get it).

[tjh290633]

How about this method. Have TLF open in two tabs. One in the forum to which you wish to reply, and the other in the same forum, or another one if you wish, in which you wish your reply to be posted.

Open a "New Post" in the second tab, then go to the original message to which you wish to reply and click on "", which should put the quote of the original post in a new "Post Reply" box in the first window. Now Copy that text complete to your "New Post" window and close the first tab.

This has been done in that way from another post on this forum.

For the last day or two I find I need to Login every time I access the forum, that's despite clicking on the 'Remember me' box. I've tried clearing my cookies, but that makes no difference. Any ideas? Is it only me?

TJH

[Lootman]

How about this method. Have TLF open in two tabs. One in the forum to which you wish to reply, and the other in the same forum, or another one if you wish, in which you wish your reply to be posted.

Open a "New Post" in the second tab, then go to the original message to which you wish to reply and click on "", which should put the quote of the original post in a new "Post Reply" box in the first window. Now Copy that text complete to your "New Post" window and close the first tab.

Yes, that is what I do.

Might be messy if you access TLF on a phone but I never do.

[csearle]

How about this method. Have TLF open in two tabs. One in the forum to which you wish to reply, and the other in the same forum, or another one if you wish, in which you wish your reply to be posted.

Open a "New Post" in the second tab, then go to the original message to which you wish to reply and click on "", which should put the quote of the original post in a new "Post Reply" box in the first window. Now Copy that text complete to your "New Post" window and close the first tab.

Bit of luck you youngsters are around to show the olds the way this sort of stuff is done.

Chris

[tjh290633]

Bit of luck you youngsters are around to show the olds the way this sort of stuff is done.

Chris

You can teach an old dog new tricks.

TJH

[Gengulphus]

How about this method. Have TLF open in two tabs. One in the forum to which you wish to reply, and the other in the same forum, or another one if you wish, in which you wish your reply to be posted.

Open a "New Post" in the second tab, then go to the original message to which you wish to reply and click on "", which should put the quote of the original post in a new "Post Reply" box in the first window. Now Copy that text complete to your "New Post" window and close the first tab.

Isn't that pretty much the method dealtn described? And as he indicated, it "isn't especially difficult", but it does seem to be sufficiently more difficult that many posters "can't be ar$ed"...

And there is another step if one doesn't want readers of the new board who don't read the old board to be puzzled about where on earth the quote came from, namely that one should insert "From <link_to_original_post>:" or something similar before (or possibly just after) the quote.

Gengulphus

[tjh290633]

And there is another step if one doesn't want readers of the new board who don't read the old board to be puzzled about where on earth the quote came from, namely that one should insert "From <link_to_original_post>:" or something similar before (or possibly just after) the quote.

Gengulphus

Good point.

TJH