Vanilla plugin/mod - help with necro posting

mikho

Hello!

Looking at you who code avery now and then.

Real case for this community.

A vanilla plugin/mod that will show a notification when a user is trying to reply to a thread where the last reply is X days/weeks/month old.

Please describe in short how you would solve it and your price for it.
When you start the project, we expect you to deliver shortly thereafter.
No thank you to those who reply with ”I’ll do it when there I have some free time”

Example: notification as a dialog box or above the textbox.

Before or after the reply button is pressed.

Code will be published on the LES github.

PHP_Backend

I had an hour to waste so decided to play with vanilla plugin system.
So far, achieved something like this:

https://github.com/php-backend/necronotice

It just shows a configurable notice above comment box, doesn't prevent users to comment anyway. Are you looking to prevent that too?
Currently it shows the notice if last reply is 30 days old. Day count and notice text can be configured from vanilla config file.

Falzo

@PHP_Backend said:
I had an hour to waste so decided to play with vanilla plugin system.
So far, achieved something like this:

https://github.com/php-backend/necronotice

It just shows a configurable notice above comment box, doesn't prevent users to comment anyway. Are you looking to prevent that too?
Currently it shows the notice if last reply is 30 days old. Day count and notice text can be configured from vanilla config file.

this looks good! though I am afraid people won't read it, like they don't read 'no refund' clauses even though they tick the checkbox.
if you want to make it more difficult to ignore, you need something that breaks the regular user journey. so the default action is a different one, you know?

instead of having a blue 'Post Comment' at the far right, make it a 'Cancel and Discard' button and move the 'Post Comment' thing to the left changing the design to the same as the save draft one.
this way it is still possible to post, but as a user you really need to think about it and look twice. you'd also not have to delete your draft manually afterwards, if you manage to understand the issue and cancel posting anyway ;-)

appreciate your efforts!!

PHP_Backend

@Falzo said: if you want to make it more difficult to ignore, you need something that breaks the regular user journey. so the default action is a different one, you know?

Yes, an never-ending hunt for solution to PEBCAK problem.

legendary

One suggestion: new members can't be necromancers. For example if less than 30 days, then no necro. This will mitigate necro posting entirelly.

mikho

@legendary said:
One suggestion: new members can't be necromancers. For example if less than 30 days, then no necro. This will mitigate necro posting entirelly.

But what if its a legitimate post?

When do the new member leave this stage and become a ”regular” member? Time, postnumber, both?

mikho

@PHP_Backend said:
I had an hour to waste so decided to play with vanilla plugin system.
So far, achieved something like this:

https://github.com/php-backend/necronotice

It just shows a configurable notice above comment box, doesn't prevent users to comment anyway. Are you looking to prevent that too?
Currently it shows the notice if last reply is 30 days old. Day count and notice text can be configured from vanilla config file.

This is what I had in mind!

I’ll have a look when I sober up

deank

There is no legitimate reason to necro a thread, not at all.

Necromancers should be, and must be, banned at once, for they are the bane of humanity. They are what is holding us back; they are stuck in the past.

legendary

@mikho said:

@legendary said:
One suggestion: new members can't be necromancers. For example if less than 30 days, then no necro. This will mitigate necro posting entirelly.

But what if its a legitimate post?

When do the new member leave this stage and become a ”regular” member? Time, postnumber, both?

New members leave "newbie" stage after 1 month. They get aclimatized to the rules, to the flow.

To be a necromancer one must yeld certain amount of knowledge about consequences. It is e-sin and tolerance should be as minimum as possible.

Mason

@legendary said:

@mikho said:

@legendary said:
One suggestion: new members can't be necromancers. For example if less than 30 days, then no necro. This will mitigate necro posting entirelly.

But what if its a legitimate post?

When do the new member leave this stage and become a ”regular” member? Time, postnumber, both?

New members leave "newbie" stage after 1 month. They get aclimatized to the rules, to the flow.

To be a necromancer one must yeld certain amount of knowledge about consequences. It is e-sin and tolerance should be as minimum as possible.

As a sidebar to this, it'd be really interesting to have a some sort of "karma" based attribute that is affected by number of comments, discussions, thanks, etc. And maybe a certain threshold would unlock certain actions or something on the forum. Just an idea without any thought into what it'd take to implement something like this (possibly use the thanks plugin as a starting point?)

deank

If you are to ever implement a karma system, you implore you to give me a fixed karma of minus 666.

I wholeheartedly deserve minus six hundred sixty six karma.

PHP_Backend

All originally gay members should have fixed 69 karma.

@Mason said: As a sidebar to this, it'd be really interesting to have a some sort of "karma" based attribute that is affected by number of comments, discussions, thanks, etc. And maybe a certain threshold would unlock certain actions or something on the forum. Just an idea without any thought into what it'd take to implement something like this (possibly use the thanks plugin as a starting point?)

Something like reddit, I guess? While I would love to give others karma when they deserves but at the same time I hate how karma system attracts low quality bait from karma-whores. Although I can't think of any way how they would harvest karma in lowend niche but people are weird, surely they would think of something.

But, If high karma comments get somehow highlighted (like how reddit does), I think that's a huge plus. I really love that feature.

deank

Actually, altering Originally Gay to 69 might work just as well.

bikegremlin

Our local cycling forum has a "points" system (pluses, like likes).

A vast majority of people with a lot of points are long-time members, knowledgeable and experienced.

For new members, I suppose it gives some idea when asking for help or advice.

However, some very experienced cyclists I know personally aren't active and their "point" count is quite low. So, the system is far from perfect. Though, I don't see it doing any harm.

The forum did go through a toxic period, when "negative points" were being abused (noticeably). Then it was decided to just disable that option (negative points that is), never to be switched back on. Maybe, if used in a sportsman-like manner, negative points can be a good idea. As it stands now, problematic members get a PM (and/or an email) from the admins, and if that doesn't help, they get banned.

KermEd

I'd just (code it) to lock any thread that hasn't been updated in more than 6 months.

Only a mod can unlock it or flag it for override (to mark some random thread as staying open).

Anyone wants to continue that convo they can open a new thread. Technology, prices everything changes all the time. So a fresh discussion is better anyway

AlwaysSkint

@mikho , @chimichurri has something to tell ya..

@mikho said: Looking at you who code avery now and then.

I thought I was being ignorant about a coding language called Avery. (true story ; the framework for Vanilla, I dunno.)

deank

Pretty much every org seems to have developed their own subset of codes.

Daniel

Does Vanilla not have this built-in? I thought it was a common feature in forum software these days. That and auto-locking old threads (which @KermEd suggested). Discourse has both of these features out-of-the-box but I think even some of the PHP forums have these features as well.

BlaZe

@PHP_Backend said:
I had an hour to waste so decided to play with vanilla plugin system.
So far, achieved something like this:

https://github.com/php-backend/necronotice

It just shows a configurable notice above comment box, doesn't prevent users to comment anyway. Are you looking to prevent that too?
Currently it shows the notice if last reply is 30 days old. Day count and notice text can be configured from vanilla config file.

This seems so good. Maybe just add a checkbox that a user should check to make the textarea field active. This checkbox can be placed in that red box where its stating that the post is necro and...

PHP_Backend

@BlaZe said: Maybe just add a checkbox that a user should check to make the textarea field active.

I like this idea. Non-intrusive & helpful for good citizen. Necromancer will click on checkbox anyway, but I think their punishment trial is a different debate.
I think I will try it once I get some time.

legendary

This function considered as preventive action from necromancers, not just informing "your are making unholly act of reviving dead thread...".

mikho

@deank said:
There is no legitimate reason to necro a thread, not at all.

Necromancers should be, and must be, banned at once, for they are the bane of humanity. They are what is holding us back; they are stuck in the past.

Punishment is 2 hour reading of LEB sales posts.
That is a far worse punishment.

vyas

@mikho said:

@deank said:
There is no legitimate reason to necro a thread, not at all.

Necromancers should be, and must be, banned at once, for they are the bane of humanity. They are what is holding us back; they are stuck in the past.

Punishment is 2 hour reading of LEB sales posts.
That is a far worse punishment.

touche

legendary

@mikho said:

@deank said:
There is no legitimate reason to necro a thread, not at all.

Necromancers should be, and must be, banned at once, for they are the bane of humanity. They are what is holding us back; they are stuck in the past.

Punishment is 2 hour reading of LEB sales posts.
That is a far worse punishment.

All purple ones. Beyond insanity.

vedran

Is it really needed tho? I know I'm not super active here, but I don't really remember seeing that many necroposts to the point where it would even slightly annoy me. Personally I would be more annoyed with the big red warning while reading some old thread with no intention to reply

zcorps

useful vanilla password tool incase someone want quick reset : https://www.useotools.com/vanilla-forums-password-hash-generator

mikho

@vedran said:
Is it really needed tho? I know I'm not super active here, but I don't really remember seeing that many necroposts to the point where it would even slightly annoy me. Personally I would be more annoyed with the big red warning while reading some old thread with no intention to reply

Might not be needed now, but most likely in the future when it becomes an issue and the general public starts to reply to the necro post and everyone starts beating the dead horse because someone replied to an old post.

TheDP

My suggestion for this would be to implement the auto-locking of a thread after X months (days) of inactivity, as suggested by @KermEd.

Somewhere between 3 to 6 months maybe.