XF 2.2 Forum and thread types

Forums contain threads and threads contain posts. It's been the essential framework of forums on the Internet since the public migrated from usenet to the web.

The structure is well known and well understood - though the origins of some of the terminology are lost in the mists of time. Who ever came up with the notion of your site being a forum, but these separate containers for related threads also being forums?

But back on topic, and we all know that visiting a forum (the second type) will usually show a list of threads ordered with the most recently updated near the top, and that clicking on any of those threads will show a page with the oldest post first and newer posts underneath and on subsequent pages.

Bending discussion forums to varying purposes​

Over the years, forum administrators have been inventive and used the simple messages-in-named-containers structure of forums to build all sorts of content - let's look at the XenForo community as an example.

First, we have announcements and these "Have you seen" threads. These are quite focused on the initial post (or first few posts in some HYS threads), with these posts containing a lot of information... a bit like an article with subsequent comments.

Then we have the suggestions forums, where we ask people to up-vote the ideas they're interested in.

There are also support forums where people are looking for answers to questions or solutions to problems.

And of course there are also forums for general chat and discussions, which most closely fit the original notion of a discussion thread and where you can't really say the threads fit the same model as the other types.

Up until now, these forums and the threads within have all been displayed the same way.

But not any more​

With XenForo 2.2, we are introducing the concept of Forum and thread types. This is a massive change with enormous ramifications for forums. Today, we're only really going to talk about the admin and user experience of the new systems, but in a few days we're going to follow up with a developer-focused HYS where we will talk about what's going on behind the scenes here, because we're really rather excited about the potential it unlocks.

There is a lot to talk about, but let's just dive into some examples...

tl;dr​

We're prefer you to read all the details below, but if you just want the juicy bits:

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[beerForo]

Yes because he already said the Suggestions forum here is going to be converted. Questions can too. But you cannot revert back. It's a one time deal. On articles I am not sure if they can be reverted as the architecture may be the same unlike the other two.

 

[NicolasZN]

Thanks, I thought I'd seen that answer somewhere but it didn't appear possible with the options shown throughout the video. if it's a one-time-deal, as you say, that might explain why.

 

[beerForo]

I know he makes a Question forum a Discussion in the video so not sure if that can be Discussion again (or other). I just know he said once you move TO the new type, it's one-time.

 

[Kier]

I know he makes a Question forum a Discussion in the video so not sure if that can be Discussion again (or other). I just know he said once you move TO the new type, it's one-time.

Actually, in the video I just change the available thread types in a discussion forum, but I don’t change the fundamental forum type.

 

[andybond]

Looking forward to this feature the most :

Commodore 64 Xenforo App!

Win!

 

[eva2000]

tl;dr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEwqgEn4ZLI

Looking forward to Question threads, fits my community forum's topic perfectly

 

[Frode789]

@Kier These videos are great, I expect these every time we get a new feature

(You could also do side-jobs as a documentary narrator).

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

 

[frm]

Looking forward to Question threads, fits my community forum's topic perfectly

I would say suggestions as well to expand on such a great, and free, platform too (like say, add phpMyAdmin to CMM instead of standalone, etc.). But, no complaints whatsoever here with the support given (I think I threw ya some beer money for helping out IIRC too )

 

[Recep Baltaş]

OK, one important question. Does it support Google's standards?

Schema for Q&A Pages (QAPage) | Google Search Central | Documentation | Google for Developers

Q&A pages contain data in a question and answer format. Follow these guidelines to learn how use Q&A schema markup for Google Search.

developers.google.com

 

[beerForo]

Actually, in the video I just change the available thread types in a discussion forum, but I don’t change the fundamental forum type.

Ah right, so many things that can be done, cool. Once we get to play with it it should answer all of our various questions and probably quash a handful of the suggestions made already as well.

 

[Chromaniac]

yeah. so many little queries that might have been answered but you just wouldn't find out till you have tried it yourself. a user posted a small guide on my forum today. i was remembered about the article format type. now i wonder how i can convert this post to an article in the existing node. is it possible? can i move it to an article forum in future and move back to keep it in article format? remains to be seen.

 

[Bionic Rooster]

now i wonder how i can convert this post to an article in the existing node. is it possible? can i move it to an article forum in future and move back to keep it in article format? remains to be seen.

Watch Kier's video https://xenforo.com/community/threads/forum-thread-types-tl-dr-video.181961/ I think you'll find your answer there

 

[Jake B.]

May have been asked, but if you use the /posts/X permalink will it take you to sort by votes, or sort by date?

 

[punisher1]

@Kier

how about thread marks, like... you add some mark and at the left of thread there is labels so when you click on it, you go to that specific part of thread. please add this in xf 2.

 

[beerForo]

You would need to add that to the Suggestions forum and you would also need to elaborate.

 

[Sim]

Article threads don't work that well for multi-part articles like these HYS threads. I think perhaps the XenForo team need to experiment with merging the HYS posts into a single article?

 

[Mike]

We are investigating that.

 

[ibnesayeed]

We are investigating that.

I remember @Brogan had some notes in his profile years ago and one of them was an idea to make any comment sticky to the first post. I think it make even more sense in the article type to have a few subsequent posts stick to the first post or even those that were posted later after some feedback.

 

[Kevin]

Just noticed closed suggestion threads have the text This suggestion has been implemented. Votes are no longer accepted.. The second sentence is generic enough but is the word "suggestion" something that is being set dynamically from with the ACP somewhere or is that hard-coded in the phrase?

 

[cdub]

@Brogan already in the lead with 2 solutions.

https://xenforo.com/community/members/?key=most_solutions

To view this content we will need your consent to set third party cookies.
For more detailed information, see our cookies page.

Accept third party cookies

EDIT: to clarify... I'm not calling Brogan a twit.