XF 1.2 Merging Threads, Same title, One tied to WP must remain ...

[LPH]

OK. Here is the deal. Over 1200 WordPress posts were imported into a multisite. During the import, a new thread was created in the XenForo forums. This is great - except the threads already existed (not properly tied to WP). The threads must be merged because there are replies to the old threads. However, the new one must take precedent over the old one.

Example
Old thread ... acoolawesometitle.517120
New thread ... acoolawesometitle.518537

How do I make sure that the new thread 518537 remains as the thread starter?

Sorry - it's just that the pull down during merge is a little confusing to me. My first attempt merged the wrong direction but I didn't write down how I did it ... Maybe I'm just asleep.

 

[Jeremy]

Make sure you choose the correct destination thread. Although, its done by post date so it depends on which post is the oldest as to who the thread 'starter' is.

 

[LPH]

Maybe I wasn't clear. The titles are exactly the same - with the only difference being the thread ID number. Both threads are selected. The option to merge is chosen. There is a popup with a drop down list to choose the correct destination thread. However - they are the same title - so how do you know which is the "correct" one?

Let me try to be even more specific

I tried to merge these two threads. The top one now shows a redirect.

http://www.tuxreports.com/community/threads/reminder-google-reader-retired.518537/

http://www.tuxreports.com/community/threads/reminder-google-reader-retired.517120/

I selected the top one first then selected the older one. From the drop down, I clicked on the first one in the drop down list.

Now the problem is ... that first post as a thread starter cannot be deleted - but it's pointing to the wrong place. The last post has the correct pointer.

I cannot delete the last one because the WP post is the one on the new server:

http://www.tuxreports.com/tech/2013/06/29/reminder-google-reader-retired/

However - notice it does not show the comments as it should because it is looking for thread_id=518537.

Worse there is a redirect showing for the 518537 ...

Hopefully this helps you guide me to do this a better way. After all, there are over 1200 threads needing to be merged.

 

[Jeremy]

If you are doing this all manually, there's no 'easy' way to accomplish it if they all have the same title. You can right click and see the IDs with the options and make your choice based on that.

 

[Paul B]

Edit one of the titles to add a character.

 

[LPH]

@Brogan - excellent suggestion
@King Kovifor - thank you for the reply

I came up with a process to avoid merging - and that is to work through phpymadmin WordPress database.

1. In WordPress admin panel, highlight all thread titles, copy to word document. This is the checklist and allows copy/paste to search through phpmyadmin.
2. In XenForo find the old thread_id and new thread_id
   
3. Record new thread_id number and old thread_id number onto above document.
   
4. In phpmyadmin, change WordPress database wp_21_post thread_id to match the old thread_id
5. In XenForo, edit the old thread to point to the correct destination (find using thread_id)
6. Verify everything is working
7. Reverify because you are really asleep and not looking right
8. Did you triple check?
   
9. In XenForo, delete the new thread by hiding from public view
10. Now check that all links are working properly
11. In XenForo permanently delete the new thread. It's outta there

This is the fastest method and stops having to worry about merging things ...

Also, I realized that no WP post before 12/10 ever had a thread_id because that was the shift to XenForo. So, it is not all 1291 posts needing to be fixed but rather only about 7 pages of titles ..