XF 1.2 Post Edit History and Logging

Post edit history and logging has been one of the most requested features and it will be a core feature in XenForo 1.2.

Post Edit Logging
Post edit logging is the simpler of the two features. It adds an indication to the post when it has been edited. We have intentionally kept this feature simple for the average user. They have no reason that they have to enter; if they're inclined, they can always include the reason in the message.

We do track the last person to edit the message, but this is not displayed. It could be easily added with an add-on. In most cases, the last edit will be by the owner and the average user likely doesn't care about who edited it. If a moderator needs to know, the history gives much more detailed information.

The edit log can be set to not be displayed if a post is edited in the first X minutes.

So what does this look like on a post?

Moderators also get a few extra options to control the public log of the edit. Note that these options do not affect the history. This only allows them to suppress the public notice.

Post Edit History
Post edit history actually keeps all previous versions of a message rather than just an indication that it was edited. This can be used for many things, including handling the "rage-delete" situation, where a user edits all of their content, potentially destroying the flow of many threads.

For developers, it's worth noting that the history system has mostly been developed to be content agnostic. Add-ons can make use of the system and automatically get access to the history and comparison interface.

Whenever a post is edited--even with a "silent" moderator edit--the history is logged. You may have noticed it in the screenshot above, but a history link will appear whenever a post has been edited.

When you click that link, you will have an opportunity to pick two versions to compare and see the actual changes made

Note that the UI I'm demonstrating below is still a work in progress and improvements will be made.

You can also view the previous version in its raw form with a button to the right (which I didn't include in the screenshot). Options to automatically revert to a previous version may be included.

History data can be set to only be maintained for a specific number of days.

 

[shawn]

That's cool!

Mike - do something about admincp user search feature. We *seriously* need more criteria to search users and an ability to send them activation mail

Have you seen...?

Apparently, you have not.

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/user-management-improvements.46217/unread

Not *precisely* what you're asking about, but it looks like the admincp is going to be much improved.

 

[TheBigK]

Have you seen...?

Apparently, you have not.

http://xenforo.com/community/threads/user-management-improvements.46217/unread

Not *precisely* what you're asking about, but it looks like the admincp is going to be much improved.

I've read it already. In fact, I check 'Have You Seen..?' section in Xenforo before I check my email every morning.

 

[dutchbb]

A very welcome new feature. The "Edit silently" is helpful, in addition to that, a "... and do not show in history" checkbox would be nice. Sometimes as an admin you're correcting minor spelling which doesn't really require a new version to be stored.

 

[CivilWarTalk]

So the GREEN highlight shows new content added, and the RED highlight shows what was deleted?

Very nice indeed!

 

[Alpha1]

Thanks Mike & Kier!!!

XenForo is making important steps and its getting closer and closer so vbulletin webmasters like me can migrate to XenForo.

I hope to see the rest of the essential functionality in 1.2

 

[cclaerhout]

That's a nice function with a really sexy integration. Great work.

 

[Rho Delta]

Cool stuff!

 

[Onimua]

This is a pleasant surprise.

 

[Shelley]

Never really missed the Edit history feature myself but alot of people seem to have wanted it. Nice nonetheless.

 

[Veer]

Nice work Mike & Kier

 

[ibnesayeed]

Thanks for this needed feature. I have two questions though.

1. Will there be an option or utility to incorporate existing history from User Essentials Add-on?
2. Will diff viewer allow to choose between line and word diffs?

To clarify my second question, for instance, there is a long paragraph which is essentially a single line. If just one word somewhere in the middle is added/removed/edited, it will be easier if just that word (or sub-string) is indicated as added/removed/edited.

 

[Jeremy]

This is a pleasant surprise.

Content-agnostic to boot.

And Mike, I am pretty sure that I mentioned you weren't allowed to post these without videos. lol. But seriously, its nice to finally see new posts in this forum!

 

[Jeremy]

Thanks for this needed feature. I have two questions though.

1. Will there be an option or utility to incorporate existing history from User Essentials Add-on?
2. Will diff viewer allow to choose between line and word diffs?

To clarify my second question, for instance, there is a long paragraph which is essentially a single line. If just one word somewhere in the middle is added/removed/edited, it will be easier if just that word (or sub-string) is indicated as added/removed/edited.

For #1, I can only assume an importer will be required for the add-on, since I doubt that the developers will provide importers for third party add-ons.

 

[Alpha1]

Are we going to see thread edit history as well?

 

[ibnesayeed]

For developers, it's worth noting that the history system has mostly been developed to be content agnostic.

What does content agnostic means actually? Is it same as calling it "resource agnostic"? I mean, all the resources that have a URI (like forum, thread, post, member, profile-post etc.), do they all have edit history capability? If so (and if version identifier is timestamp rather than sequence numbers) then I can see a very interesting add-on that will bring Memento protocol to XenForo. Which essentially allows to access a web resource as it existed at some given time in the past with the help of content negotiation using Accept-Datetime header. Imagine if we can adjust a knob on our board and time travel in the past to see how exactly our board was looking at a particular time in the past.

 

[Jeremy]

What does content agnostic means actually? Is it same as calling it "resource agnostic"? I mean, all the resources that have a URI (like forum, thread, post, member, profile-post etc.), do they all have edit history capability? If so (and if version identifier is timestamp rather than sequence numbers) then I can see a very interesting add-on that will bring Memento protocol to XenForo. Which essentially allows to access a web resource as it existed at some given time in the past with the help of content negotiation using Accept-Datetime header. Imagine if we can adjust a knob on our board and time travel in the past to see how exactly our board was looking at a particular time in the past.

Content agnostic means that it isn't tied to posts. Its a generalized system so that other content types (say, blog posts, articles in an articles manager, etc) be built to take advantage of the system, instead of an add-on developer reinventing the system to provide similar functionality.

Edit: As Mike mentions below, this is right... Apparently my brain on ~4hours of sleep isn't too shot to think correctly! Yay! haha. Can it be nap time again?

 

[Mike]

KK is completely right. I haven't actually done it yet, but it should be trivial to extend it to resources (resource updates). As the devs would probably imagine, it simply needs a new handler to be added to the content type.

 

[Boothby]

This can be used for many things, including handling the "rage-delete" situation, where a user edits all of their content, potentially destroying the flow of many threads.

The next step were if moderators could simply close a single post, rather than the whole thread, in order to prohibit further editing by the original author.

 

[ibnesayeed]

Content agnostic means that it isn't tied to posts. Its a generalized system so that other content types (say, blog posts, articles in an articles manager, etc) be built to take advantage of the system, instead of an add-on developer reinventing the system to provide similar functionality.

Edit: As Mike mentions below, this is right... Apparently my brain on ~4hours of sleep isn't too shot to think correctly! Yay! haha. Can it be nap time again?

KK is completely right. I haven't actually done it yet, but it should be trivial to extend it to resources (resource updates). As the devs would probably imagine, it simply needs a new handler to be added to the content type.

Thank you guys!

 

[Nasr]

The next step were if moderators could simply close a single post, rather than the whole thread, in order to prohibit further editing by the original author.

That would be setting the time limit for editing to a certain time period.