Will Xenforo ever adopt threaded comment structures (like Reddit)?

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qazwsxedcrfv1234

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I know that Xenforo comments have a flat structure, but is there any chance that the forum software will come to adopt a threaded structure (like Reddit)?

Speaking of flat / threaded comments, which do you prefer? Is there a way to have both types of comments be shown for users?

I know that there might be some bias towards flat (as Xenforo's userbase is accustomed to flat comments), but it would still be nice to know as to which you prefer and why.
 
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Who or what is social media?

Let me think about it!

Facebook; I’ve never really understood it. Who needs it? What does it do? What’s it good for? In some countries, people don’t bother with their own websites; they just smear their stuff on Facebook. It’s a giant junkyard where everyone dumps their stuff, and it just lies around. I have a Facebook page, actually several because every year I think to myself: Yeah, yeah, social media, got to have it. Let’s do some social media. So, I feed the machine, learn when and how to post, set up a plan to post something new once or twice a day. I do that for a month. And with 67 new followers, I feel so exhausted that I lose all interest. Until next year.

Twitter/X, great! What’s it good for, who needs it? Ah, that’s the website where professional chatterboxes constantly tell you what to think, eat, do, and avoid? They comment when Trump farts, and also when he doesn’t. Do I need that? Yeah, once a year, I think, hey, I’m doing social media now! Then it’s the same as with Facebook, but I can’t edit anything, I have to delete and redo it. After a month, I get bored. So, see you next year.

Instagram? What’s the point? What does it do? Okay, I’ve taken an estimated 300,000 pictures in my life and even got paid for it. The pictures are all over the net, so why should I post them there? Oh, for social media! Got it. Nah... that bores me. Sometimes I look at private photos of girls I know, that’s fun, but otherwise, this site can go too.

TikTok? Awesome! Great videos come in, always the same stuff: A comedian who is Muslim, performing all over the world and making funny jokes about Muslims, Arabs, Indians, and others. He’s allowed to do that! He can even insult his guests. Once a week, I laugh along. The many dance videos are great too. When I have time, I want to learn that too. In my next life.

Did I forget something? Dingo and dango and dingi and dutzu, piki and paka, poko and puku, all these mega hyper super platforms, you must know them, you must be there! What do they do? And why? Nobody knows! But, because of social media, of course. Ah, okay. Next year!
 
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I hate users who stray from the topic at hand, they need to be reprimanded! Preferably in real life with a rod! In that sense (don’t take it too seriously!), let’s get back to the topic.

Will Xenforo ever implement this? I have no idea. They’d need reasons, find it great, want to make the world a better place with it, or something like that.

But if people want it, then pool some money together! There are people here who only charge a super-cheap $250 an hour, oh wait, that was five years ago, I haven’t asked since. And then there are people who want to waste 20 hours of work time for a simple template modification. It’s funny when I, a talentless hobby programmer, can send the solution via email in half an hour.

But there are also a few good coders here, certainly more than the few I know and could recommend. I guess you can get a solution for affordable money.

-

Personally, I stay away from the Themehouse addon, I don’t want such significant changes in the system, but that was years ago, maybe the addon is no longer like that. I might have seen the file from Truo in action, but it didn’t click for me, I never had a use for it. And then there was a company with UW at the beginning? They also had such an addon. I always wanted to check it out, but you know, I want to learn to dance, do social media, and then I have a few quite funny addon ideas. But above all, I’m retired. Retirees have no time!

Why don’t you write down what such a system should be able to do? Does it need to be a jack of all trades? Or is it enough to go one or two levels deep? Do you want a big thing, or just a bit more depth? And isn’t it anyway a horrible clickfest with all the threads and strands and branches and rivers and paths?

I remember a website I often visited. For some reason, my settings were gone every day, and I had to click this and that to make that nonsense disappear so I could read messages in a thread. I’d love to visit them too, with the rod!

Did I have a clown for breakfast? No! I had him for dinner. And now I’m going to build something. Good night.
 
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I don't understand how in recent years when someone asks for implementations, users immediately come and say that they are not needed or that they are useless! The strength of an online project is flexibility, that is, the possibility of having everything that interests as many types of communities as possible! I remember the beginnings of vbulletin when on vbulleti.org MODs were released every day to do anything and therefore the Admins had the possibility of building the community with the specific needs of their audience! I personally don't like nested comments but since they are used in many (reddit or vbulletin) why not implement them for those who want to use them?
when I say that they have been stuck for twenty years this is the most fitting example! Instead of implementing as many options as possible that allow admins to create the community that best suits their needs it remains stuck
 
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Add-ons should be used as little as possible because they are third-party and you don't know when they are abandoned! Can you give me a list of the new features that have been implemented in XF core in the last 15 years? adding new features to the core allows you to create increasingly personalized communities! Something that isn't good in my forum maybe gets used a lot in another forum! The more functionality a form has, the more attractive it is for users.
 
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The more functionality a form has, the more attractive it is for users.
Click to expand...

I generally disagree with that; most people don't even realize what all is available when you throw three other areas at them. However, the choice between flat and tree structures is not an extension, but a replacement, so I don't find it wrong. It's like reversed sorting. Some use it, some don't.

But they are not confused like if they would have blogs, galleries, items, calendars, and other things.

You notice where posts are made everywhere, and then you have stuff standing somewhere that should actually be in the forum. Deleting, copying it yourself, change username, informing users - it's all annoying and time-consuming.

And that's also the difference in future-proofing. If a tree add-on is made smartly, it doesn't need new tables!

And then it's also future-proof; because at worst, the tree structure just won't exist anymore at some point, but no data will be lost.

Huh? What's he talking about? How's that supposed to work? Without tables?

It works, you just have to do a little tricking. In theory, my add-on has been ready for years. Unfortunately, I'm a bit slow and dim-witted, so the implementation is struggling.

Today, I've been sitting with a problem for five hours that a professional could solve in three or four lines of code. I can't do it. And I would most like to change something directly in the source code because then my latest add-on would be finished; the class extension just won't do what I tell it to.
 
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Ricsca said:
xf was born after vb, smf, phpbb, smf etc.,
if vb allows nested posts I would say that everyone can offer them...
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vB dropped the feature in the 4.0 series. Which would be the same time as XF was in development.

MyBB also dropped the feature, but I don’t remember when.

Invision also dropped the feature, and I think that was in their 4.0 series which would be after XF started.
 
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Now for something completely different!

What if we thought about having trees with branches, while also having an efficient arsenal of new additional features?

Bernd talks to Sabrina about the new restaurant on the corner; a dozen people join in and share their experiences at the new restaurant.

Sabrina praises the steak, prompting Bernd to invite her to try out his new gas oven, because you can make perfect steaks at 800 degrees. A few more guys join the conversation, and they start discussing these gas burner ovens in detail.

Bernd finds this annoying because he wants to meet up with Sabrina, so he starts up again with his flattery and virtual caresses. This doesn't sit well with the other guys, and they start arguing about whether hitting on women is appropriate in this forum.

Sabrina finds it amusing and starts giving flirt tips on how to best persuade her to go out for dinner. 17 out of the 18 guys who were just complaining suddenly become very friendly, the 18th one too, but only because he heard about Sabrina's little brother, who is a combat swimmer in the Marines with sensational abs.

Yeah, folks, that's how it sometimes goes in forums, and even more so when you introduce this thing with trees and branches. Has anyone ever thought about how users and/or moderators can prune these branches at the right spot and move them to their own topics with the minimum necessary clicks?

Because if the technology I provide actually encourages people to go from a to b to c, then my forum for restaurant reviews is pretty much screwed. Unless I could and would skillfully shuffle and tidy things up.

In a German photography forum, for example, they have a different approach. The moderators behave like vicious attack dogs, reacting relatively promptly if someone strays from the topic, and not always in a friendly manner. On one hand, I can understand it, but on the other hand, I think to myself that I have absolutely no interest in such a forum because I constantly have to restrain myself and make sure not to go off-topic. Then there are the usual block wardens, trolls, forum idiots, who can get away with more than new users...

In short: If we are to have this representation, then please with sophisticated tools! And suddenly you would have a unique selling point, at least for some time, and damn it, order and discipline in this mess!
 
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Robert9 said:
Has anyone ever thought about how users and/or moderators can prune these branches at the right spot and move them to their own topics with the minimum necessary clicks?
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Yes, actually. Discourse pushed for “reply as new topic” as the standard model for this exact problem, so to encourage users to naturally do this themselves rather than moderators having to do anything.

People don’t use it as much as they should because it’s more effort than just hitting reply right there. Incidentally same argument applies to replying in general on threaded vs flat.
 
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Arantor said:
vB dropped the feature in the 4.0 series. Which would be the same time as XF was in development.

MyBB also dropped the feature, but I don’t remember when.

Invision also dropped the feature, and I think that was in their 4.0 series which would be after XF started.
Click to expand...

Here you can see the nested comments...
The fact remains that a forum should have as many options as possible to meet as many needs of possible admins who will decide to choose xf rather than vb or other forums...
If you don't understand this and want to continue to remain in your little world, go ahead...
 
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Odd. The threaded mode that was in 3.x was removed, this appears to be something new.

But I like how it actually proves my point more than not: more of the replies in that thread are replying to the linear thread than the 2 replies to post 10. I even had to scroll up and down a few times to even notice those replies. Good job for successfully demonstrating the UI problem is solved.

Also I love your inability to read what I’ve been saying, but don’t let that stop you.
 
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Arantor said:
Also I love your inability to read what I’ve been saying, but don’t let that stop you.
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You really shouldn't bother, @Ricsca is a troll. They think they know everything, their way is the right, and only, way, and that everyone is a moron with no experience in anything forum related. They tried telling me I know nothing about SEO in another thread... which I obviously forgot I was one of the pioneers in the SEO field right back when the internet was just starting from DOS and Win3.1. They're an expert in everything and whatever you say, they know more than you. Don't waste your breath. Nobody here knows more than them, we're all just idiots who should only listen to what they say.
 
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Anthony Parsons said:
You really shouldn't bother, @Ricsca is a troll. They think they know everything, their way is the right, and only, way, and that everyone is a moron with no experience in anything forum related. They tried telling me I know nothing about SEO in another thread... which I obviously forgot I was one of the pioneers in the SEO field right back when the internet was just starting from DOS and Win3.1. They're an expert in everything and whatever you say, they know more than you. Don't waste your breath. Nobody here knows more than them, we're all just idiots who should only listen to what they say.
Click to expand...

As I already told you in another post, if you consider a troll a person who considers it necessary for a forum script that must evolve over the years by adding more and more functions instead of remaining still for 20 years, you have a distorted view of trolls.

If Facebook had followed your reasoning it would have remained still and would be the site for students of a university faculty...

A forum is mainly a place where users chat and therefore Google does not find many relevant contents and for this reason for many years it has not indexed forums very well... if you maintain the opposite, I repeat that it means that you are stuck with the SEO of many years ago! By the way, it's enough that you take a look on Google to see that 99% of the time you don't get forum answers but you also deny the evidence...

You and your 4 musketeers when someone asks or discusses features that a forum must have today, do nothing but say "it's not necessary" or "it's fine like this" despite the fact that forums are used less and less so the problem is us who discuss how to evolve and make our communities interesting?

I'm not a troll, I'm simply a person who lives in the present and makes constructive discussions on how to improve...
 
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