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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alfaNova said:
I have been usıng @truonglv post reply addon for years. And I never have a problem with this addon. And if you uninstall or disable the addon, it is converting replies to quotes back automatically. That means you are not losing or messing anything. But I wish xenforo would offer this feature as native feature. Quotes are totally useless and similar to 50 years before technology.

Post Reply truonglv

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Allow reply to thread in more levels
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An official XF addon like that might be the best of both worlds, I suppose, giving people the choice of whether to use threaded comments or not. I seriously doubt they will ever add to the core, though, which I'm personally fine with, so it's probably wasted effort for people to be arguing for it.
 
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imno007 said:
An official XF addon like that might be the best of both worlds, I suppose, giving people the choice of whether to use threaded comments or not. I seriously doubt they will ever add to the core, though, which I'm personally fine with, so it's probably wasted effort for people to be arguing for it.
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I am hundred percent with you. Of course I prefer native option as well. I recommended this feature several times as well. But xenforo developers are not keen to implement it. So I requested from truongvl to develop that addon.
 
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Arantor said:
It happens enough for me that I am glad of it. But even that, whatever method you use, it reaffirms the value of using quotes.
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Sorry, I don't agree. It's all about your and my usage habits. If the quote system was really as good as you say, dozens of platforms would not be using nested replies.
 
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Arantor said:
Which platforms would those be, though? Because I currently know of (quite a few) more platforms that don’t vs those that do…
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@alfaNova may mean "websites" instead of "platforms" because I also knew just a few of them. Here's some:
  • SaaS / Self-Hosted
    • Discourse
    • NodeBB
    • Talkyard
    • Scoold
  • Self-Hosted
    • EasyDiscuss
    • Apache Answer
    • Forem
    • Question2Answer
    • QPixel
  • $aa$
    • Khoros
    • StackOverflow Teams
    • Circle Discussions
    • UseHall
    • Skool
    • Bettermode
    • UseTurf
    • GroupApp Channels
  • WordPress
    • ForumWP
    • wpForo
    • bbPress
 
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Nitpick: the Discourse and NodeBB implementations aren’t actually threaded, they just surface the linear post from down-thread attached to its parent. Possibly the best compromise yet - but it’s still actually a linear thread and has been for years.

Meanwhile, phpBB, MyBB, SMF, XF, IPS, vB, Flarum, Waterhole, just off the top of my head all linear, plus Discourse and NodeBB. I’m sure there are more but I haven’t had my morning tea yet.

What’s interesting is how many Q&A setups do this. Are we calling them forums? If so are we counting StackOverflow and friends? I know its founder has variously argued that it both is and is not a forum when it suits his point.
 
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Arantor said:
they just surface the linear post from down-thread attached to its parent
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Sorry but I don't really understand what do you mean by this.

Arantor said:
just off the top of my head all linear, plus Discourse and NodeBB
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NodeBB has nested replies. Discourse has official plugin which if enabled will allow you to comment on each posts.

Arantor said:
What’s interesting is how many Q&A setups do this. Are we calling them forums?
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I just included them on the examples since XF has Questions thread type.
 
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NodeBB and Discourse still really have the single linear thread underneath. They just track that post x is a reply to post y, and show post x in the little dropdown under post y - BUT it's still in its original place on the linear thread. At least that's what I saw when I went looking this morning - on both Discourse and NodeBB's official communities.

It's a neat feature. (In NodeBB's case, that was originally built for a forum I was on - Ben Lubar is a friend of mine, I was there when he first implemented it in NodeBB, copying what Discourse had, because we migrated off Discourse to NodeBB and that was a feature we missed.)
 
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Robert9 said:
Who or what is Reddit?
If they don't have proper structures, they should switch to XF!
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LOL. Google it. It is a huge site with discussion areas (subreddits) for pretty much every subject on Earth. For music you can go from music in general to genres/styles to specific styles under those genres to specific bands/artists.

Not sure if I am glad or just shocked to find someone who hasn't heard of it. Any time I Google something, I seem to get at least a couple, usually relevant, hits from subreddits.
 
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Not sure if 1) I am glad or 2) just shocked to find someone who hasn't heard of it.
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And now, reflect and think: could there be a third possibility?

3) The humor used in the phrase like "Who the **** is Alice?" could be described as subversive humor or provocative humor.
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But in fact, I very, very rarely look at Reddit; it's all a bit messy and chaotic. I don't get much out of it. Sometimes I end up there when I'm searching for something and find a hint to another page.

And so the circle closes: Who or what is Reddit? It can go, I don't need it.
 
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3) The humor used in the phrase like "Who the **** is Alice?" could be described as subversive humor or provocative humor.
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I kind of wondered but you seemed to be saying it with a straight face. :D

Robert9 said:
But in fact, I very, very rarely look at Reddit; it's all a bit messy and chaotic. I don't get much out of it. Sometimes I end up there when I'm searching for something and find a hint to another page.
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Ditto. I might go there if a search result from it seems interesting but otherwise, not my cuppa.
 
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The solution for "nested replies" from Themehouse, now Ozzy, was quite scary at the time because it involved massive changes to the system, as far as I remember. There is also a solution from Truolonglv. And there must be a third solution or there must have been one; I need to check. I bought it at some point.

Additionally, I have a concept in the drawer on how this could be solved without major contortions if one is satisfied with a simple version that allows maybe just one or two levels.

Personally, I'm less interested in this; there are completely different issues that need to be addressed. These have to do with information overload, with less is more, and with the presentation of information. But this is probably also because I see forums less as a place for chit-chat and more as machines for processing and providing data.

PS:
When it comes to Reddit, I found it quite amazing many years ago; I studied it closely because I really wanted those up and down voting arrows, maybe back in the VB days, maybe already Xenforo1. I always had in the back of my mind that it could be a really exciting site and that I just needed to find the right groups, so I wanted to look into it at some point not just for the technology – if I ever had the time. Well, now I’m retired, and I really have no time at all. :)
 
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