This is a rather old hack I did some time ago for someone, but never really released it as a full hack. :)

Very simple, this hack lets you change the template the first post is using (in either all forums or only one), so it can look differently.
Great for article and review forums. :D

Before installing the hack, create a new template named "postbit_first" from the current "postbit" template. After you're done, you can edit that template and it will control the first post in the threads.

Everything else you need is in the attached file, have fun! :)

Chen

Great for my reviews forum, thank you Firefly. Well done :up:

That 'someone' was me :D You can see it on my forums in the 'zine' section. Definitely a great addition to my board, and still my favourite hack :)

creepy, I needed this very hack yesterday....
none the less, excelent job!! now I get to us it! :D

is anyone else getting a parse error in showthread.php? i just installed it on my win32 test server.

Im trying to get it working on 2.2.0, anyone had any luck Im getting a parse error in showthread :(

if I change the line in showthread to the above I dont get the error but it doesnt show the first post?

could I seee a pic, pleas anyone?

Yes can we have a picture of this in action please :D

I was getting that too, but all that's needed is a closing bracket after $pagenumber==1

Chen, this is an absolutely brilliant hack for my forums as I have a sponsor and needed to get my sponsor's ads in the faces of people who clicked through to my news articles from other sites. With this hack, I can do that with ease!

THANKS!!!!!!!!!

Screen Shot!

I've edited the left column (the one that usually contains username, registered date, # posts, etc) in the postbit_first template to include basic information about the poster (as they're staff) and an iframe with my sponsor's ad in it.

Of course, the great thing about this hack is it's completely customizable. You can edit the postbit_first to look however you want it to!