Reply to Thread APPEARS to respond to the last poster, NOT the thread as a whole

[Bill Stuntz]

This is the "Thread" people are responding to, created by me.

If, say, MarkFL replies to me, and another poster does a "Reply to Thread" maybe something like "That's a stupid idea." after Mark's post, THAT critical/insulting post will APPEAR to be directed at MARK, (RE:MarkFL), not to the thread as a whole, or to ME (which is MUCH more likely! ). It's misleading, and occasionally causes confusion and/or arguments due to the misunderstanding about WHOSE post is being responded to.

Is there a way to FIX this? Maybe by suppressing the (RE:...) in the header of a "Reply to Thread" since it may not be a response to ANY particular poster? It ACTS like "Reply to LAST POST" not "Reply to Thread"

We're running 4.2.2, preparing to go to 4.2.3

[Paul M]

Thats not part of standard vB, its a modification of some sort.

[Bill Stuntz]

Thank you. I wasn't aware of that. I've had nothing to do with actually setting up the system, so I don't know what's native, and what's a mod. I guess I need to look into the mods to try to find out which one is doing it.

[Bill Stuntz]

I've found the plugin, but I don't know where it came from. It works properly when replying to a specific post by using the correct non-zero parentid, but "Reply to Thread" seems to pick an inappropriate parentid. The first post's parentid=0 so no link is shown in the first post's title.

I'm just guessing here: If it set the parentid to 0 instead of the incorrect postid that it picks now when invoked by "Reply to Thread" it shouldn't display ANY link in that new post title - which is what I want. I see too many "What's he shouting at ME for? Somebody ELSE said that!" complaints when somebody does a "Reply to Thread" that unintentionally points to the wrong post. It shouldn't point to ANY post instead of pointing to a wrong one.

Trouble is, I can't FIND "Reply to Thread" or "Reply" [to post] to figure out exactly how they work, and hopefully inhibit the incorrect link for a "Reply to Thread" while allowing the correct links to display when they're responding to a specific post.

P.S. The link is actually displayed in the post title by the following lines in a modified postbit_legacy:

<vb:if condition="$post['parentid'] AND $post['parentusername']">
(RE: <a href="{vb:link thread, {vb:raw thread}, {vb:raw pageinfo_post}}#post{vb:raw post.parentid}">{vb:raw post.parentusername}</a>)
</vb:if>

If parentid=0, the condition fails, and no link is displayed.

[Lynne]

I would suggest seeing if that modification is uploaded here and then go read the thread to see if this issue has been brought up before.

[Bill Stuntz]

As I'm sure you can tell, I'm new at trying to mess with the guts of our forum.
I haven't done any real programming since pre-GUI CP/M & DOS3 days, but I think I remember enough to track this down & fix it - if I can find the code.

If there's anything about the plugin on the MB, I haven't been able to find it. My previous post shows the plugin itself, and the attachment in this post shows where I clicked to show the plugin. I don't see anything to indicate where it came from, when, or why. All I see is the code itself, that it's enabled, and that the section it's in is "Product : vBulletin"

Maybe I'm just being dumb, but I haven't figured out where the code for "Reply to Thread" vs "Reply" vs "Reply with Quote" lives - I can't even find where/how the buttons & their actions are defined. I've identified the plugin, and figured out how it causes the references to be displayed in the thread title by postbit_legacy, but unless I can figure out what calls them, and when, I'm stuck.

If I could find out what code runs when "Reply to Thread" is pressed vs "Reply" etc. I might be able to follow the code and inhibit the reference link when "Reply to Thread" is invoked by zero-ing out either parentid or parentusername.

Where are the buttons & their actions defined? If I can find THAT, I hope I'll see a trail of breadcrumbs that might lead me toward a solution.

[tommythejoat]

This thread should probably be merged with mine on "is the thread structure broken." They are really the same topic that is troubling our NAWCC Message Board.

The feature Bill is describing is an add on which I found here, but in a discussion, not a formal add on since it only required one very small plugin. I have not been able to find the thread where I originally found it a few years ago.

However, I think the thread structure is broken in the sense that reply to post and reply to thread do not function logically.

Any message board that support threaded or hybrid thread viewing will demonstrate the behavior. The post graph for any thread will show a cascade of reply posts instead of references back to the first post when the user click on reply to thread.

The developer may have thought they were doing it the right way, but back in the old days of threaded message boards, it was clearly understood that subtopics of a thread would display in an alternate branch while responses to the main topic would reference it in the graph.

This board only supports linear view, so it is not possible to show the problem clearly here.