Trending threads

[DreadsUK]

Does anyone know of a treading threads mod where users that have been away for a while can see the most popular threads they've missed?

[bzcomputers]

None that I know of. You could go about it by using custom search parameters already built into vB.

The url below will give you a list of all threads with posts since the users last visit sorted by the number of replies to those threads.

http://www.YOURSITENAME.com/forum/search.php?do=process&searchdate=lastvisit&beforeafter=after&sortby=replycount&order=descending&showposts=0&childforums=1

Use the search parameters below to customize it how you'd like. You may find something that'll give you exactly what you want.


The base URL will always be:

http://www.YOURSITENAME.com/forum/search.php?do=process

When you add a search parameter to the base URL it will be formatted like this:

&variable_name=value

Search field: Search by Key Word

Variable name: titleonly
Values:
0 = Search Entire Posts
1 = Search Titles Only

Search field: Search by User Name

Variable name: searchuser
Values:
Enter a username

Variable name: starteronly
Values:
0 = Find Posts by User
1 = Find Threads Started by User

Variable name: exactname
Values:
0 = Partial name
1 = Exact name

Search field: Find Threads with

Variable name: replyless
Values:
0 = At Least
1 = At Most

Variable name: replylimit
Values:
Any integer values

Search field: Find Posts from

Variable name: searchdate
Values:
0 = Any Date
lastvisit = Your Last Visit
1 = Yesterday
7 = A Week Ago
14 = 2 Weeks Ago
30 = A Month Ago
90 = 3 Months Ago
180 = 6 Months Ago
365 = A Year Ago

Variable name: beforeafter
Values:
after = and Newer
before = and Older

Search field: Sort Results by

Variable name: sortby
Values:
rank = Relevancy
title = Title
replycount = Number of Replies
views = Number of Views
threadstart = Thread Start Date
lastpost = Last Posting Date
postusername = User Name
forum = Forum

Variable name: order
Values:
descending = in Descending Order
ascending = in Ascending Order

Search field: Show Results as

Variable name: showposts
Values:
0 = Show Results as Threads
1 = Show Results as Posts

Search field: Search in Forum(s)

Variable name: forumchoice[]
Values:
Do not include this variable in the URL to search all forums. If you want to search specific forums then you need to add an instance for each forumid. For example:

&forumchoice[]=X&forumchoice[]=Y&forumchoice[]=Z

Where X, Y, and Z are the forumids of the forums in which you want to search.

Variable name: childforums
Values:
0 = Do not search in child forums
1 = Also search in child forums

[DreadsUK]

i already have the 'unread thread since last visit' enabled

specifically requesting 'trending' which is very different. I did try looking through the search options but nothing stuck out.

Thanks tho mate

Anyone know of any 'trending' mods?

[bzcomputers]

Like I said I'm pretty sure there aren't currently any "trending" mods for vB at this time.

The algorithms needed to create one specifically for forum threads would need to be pretty intricate to be worth anything. You'd have to consider many factors, like threads with tons of posts that are from just a couple individuals should not be weighted as high as a thread with less posts but more individuals interacting. Someone would have to arbitrarily make all these weighting decisions and I'm not sure it would be worth much.

Most of what is referred to as "trending" on the internet currently is in respect to popularity/sharing on social networks, which stock vB4 is severely lacking in, but can be added without to much work.

I personally do this by using AddThis on vB forums. This can be done this way:

1) Install AddThis social sharing buttons in each thread. Do this by editing the "facebook_likebutton" template.

2) Then using the AddThis trending script (https://www.addthis.com/get/trending) I create a custom "Trending" page and "Trending" widget on vB.

The limitation with something like this is it only works if your users actually click the social sharing buttons. It works well for me because I use lots of custom information pages on my sites which get shared a lot, but users don't share threads nearly as often.

...but at least it's another idea.