Functionality to remove unneccesary posts from topics

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AI-generated summary

The discussion started with davidshq suggesting some functionality to help clean up forums threads that become cluttered over time with extraneous posts. He provided an example thread on multisite configuration where the discussion diverged into an unrelated side conversation that was no longer relevant.

He proposed some possible solutions:

  • Allow collapsing a subset of posts while keeping them in the thread (post 1)
  • Split off subsets of posts into separate topics (post 1)
  • Allow moderators to simply delete clutter posts (post 1)
  • Let users delete their own unnecessary posts (post 1)

sam responded that most of this functionality already exists, it just requires discipline in using the tools properly.

Heliosurge agreed with sam, noting that some features could be better exposed, like the ability to collapse irrelevant subthreads. He suggested this could help both regular users and moderators clean up topics.

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Continuing the discussion from Multisite configuration with Docker:

I love Discourse and first want to just say ‘thanks’ to you guys for your work on an excellent application.

But…

Gahh, I hate having to say that…but, I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed when I read some Discourse threads - for example the one I’ve linked to above (multisite configuration).

Over time these threads get cluttered. For example, with the thread I added below:

I’m wondering how you guys envision folks consuming this post in the best way possible currently…and if you have any ideas for how to make it more easily consumed in the future?

I’d suggest that a “cleaning” mechanism of some sort would be quite handy. For example, the above thread I made is old news. It really is pretty useless - @riking made the necessary edit - the related posts are now “useless.”

A cleaning mechanism might work something like this (and I’m just spitballing here trying to be helpful :))

  • One could select a thread of posts and “collapse” them. They would remain part of the same thread, in the same location, but individuals would click on them collapsed version to expand and see the full thread. This way the info. is still accessible, but isn’t cluttering up what’s really important.
  • One could have a “break into new topic” option that would pull off this specific sub-thread into a new topic…err, it should probably be an old topic, otherwise everyone would see this useless info. as unread when they next visited the site.
  • The moderator could just delete the clutter.
  • Users could be responsible for deleting their own clutter.

Dave

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Pretty much all the above exists, its just a question of discipline applying the existing tools.

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Come Sam ha detto, gran parte della funzionalità è presente. Anche se penso che sia in parte condizionamento e anche esporre funzionalità che possono rendere le cose più facili.

Ad esempio, un’impostazione del sito abbastanza nuova mette una freccia in basso a sinistra di un post con un numero. Quando viene cliccata, nasconde i post tranne quelli che sono correlati al primo post su cui hai cliccato.

Questo è utile non solo per il membro ma anche per il team di moderazione se vogliono dividere un argomento… Tuttavia, potrebbe essere necessaria un’opzione per inserire i post in seguito se il rispondente ha utilizzato il pulsante di risposta in basso invece di rispondere al post.