Make reply button unavailable immediately after closing topic

feature
#1

I have been noticing with my forum that people have been able to reply to posts that have been closed up to 20 minutes ago. Eventually, the reply button will go away, but they do say it’s a little inconvenient having that reply button there. For example, this happened just minutes ago on my forum.

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The person who was replying was not a moderator, so the reply button was still there. After feedback from some people, they say that the reply button is there for up to 20 minutes after the topic is closed. Are you able to fix this so the reply button goes away immediately?

4 Likes
#2

This is a problem which i have seen in many forums. Tho it is not causing any problems, i hope it can be changed and fixed!

1 Like
#3

AFAIK, the reply button behaves as follows:

  • If a staff closes the topic, the button will stay there until the user refreshes the page. If one doesn’t refresh, they will be able to “open” the reply interface (meaning that they will appear as they are writing something down) but once they press “Reply”, a message will appear saying that the topic has been closed.

  • I haven’t seen a reply button after a closure, can you perhaps tell them to share a video of that happening? You should try to reproduce it here and post in the #bug category.

What I have also seen thousands of times (also happens in your screenshot) is that a mod/admin closes the topic, while a user is still replying. Having said that, their avatar will still appear at the bottom.

1 Like
#4

Thank you sir for clarifying it. Now i understand mostly about why it happens!

3 Likes
#5

Can we repro this @dax?

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#6

Let me try asking some people over on my forum and see if I can get a video of the topic closed, refreshing in the reply button still being there.

2 Likes
#7

Hi I think you will find this Theme Component very useful

As we had the same issue as members with higher levels can reply to closed threads tl4, mods and admins

This warns people they are bumping closed topics.

In your pic CaptainZac is a mod.

@codinghorror this Theme Component could maybe be included as part of Discourse install.

3 Likes
#8

So this entire topic is incorrectly stated. Moderators and staff can reply to closed topics.

1 Like
#9

Correct, but the button for general users sometimes stays there even though it is closed for up to 20 minutes even after refreshing the page

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#10

I think @CaptainZac is arguing about the other user replying to the closed topic. That user is not staff, is a member. If you check closely, the user “Nuggetfornia” is replying.

2 Likes
#11

Sorry missed that part of your post. Haven’t ran into that issue before. Guessing this maybe a new bug as usually even some in the middle of a reply on our site have expressed some irritation once they complete the reply and are told they cannot post as topic is closed. Except of course in our case the tl4 mods and admins, which is why I installed that Theme Component.

#12

Right, but say I’ve started composing the reply 3 days ago and left the browser open. Then the topic closes yesterday. What do you propose doing, force closing the reply that the user is in the middle of writing?

I agree that we should remove the reply button as soon as the close occurs, but how do we know these users weren’t composing replies minutes, hours… even days… before the close occurred?

#13

Possibly a warning showing up at the top of the page or a pop up on the screen saying that the topic has been closed. Definitely something that could be dismissed, so they could copy and paste their work somewhere else. Just so people aren’t taking up their time for it to be closed.

2 Likes
#14

Doesn’t this need the user to refresh though? I am not sure if it is possible to appear by the time the topic gets closed…

#15

It would be similar to the way that this works:

Once the topic is closed, and you’re still in the composer, since discourse has a way to get the blue bar to appear at the top when a new topic is post it without refreshing, For example: below

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If they’re able to have the ability to have that pop up when a new topic is posted, they should be able to have the ability to have a pop-up when you are in the composer when the topic is closed

1 Like
#16

Not sure if I get what you mean, but when replying, half and more of the page is covered by your keyboard and composer.

On the mobile side, that wouldn’t be possible, because…

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#17

No, I mean something like this (sorry for the sloppy drawing but you get the point)

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#18

I will try getting some videos from users regarding this.

#19

I support a “critical fail check” upon click or tap of the reply button to make sure at the exact time the editor was originally invoked that the topic is not closed.

Beyond that, if the topic is closed while the user is in the editor actively composing a reply to the topic, well… it’s unfortunate, and rare, but it is what it is?

(Users certainly know how to copy and paste, so nothing they’re writing will be lost. I’m not sure if we save reply drafts for replies to closed topics, but I’m thinking we probably do, so users are double-covered in that case.)

2 Likes
#20

Unless this was changed recently. In my experience when the user tries to publish the reply. Discourse responds the post cannot be published. One user for example had to copy there post and start a new topic.

That being said @CaptainZac is your members complaining that they spend time completing a reply to be denied publishing it?

1 Like