In the structured data model there should be only one object declared as `mainEntity` / `mainEntityOfPage`.
See [“mainEntity” - Background information - Data Model - schema.org](https://schema.org/docs/datamodel.html#mainEntityBackground)
Right now every single post is declared to be the `mainEntityOfPage`.
Google sees every page (= url) as its own context. Thereby it is possible to declare _one_ post for each url as `mainEntity` – e.g.
- `https://DOMAIN/t/SLUG/43`: main entity is `#post_1`
- `https://DOMAIN/t/SLUG/43?page=2`: main entity is one of `#post_10` to `#post_19`
- `https://DOMAIN/t/SLUG/43?page=3`: main entity is one of `#post_20` to `#post_29`
- […]
* * *
See also Discussion for `schema.org` on “pagination of ItemLists” and Google: [pagination for ItemList · Issue #1714 · schemaorg/schemaorg · GitHub](https://github.com/schemaorg/schemaorg/issues/1714)
- [pagination for ItemList · Issue #1714 · schemaorg/schemaorg · GitHub](https://github.com/schemaorg/schemaorg/issues/1714#issuecomment-540009292)
> [@](#):
>
> From my exposure to Google’s treatment of this sort of thing, there’s no interest/capacity in multi-page graphs; only in the context of the page in question.
- [pagination for ItemList · Issue #1714 · schemaorg/schemaorg · GitHub](https://github.com/schemaorg/schemaorg/issues/1714#issuecomment-615794218)
> [@](#):
>
> See this comment from Google’s developer documentation:
>
> > A category page listing several different products (or recipes, videos, or any other type). Each entity should be marked up using the relevant `schema.org` type, such as `schema.org/Product` for product category pages. However, if one item is marked, all items should be marked. **Also, unless this is a carousel page, the marked items should not link out to separate details pages**.
The above excerpt from Google’s developer documentation might be outdated as it is missing right now: [General Structured Data Guidelines | Google Search Central | Documentation | Google for Developers](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/advanced/structured-data/sd-policies?hl=en#multiple-items)
---
Does this not relate to the use of: [DiscussionForumPosting - Schema.org Type](https://schema.org/DiscussionForumPosting)
We use this for every single post, it looks like we should only use it for the first post and then use [Comment - Schema.org Type](https://schema.org/Comment) for the rest.
That way we get rid of all the repeat titles pagination stuff and and the rest of things that are not a good fit.
---
> [@sam](#):
>
> we should only use [DisccussionForumPosting] for the first post and then use [Comment - Schema.org Type](https://schema.org/Comment) for the rest.
Google may not really care about sub-types like `DiscussionForumPosting` and map these to the ancestor type `Article` instead.
By doing this Discourse might look more like a blog with `Articles` plus `Comments` from Googles perspective.
Maybe another way is to make the relations between `DiscussionForumPostings` more clear:
e.g. by using [about - Schema.org Property](https://schema.org/about) to declare the parent post inside each answer.
```plaintext
post_1 (mainEntityOfPage)
|
+-- post_2 (about post_1)
|
+-- post_3 (about post_1)
| |
| + post_4 (about post_3)
| + post_6 (about post_3)
|
+ post_5 (about post_1)
```
* * *
There is a discussion on how to use `DiscussionForumPosting`:
One opinion - see: [We have DiscussionForumPosting but no DiscussionForum... · Issue #125 · schemaorg/suggestions-questions-brainstorming · GitHub](https://github.com/schemaorg/suggestions-questions-brainstorming/issues/125#issuecomment-481313990)
> The description of DisccussionForumPosting is “A posting to a discussion forum.”.
>
> A typical forum is made up of categories. Categories contain forums, and a forum contains topics. A topic contains 1 or more forum posts.
>
> The description seems to indicate that this schema is for an individual forum post but the example seems to show it is for a topic which can have multiple forum posts from multiple authors.
---
I stumbled upon a working structured data model (= Google makes rich snippets) for forum posts in the wild: XenForo
### Google SERP mobile view
### Google SERP desktop view
### Technical details
e.g. `https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/headphones-and-the-harman-target-curve.17914/`
Heavily reduced HTML code:
```html
Headphones and the Harman target curve | Audio Science Review (ASR) Forum
[…]
>
> 
>
> 
>
>