I have read a ton of threads regarding this but am still confused Maybe a comparison with Facebook might help? Correct me if I am wrong: A post on Facebook = a post on discourse A comment on Fb = a reply on discourse AND both post+reply=topic Am i correct here?

Hello, welcome to Meta! :wave: I don’t know much about Facebook. Let’s see: Topic: This is the subject of a discussion thread. It contains posts. Post: A post is any contribution made to a discussion. It can be the initial message. Reply: A post directly addresses an earlier post within the topic…

So the initial point, in this case what I wrote, would be the topic? And then anything that comes after that would be a reply? And both the topic and reply could be called a post?

This whole chain of posts is a topic. Every each message is a post. I surely make a reply, that is a post, to you, but if I would use reply button it would be connect as an answer to one of posts. Same thing in Facebook where everything under original post are a topic. When someone is posting direc…

There’s a glossary in this topic which may help? [image] Understanding Discourse for new users Using Discourse bookmark This guide covers the fundamental features and basic usage of Discourse for new users, explaining key terms, how to navigate, participate in…

@Jagster Thanks a ton for your help. I did understand what you were saying to some extent. But just to confirm, do we not have any name for the original post like the one I did at the top? Every post and reply here is called a “post”, right?

Yes, every post is a post. A topic is a collection of posts. Informally, the first post in a topic could be called the OP (original post). In the database it’s just post_number: 1. I agree the terms are a bit confusing. I think that’s because this forum (Meta) is a mixture of developers and non-dev…

@DevTantia – I think of the first post as “Original Post” (“OP”) or “Topic Starter”. There is only one of this type of post per Topic, and it always stays at the top of the Topic page. Only this special “OP” post contains the extra fields in the Composer (as you can see just below) like the Title, t…

Topics vs Posts vs Replies

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JammyDodger April 18, 2024, 4:19pm 5

There’s a glossary in this topic which may help?

Topic		Replies	Views
Difference between topics, posts and replies? Support	4	5886	January 17, 2019
Post vs Topic Support	6	674	January 11, 2023
What's a Post? (Discourse API question) Development	7	986	August 24, 2021
Topics and posts in reports Support	2	108	November 26, 2024
Are Topics the Equivalent of Facebook Posts? Community Building facebook-migration	6	148	February 10, 2026

Topics vs Posts vs Replies

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