# Why post\_number?

**URL:** <https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-post-number/52634>\
**Category:** Development\
**Created:** [November 7, 2016, 7:33pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-post-number/52634 "2016-11-07T19:33:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 8

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**Author:** ![Kevin\_Wildenradt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/kevin_wildenradt/32/62507_2.png) [@Kevin\_Wildenradt](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Kevin_Wildenradt)\
**Post date:** [November 11, 2016, 10:08pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/why-post-number/52634/8 "2016-11-11T22:08:13Z")

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That makes sense, but why is reply\_to\_post\_number used to identify which post a post is a reply to? If post\_number only exists to make URL’s look prettier, why is it the identifier that replies depend on? Wouldn’t it be more consistent to make replies depend on post\_id, a much more fundamental identifier? You would have to check that a post with that post\_id existed in the thread the reply was being posted in, but you already have to do that with post\_number.

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