Comments on articles

[George]

Any chance we could see the ability to comment/leave feedback on articles in the future?

[Bjørn]

Yes, I think a simple comment system could be good. As for when I am not sure currently.

[rapture]

Yes, I think a simple comment system could be good. As for when I am not sure currently.

I've been researching the article system in TP - that's why I've dug up this old topic.

I don't think this is currently possible:

I would like to be able to promote ANY forum topic to the front page from ANY forum.  It would be nice to also assign any catagory to that said post.  Doing so would take care of the OP's request.   Drupal as this feature.

Unless I'm missing something the Article system this a way for Admins to posts catagorized articles to the front page without posting to the forum.  Can any user submit articles?

[Bjørn]

Yes, as long as they belong in a membergroup with acess to do so.

As for showing a single topic/post or even a category..that would partly be done with the aid of SSI.php functions. It doesn't sound to bad...but I need to see how this can be done though, before I can say this or that. The option of selecting a single post/topic would have to be a partly manual operation I suspect, since setting up a select box with all topics would be...not good.

Maybe just inserting the topic number/id...anyways, I will think more on this.

[eldacar]

I think all articles should be topics, especially if they have comments. SMF already is such a great engine, why make something more for probably more limited commenting. Just use what we know is great.

As for multiple categories, I think that is very possible.

[Bjørn]

Articles was never intended to be part of the forum in that way..its a way to provide content without going into the forum at all.Commenting would be simpler than reply function in the forum, because its just a comment - you are not discussing anything. For that you would use the forum. Or this is how I think anyway.

The next release now has the ability to have blocks instead of articles on the frontpage - meaning any/multiple block(s) can be shown in the middle as well. And the range of block types is expanded with 2 types: one for several of the ssi function, and one for modules that will be in. Things like stats from a download manager or latest picture from a gallery etc.

For the ssi type block you can choose (for now) recent poll, top poll, top posters, top topics + top topics by view. Of course recent topics is a blocktype as before, and I will probably provide a single post blocktype.

Combine several single-post blocktype with the frontblock option, and you can essentially show posts from very different portions of the forum - on the frontpage.And add your own things in between as well. And since they follow the block scheme - you can specify which membergroup(s) they will appear to.

[hwfanatic]

I have to step into this discussion even though it seems to be an old one. I tend to agree with eldacar on this matter. Designing a new system for articles and article comments is,.. redundant, inpractical and from my point of view - not logical. I can learn to respect your idea of articles being a separate entity from the boards, but I don't understand it, nor will I learn to appreciate it. I am kindly asking you to reconsider.

Here is what I think is wrong with articles:

• Article organization.
• Inability to search through the Articles' subjects or body!
• Lack of integration, that is to say straying from the original idea of TP which was to make good hand of existing SMF facilities.

Here is what I think is good:

• Ability to exploit all the html tags, which could not be available inside a post's body.
• Intro.

Go figure...

Once again you should accept this as constructive criticism, which, once again, it is. Very few people are providing any kind of feedback on your project, and it is my impression that more oppinions would help you in configuring your project into it's final shape.

[Nokonium]

OK the articles and the menu have some rough edges but they are, for me, a way of creating web pages and wrapping them around a forum.

The direction that would be of most use for me would be able to have matching buttons in the 'Content', maybe even consider moving the existing menu buttons down with them so that the 'Menu Bar' is vertical and can be used to call articles, pages, other modules and the forum into the center.

[Bjørn]

hwfanatic:

I always consider constructive criticism. I am not too worried about not too many people giving feedback though...this is a fav project of mine, and was never meant to be the "next big thing". Themes is what I primarliy do, and since the theme system is so versatile, it was too tempting to make more use of it. Geeklog is also a big inspiration.

As to your points..yes, the article system is a bit rough, but I am working on it. But you are wrong in assuming TP original idea was purely to make use of SMF functions. It wasn't. And isn't. Its meant to make as much use of internal functions of SMF as possible, yes, but thats to avoid duplicate functions doing the same thing.

I know "Tiny" is a bit misleading..but it still holds water I think, the system is "tiny" = simple.

Articles will stay..but they needs polishing. Search should also be in, that will expand the possibility to find things in addition to the forum.

nokonium:

Thats a template thing really..because the function template_menu() can simply be called in a phpblock. You would need to adjust the template to make sure it won't be on top...but other than that is already quite possible.

I have added in the next release the option of blocks in the middle too..not the "centerblocks", but "frontblocks" that will only show on frontpage, and can be used to tailor the frontpage even more.

[zuma]

Articles will stay

Gee, that's good to hear. Articles are one of my favorite TP features.

My siites are about technical stuff - 75% of the content is discussion which takes place in the forum. 25% are articles written by experts. They need to use tables and other html features for formatting.  TP's Articles system is perfect and provides the means to categorize and link to them.

I've tried Mambo and MkPortal - for me TP is the perfect companion to SMF.

[hwfanatic]

I never ment to try and kick out the articles; my intention was merely for them to be better. But now I think I understand the distinction - articles are for site content, whilst threads are for discussion, and that is okay; thanks for clearing it out.

In light of what I have just said, it still seems logical for me to proceed with a suggestion to reconsider the commenting system for the articles. Some kind of new and simple commenting facility would indeed be duplicating functions, while SMF has a very advanced system for discussion. If you proceed with your current idea, you might end up with neat and simple feature, but a by-gone of sorts; in a way similarly to shoutbox. Uncentralised storage of comments and inability to search through them would imho make them less important. While, on the other hand, keeping comments within forum structure is,.. well better, and SMF is, we all agree, excellent system.

How would you make comments appear in the forum, yet stay linked to the article. Well, I can only suggest what I have seen working on other sites. For example on RPGDot. By default, newspost (in TP case - articles) have no thread for comments. Once somebody writes it, a php script generates a thread in the appropriate part of the board, copying the newspost content as the first post. From that point forward, any person that wants to join the discussion can make a reply to that thread i.e. will be redirected to that spot. This is a rough way to describe it, but I'm sure you get the picture. For a person who knows his way around php (you ), this might no be too much of work, but I actually wouldn't know. Maybe it sounds complicated, but in the end it would proove to be a more elegant solution. Imho, of course.

[zuma]

... keeping comments within forum structure is,.. well better

Agree with you on this one. A second channel for discussion can be confusing for members - some people would post comments, while others would start a thread - and the discussion about the article gets divided.

It would be very neat if somehow the comments automatically happened in a thread in the forum. Perhaps there could be settings for each article - forum name and thread title for discussion. If someone chooses to comment, that's where it goes (and creates the thread if it doesn't exist).

[Bjørn]

Not a bad idea at all. I will figure out how it can be done, especially the options you suggests, zuma - additonal info for each article. Adding the option of actually being able to comment at all , could that way be on article-to-article basis.

[Nokonium]

Not a bad idea at all. I will figure out how it can be done, especially the options you suggests, zuma - additonal info for each article. Adding the option of actually being able to comment at all , could that way be on article-to-article basis.

That I like, very flexible, can you make it so that you can either select to display the author & date as well as header, border etc?

[Bjørn]

Yes. It has been on my mind for some time.

[snowcrash]

I'd just like to add that comments on an article which are directly linked to the forum would be very powerful and neater, than an independent set of comments below an article. These tend to float, and rarely generate any serious discussion, acting similar to a shout box

I like how the mambo bridge discussbot does the commenting-forum.
For example on this site http://www.handheldlearning.co.uk/content/view/15/2/
if you scroll down it indicates how many comments have been posted with a direct link to the forum topic 

[Bjørn]

yes..I think that would be more beneficial than just a custom comment system.

[pcw]

imho articles should be without comments.

But posting topics into TP-categories would be a nice feature.
Intro & a "more..."-link shown inside the forum thread and in TP the full text with the first page of replies & a "forum thread"-link.
This should give TP the ability of writing "articles" with comments and such without.
And this way users can decide where they wanna read the text. Forum or Portal.

[ynohtna]

Articles was never intended to be part of the forum in that way..its a way to provide content without going into the forum at all.Commenting would be simpler than reply function in the forum, because its just a comment - you are not discussing anything. For that you would use the forum. Or this is how I think anyway.

Sorry to dig up and old thread but I was just wondering about articles and having comments on them.  I agree with what bloc said here in regards to article comments being simple replies as opposed to discussion items.  There should be a difference between articles and front page forum items for discussion.

Though, I'm not sure how they should be laid out because you don't want a a huge list of articles pushing way down the front page forum topics.

[iowamf]

Though, I'm not sure how they should be laid out because you don't want a a huge list of articles pushing way down the front page forum topics.

Agreed with both yours & Bloc's views of comments - comments should be just simple replies - discussion is for the forums.

As for as implementation of comments goes, IMHO, they should be similar to what is done with blogs.  At the end of the article, there is a link to the comments.  See http://littlegreenfootballs.com for an example of how comments are implemented.

[ynohtna]

As for as implementation of comments goes, IMHO, they should be similar to what is done with blogs.  At the end of the article, there is a link to the comments.  See http://littlegreenfootballs.com for an example of how comments are implemented.

Heh, those guys are articles and comments only it seems, no front page forum posts?

[iowamf]

correct - it's a blog only (note, not all bloggers allow people to comment).

TinyPortal w/ articles *and* the forums has the potential to be a lot more than just a blog.

[ynohtna]

ya and that's where I'm wondering how to balance the layout of articles and forum topics.  Soo much potential but how to use it  

[bloc]

I can agreed on that way to look at it - articles can have "comments" that are not discussions, but it can also/instead have a link to a discussion. Those two need not to be the same, one could perhaps choose between them. Some articles is perhaps a advertisment(?) and pointing to a discussion is better than just replies below.

Other times it can be a statement type, that short simple replies will benefit from.

[iowamf]

I can agreed on that way to look at it - articles can have "comments" that are not discussions, but it can also/instead have a link to a discussion. Those two need not to be the same, one could perhaps choose between them. Some articles is perhaps a advertisment(?) and pointing to a discussion is better than just replies below.

Other times it can be a statement type, that short simple replies will benefit from.

A potential issue with linking to a discussion is that getting SMF to sort chronological requires hacking.  Most comments are a "running log" and if SMFs soft *SORT* changes the order - all context is lost.

If a discussion breaks out in the forums about an article - great.

[JayBachatero]

I would like this idea.  Like blogs you can choose if oyu want to allow comments or not.

[eldacar]

Hmm. Some good ideas here.

I like the idea of there being a distinction between articles and normal discussions. Articles can be for content and rarely have comments. However if you decide one should have the ability of comments, it could be linked to a forum topic. I really dislike the idea of having a separate comments system.

I also like the idea of being able to nominate specific topics to appear in categories. How it is now, the latest topics from a board or from the whole forum are shown I think. It would be great to be able to select specific topics to be shown on the front page rather than just the latest. Or prehaps not the front page but instead in a block.