Re: Adding name at "last_post_column"

Posted by GregChapman on Nov 27, 2012; 10:32am
URL: https://support.nabble.com/Adding-name-at-last-post-column-tp7582051p7582057.html

Ah! I think I now understand "last topic" to mean "most recent post in the current topic" as that is the nature of the data that the "Last Post" column contains.

I think you may be highlighting something I would consider that is approaching a bug in Nabble's system and needs some more general discussion with the folk at Nabble. Here's how I read the situation...

I start from the assumption that if someone changes the subject line then they acknowledge some topic drift is taking place and their message should perhaps be posted as a new topic. That is difficult with Nabble's current facilities, if you wish to quote part of the post to which you are replying. The assumption also implies that almost always some administrator management would be needed to move any post with a changed subject so it becomes a new topic.

I also note that the Nabble default for subscribers who mail a reply with a changed subject line is to generate a new topic and NOT add the reply to an existing topic. This lack of consistency, begs the question why the same doesn't apply to posts made via a forum.

For those who are concerned about the subject line of a post, Nabble already has built in "Topics View" that presents posts in date order. It could be argued that if Nabble is to allow a change of subject within a topic, the "Topics View" screen should be renamed and should record the current post subject rather than the subject of the original post, as it does at the moment. That screen would then fulfill the need you seek to achieve with your proposed change.

I would argue that if a change the subject line is allowed when replying then, it there should either be an automatic new topic generated (as already happens with emailed replies). As a minimum, the subject change should be detected and an option be offered to create a new topic.

If we stick with the current work-around you propose, and you are simply trying to record a change in post subject, then surely it would be better to do that within the "topic_column" macro, so it would show something like:

Initial topic by user
Now: Revised topic

Obviously, the second line would need to be conditional on a change in subject being detected. With your proposal 99.9% of the time the most recent post in a topic will be the subject line of the original post in a topic, so almost always the "Last Post" column will repeat the content from the "topic_column" macro (unless you add some conditional code to ensure that it only appears when a change is made).

I'd love to see some of the Nabble team's thoughts on this!