Discussions can now be moved around

Discussions can now be moved around

by Martin Dougiamas -
Number of replies: 14
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
Discussions can now be easily moved around from forum to forum, which means no more off-topic discussions. smile

http://moodle.org/bugs/bug.php?op=show&bugid=122

Currently, the feature just moves the whole topic instantly, and no "trace" is left behind in the original location (except for an entry in the logs).

A possibility is to leave behind some sort of unreplyable post that indicates the topic has been moved, and provides a forwarding link, but I'm undecided if this is necessary and just clutters the forums up.

Another future possibility is to be able to "break" off a sub-thread and promote it as a whole new topic.

Responses on these are welcome.
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Discussions can now be moved around

by Hans de Zwart -

Maybe it is an idea to just e-mail the members of the forum, notifying them that the discussion has moved and providing them with a link.
In the forum itself you then would not have to have a message that clutters up the forum.

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In reply to Hans de Zwart

Re: Discussions can now be moved around

by Paula Edmiston -
Maybe the action of moving the message (or thread) could itself generate an email (in the way that posting a message generates an email).

I work with an academic group that uses a threaded webboard (Matt's wwwboard) and we have to archive that board every couple of weeks to keep the page from being way too long. Part of the process of archiving the board is adding a link to the new archive to the current webboard. Maybe there could be some of kind of tie-in this way: When a forum is created ask if an archive should be created and if so, should the archive be visible to the students.

Create Forum Options:
1. Create an Archive with student access (no archive/yes student access/no student access) If the option for student access is set to yes then the link to the archive could be embedded in the "current" archive (and the archive forum could link to the "current" archive. If no student access then treat it as "hidden"
2. Automatic archive schedule: (pick list: no automation, I will archive by hand, 1 week, 2 weeks, etc through maybe 6 months or so (when the limit is reached maybe the archive could mail the teacher or admin a reminder that archiving limit is reached and do they want to reset the schedule? I'mm thinking of topic and social here that might be ongoing)? For a weekly course this could be the number of weeks already identified. For topic and social the teacher could choose "no" or .... I'm out of ideas).
3. Email members when archive occurs?: options: mail to teacher only/mail to all subscribers/mail to everyone

When creating an archive perhaps name it after the original? If I create a forum named "Internet history" then the archive could be named "Internet History Archive". Would there be a problem with the length of the name here, or the same name being used in more than one unit of class?
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In reply to Hans de Zwart

Re: Discussions can now be moved around

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
One good thing about moved discussions (if I say so myself) is that no existing links are broken. (eg links in previous mailouts).

So most of the time people don't even notice it's moved, I think. I've been moving offtopic discussions all over moodle.org. smile I think the only time one might notice it missing is when looking at a forum listing, and presumably moved discussions are in more appropriate forums anyway so they might even be found more easily.

But the idea of mailing a short notification is an interesting one - I'll let it rattle around a bit longer. One question is who to mail? - the subscribers to the original forum or the destination forum? smile

Just thinking about archiving is making my head hurt, Paula. wink
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Discussions can now be moved around

by Hans de Zwart -
I think you would have to mail both users, but make sure that you do not send things double!
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Discussions can now be moved around

by Paula Edmiston -
Martin winces. Just thinking about archiving is making my head hurt, Paula. wink

I'm a librarian by training and a packrat by nature wink

I may not understand the concept of "moving" a forum post. I'm assuming "move" means it is now in the new location and NOT in the original location.

If original links are maintained (no existing links are broken. (eg links in previous mailouts)), does that mean the post is really being "copied" (ie, it now exists in both the current and the archive fora), not "moved" (now in the archive forum and leaving no trace behind in the original forum)?

Whew!
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In reply to Paula Edmiston

Re: Discussions can now be moved around

by Przemyslaw Stencel -
Paula writes:
If original links are maintained (no existing links are broken. (eg links in previous mailouts)), does that mean the post is really being "copied" (ie, it now exists in both the current and the archive fora), not "moved" (now in the archive forum and leaving no trace behind in the original forum)?

Look at url's of forums. For example, this one's url is http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=1079 which means that the url of the forum just includes the id number of it (1079). This is then cross-referenced in the database to the course and topic where the forum sits. So, technically, moving a forum does not mean moving it at all. It simply means changing its references in the database. This is what it looks like from the database perspective. For a user, a forum appears moved (not copied), so there is no trace left behind.

If you need to archive old discussions you could create a special forum for this purpose and set it to "general forum" and "no discussions, no replies". If you then move old discussions to that forum, all messages in the threads will be retained, but students will not be able to post replies to them anymore.

I hope this helps.
Przemek
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In reply to Przemyslaw Stencel

Re: Discussions can now be moved around

by Martin Koops -

Excude my ignorance, but also here I cannot figure out how to move a discussion.

i really want to do so, but I do not see the option anywhere. is it in moodle1.1.1??

Regards, Martijn

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In reply to Martin Koops

Re: Discussions can now be moved around

by Graham Stone -
Picture of Testers
I am also wondering how to move a disscussion because i've looked everywhere in my site and I can't figure out how to do it.   sad 
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In reply to Graham Stone

Re: Discussions can now be moved around

by Martin Dougiamas -
Picture of Core developers Picture of Documentation writers Picture of Moodle HQ Picture of Particularly helpful Moodlers Picture of Plugin developers Picture of Testers
When looking at a discussion, look in the top-right corner ... there is a menu there (not the navigation menu - this one is at the same level as the one where you can change the discussion formatting).
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In reply to Martin Dougiamas

Re: Discussions can now be moved around

by Martin Koops -

I feel really silly..blush .. But euhhm, I do not see the menu.is it also available in the sitenews forum? is it in moodle1.1.1?

All I have is are fields (freely translated) : show members, choose for a membership, cancel mebership

When I select modify forum, I come in a screen where I can change a lot of seetiings but moving the site is not one of the options .

in the discussion itself the only option is ; search forum.

sad

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In reply to Martin Koops

Re: Discussions can now be moved around

by Gustav W Delius -
This forum is all about the latest features. By definition therefore the features discussed here are not in Moodle 1.1.1.
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In reply to Gustav W Delius

Re: Discussions can now be moved around

by Martin Koops -

OK, I am soory, did not realize it...

Is it safe to upgrade to the latest version? I am running several life courses on my server and some trouble would jeopardize the enthiousiasm of my students seriously. it is already tricky sometimes to keep them motivated for this "new stuff". I feel that it is safer to wait for the version 1.2 and then hope that the features I am looking for made it.

regards, martijn

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In reply to Martin Koops

Re: Discussions can now be moved around

by Gustav W Delius -
Usually the latest nightly versions of Moodle are very stable and upgrading goes without any glitches. However Martin has declared Moodle as potentially unstable at this moment due to the introduction of the groups feature. So I think you are right that it would be better to wait before updating your main Moodle installation. However nothing stops you from installing a second Moodle in a different directory with a different database so that you can already test out the new features there.
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In reply to Martin Koops

Re: Discussions can now be moved around

by Bryan Williams -

Martin,

1. Enter the Forum where you want to move a "single" discussion.
2. Click the discussion you wish to move so it is open.
3. Using drop-down list in upper right area of screen (default value should say "Move this discussion to...), select the Forum destination you wish to move the discussion to.
4. If successful, you should see  This discussion has been moved to '...........'.

Hope this helps!  smile

forum

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