Can a moderator truncate thread and move the truncated contents please?

[TheMotorcycleBoy]

Hi,

I started a post called ECB consider more QE but after (and including) this post

viewtopic.php?p=230541#p230541 from GoSeigen it became a more theoretical discussion about the value of money and interest rates.

So would it possible to truncate the original thread to contain these first 4 posts i.e.

viewtopic.php?p=230463#p230463
to
viewtopic.php?p=230533#p230533 inclusive

and create a new thread called "The value of money, interest rates, inflation and yields" from and including

viewtopic.php?p=230541#p230541
to the current end of the thread.

In other words myself and GS from his first post in the thread having been discussing a topic somewhat different, and broader than the original topics title which we may well wish to continue in a way orthogonal to the EU or the ECB.

I believe that the new thread should still reside in "Macro and Global topics" however.

Many thanks
Matt

[seagles]

Would it not be better to report the posts and ask a moderator to do it?

[csearle]

Would it not be better to report the posts and ask a moderator to do it?

Yes that is the preferred mechanism although of course I've carried out the moderation anyway. C.

[Edit: PS There is the slight advantage that by posting here, an explanation for the alteration is on public display, although it is questionable whether it is really necessary.]

[TheMotorcycleBoy]

Would it not be better to report the posts and ask a moderator to do it?

Yes that is the preferred mechanism although of course I've carried out the moderation anyway. C.

[Edit: PS There is the slight advantage that by posting here, an explanation for the alteration is on public display, although it is questionable whether it is really necessary.]

Thanks Chris,

There would have been several posts to report I suppose... Hmm, or would the preferred have been for me just to report the first one in the sequence to move?

(Still learning the rules here).

Matt

[gryffron]

There would have been several posts to report I suppose... Hmm, or would the preferred have been for me just to report the first one in the sequence to move?

Just one report is much easier. We can read the description of your problem. If you report numerous posts then the mod has to churn through manually closing all the reports.

Gryff

[TheMotorcycleBoy]

There would have been several posts to report I suppose... Hmm, or would the preferred have been for me just to report the first one in the sequence to move?

Just one report is much easier. We can read the description of your problem. If you report numerous posts then the mod has to churn through manually closing all the reports.

Gryff

That's what I thought. But anyway should I want to request a thread split again I'll do it the suggest way.

thanks
Matt

[Gengulphus]

There would have been several posts to report I suppose... Hmm, or would the preferred have been for me just to report the first one in the sequence to move?

Just one report is much easier. We can read the description of your problem. If you report numerous posts then the mod has to churn through manually closing all the reports.

One other point I'll make is that in most cases, I suspect this is the sort of thing best done early or not at all. If done late, there are liable to be a mixture of posts that fit best in the original thread and ones that fit best in the split-off thread, and sorting out which is which may be more effort than it's worth. Having gone through the process once in the early days of TLF, with me as the ordinary user and Melonfool as the moderator (as she then was), it was rather a lot of work. And that was a relatively simple case, where every post did happen to fit cleanly in one strand or the other... If the thread has acquired a post which combines answers that belong in the two separate strands, the only clean solution I can see would be for a moderator to duplicate the post, put the two copies in the two threads, and edit each down appropriately. Even if that's possible (I don't know whether duplicating a post lies within moderator powers), I suspect it would use an inordinate amount of moderator time.

One can of course assist the moderator by working out which posts belong in each thread oneself and including that information in the report - but if you do, make certain that you say what the last post you looked at is, since more posts may well appear between your report and a moderator looking at it. And do bear in mind that such posts may include ones that make separating the strands inordinately difficult - so what looked easy when you reported it may have become too hard in practice by the time the report is dealt with... All in all, it's better if people who want to discuss stuff that branches off from a thread's subject take the trouble to start up a new thread themselves! (Well, wishes are free...)

By the way, just to be clear, I'm addressing the general question of asking moderators to split threads here. Not suggesting that there was any problem with the specific instance Matt pointed out in his OP - as far as I can see, there wasn't - just saying that it won't always be as straightforward.

Gengulphus

[csearle]

If the thread has acquired a post which combines answers that belong in the two separate strands, the only clean solution I can see would be for a moderator to duplicate the post, put the two copies in the two threads, and edit each down appropriately. Even if that's possible (I don't know whether duplicating a post lies within moderator powers), I suspect it would use an inordinate amount of moderator time.

It is possible as there is a "Copy topic" option, which at least a couple of us have deployed recently, but it is a bit of pain to use and, as you suggest, it requires dedication almost beyond the call of duty.

One issue is that having split the "topic" and assigned it a new title I feel the need to change the title of every post within it (otherwise they retain the original title). This is also time-consuming. Bit of luck we love this site otherwise we probably would never bother.

Chris

[Gengulphus]

One issue is that having split the "topic" and assigned it a new title I feel the need to change the title of every post within it (otherwise they retain the original title). This is also time-consuming. Bit of luck we love this site otherwise we probably would never bother.

I suspect it's a matter of "love the site, hate the software"! That sort of global edit to a thread is clearly automatable - it's just a matter of whether the software has been written with such moderator-friendliness in mind, and I have the strong impression that the phpBB software is distinctly lacking in that department. Doubtless it's something that a phpBB extension could provide, but my past looks through the list of phpBB extensions found very little that appeared to be designed to help moderators - mostly, they looked to me like facilities to provide (IMHO totally unnecessary) cosmetic bells and whistles! Given that there are literally hundreds of extensions available, though, it's always possible that I've missed a needle or two in the haystack...

Gengulphus

[Itsallaguess]

One issue is that having split the "topic" and assigned it a new title I feel the need to change the title of every post within it (otherwise they retain the original title). This is also time-consuming. Bit of luck we love this site otherwise we probably would never bother.

That sort of global edit to a thread is clearly automatable - it's just a matter of whether the software has been written with such moderator-friendliness in mind, and I have the strong impression that the phpBB software is distinctly lacking in that department.

Doubtless it's something that a phpBB extension could provide, but my past looks through the list of phpBB extensions found very little that appeared to be designed to help moderators

This extension looks like it'll do the trick -

Smart Subjects -

Description -

With this extension installed, changing the subject (title) of a topic's first post will update all replies with matching (Re:) subject lines to the new title.

Features -

Editing the first post's subject will update all matching replies to the new title.
Replies with a different subject that a user already changed or posts merged into a topic from elsewhere will not be affected and will retain their unique subject titles.
Admins and moderators will see a posting option when editing a first post to update all reply subjects (including non-matching subjects) to match the first post's subject.
The last post's subject displayed on the Board index page will also be updated.
Forum based permissions allow you to control which forums and users can use Smart Subjects
There is nothing to set up or configure. Just install it and relax.
Should work with any version of phpBB 3.1 and 3.2

https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/extension/smart_subjects/

I'll post about it in the moderation area, and hopefully Stooz can install it to allow a bit of testing to go on, but the above sounds encouraging at this stage, especially the feature in BOLD above..

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[Gengulphus]

This extension looks like it'll do the trick -

Smart Subjects -

Description -

With this extension installed, changing the subject (title) of a topic's first post will update all replies with matching (Re:) subject lines to the new title.
...
https://www.phpbb.com/customise/db/extension/smart_subjects/

You're clearly better at searching that particular haystack than I am! ;-)

Gengulphus

[dspp]

All,

It seems Stooz cannot introduce this particular phpBB tool (add-on) yet. The reason is that the site is running on a 3.1 version of phpBB and the tool is a 3.2 tool. The upgrade is on the to-do list, which as always is lengthy. Nevertheless thank you for the suggestion.

Can I gently suggest that this particular topic be left quietly now.

regards, dspp

[Itsallaguess]

Can I gently suggest that this particular topic be left quietly now.

Can I gently ask why?

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[dspp]

Yes, because 1) the request to split a thread has been actioned, and 2) a possible tool to do this more easily has been located and a pathway to its use identified.
- dspp

[Itsallaguess]

because

1) the request to split a thread has been actioned,

and 2) a possible tool to do this more easily has been located and a pathway to its use identified.

Might we have been allowed to come to that conclusion ourselves, do you think?

I'm really not sure why you've felt the need to get involved here.

Itsallaguess

[csearle]

Yes, because 1) the request to split a thread has been actioned, and 2) a possible tool to do this more easily has been located and a pathway to its use identified.
- dspp

Actually we are still working on it so perhaps you could leave us to it.

Thanks,
Chris

[TheMotorcycleBoy]

Can someone tidy the title up please, currently it says:

The value of money, interest rates, inflation and yields" from and including

but I meant

The value of money, interest rates, inflation and yields

thanks Matt

[Itsallaguess]

You're clearly better at searching that particular haystack than I am!

I have quite often thought that I should ask for 'He was good at using Google' to be put on my headstone.....

:-)

Cheers,

Itsallaguess

[seagles]

Can someone tidy the title up please, currently it says:

The value of money, interest rates, inflation and yields" from and including

but I meant

The value of money, interest rates, inflation and yields

thanks Matt

you could have reported the post and let th emoderators do it that way?