"Related topics" suggested feature

I have an idea: Perhaps we should be able to link topics, simply by copying the topic ID (or perhaps the title) into a box and clicking a “Link” button. Then it could show on both topics: (to the right of Quick Reply, of course)

Similar topics:

Lucidity Intro - OMG FIRST LD!!!
Quest for Lucidity - I DID IT!!!

…etc.

How cool would that be? (Replace “similar” with “related”, perhaps)

Would be nice to just say “Hey, I’ve added a few links which should answer your question.”

I thought this up in the mentoring topic in Quest.

It would be really simple: topic one, topic two, and the userID of who added it, and maybe a (hidden) date too.

Perhaps I could code it?

that’s an interesting Idea r3m0t;

If i understand you correctly there would be a new button next to quick reply wich says “related topics”, and if you click on that you get a box where the topics are in?

or do you mean there will be a space for “related topics” ; kinda like a reply space, but then in that will be related topics mentioned? at the bottom of the page?

I’d prefer a link marked ‘related topics’ and when you mouse over it iw will give box where the links are in. Maybe it can have a number behind it like “related topics (3)” or something.

i will see if there is already an existing MOD (forum addition) for this , so that will save you some work. coding things for PHPBB is not so easy as it seems, you have to know the whole forum and then add your program interweaven into it.

(in a PM)

Well, I thought further about this. Imagine topics A, B, and C are all about writing on your hand to help you remember to do your RCs. Practically the same, in fact.

Topic A is posted first and recieves a raving applause. (or something…)

Topic B is posted some time later, because A’s title was inadequate or the thread went too far down the page, and somebody finds topic A again (which is easy because it spanned 3 pages) and puts it on the “related topics” list of B. A majority of the discussion moves to topic A, and the thread might even be locked.

Topic C is posted because A became too boring and fell down the page, and B did too. Somebody remembers topic B and puts it on the list of C.

Now, to get to the real discussion from C, you have to click first on B, then on A. And to get extra discussion from A, you have to click on B, then on C.

When alpha, beta and gamma are considered (historic topics long before this thread started) everything gets really messy, and a researcher finds themselves caught in a “twisty little maze of related topics”.

How about something like this?

There is a list of topics, very specific, such as “Induction > Reality Checks > Remembering”. People can then add topics into these categories. That would mean that whenever I put a topic in a “subject” you could go from that topic to a full list of similar topics.

Once this idea gets a “possible”, I’ll consider mapping out the subject list.

The idea of advanced search seems to be cool. Does it mean that, in the search page, there would be a tree of thematic groups and, among choosing a forum for search, one could also choose a group of any level? A really useful thing, but how can the realization be? If the tree of themes is shown all at once, the page will be to long, if it is done through JavaScript or something like that, the page will look short, but it will still be big… If every click opens a new page with the branch open, it will take lots of time to get to a wanted group… I’m happy I am not the programmer to do all this.
Will a thread be able to be related to several groups? For example, if someone is complaining that electrical switches sometimes do work and sometimes don’t, this topic can be grouped to “Lucid dreaming->Induction->RC->Switches”, “Lucid dreaming->Problems->RC failing” or “Research->RC validity”… If the group name was shown somewhere at the thread page, the whole structure would even have to be a messy network, not a tree. So, the link to the related topics must be anonymous… For example, “8 threads in 3 related groups”. If you click it, you get a page with the names of the groups, something like
Switches (4 threads)
RC failing (7 threads)
RC validity (2 threads)
All (8 threads)
And here you can choose one of the groups and see related topics… Or maybe, it could be possible to show all of them on one page. And, from the same page, you would be able to add the thread to other groups you think to be suitable. Yes, it would be useful, but too complicated… In fact, there would be two parallel structures for the forum.

All at once. It wouldn’t have “Induction Techniques” and “Induction Techniques > MILD”, just the “end nodes” such as “Induction Techniques > Reality Checks > RC Nose > Research”. Anything more general (I think) would show up too many topics.

Also, on the listing page it would only show categories with more than one thread.

But what if somebody wants to search in general topics? I meant it would be an addition to the existing search machine, with word search preserved, not a separate classification table. If it is separate, it’s all right… Though it will have to be more logical, than if it were 99% hidden every given moment.