Forum View for blogs

Mark — 2003-06-17T14:21:42-05:00

I have now added a "Forum View" to this blog. Forum View displays the blog entries similar to topics in a discussion forum. The title of each blog entry is shown, along with the entry author, the number of replies, and the name and date of the most recent reply. Just like a forum, the entries are sorted in descending order by the date of the replies -- so the entry with the most recent reply is shown at the top of the list, regardless of the date of the actual entry. Forum View only shows entries that have at least one reply (I haven't yet figured out a way to display zero-comment entries with MovableType tags while maintaining the proper sort order).

Forum View provides an alternative view to the blog, giving a more accurate view of the conversations taking place. With the more recently active conversations listed on top, you can quickly get a sense of which entries have generated discussion - without scrolling to the bottom of each entry to see the number of comments. Try the forum view here. What do you think? Click on 'conversation' below to share your thoughts.

Forum View for blogs

Abe — 2003-06-17T20:11:02-05:00

Very nice, care to share the code to make it easier for others to follow suit?

Forum View for blogs

Mark Carey — 2003-06-17T20:31:11-05:00

Thanks. The relevant code from my MT template is here. I created the view as a 'new index template'. As you may have already noticed, I borrowed the table HTML and styles from a popular phpBB theme. Enjoy!

Forum View for blogs

Gen — 2003-06-23T22:25:55-05:00

Mark- this is some great stuff. We may play around with it for use on one of our upcoming projects here in Tokyo. Thank you!

Forum View for blogs

Mark Carey — 2003-06-24T10:13:24-05:00

Thanks, Gen. I would be interested in anything you may do with it. Keep me posted!

Forum View for blogs

Marc Canter — 2003-06-24T11:06:25-05:00

OK - posts here, on your blog and on my blog - will be unified by teh same idea. This issue (or shall I say problem - or even better) CHALLENGE - can be resolved through the usage of ThreadsML.

This is wht it was invented. QuickThredas can take a disjointed email conversation and unite it on a message board. Folks can still email away, but now there's acomrpehensive posting of each part of the conversation.

Clearly there's lots of logic that still needs to get written for notification, etc. - but the point is - ThreadsML is ready to go. Steve Yost has used it - now we need others to support it - as well.

Forum View for blogs

Mark Carey — 2003-06-24T11:52:48-05:00

Thanks for the info, Marc.

I need to catch up on ThreadsML. QuickTopics has some pretty cool features, but one downside is the long, single thread nature, which makes it difficult to keep up :) But I'm sure that's part of the additional logic than can be added to ThreadsML (personalized views/filters of threads.....way cool).

Forum View for blogs

Rayne — 2003-08-06T17:32:07-05:00

Wow, I think you found a way to drive up your connections, manipulate the Shirky Power Curve. Sorry, could be off-topic, but I had to share this observation.

That little XML script which displays the Technorati Interesting Blogs pulls up your Web Dawn site all over the place.

If you're looking to drive traffic to blogcoop.com, maybe you should consider putting the same script on that site for a while, see what happens...??

Best --

Forum View for blogs

Rayne — 2003-08-06T17:33:59-05:00

Oops, sorry about the double post, I'm getting a funky error when I post to your comments, ended up duping previous post and I've posted to another entry elsewhere.

Forum View for blogs

Mark Carey — 2003-08-06T22:45:48-05:00

Rayne, what browser are you using. I have a few duplicate comment posts to my blogs, but it doesn't seem to happen all the time.

Thanks.

Forum View for blogs

hanni — 2004-01-28T05:12:27-05:00

just surfed in..its really good. its a very interesting page. i will sure visit your page again. so go on like this.

Forum View for blogs

doggod911 — 2004-05-02T05:38:15-05:00

I also just surfed in. I bookmarked this site too.

Forum View for blogs

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Forum View for blogs

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Forum View for blogs

Matt — 2005-05-13T13:08:00-05:00

Hey, I stumbled on this while looking for integrated blog/bbs software (which I still haven't found). Hope someone's still here. Cool stuff, but here's what I'm looking for: a bbs with a blog-like front page that lets me "promote" the first paragraph of a thread of interest to the front page, then has a link to the full thread. So people who don't want to sift through an overwhelming number of threads in a community to stay informed on a subject can just read the news blurbs on the front page and follow the links to the ensuing discussion when they feel like it. A nifty feature would be the ability to post something as a blog entry and have it instantly create the same as a thread in the bbs. (Or maybe the blog front would just be like an alias of the thread, as opposed to a duplication, meaning any post would really be on the bbs with a sort of mirror on the blog.)

I'm sure this is possible through heavy manipulation of existing programs, but I have no experience with that kind of work. Does anyone know of a site that has done this, and can show me how to emulate? Or better yet, a piece of software that bundles blog and bbs features together? (since I'm making a wish-list, I'm also in need of a calendar feature in the bbs).

Forum View for blogs

Matt — 2005-05-13T13:17:44-05:00

PS: just to clarify, the "promoting" would be done by mods and/or admins, whose job would be to determine what thread/topics are of interest to the casual visitor. The goal is to have a community that isn't dictated solely by the posts of one leader (ie, the blogger, on blog-based sites), but has the ability to present a summarized version of the community to the outside world if they stop by to visit. Also, communities have people with varying levels of interest in the discussion: some want to read every thread, some pick and choose. The casual viewer is probably overwhelmed by the density of activity in a popular forum and might give up on it -- in that case, the simplified blog front would be a less daunting intro to the community for them (and, after perusing that, the visitor might realize they want to join in and eventually become a more active and dedicated member).

Forum View for blogs

WALEG — 2005-10-30T08:53:20-05:00

Thank you Mark for this interesting code, i was trying to develop it by myself and found your site... This is really helpful... i will try to use it, hopefully it will work for me.

Forum View for blogs

Chuck05 — 2006-01-05T03:42:09-05:00

The link to Mark's code in his entry of June 17, 2003 no longer works. Does any one have it to share?

Forum View for blogs

Directorio — 2006-11-08T17:25:08-05:00

DIRECTORIO DE BLOGS EN ESPAÑOL

Se ha creado un Directorio Gratuito de Blogs para catalogar los Blogs en español por temas y países en http://www.forosyblogs.com/foros/directorio_de_blogs

Estáis todos invitados a participar.
Un saludo.