UBB.Developers Forums UBB.classic V6.4 - 6.7 Modifications V6 Mod Ideas Reply to _____?

Hi,

I am getting allot of members migrating over from Delphi forums and several of them are asking about a feature that is available on Delphi forums where you have an option of replying to a specific poster in a thread. I am a member of several Delphi forums and it is one of my favorite features as it personalizes the forum a little more for the members. It is also great when several related discussions are going on all under the same topic.

The way it works is like this ...
When you compose a message there is a drop down box above the compose box for "Reply to". The default setting is ALL. The drop down box lists the members who have posted on the topic. You select the member that you want to reply to and proceed as normal. The forum will then send an email to that member letting them know that someone has replied to them specifically (you have the option of disabling the email notifications from your profile).

I'm not l33t so there is no way that I can do anything like this but it looks like yall have most everything to put it together. The drop down box is just like the one for the smilie mod except lists members who have posted on that topic. The email notification is just like for the topic starter but would be optional for all members who post within that topic if someone replies directly to them.

Another neat trick with it is that you get a note of new replies directly to you on the forum summary page. That may could be done with a third icon such as ... No new posts since your last visit | New posts since your last visit | New posts to you since your last visit?

Just a suggestion. It seems that the larger the community grows the more ya try to keep it more one on one and persoanl for your members so they dont get lost. It saves ya having to read through a whole lot of new posts all the time too. You can just go straight to the replies to yourself and then save the long reading session for when you have more time.

Here is a sample ... http://forums.about.com/PHJ_forum/messages/?start=Start+Reading+%3E%3E
I think that link will get ya right in. In that nav bar on the left ya see all of the ongoing discussions with the number of new posts in each discussion since your last visit. If there are replies directly to me they will be listed there as well. Oh yeah, while I am on a wish list ... the Delphi forums also stick a little thumbs up icon on topics that you reply in. The main goal seems to be to make the community more personal as it grows.

Thanks

If you're looking for threaded discussion, you really should look at UBB.threads...

Is the ability to reply to a specific poster not possible in UBB Classic?

One thing you can do is called Reply with Quote (it looks like the quote marks)

This will insert their full reply like

the above in, and allow you to reply

.. but that's about all you can do. UBB.classic is linear - a reply to the topic is a reply to the topic, not to any individual.

I remember now reading up on the differences between the linear and the thread based forums back when I was trying to decide which forum to go with. My personal preference is the UBB Classic, so I wont be able to make everyone happy.

I had forgotten all about reply with quote, doh!

Thanks Charles and Sub Zero.