nrep Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 I know this has been mentioned a few times in the past - but it would be a really great feature and is one of only a few things that holds me back from migrating completely to IPB. Many of the other features I missed have been added in 3.1/3.2, so I'm hopeful :D There are plugins that provide similar topic boxes at the bottom of threads already, but as far as I can tell, they do an intensive query every time the topic is viewed. It would be more more effective to add an extra column to the topic database which contains topic IDs of similar topics (which can be generated when the thread is first posted or via a rebuild). This would keep things running nice and fast and provide an often requested feature. I don't think it would be too hard to build in to the core and it would be a great feature :). IPB is way ahead with some of the other things it does, but I miss having similar threads - it's something that really does increase pageviews for guests and keeps them on the forum longer, encouraging them to join. I've also had members miss the similar topics feature on boards I've converted from other forum software, so they find it useful too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stenis Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 This is a great suggestion! The mod I have for similar topics today is very random so a built in more accurate similiar topics feature would be very welcome! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisiblex_merged Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HeadStand Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 There are plugins that provide similar topic boxes at the bottom of threads already, but as far as I can tell, they do an intensive query every time the topic is viewed. It would be more more effective to add an extra column to the topic database which contains topic IDs of similar topics (which can be generated when the thread is first posted or via a rebuild). This would keep things running nice and fast and provide an often requested feature. I wrote my own Similar Topics mod a few months ago, and I was considering the suggestion that you mention here. The problem with the above is that you end up losing out on a lot of potential topic matches. Example: let's say I post a thread here called "Similar Topics Mod". I post, the topic IDs are stored, everything is great. Now, 2 days later, someone else posts another thread called "Mod Request - Similar Topics". The first thread wouldn't be updated to link to the second. Now, theoretically, you could have a task that runs regularly and rebuilds all the similar topics... but on forums with a lot of posts, this can take HOURS. I've done mods that do full scans of the posts table, and it can be a performance hit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisiblex_merged Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 VB has it .. and it doesnt affect performance at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pereira Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 It would be good in the case of support forums etc but I would have no need for this on my own forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisiblex_merged Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 there is need .. it increases quality of forum Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lewis P Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 there is need .. it increases quality of forumIn your opinion. Thinking about this - this could work pretty well using the new Tags system. Show topics with the most identical tags. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invisiblex_merged Posted July 14, 2011 Share Posted July 14, 2011 In your opinion. Thinking about this - this could work pretty well using the new Tags system. Show topics with the most identical tags. spot on Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nrep Posted July 15, 2011 Author Share Posted July 15, 2011 Now, theoretically, you could have a task that runs regularly and rebuilds all the similar topics... but on forums with a lot of posts, this can take HOURS. I've done mods that do full scans of the posts table, and it can be a performance hit. Yep, that's the only way to solve the problem with old threads - however, it's better than nothing and a slow rebuild could be run every so often. I think that's a good compromise, as other solutions would slow things down on every topic load - this is an occasional hit which can be controlled (i.e. runs at 2am in batches of 1000 posts). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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