Including links to specific APOD's in forum posts

Delysid23 · Post by **Delysid23** » Fri Sep 07, 2007 1:12 am

Ideally, users would include the URL for any specific APOD referred to in their posts on this forum, especially when a specific APOD is the main subject of their posting.

Unfortunately the practice is rare, despite the convenience to readers, increased likelihood of responses, and the ease with which it can be done by merely clicking the URL button on the posting composition page.

I'm just wondering if there's any way to automagically make it happen on the forum, similar to how typing in a URL address automatically makes it an active link.

Less effective but perhaps still helpful would be adding a notice to appropriate locations in the forum encouraging users to include the URL for APOD's referred to in their posts.

makc · Post by **makc** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 9:09 am

Ideally, new unique topic should be automatically created along with new APOD page. But noone can be arsed.

I'm just wondering if there's any way to automagically make it happen on the forum, similar to how typing in a URL address automatically makes it an active link.

Yes there is, and I even posted required code for "APOD button" to help you insert URLs in posts back in 2005, I think. That was ignored.

Making suggestions about this place is not worth of your time, forget it.

Delysid23 · Post by **Delysid23** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:15 am

What you'd really need is constant text monitoring process applying suitably shaped fuzzy logic, or even a big Boolean sort of script, to recognize and automatically link variously worded references to specific APODs to the correct web page within a few seconds, prompting for confirmation (with a disableable prompt) and providing the really not-at-all geeky poweruser set with simply a formatted shortcut that can also fuzzily identify the date in as many ways as possible of typing it.

At least until wirelesss Bluetooth neural implants become near-universal and we start seeing some real innovation in user interface technology.

Case · Post by **Case** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 11:56 am

I was thinking about a default text for new topics in this forum, something like

with a script that formats the date to the posting day. Easily changeable for different dates by just about anyone.

Too bad it is so hard to improve things...

geckzilla · Post by **geckzilla** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 12:54 pm

Hehe, it is actually not too hard, assuming you know how... but it would kinda suck to use this old forum software for it though since it's MUCH harder to deal with than new one they've been working on. I've been working with PHPBB3 and it's fantastic. Not only does it have a lot more useful admin functions but it's also easier to mod if you want. You could probably write a simple javascript button for inserting today's APOD link.

BTW, what happens when APOD hits the year 2095?

Andy Wade · Post by **Andy Wade** » Thu Sep 20, 2007 4:21 pm

geckzilla wrote: BTW, what happens when APOD hits the year 2095?

We'll all be dead, that's for sure...

Delysid23 · Post by **Delysid23** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 9:08 am

geckzilla wrote:You could probably write a simple javascript button for inserting today's APOD link.

Yeah, but it's not just today's APOD link we're talking about, but rather a take-charge automagical way to apply the right URL link to any typed reference to a past APOD which includes the specific date.

My original query starting this thread was prompted by coming across several posts in various threads by various people in which they referred to specific past APOD's in the middle of their text to illustrate some point or offer an example, and though they did provide the specific date in what they wrote, they did not take the extra step of linking the reference to the URL of the APOD in question.

The meant that a reader who actually wanted to look at the APOD referred to would have to leave the forum and figure out how to search the APOD website by date for past pages, instead of just being able to click the linked text reference and go straight to the right APOD.

So I posted asking if there was any way to automagically add the links as described in my post earlier in this thread proposing a constantly monitoring process able to detect variously worded references to specific APOD's and add the right links.

Basically I was imagining a solution that didn't depend on the forum members' cooperation or conformity to particular rules or formatting but instead was smart enough to just go in and add the right links however the user typed the reference, as long as it contains a specific date somehow expressed.

geckzilla · Post by **geckzilla** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:24 pm

That sounds kind of akin to the little paperclip guy in MS Word popping up when you do something familiar and trying to give you friendly "advice"

The closest I can think of would be to put an AJAX powered search box next to the posting area which you could use to search the APOD list. However, looking at how APOD is structured, I have doubts that it is even run on a database.

makc · Post by **makc** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 12:27 pm

Delysid23 wrote:Basically I was imagining a solution that didn't depend on the forum members' cooperation or conformity to particular rules or formatting but instead was smart enough to just go in and add the right links however the user typed the reference, as long as it contains a specific date somehow expressed.

I was imagining a solution that didn't depend on my cooperation to moderate. I didn't merge or lock any threads for a month (or more) now, and just take a look at what happened

geckzilla · Post by **geckzilla** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 1:17 pm

It's possible, just not without dynamic pages. The way I understand it now each time there is a new APOD, 2 new html files are added manually and then the archive list is updated manually. Or, perhaps it is automated in some way but in any case once the html page is there, it's very hard to make any kind of global change.

The idea is that clicking "discuss" on the APOD page could 1. make a discuss thread if it does not already exist, or 2. send the user to the thread if it does exist. I've seen it done by some wikis and another kind of board software so it is probably possible to do with phpbb too.

I don't know who on earth would want to convert 4478 pages into a dynamic, database driven archive though. Where's the nerd emote?

orin stepanek · Post by **orin stepanek** » Fri Sep 21, 2007 7:09 pm

why not just put the correct APOD and date in the subject box when starting a new thread. Also put the link in your thread so everyone knows what you are writing about. Simple enough!
Orin

makc · Post by **makc** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:48 am

Because "you just cant trust people

" /Agent Smith, The Matrix/

Andy Wade · Post by **Andy Wade** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 1:13 pm

makc wrote:Because "you just cant trust people " /Agent Smith, The Matrix/

I watched all three Lord of the Rings films again recently and finally realised at the very end that the actor who played Elrond was Agent Smith.
I thought I'd seen him somewhere...

"Do you like what I've done with the place"?
Classic.

Delysid23 · Post by **Delysid23** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 8:39 pm

orin stepanek wrote:why not just put the correct APOD and date in the subject box when starting a new thread. Also put the link in your thread so everyone knows what you are writing about. Simple enough!

This would deal with posts about a particular APOD and initiated from that APOD's page by clicking the "Discuss" link at the bottom.

But the more challenging problem that prompted this thread is for APOD's referred to within a posting to a thread about some other subject. As I wrote earlier in this thread:

My original query starting this thread was prompted by coming across several posts in various threads by various people in which they referred to specific past APOD's in the middle of their text to illustrate some point or offer an example, and though they did provide the specific date in what they wrote, they did not take the extra step of linking the reference to the URL of the APOD in question.

This meant that a reader who actually wanted to look at the APOD referred to would have to leave the forum and figure out how to search the APOD website by date for past pages, instead of just being able to click the linked text reference and go straight to the right APOD.

Delysid23 · Post by **Delysid23** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 9:16 pm

geckzilla wrote:That sounds kind of akin to the little paperclip guy in MS Word popping up when you do something familiar and trying to give you friendly "advice"

Exactly! That's what I have in mind, but without the complexity and annoyance of interruption by an animated helper.

Instead, the process would detect variously worded references to specific APOD's, and then automatically tag that text with a URL link to the APOD referred to.

At most a confirmation prompt could pop up, with a checkbox to disable the confirmation prompt in the future once the user is familiar with what's going on.

geckzilla wrote:The closest I can think of would be to put an AJAX powered search box next to the posting area which you could use to search the APOD list. However, looking at how APOD is structured, I have doubts that it is even run on a database.

Some sort of new-fangled AJAX-like dynamic web technology is what I had in mind.

Ideally the solution wouldn't require complex coding by the local moderator to make the php-bb software running this forum do strange new tricks, but rather be a function available as a script or plug-in for php-bb that can apply fuzzy or complex boolean searches to typed text in real time and then do things with that text, like tagging it with a URL link determined by the content of the detected text -- in this case the specific date identifying a particular APOD.

I have no idea if php-bb even supports such scripts or plug-ins in the version currently running this forum, or the new version of php-bb that an earlier post to this thread was so enthusiastic about.

geckzilla · Post by **geckzilla** » Sat Sep 22, 2007 10:41 pm

The new phpbb as far as I know doesn't have any kind of plugins type feature. Phpbb has always been all about modding rather than plugins. I know that things like adding new profile fields were added along with some other handy admin features and the ability to add custom BBCode.

I guess you could write a script to spider the APOD site and do a kind of search indexing thing but you'd have to tell it to do it every night. I kinda think it would end up a jumbled mess if you tried to make it "intelligent" and guess what users are typing about.

Oh well.