: Posted by Lee Bridgeford in Question about Notes
: Cordell asked a question about the note structure, which works well as a lead-in to these questions I've been waiting to ask.
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: Cross-posted from this thread here: http://www.star-fleet.com/webb/node/228083
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: : Posted by Fleet Captain Wolfe (Chief Wolfe of STF, Ruler of Wolfeania, Lord of the Dark Carrotic Hordes) in Software question
: : : Posted by Cordell Garrett in Software question
: : : I didn't know where else to ask this so I thought I ask it here. Why is it certain topics seem to split off from each other after a period of time? Is it because of the code in the program? It just seems like its cluttered and unorganized.
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: : : Is this issue going to be addressed with the next WEBB update or is this something we have to deal with?
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: : : Cordell
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: : Technical questions should be posted either in the Internet Department ship or under the Internet Department or WeBBspace projects tracker.
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: : The note handling system is actually very organised, Cordell. The parent note to any thread (for example your original note) is the originator post. Any replies to that parent note appear beneath it. Any replies to child notes, that is, any note which is posted in reply to this, will appear under the child note replied to, which becomes that notes parent.
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: : Should a note be created from scratch but with the same topic header, it will appear as a new parent note in date order in the notes list.
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: : Should the note being replied to exist prior to the one week default buffer (the standard list of notes which appear when you elect to read them), it will appear in the same manner, seperate from the others, in date order to accomodate the one week buffer.
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: : Unless I'm missing what you're meaning, this is the way the system is designed to function and is not an 'issue' in the technical sense.
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: : Andy

As Andy said, that actually functions as designed.

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: I've noticed two things that have begun to get a bit annoying for me personally.
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: One: When trying to follow a note thread of replies, the Next in Location link follow chronologically, and I usually prefer to follow directionally- that is, follow the child posts down to the last reply, and then hitting the next reply branch.

This sort of answers the next point, but the 'next in location' finds exactly that. The next post in the exact location. This is why it's bad practice to have "Bob and Jim in Sickbay discussing Biobed Installation Plans" when "Sickbay" will suffice. There may be a possibility of having a 'next in thread' link, but I'd have to ask our resident code monkey if that's possible (although it certainly wouldn't be possible in D5).

: Two: If we change the topic name in any way in a note thread, the Next in Location link no longer appears to follow the thread. For example, if I posted a reply to this note- creating a child note to this parent original, but changed the topic to "Lee's new office in the Internet Department", I could no longer use the Next in Location link to follow the original note to this one. That situation isn't so bad, but if I'm following an Oed thread and the setting suddenly moves from the park to the governors office in the same thread, I now have to scroll down and start over following the thread.
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: My understanding was that the note structure was intended allow for a fluid location settings, so I was wondering if the links could be structured to follow replies instead of locations, or if that was something that anyone felt was necessary.

Again, the 'next in thread' might solve that. It would be impossible to have a 'next in location even if the location has changed' link.

Going slightly off topic, does anyone remember the outcome of the discussion we had in Command about locking down topics so that only 'admins' (ie COs and XOs) can create new topics, a la effWeBB? I think it was agreed that should happen, but that was almost two terms ago.

Jack