Your Replies Have Been Merged

[missy_]

This is starting to get unproductive; it is even happening during PMs. 

 

Having two PMs merge automatically into one makes a cumbersome PM.

 

Also, when I am replying in a thread regarding two different things, yet it gets merged into one ... I am not wild about this feature.

 

One reason I don't like it: It turns two simpler posts into one wall of text, a TL;DR; post. 

 

I don't recall when it happened, but it would be great if we had a way to turn it off. Do we?

Edited April 5, 2021 by missy_

[HeatherMarie]

I haven't seen this in action with my own posts, but if it's happening in PMs as well I agree that's probably unneeded. If you are replying in a thread 'regarding two different things' it should still be one post, double-posting isn't really allowed and I'm guessing that's why this merging thing started (this is assuming there are no one else's posts in-between, of course). But I don't see why it's needed in PMs. 

edit: Although now that I'm looking I don't actually see a specific 'no double posting' rule in the forum guidelines.... Maybe that should be added there. 

Edited April 5, 2021 by HeatherMarie

[missy_]

18 minutes ago, HeatherMarie said:

I haven't seen this in action with my own posts, but if it's happening in PMs as well I agree that's probably unneeded. If you are replying in a thread 'regarding two different things' it should still be one post, double-posting isn't really allowed and I'm guessing that's why this merging thing started (this is assuming there are no one else's posts in-between, of course). But I don't see why it's needed in PMs. 

edit: Although now that I'm looking I don't actually see a specific 'no double posting' rule in the forum guidelines.... Maybe that should be added there. 

 

I'll give you an example. In the Lineage Gifting, Requests and Trading thread, I created my own post regarding something I am looking for. 

 

I then bred an egg for someone in that thread. I wanted to let them know, so no one else would breed the same thing.

 

I quoted her post, then let her know that, while I had offered on her link, I didn't really need what she was offering (a hatchling), so she could keep the hatchling and I would just send it over in a one-way link if that was okay.

 

That is a complex post by itself. To have it auto-merge with my previous post requesting my own bred dragon turned it into a TL;DR post. Result? I edited the auto-merged post, removing all of the part about me having bred that person an egg from my post. Now my post is "simple" again and no longer TL;DR; but now the thread is missing valuable information as a result.

 

TL;DR; -- This automatic merging of posts is creating TL;DR posts.

Edited April 5, 2021 by missy_

[HeatherMarie]

Personally, in that specific example I would've just PMed the user rather than making another post, since that second post was only a reply to that specific user and not really part of the thread (although admittedly I don't use that thread so I don't know how common posts like that are).  If you wanted to make sure others didn't breed the same thing editing one added sentence into the first post would've been enough for that. 

 

I do realize your example resulted in an unnecessarily long post, I'm just trying to give options of how to work within the 'no double-posting' rules. Regardless, I do think the auto-merge has gotten over-zealous and it'd be helpful to know if there are ways to kind of reign it in on the forum-software side, since I have seen other posts about it.

[missy_]

5 minutes ago, HeatherMarie said:

Regardless, I do think the auto-merge has gotten over-zealous and it'd be helpful to know if there are ways to kind of reign it in on the forum-software side, since I have seen other posts about it.

 

I can agree with you on this point.  (See quoted text.)

 

Nope, a PM would not have worked to the user, as it would have not alerted anyone else in the thread that an egg had been bred. For all I know, she could wake up with five different egg offers on her link. Likewise, I am not willing to clutter up my original post (it is cluttered enough) with even one additional sentence of information that has nothing to do with that post. (To be clear: yes, I read your suggestion; I disagree with it as to me it still creates a TL;DR situation.)

 

I agree with you that the auto-merge has gotten overzealous. When a "feature" is more of an encumbrance than a "feature," then it is not working as intended. 

[Ruby Eyes]

I think it no longer merges when 1 hour has passed since the last post.

[Fuzzbucket]

This is true.

[Shadowdrake]

Double posting on forums is spam, as stated by both mod messages and site discussion rules (multiple posting). Certainly that fact should be added to guidelines, and merging in pms is unnecessary, but if you have multiple things to say in a forum post at one time, just use multiple line breaks like other users do, or put your quote in the lower half of your post to visibly divide it. Better than not having it merge and getting a warning for it, I should think.

 

And, quite frankly, 5 sentences is not that complex.

[HeatherMarie]

33 minutes ago, Shadowdrake said:

Double posting on forums is spam, as stated by both mod messages and site discussion rules (multiple posting).

 

This is why I think it's important it be added to the actual forum guidelines. The forum guidelines, linked at the top navigation, says this:

Quote

 

Certain sections have their own, more specific rules. Those rules are displayed on a per-forum basis. 

 

 

So, one could logically make the assumption that double-posting is only *not* allowed in Site Discussions. Because that's the only place it's specifically stated as a rule (that I can find), and the guidelines mention per-forum rules. So any other forum double-posting should be fine. Right? (Wrong, of course I know that, but that's the problem, it's not obvious.)

[purpledragonclaw]

@Shadowdrake @HeatherMarie Agreed, I'll see if we can get that added to the Guidelines.

[Dracaena]

I can say the merging of PM messages is still going on as it just happened to me as I am chatting with someone on the forum.  I hope they notice my last reply.  

 

For the record, I wish the stupid forum didn't merge pm messages!

[Lagie]

1 hour ago, Dracaena said:

For the record, I wish the stupid forum didn't merge pm messages

Agreed, as the person does not get a notification that more info has been added.

 

Just as a note, though, I sent a second message in a message to someone about 23 hours after the first part, and it did not merge. I don't know if it didn't because of the length of time elapsed or because the recipient had actually read the first part.

[dragongrrl]

2 hours ago, Lagie said:

Agreed, as the person does not get a notification that more info has been added.

 

Just as a note, though, I sent a second message in a message to someone about 23 hours after the first part, and it did not merge. I don't know if it didn't because of the length of time elapsed or because the recipient had actually read the first part.

Lagie, did you read two or three messages from me earlier with the thank you followed by the group link?

 

Those were sent as two separate messages, but showed as merged after I sent the second part.

 

 

[purplehaze]

4 hours ago, Lagie said:

Just as a note, though, I sent a second message in a message to someone about 23 hours after the first part, and it did not merge.

I just added a second message to one I sent two hours ago and it didn't merge.

But I really wish it wouldn't merge them at all. If you are passing messages quickly back and forth with someone it would be easy to miss a new message that merged with an older one.

I kind of like the merging of posts on the forum, though. It only happens if no one has posted in between. I have been taking advantage of it to add a thought here and there to messages that I just posted without having to open an edit window.

Edited April 15, 2021 by purplehaze

[TJ09]

From what I can tell, the forums do not support changing the merge behavior separately for different types of "content." I've made a code change that works around this specifically for PMs so that they will never be merged. Modifying the software tends to be pretty fragile and is likely to break or be undone during software updates, so be prepared for this issue to reoccur at an arbitrary point in the future.

[Fuzzbucket]

OK - but this is a HUGE problem for setting up breeding project threads; I need 6-7 consecutive posts at the beginning of one I am about to set up. They are long, so while I could otherwise make a massive one, I REALLY don't think that's wise - but it will take me at least 6 hours to set this up, and the same applies to a number of game threads, like the Bingos.

 

BUT what I don't get is that I am on another forum, also with invision, also up to date, and this does not happen there. Can you simply turn it off - and if so, please would you; it is to my mind less of a problem seeing double posts than it is dealing with genuine needs not to have posts merge.

[Lagie]

9 hours ago, dragongrrl said:

Lagie, did you read two or three messages from me earlier with the thank you followed by the group link?

 

Those were sent as two separate messages, but showed as merged after I sent the second part.

It came to me as one reply!

 

Thanks for undoing the PM merge, TJ!

 

Setting up a new CPA will be days of work, though, if it's going to merge my several intro posts. (It will be a while before this is needed, mind you.)

[Fuzzbucket]

I am as we speak about to revive a breeding project. It is going to be hell.

[purplehaze]

Yep! I can see that it will make setting up Secret Santa for next year a nightmare as well! I hadn't really thought of that.

I think we have something like 7 or 8 reserved posts in the beginning. That will take the better part of a day to set up if we need to wait an hour or more between posts.

 

[Fuzzbucket]

Exactly. But you have at least given me a BRILLIANT idea - thank you !

[purplehaze]

Ah, I see what you did there!

[Ruby Eyes]

I think this type of Merge Evasion works because technically, a hidden post is still somewhere - just not visible to the regular user.

 

(But it's still between your posts!)

[Fuzzbucket]

Thank GOODNESS - now I can get all the posts together where I need them !

[Dracaena]

Thanks TJ for fixing the PM merging!

 

I hope the work around continues for project/game threads that need multiple set up posts with info/instructions.