Date/Timestamp of posts

May 04, 2013 13:21

SA2010 DAFNE Graduate
University College London Hospitals (UCLH) 69 posts

Hi

At the moment the date and timestamp of a post and how long ago it was posted is based on the original entry of the post.

I am thinking that perhaps it would be more appropriate to switch to the latest date/time the post has been edited rather than the original time.

Please could you think about this. As example in General Discussion I have just updated the diary and the post text for a post I put 15 hours ago. It is still showing with that date/time even though it has information that is more recent.

May 06, 2013 07:57

JayBee DAFNE Graduate
James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 587 posts

Additionally, it would be good to be able to remove diary entries from a post completely too. Once they're there, you can't do much apart from edit the dates down to a day to "take them off".

May 16, 2013 19:19

marke Site Administrator
South East Kent PCT 675 posts

Ok, the first point. re-dating posts would potentially cause problems, if people comment on a post and the posts are re-ordered based on dates then the comments would be out of context. Ideally you shouldn't be editing posts very often, its more of an exception than a rule. If you want to update a post just post again referencing the original post.

With regards to removing diary entries, I would say don't put them on in the first place, or at least think carefully about what you are putting on the forums for general consumption. Recently people seem to be posting large amounts of Diary entries in posts. Personally I think this overwhelms people and reduces the number of comments. We can look at allowing the removal of Diary entries from posts however as with the comments above if you do that then peoples subsequent posts on the Diary entries won't make sense if they are removed.

May 16, 2013 20:52

SA2010 DAFNE Graduate
University College London Hospitals (UCLH) 69 posts

marke said:
Ok, the first point. re-dating posts would potentially cause problems, if people comment on a post and the posts are re-ordered based on dates then the comments would be out of context. Ideally you shouldn't be editing posts very often, its more of an exception than a rule. If you want to update a post just post again referencing the original post.

Thanks Marke for the feedback. Obviously I have not thought of the technicalities in implementing such a change. I definitely would not want or expect the updated post to reposition itself in the list of posts and replies. Probably to implement would need a creation date and last updated date fields and the last updated date/time field used in the lists that show the most recent updates and how long ago that was. The post itself could show both dates creation and last update. I say all this without really knowing how the forum technology is developed and whether it is standard off-the-shelf technology with no scope for changes or bespoke application where one can add extra data fields.

May 04, 2013 13:21 SA2010 DAFNE Graduate University College London Hospitals (UCLH) 69 posts	Hi At the moment the date and timestamp of a post and how long ago it was posted is based on the original entry of the post. I am thinking that perhaps it would be more appropriate to switch to the latest date/time the post has been edited rather than the original time. Please could you think about this. As example in General Discussion I have just updated the diary and the post text for a post I put 15 hours ago. It is still showing with that date/time even though it has information that is more recent.
May 06, 2013 07:57 JayBee DAFNE Graduate James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust 587 posts	Additionally, it would be good to be able to remove diary entries from a post completely too. Once they're there, you can't do much apart from edit the dates down to a day to "take them off".
May 16, 2013 19:19 marke Site Administrator South East Kent PCT 675 posts	Ok, the first point. re-dating posts would potentially cause problems, if people comment on a post and the posts are re-ordered based on dates then the comments would be out of context. Ideally you shouldn't be editing posts very often, its more of an exception than a rule. If you want to update a post just post again referencing the original post. With regards to removing diary entries, I would say don't put them on in the first place, or at least think carefully about what you are putting on the forums for general consumption. Recently people seem to be posting large amounts of Diary entries in posts. Personally I think this overwhelms people and reduces the number of comments. We can look at allowing the removal of Diary entries from posts however as with the comments above if you do that then peoples subsequent posts on the Diary entries won't make sense if they are removed.
May 16, 2013 20:52 SA2010 DAFNE Graduate University College London Hospitals (UCLH) 69 posts	marke said: Ok, the first point. re-dating posts would potentially cause problems, if people comment on a post and the posts are re-ordered based on dates then the comments would be out of context. Ideally you shouldn't be editing posts very often, its more of an exception than a rule. If you want to update a post just post again referencing the original post. Thanks Marke for the feedback. Obviously I have not thought of the technicalities in implementing such a change. I definitely would not want or expect the updated post to reposition itself in the list of posts and replies. Probably to implement would need a creation date and last updated date fields and the last updated date/time field used in the lists that show the most recent updates and how long ago that was. The post itself could show both dates creation and last update. I say all this without really knowing how the forum technology is developed and whether it is standard off-the-shelf technology with no scope for changes or bespoke application where one can add extra data fields.