UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums UBB.threads Bug Reports Threads vanish after merging them

Several times when I merge threads the threads just disappear... they merge into limbo or something

What version are you using and what method to merge?
Edit the post and select merge or inline moderation.

I use 7.5.3
I was just merging threads into one and all of them went puff, or to limbo, or who knows... I just can not find them...

One thing to note is that they are currently ordered by their original post id. So if you're merging a thread into a thread it's possible that they will show up earlier in the target thread rather than at the end.

I just can not find them... do you mean that even if the last post was within half an hour... after they are merged they will not show when searching for recent posts?
I must say that what i did was pick the number of the post where to merge... then searched and found 2 or three threads I wanted to merge into that one. I merged them all and then can not find any of them. The post I merged to may not have been the first on the thread and I may pressed "back" to go to the other threads to merge.
The post to where I was merging can not be found either

Well it seems to work okay for me I am on 7.5.3
Next time you merge try using the pointer option so you can see where it is moved to. Or not moved to.

OK
It happened to me again
the threads did not merge, they vanished!!!

I searched threads on the same topic, founf 4 or 5
picked a post number on the first thread and then merged the other theads into the first...

Went back with the browser instead of making a new search
On the third try the whole thing was gone

The markers that indicate the threads were merged where there but only took me to a message "can not be found"

The posts cpuld no longer be found via a search... or in any pother way

This is ridiculous

Lost a lot of posts I wanted to save and have together... merging is supposed to put theads you care about into one... it should not make the info you want in one place get deleted...

Why is this happenening and where do the posts go?
I may have merged a thread into an already merged thread or into itself by mistake... but that should not delete everything... should it?

Something is wrong with the merge feature sometimes...

Did you enable the pointer option when merging?
Is that what you are talking about with "Markers"
If so I think it is time to open a support ticket at UBB.
So Rick can take a peek.
It could be a bug or it could be something else.

But I think if Rick can help, you would need to be more specific on what you did to merge the posts and what posts were merged.
Meaning post id numbers, were you merging a reply to a post or the topic and or all replies.

There are a few different ways to merge topics and replies so it could be just the method you are using that is the issue. That is why you need to be a little more specific when submitting a ticket.

This is something ive been angry over too.
Ive waited and waited since the option was created.

It just doesnt work.
If you accept the fact that its broken then your half way there.

Ive found after a merge, if they go missing look for the date of the last post from the merge group and you will find it in the topic your merging it into, but obvioulsy not where you wanted it to be.

Apparently in v8 how ever many 8 dot dot dots there will be before its over hauled.

If you switch to threaded mode, you can see where the breaks are in the construction of the post.

Ive spent more than a day on splitting and patching back together topics to make them legal.

Its a feature that shouldnt even be listed.
Sorry but true.

I think you guys are thinking of this more as an "append tool", where one topic is appended to the other, when it truly is a merge.

The merge tool itself isn't going to be overhauled because that's what a merge is, you just merge the 2 topics together.

There will, however, probably be a new option for appending where the topic you are moving will be appended to the end of the target topic.

appending sounds good

Bare in mind we've never had a manual to explain in detail
what "Merge" really is or does.

Do you really want me to dig out my old topic about this?
its a big one.

Merge :
Why ask the post number you want to land it with, when it doesn't land there evey time. It lands with a date match. And not a post match.

You said you were going to look at this.
As it couldnt work as it should in its current state.

its unreliable when splitting and merging.
I know Ive been trying to get it right for years.

The Move Merge function is not a working reliable function.





Taken from this Thread

https://www.ubbcentral.com/forums/u...7/7_4_1_Move_Merge_Topic.html#Post220517

I love search

Yeah, I looked through the old topics on this, and one thing I'm doing with version 8 is trying not to rush features, and make sure they are done right even if it means having to spend more time. So, while it would be quicker to just nuke the current merge and alter it to an append I won't end up doing that since some people are accustomed to it and may want it to stay that way.

So, what we'll be looking at is a merge and an append, with the added ability to only move certain posts instead of having to move an entire branch like I mentioned in the quote.

I'd rather have it done right than done fast... I'm sure we could all agree no?

Splitting Works No Problem and it works really well,
i never had that feature in classic so i do like it, its great for clearing up spam etc.

Its if you want to put stuff back into a thread.
it can land at the topic number you ask.
Or it can land at the date of the moving post.

I know we go on an on about them (bugs), but we have to mention them
to make the product a good all round product.

I just removed the 'Merge' option from our board. If you merge a post or thread with another, but accidentally use the post number of the one you are trying to move... the code deletes the old TOPIC, which at this time is itself. The post is still in the database, but it no longer has a TOPIC and can't be seen outside of the database.

7.4.2 (I know we are behind a bit)
scripts/domovepost.inc.php
scripts/domovethread.inc.php

// If this post was the original topic, then we need to delete it
if ($post_is_topic) {
$query = "
delete from {$config['TABLE_PREFIX']}TOPICS
where TOPIC_ID = ?
";
$dbh->do_placeholder_query($query,array($old_topic_id),__LINE__,__FILE__);
} // end if

Hmm, I'll need to make sure we have that patched up. Thanks for the info!

Inline Moderation Merging prevents this.

The 'scripts/inline_moderation.inc.php' file has code to prevent this and won't let you merge onto yourself.

There seems to also be a problem splitting a merged post. So, I am preventing any merging.

Are there any issues with merging forums together?
Thanks.

Was this issue with threads disappearing when merging ever fixed? Is there a way to recover the lost threads from the database?

yes, you can recover lost threads and have them reappear in a designated forum..

Yarp posted a mod @ ubbdev for this... i have used it too

CAVEAT... when a merge fails, it's usually NOT recoverable... things really get deleted! sooo, this is for stray posts with no TOPIC home, really

Thank you! I will give that a try.

The script worked great. I recovered the threads to a private forum and then moved them to the appropriate public forum. I am not really sure if they got moved however as they don't seem to show up for searches. (There are several thousand threads in the forum so the recovered threads do not "jump out" at you - not easy to find.)

Is there something that needs to be done to have these threads indexed? Any idea?

I am using the MSQL Full Text search on the board.

We are in the process of doing the 7.5.6 upgrade and I see the bug when one accidently merges a post onto itself is still there. Causing the post/thread to delete itself.

Robin

yep.. never been fixed