Repurposing the V in vBulletin

[Kornman00]

You know what forums really lack? Versioning (or more formally: revision control (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revision_control)).

When I'm talking about versioning, I'm referring to solutions like SourceSafe, Subversion, Perforce, etc. Expect instead of files and other sorts of data pipes, we're dealing with posts and threads (which themselves could be thought of as files and directories).

I've been thinking about this for a while and haven't really heard or seen anything which has even addressed this sort of issue. Why would you want versioning support for forums? Let us compare some operations (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revision_control#Common_vocabulary) in revision managers that could scale into forum managers:

Branching: One major issue with threads that we all know of is derailing. However, things are never so black and white. Sometimes there is an honest derailment, unlike those seen like candle jackings (don't even think about it! I have a hammer now). Wouldn't it be nice to have a system actually designed for creating a 'branch' of a thread? Where you're not just selecting posts and naming a new thread, but instead selecting posts then designating a branch. This branch can be represented with and in multiple ways. It could just be the classic move into a new thread or you could declare a branch inside that thread so it actually stays with the thread. You could combine these actions so that there both a new thread but also a symbolic link in the original thread (could be represented in multiple ways, maybe an index or even a tag cloud sort of view). Just a very rough idea, but it could very well improve forum and post management.

I have a few others I'd like to include but I have to get back to work now ;p. So if any of you have comments...

[Kornman00]

Continuing: More acknowledgement of update\edits to posts. Where as new topics and posts are bolded, a mechanism for tagging a thread with unview edits would come from better management of revision in the forum genre of software.

Example: Instead of me editing my post with this I'm making a reply as there has been little to no activity in this thread (~15 views before I posted this). A user may walk away from a thread thinking there was nothing really to comment on, but then the OP could come back later with a change that could in fact spark the interest of the lurker. However, there is no visual representation of these kinds of changes. It shouldn't be as bold and in your face as new thread\posts display as, but another marker or device could be easily be used. Again, just like the branching, an index or cloud (pop-up) could be used quick checking of content which has been updated (or who at least made updates in the thread).

In an era of wikipedia and other content management, I do believe that lessons and technology oberseved in the revision control should seriously be more researched and implemented in forums as they are just another platform for data communication and storing. There are benefits that will not only help moderators maintain and clean up their forums, but also users of the forum better operate in these virtual environments.

Fuck it. Google needs to make GoogleForums!