[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #21834: Comment History

[WordPress Trac]

#21834: Comment History
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 Reporter:  mattoperry   |      Owner:
     Type:  enhancement  |     Status:  new
 Priority:  normal       |  Milestone:  Awaiting Review
Component:  Comments     |    Version:
 Severity:  normal       |   Keywords:  has-patch
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 This ticket provides a simple patch for comment history in core.

 ''The Problem'':

 In at least a few  places:  ([comment:ticket:9117:10],
 [comment:ticket:15534:4], [comment:ticket:9495:3]) Nacin has mused about
 the desirability of introducing comment history to core, citing Akismet’s
 implementation as a model for how this might be done.

 There are good reasons for wanting this, as comment history could serve as
 a solid underpinning for a variety of other features such as more
 informative moderation emails, some indication of why a message was marked
 as spam, and even comment versioning.

 The idea is that to implement any of that, we really should have basic
 comment versioning in core, a la Akisment.


 ''The Solution'':

 Our goal was to expand the API so as to reproduce and streamline the basic
 history functionality provided by Akismet, port and tweak Akismet’s nice
 history UI, and keep the change set minimal.

 Comment history API:

 * added simple functions to /wp-includes/comment.php to get and update
 comment history.  These in turn use existing comment_meta functions.

 UI:

 * there’s now a comment history meta box on the comment edit screen.  It
 looks just like Akismet’s.  This was implemented as a real meta box.  A
 sorting function is also included.

 History Events:

 * this patch supports the following history events, each of which has a
 nice, plain-english (internationalizable) history message, which always
 includes the user responsible for the action and a timesince.
  * edit_comment (“edited by user”)
  * trashed_comment (“trashed by user”)
  * untrashed_comment (“un-trashed by user”)
  * comment_unapproved_to_approved (“user approved this comment”)
 * comment_approved_to_unapproved (“user unapproved this comment”)
 * spammed_comment (“user marked this comment as spam”)
 * unspammed_comment (“user marked this comment as ham”)

 ''Next steps'':

 Here’s what we’d think of doing next if this were to be introduced into
 core:
 * support more history events and provide more detail. In particular,
 support events where the comment is spammed as a result of a blacklist
 word or other reason.
 * include some of this detail in moderation emails

 ''Note'':

 * the Akismet plugin should be updated to use this new API instead of its
 own history functions
 * meta boxes on edit comment did not work properly until this:
 http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/21499 (in 3.5)

 ''Who we are'':

 This patch comes from [http://profiles.wordpress.org/bbrooks Ben Brooks],
 [http://profiles.wordpress.org/mattoperry Matt Perry] and
 [http://profiles.wordpress.org/natebot Nathan Letsinger].  Enjoy

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Ticket URL: <http://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/21834>
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