URL nomenclature

so we are on the 6th incarnation of 'Just......whatever', and the first page has the following URL:

http://www.hobbitmovieforum.com/t1233-just-whatever-6

The second page has the url

http://www.hobbitmovieforum.com/t1233p25-just-whatever-6

so that 'p25' refers to the post number.

But the first page of 'Just.....whatever' 6th incarnation starts off with the very evocative post by Blue:

"How annoyingly straight to the heart of the matter, Ringo. I hadn't thought about it like that. You know, I think that's very true.. Why do we worry about stuff like that so much? Why do we worry about stuff so much? Perhaps sometimes one should just say fuck it, and stop caring. That would be so much easier.."

Among other alluring tidbits.

So I want to get the previous page, incarnation 5 and find out what the hell they are talking about. Changing the url to

http://www.hobbitmovieforum.com/t1233-just-whatever-5

just dumps me back to where I started. So how do I get to the previous incarnation of the thread?

The operative part of the URL is the "t[number]" part at the beginning. T stands for topic (or thread) and the number is the thread ID (similar to how profiles are "U" for user followed by an ID number). Oddly, you have to have something in the thread title portion of the URL, but it doesn't have to actually be the thread's title. So no matter what you have following "t1233-", it'll still send you to that same thread.

The reason we have multiple versions of threads is that the forum automatically splits them. Once a thread gets to ~1100 posts, the forum goes back and snips it off at the 990 post mark, auto-locking the old thread and moving the most recent ~100 posts to a newly generated thread with the same title. As I have mentioned before, the numbers are only there because I used to use my mod powers to manually add them whenever I noticed that a thread had split. However, both the YouTube and religious debates threads recently split and so have two versions each numbered as "[2]". In any event, the older version can be determined by seeing which has the lower thread ID number.

The easiest way to find old versions of threads is just to search by the thread title in the forum's own search box in the top right of each page. Unfortunately, the "Just...whatever" presents a unique difficulty because the forum is unable to parse the lack of a space between the two words. Even copying and pasting the exact title will not return any results. A Google site search will get around this problem (eg, type "site:hobbitmovieforum.com just whatever 5" into Google to limit results to this site).

Thanks, the google search format hint helped.

halfwise wrote:But the first page of 'Just.....whatever'  6th incarnation starts off with the very evocative post by Blue:

"How annoyingly straight to the heart of the matter, Ringo. I hadn't thought about it like that. You know, I think that's very true.. Why do we worry about stuff like that so much? Why do we worry about stuff so much? Perhaps sometimes one should just say fuck it, and stop caring. That would be so much easier.."

God, it's weird to read that back. I was in such a different place back then.

Here's to things changing, eh.  

halfwise wrote:Among other alluring tidbits.

Hm..

Please bear in mind that before going back to see the previous posts, I didn't know at all what was being referred to.  If I did, I probably would have worded things differently.  Watching what used to be young Norc transform into a no-holds-barred young woman has been a disconcerting experience. Probably blocked parts of it out.

You're adorable, halfy.

Well, Norc was adorable. Now she's a sheer force of nature. I think that's why she has so much less time for us. You know, between out wreaking havoc and all.

I don't really feel like I've seen a huge transformation. Maybe cause I felt at the time that Norc was wreaking plenty of havoc on here.

We incubated her; thought she was delightful, set her loose. Some day a torn and shaken world will turn its eye and call us to account for what we have wrought.

God, are we back to talking about how great Norc is? How original.

Sorry was there a discussion quota we exceeded?

{{{Norc?.... mmmm Norc?..... oh yes I remember now, Norc, yeah she used to be on here regularly... bloody young people living their lives and having fun }}}}

Eldorion wrote:Sorry was there a discussion quota we exceeded?

Nah, if you read that post in the context of my posting history on this matter I'll think you'll find it was primarily a joke. (At my own expense, no less.)

even the wildest fiercest sabre toothed tigers need a safe little nest now and again. at least that's my take on the Norc situation.