Scheduling topics to open and close

Are you referring to a specific feature, plugin, or code snippet for “close x amount of days after no one has commented”? I know that’s not want you’re asking about, but I want to visualize what you’re actually taking about for that.

As for the “scheduling it to close on September 1 at 4 pm” that you’re actually asking about, I’m just trying to think if it would make sense to add to Style Pack. Anything we add is because there’s potential for lots of Style Pack users to put it to use. Here’s what I’m visualizing for that:

1.) You want this to be entirely date/time based, but I think it makes the most sense to be setup as a generic “Auto-Close Topics” setting that can be setup as “after X days from creation”, “after X days of inactivity”, or “at a specific date/time”.

2.) From what I can see, this would have to be manually set for every topic. There could be a default to use (like 30 days or 90 days or whatever), but anything besides that default would have to be manually set per topic.

3.) It might not make sense to do this for the entire forum, so I see that it would require the ability to choose which forums have this scheduled/auto-closing feature and which forums don’t. Also, an overall global default for all forums with the ability to override that default on a per-forum basis.

I do see the potential value in this for may site owners, but I’m not quite ready to commit to it yet.

Can you expand on that a little more?

Does what I said so far make sense?

Hi @codejp3 and thank you for taking the time to consider this.

Are you referring to a specific feature, plugin, or code snippet for “close x amount of days after no one has commented”? I know that’s not want you’re asking about, but I want to visualize what you’re actually taking about for that.

Yes, I apologize, I don’t remember which plugin offers that functionality, I think it is bbPress Toolkit, but I could be mistaken. It’s something I had installed by deactivated and deleted because it only had the close have x amount of days of no comments.

1.) You want this to be entirely date/time based, but I think it makes the most sense to be setup as a generic “Auto-Close Topics” setting that can be setup as “after X days from creation”, “after X days of inactivity”, or “at a specific date/time”.

I agree with you. That would allow for there to be a wider range of Style Pack users to take advantage of this in a way that makes sense for their forums. For me, I run an educational forum where students submit weekly homework. I like being able to schedule the homework topic of the week to post, for example, on Monday at 8 am, and I like to schedule these out many weeks in advance. I did this in another standalone, web based non-WP-related forum for years and was disappointed that this option wasn’t built into bbPress. I also like to be able to have the topic automatically close to new comments when the deadline for homework has arrived, for example 2 pm on Saturday, so that no late submissions can be added.

2.) From what I can see, this would have to be manually set for every topic. There could be a default to use (like 30 days or 90 days or whatever), but anything besides that default would have to be manually set per topic.

Yes, it would be great to have both an option that has a default option with another option to manually set it. I have no problem, in my use case, with manually setting it with each topic and actually think I would need this option.

3.) It might not make sense to do this for the entire forum, so I see that it would require the ability to choose which forums have this scheduled/auto-closing feature and which forums don’t. Also, an overall global default for all forums with the ability to override that default on a per-forum basis.

In my use case, I would appreciate it being a global default but can understand that this might not be a need for all Style Pack users.

Does what I said so far make sense?

Yes it does. Thank you for taking the time. Please let me know if there is any other info I can provide to help inform your decision about this.

@sunshineday77 – I haven’t forgotten about you. I am starting on this modification today and should have it released in the near future. It is a bit involved because it will have global settings in Style Pack, then settings per forum, and per topic. I’m also setting this up so site admins can choose what roles they want to be able to select auto-close values. In your case, it sounds like only the keymaster (you), but other site may want to allow regular members to set auto-close values for their own topics, or for specific forums.

I’m packing to move right now as well, so time is limited. Between this new feature and the email image features you mentioned in your other topic, it sounds like this was the bigger priority so I’m trying to get it done first.

Wow, this is amazing of you, and we appreciate it! I think that’s a good idea about having options for who can close topics, as in our case, it would be great for moderators, too.

Best wishes with your move and thank you again!

@sunshineday77 – Just wanted to check back in and let you know that I have been working on this. It may take another few weeks due to my limited time for coding these days. I’m currently packing and moving at the end of the month and only have like a few hours here or there to for coding. It will be coming soon… eventually!

No worries AT ALL. We’re grateful that you’re even considering this. We have a temporary work around with some code but it’s unreliable. Looking forward to your solution when it’s available, and again, no rush or pressure.

A little teaser pic ??

It adds new features to:
Admin Forum List Page
Admin Forum Add/Edit Pages
Admin Topic List Page
Admin Topic Add/Edit Pages
Frontend Add/Edit Topic Form

I’m coding it to work with the default WP Cron jobs, and possibly tap into some of the enhanced Cron manager plugin features too.

As you can see, it’s pretty involved but should be extremely versatile for a wide variety of use cases.

I think the vast majority of users will only utilize the “auto-close” features to auto-close topics after a certain amount of inactivity time (one of the most requested and still neglected features in bbPress history).

With that said, I’ve tried to put myself in your shoes as far as using a forum for scheduled educational assignments/tasks. The way it’s coded, you could add topics in a single sitting for the entire semester, schedule the publish and auto-close dates/times for each topic, and then let the forum run on auto-pilot for the rest of the semester so you can focus on grading work.

Similar to your situation, I could see the same kind of features being used for topics in classified/for-sale forums, scheduled event topics, and plenty more. I see the value of this beyond just your specific use-case, which is why I’m putting in the time to make it valuable to a wide-range of forum uses.

Going to take time to complete, but it’s a decent start so far! I hope to have it done within a month, maybe 2.

Care to volunteer to be the first Guinea Pig to test it out before releasing it to the public?!?!?

??Wait…what…? You’ve already accomplished ALL OF THIS in the midst of moving? Amazing?

This looks like it’s going to be nothing short of awesome and an incredible resource/feature for many.

That’s the idea — it will be awesome to schedule assignments in batches and set closing dates for homework assignments.

Guinea pig…hmmm… I’m honored and scared! ????
Have to think about that…