Problem/Motivation
Splitting off from #425478: Choose one: "content" or "node".
There are several places in core where we use post as a noun "No posts available" for example. 'Post' is a horrible, horrible way to describe nodes/content in Drupal because it maps more closely to a specific content type (post vs. page) than an individual item and it's been shown to cause confusion in the past - like the 'post settings' admin page.
So this issue should just be about removing those occurrences from core. Replacements are going to be dependent on context, but generally just 'content' or 'piece of content' ought to do. If someone takes this on, please post up any difficult places - since that's part of the point of having this issue. Anyone wanting to use 'node' instead of 'piece of content' please post over at #425478: Choose one: "content" or "node" - all we want to do here is remove 'post' and standardise as much as possible on what we have already.
Steps to reproduce
Proposed resolution
Change usage of post in form.inc, see #69
Remaining tasks
User interface changes
API changes
Data model changes
Release notes snippet
| Comment | File | Size | Author |
|---|---|---|---|
| #42 | stop_using_post_as_noun-431612-42.patch | 154.16 KB | albert volkman |
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Comments
Comment #1
webchickHell yes. Subscribe.
Comment #2
keith.smith commentedMe too. I intend on working on this, but if somebody beats me to it, that's fine also.
Comment #3
kresimir commentedComment #4
taz88ny commentedsubscribe
Comment #5
DeeLay commentedsubscribe
Comment #6
kresimir commentedComment #7
wretched sinner - saved by grace commentedComment #8
RoboPhred commentedGrepped up a list of occurances, will start knocking them off.
Comment #9
RoboPhred commentedHere is the initial list of usages (without any changes). I did not include function names or code comments.
Some interesting cases I have found:
For the numerous lines such as:
"The comment module allows visitors to comment on your posts"
"comment on content" sounds odd to me, although no one on irc had a problem with it. I will use "comment on %type" where I can, but many of these are not in the context of a specific content type.
"Returns a list of the most recent posts in the system."
Again, "recent content" doesn't seem right, or accurate in this case. The specific quote came from the blog api, where it can be replaced by "recent blog entries", but the "recent posts" phrase is also used in aggregator and suchlike, where it can apply to comments as well.
In short, "content" doesn't imply comments. What word should replace "posts" in that context?
There is also one permission that applied: "view post access counter".
Comment #10
catchAggregator should probably use 'feed items'.
Comments should probably use 'comments'.
Permissions - we can either leave the renaming for a followup issue - or if you want to try the upgrade path there's several examples in system.install
It'd probably be handy to try 'comment on content' and 'most recent content' and see if it looks bad - if it does then we go back to the other issue and brainstorm - but having things consistent, even if that means a couple of awkward phrases here or there seems like a decent first step.
RobPhred - could you roll these changes into a patch? There's instructions at http://drupal.org/patch - or if you ask on irc there's plenty of people who can help.
Comment #11
RoboPhred commentedThat is just a preliminary list, I have not started changing them yet; I will make a start on that.
Comment #12
RoboPhred commentedHere is the start of the patch. It does not contain all of the instances and I did not test it yet.
In the book module, I added the actual content type in place of "post". However, I am not sure if I am doing it right:
to
I am emulating what I saw another module do in a similar situation. Should "!" be used on the node type, or should it still be passed through check_plain with % or @. Is showing the machine name acceptable, or should it pull the human name for the type?
There is a strange line in the schema for comment module:
"comments posts" looks like a mistype to me. Would changing this break something? Is an updater needed for changing the description?
Forums use "post" to describe user comments by convention, and "content" would probably just add confusion to it. What say you?
Comment #13
Bojhan commentedI will review this later on, can you supply the instances where you did not change it yet?
Comment #14
RoboPhred commentedSome time ago I lost all the work I did on this, and forgot to say so. I apologize, I am not working on this anymore. If no one else picks it up before then, I might take it up again (time permitting).
Comment #15
RoboPhred commentedComment #16
RoboPhred commentedBah, I had this issue locked for too long and prevented more work, so its only fair that I complete what I took up. I will put this as my first priority and grind it out asap.
Comment #17
RoboPhred commentedThat took a lot less time than I was taking before...
I did not change any permissions, and left most of the "post" mentions in the forum module, as that is the most often used word among other forums.
Some comments were updated.
I reworded a few output sentances on the lines I was working with as well. Not all rewordings were nessescary for the change, but it makes them more readable.
Something to check: a few added uses of "content" may not make sense in translation.
Menu link titles and one menu path was changed in the tracker, and the tests were updated to reflect this.
Comment #18
RoboPhred commentedComment #20
RoboPhred commentedForgot -p
Comment #22
flickerfly commentedI tried to apply the patch in #20 against D7 and failed. I tried -p0 and -p1. 1 was required to find the files and gave me a whole bunch of fresh new *.rej files to share. :-)
I'm guessing core has changed a lot since Sept. For example, this patch includes string changes for the upload module.
Comment #23
webchickThis would've been nice to do, but I'd prefer not to make anymore non-critical string clean-ups in Drupal 7 anymore, to help ease translations.
Comment #24
Freso commentedI love this, and I hope it gets in early once development on 8.x opens. :) So, to help this along, here's a quick review of the latest patch:
As it's singular, it should probably just be "weblog entry".
Probably "every piece of content".
Again, "piece of" and "pieces of" content.
"X piece(s) of %type content"?
"Content" can't be counted (grammatically, anyway), so we need "pieces of content" in both places.
-> "stores all content (...) as "nodes"."
-> "Though all content on your site are nodes, each piece of content is also of a particular content type."
Is the mentioning (ie., its placement on a site) of this in general or related to a/one "post"/piece of content? If it's "in general", the wording is OK, if it is in relation to a piece of content, it should rather be just that "of a piece of content."
-> "Content is marked updated [...]"
-> "that changes a piece of content's property." or "that changes the property of a piece of content." ("Content" can't be counted, so you can't have "a/one content".)
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Comment #25
RoboPhred commentedDropping this for now, I cannot run D7 until I work out some PDO issues with my host.
Comment #26
pillarsdotnet commentedComment #27
pillarsdotnet commentedComment #29
pillarsdotnet commentedComment #30
pillarsdotnet commentedComment #32
pillarsdotnet commentedComment #33
Bojhan commentedActually this seems to introduce a lot of entries of the word 'node' we removed this word from core, because of its technical nature. Other than that most changes seem good.
Comment #34
pillarsdotnet commentedComment #35
pillarsdotnet commentedComment #37
pillarsdotnet commentedComment #38
pillarsdotnet commentedComment #39
pillarsdotnet commentedComment #40
albert volkman commentedMade this apply to D8. Marking as NR for testbot, but I'm sure this will still need a lot of work.
Comment #42
albert volkman commentedFixed the $t typo.
Comment #44
marthinal commented#40: stop_using_post_as_noun-431612-40.patch queued for re-testing.
Comment #45
rcross commented-1
maybe irrelevant at this point, but after reading [#1818278: Rename "node" to "content"] I actually think "post" is a reasonable term to use as a noun and it seems most people, whether intentional or not, seem to use it this way quite commonly.
Comment #48
meeli commentedBased on the outcome of https://www.drupal.org/node/1818278, I think we should rename "post" to "node" in user-facing text to create a consistent terminology. I don't love "node" but if we're going to use "nodes" instead of "content" then we should also use "node" instead of "post".
Comment #49
andypostLooks all issues like #1818278: Rename "node" to "content" closed and we are behind a string freeze
No where we going to finish node to content transition?
Comment #50
cilefen commentedNo matter what, this is 8.1.x.
Comment #66
papagrandeThis may be outdated and needs a check to see if there are still problems in D11 code. Please scan the code for uses of "post" as a noun, but ignore test fixtures.
Then spin off child issues by sub-system to keep the patches/MRs reasonably-sized.
Comment #67
papagrandeFrom @andypost at https://drupal.slack.com/archives/C014QES6HSQ/p1696523077987389?thread_t...
Comment #68
catchGiven #3267261: [Meta] Tasks to deprecate Forum, if forum module is the only remaining place this happens, I think we could close this as outdated, fourteen years after I opened it.
Comment #69
quietone commentedI searched core for POST and visually scanned the long list to confirm the usages were for the POST method. Then I searched for 'Post' and did the same scan. Finally searched for 'post' and there were many results. I gradually eliminated correct usages such as 'post update' etc. and eventually the results were small enough to change the grep to include the cases where post is used as a noun. This is the resulting command.
The three modules, book, form and tracker, are approved for removal so we can eliminate those. That leaves form.inc which has an example using post as a noun.
There is a change for that in the latest patch here. So we just need a new MR with that one change.
I have updated the IS and added some, but not all, credit.
Comment #71
sourabhjainComment #73
papagrandeAfter reading the relevant code, "items" makes sense in context and !4956 looks good.
Thanks, @sourabhjain.
Comment #74
quietone commentedSaving credit
Comment #76
quietone commentedNice to close a 15 year old issue!
Committed to 10.2.x and 11.x Thanks!