Broken formatting in migrated posts

[Max_S]

Especially annoying is where a post uses a list but the migration broke the formatting. I think Discourse expects BBCode to be on newlines or something, whereas the old vBulletin software allowed inline BBCode. Or maybe unordered list BBCodes are disabled for some reason.

Example,

@orcenio

Sudan isn’t as fragile to water issues as Egypt for many geographical reasons
[ul]
[li]it isn’t entirely a desert country[/li][li]it has multiple rivers which come from multiple sources[/li][li]it is too upstream to worry about water scarcity driven by water use by even further upstream countries[/li][/ul]

~Max

[DemonTree]

@orcenio

Sudan isn’t as fragile to water issues as Egypt for many geographical reasons
[ul]
[li]
it isn’t entirely a desert country
[/li]
[li]
it has multiple rivers which come from multiple sources
[/li]
[li]
it is too upstream to worry about water scarcity driven by water use by even further upstream countries
[/li]
[/ul]

@orcenio

Sudan isn’t as fragile to water issues as Egypt for many geographical reasons

• it isn’t entirely a desert country
• it has multiple rivers which come from multiple sources
• it is too upstream to worry about water scarcity driven by water use by even further upstream countries

That answers that question. Putting them on separate lines doesn’t fix it. Discourse creates lists by putting a star in front of each item. Bit trickier, but @codinghorror or one of his minions should still be able to fix it.

[codinghorror]

For now I suggest collecting a list of the problem topics, perhaps right here in this topic, and fixing them as you go. This will require users who have the edit ability (moderators, and trust level 4 users). You could potentially flag them as well? Not sure what the mods prefer.

I’d also suggest editing the title of this topic to

Broken list formatting in migrated posts

since that’s a more accurate and descriptive title.

You’re also correct that the old software was more flexible with BBCode formatting, so not all posts will be affected, only the ones formatted in those particular ways.

I’d be happy to help out but I am neither TL4 nor moderator here.

[Max_S]

@codinghorror

For now I suggest collecting a list of the problem topics,

I would wager there are thousands of topics with formatting broken after migration to Discourse. They are easy to find if you search for explicit strings containing the closing BBCode.

For example, you can click the magnifying glass at the top right and type any of the following (including quotation marks),

• “[/UL]”

@codinghorror

I’d also suggest editing the title of this topic to

Broken list formatting in migrated posts

I appreciate your enthusiasm for descriptive titles , but it’s not just lists.

vBulletin used to render [DEL][/DEL] BBCode into <s></s> tags. Discourse breaks the formatting.

Examples (click to expand/retract)

@AlsoNamedBort

neofishboy: 49ers 35, [del]Patriots[/del] 6
borschevsky: 49ers 34, [del]Ravens[/del] 31
Bullitt: 49ers 27, [del]Ravens[/del] 17
cgg419: 49ers 34, [del]Ravens[/del] 26
garygnu: 49ers 31, [del]Ravens[/del] 27

@RioRico

A local identifies her as having gone missing 50 years ago. I easily [del]bribe[/del] gain permission to ship the still-frozen ice queen to the cutting-edge bio-med lab of my sibling Pat in North Jambalaya where laws and ethics are remarkably loose.

@Chisquirrel

Totally in character for the guy who says he’s against violence but constantly seems to defend the [del]white[/del] right-wing groups that actively preach hate and kill people.

vBulletin used to render [SUP][/SUP] BBCode as <sup></sup> tags. Likewise [SUB][/SUB] BBCodes used to be rendered as <sub></sub>. Those posts are now broken; good luck if you are interested in an old discussion involving physics, units of measurement with exponents, or even superscript footnotes.

Examples (click to expand/retract)

@Max_S

When I wrote that, I had in mind something like, Ethiopia currently draws say 2 Gm[SUP]3[/SUP]/yr (billion cubic meters per year) of water and the rest is for Sudan and Egypt, so Ethiopia would have to reduce its own consumption to 1 Gm[SUP]3[/SUP]/yr to fill the reservoir the difference of 1 Gm[SUP]3[/SUP]/yr.

@Max_S

Let us assume that the several bodies K[SUB]1[/SUB], K[SUB]2[/SUB], K[SUB]3[/SUB], &c., serving as reservoirs of heat at the temperatures t [SUB]1[/SUB], t [SUB]2[/SUB], t [SUB]3[/SUB], &c., have received during the process the quantities of heat Q[SUB]1[/SUB], Q[SUB]2[/SUB], Q[SUB]3[/SUB], &c., whereby the loss of a quantity of heat will be counted as the gain of a negative quantity of heat; then the total value N of all the transformations will be
N=Q[SUB]1[/SUB]/T[SUB]1[/SUB] + Q[SUB]2[/SUB]/T[SUB]2[/SUB] + Q[SUB]3[/SUB]/T[SUB]3[/SUB] + &c. . = Σ Q/T

vBulletin used [SPOILER][/SPOILER] BBCode for what are now <details><summary></summary></details> tags. Discourse either ignores the old tags or renders them as blurs. Previously valid posting etiquette has now backfired spectacularly when spoilers are now ignored or rendered as giant chunks of blurry text. (some spoilers that used to shorten posts now just blur, some spoilers that used to hide text no longer do so)

Examples (click to expand/retract)

(I broke the NSFW links when I quoted GuanoLad ~Max)

@GuanoLad

However, as some of my friends are porn stars, I would have to include them in my list:

[spoiler]The site used to give access to these pages, even if you weren’t a member. I hope this is still the case.

Most certainly NSFW.

Susie Christiana Cass Penelope [/spoiler]

@Max_S

That committee’s jurisdiction is specified in House Rule X, clause 1(n), reproduced in the spoiler below:

(n) Committee on Oversight and Reform.

(1) Federal civil service, including intergovernmental personnel; and the status of officers and employees of the United States, including their compensation, classification, and retirement.
(2) Municipal affairs of the District of Columbia in general (other than appropriations).
(3) Federal paperwork reduction.
(4) Government management and accounting measures generally.
(5) Holidays and celebrations.
(6) Overall economy, efficiency, and management of government operations and activities, including >Federal procurement.
(7) National archives.
(8) Population and demography generally, including the Census.
(9) Postal service generally, including transportation of the mails.
(10) Public information and records.
(11) Relationship of the Federal Government to the States and municipalities generally.
(12) Reorganizations in the executive branch of the Government.

A matter is then said to be “referred” to the committee of proper Rule X, clause 1 jurisdiction by the Speaker of the House, pursuant to Rule XII, clause 2:

Referral
2. (a) The Speaker shall refer each bill, resolution, or other matter that relates to a subject listed under a standing committee named in clause 1 of rule X in accordance with the provisions of this clause.
(b) The Speaker shall refer matters under paragraph (a) in such manner as to ensure to the maximum extent feasible that each committee that has jurisdiction under clause 1 of rule X over the subject matter of a provision thereof may consider such provision and report to the House thereon. Precedents, rulings, or procedures in effect before the Ninety-Fourth Congress shall be applied to referrals under this clause only to the extent that they will contribute to the achievement of the objectives of this clause.
© In carrying out paragraphs (a) and (b) with respect to the referral of a matter, the Speaker–
INDENT shall designate a committee of primary jurisdiction (except where the Speaker determines that extraordinary circumstances justify review by more than one committee as though primary);
(2) may refer the matter to one or more additional committees for consideration in sequence, either initially or after the matter has been reported by the committee of primary jurisdiction;
(3) may refer portions of the matter reflecting different subjects and jurisdictions to one or more additional committees;
(4) may refer the matter to a special, ad hoc committee appointed by the Speaker with the approval of the House, and including members of the committees of jurisdiction, for the specific purpose of considering that matter and reporting to the House thereon;
(5) may subject a referral to appropriate time limitations; and
(6) may make such other provision as may be considered appropriate.
(d) A bill for the payment or adjudication of a private claim against the Government may not be referred to a committee other than the Committee on Foreign Affairs or the Committee on the Judiciary, except by unanimous consent.
[/INDENT]

As shown at the top of this post, it is easy to search for broken formatting. Try searching with these:

• “[/DEL]”
• “[/COLOR]”
• “[/SPOILER]”
• “[/SUP]”
• “[/SUB]”

~Max

[puzzlegal]

Yeah, there’s way too much broken content to fix even a small fraction of it. If there’s a post that’s meaningful to you, or one where the broken spoilers may create a problem, please flag it as “something else” and explain that you’d appreciate a mod fixing the formatting. But please don’t go hunting down examples, as they are far too abundant to deal with.

[Max_S]

The reason I originally singled out lists is because those are the most difficult to read after being broken. I suspect there is room for improvement in the vBulletin->Discourse migration script. Maybe there’s a way to retroactively go back with a fixer script.

All of the [POST] and [THREAD] BBCodes were broken, too… I don’t really know if that’s considered formatting though.

~Max

[codinghorror]

I suggest searching ordered by view count to fix the most popular topics.

The post migration cleanup was mostly oriented around removing spam, which tends to attract more spam if not excised.

At any rate, “fix as encountered” is the best advice I can give at the moment.