What are the best practices for handling crossposting in PHP forums to avoid duplication of discussions?

Crossposting in PHP forums can lead to duplication of discussions and confusion among users. To avoid this, it is best to implement a check before allowing a user to post a new thread to see if a similar discussion already exists. This can be achieved by searching the forum database for similar topics based on keywords or titles. If a similar discussion is found, the user can be redirected to the existing thread instead of creating a new one. 

// Check if a similar discussion already exists before allowing user to post a new thread
$keyword = $_POST['keyword']; // Get keyword from user input

// Query the forum database for similar discussions based on the keyword
$query = "SELECT * FROM discussions WHERE title LIKE '%$keyword%'";
$result = mysqli_query($connection, $query);

// If a similar discussion is found, redirect user to the existing thread
if(mysqli_num_rows($result) > 0){
    $row = mysqli_fetch_assoc($result);
    $existingThreadId = $row['id'];
    header("Location: view_thread.php?id=$existingThreadId");
    exit();
} else {
    // Allow user to post new thread
}

Keywords

crossposting duplication PHP forums handling discussions

Related Questions