Exactly.

The brute count doesn't respect the order, and you will risk putting out invalid html if they let two tags slip.

A stack, OTOH, will address some of that.

you will risk putting out invalid html if they let two tags slip.

Well yeah, but we've already got invalid HTML or we wouldn't be doing it.

A stack, OTOH, will address some of that.

So how do you envisage it working?

I'm just not seeing it in my mind.

Every tag gets pushed onto the end of an array, and then popped off it by the appearance of a closing tag?

Like, we encounter a FONT tag, the array becomes

FONT

then we encounter a bold tag, and the array is now

FONT,B

but then we encounter the close-B tag and dump the B, and we're back to:

FONT

and then when we get to the end of the post, if there's anything left in the array, that's what needs closing?

What happens if someone accidentally posts this then:

<FONT> blah blah blah <B> blah blah </FONT> blah blah </B>

because they match, but not in the right order.

I got some debugging to do, true, but if WX can output them in order, so can we. I'm just not going to have energy to logic it before tomorrow.

if WX can output them in order, so can we

That's the spirit!

What if we recorded the tags according to their position in the string?

blah blah blah <FONT>

would be stored in a hash with a key of 16 (because it starts at char 16) and a value of FONT.

Then all we need to do is see if there's a close-font with a greater number as its key.

Or! Or! Or!

We pop on opening tags. We delete (push or whatever) them when we encounter a closing tag. Then we close what's left in reverse order.

But I have to look up array searching.

We pop on opening tags. We delete (push or whatever) them when we encounter a closing tag.

How does that work for crossed-over tags, that's my question, like before.

Because we're not popping to remove. We're just deleting the incident nearer the end. We don't close until the end.

So if we have:

<i>italicky <b>bold like </i>

The process will look like:

• push i [i]
• push b [i b]
• delete i [b]
• EOL
• output </b>

Sound sound?

edit: Ironically, I forgot to close my <ol>

Sound sound?

Pretty much. What if there's more than one of each tag in the array? Which one gets deleted?

Hey All,

A discussion with John H prompted me to post in here about my experiences with moderation/banning.

I'm a moderator of an entirely different type of forum centered around common interests in dance music. The forum was started by two friends in May 2000.

In the beginning the members all knew each other from clubbing and dj-ing in Melbourne, Australia. The site has grown to have 4588 registered users (from across Australia). I'd estimate that over 1000 post very often, most are lurking to occasionally promote events or pick up knowledge about events, records or music production.

Our forum rules about banning were designed to prevent spamming, promotions in non-promotion areas, and personal attacks.

A strange moderation issue came up. An established user turned bad. This online character was always caustic, but began to target new users, and users who had different taste in music. As the site grew, this user became increasingly offensive and more of a bully than an in-joke. He would occasionally get banned for crossing a line, and then promise to be good and come back. A small faction of his supporters would argue that "people couldn't take a joke", "this is just the internet", and that this person "was a great person in real life". The fact that he kept returning meant that new users commented on the "clique-i-ness" of the forum, and the perception that some people were above the rules because they were friends with the site owners or moderators.

At the moment this person has been permanently banned.

The confusion surrounding the issue was exacerbated by no clear rules about what actions would result in what sanctions. Also, the decisions made by moderators were not transparent. Users didn't know what someone had agreed to to get unbanned.

I guess if we were to start all over again, there would have been more rules and moderation procedures in the beginning. Now we have decided that bans have to be nominated by a moderator (can be prompted by any user) and agreed to by two other moderators (there are 14 moderators). Our next forum update will include the facility to implement a soccer based banning system.. one, two or three yellow cards for initial infringements with increasing ban times, and red cards. Three red cards and you're out.

So, what are the rules around here?