Notify users posting sequential replies that there's a better way to do it.

app/models/site_setting.rb

@@ -258,6 +258,8 @@ class SiteSetting < ActiveRecord::Base
   setting(:detect_custom_avatars, false)
   setting(:max_daily_gravatar_crawls, 500)
 
+  setting(:sequential_replies_threshold, 2)
+
   def self.generate_api_key!
     self.api_key = SecureRandom.hex(32)
   end

app/models/user_history.rb

@@ -16,7 +16,8 @@ class UserHistory < ActiveRecord::Base
                            :change_site_customization,
                            :delete_site_customization,
                            :checked_for_custom_avatar,
-                           :notified_about_avatar)
+                           :notified_about_avatar,
+                           :notified_about_sequential_replies)
   end
 
   # Staff actions is a subset of all actions, used to audit actions taken by staff users.

config/locales/server.en.yml

@@ -113,6 +113,13 @@ en:
 
       It's easier to follow community discussions and find interesting people in conversations when everyone has a unique avatar!
 
+    sequential_replies: |
+      ### Consider replying to several posts at once
+
+      Rather than many sequential replies to a topic, please consider a single reply that includes quotes or @name references to previous posts.
+
+      It's easier for everyone to read topics that have fewer in-depth replies versus lots of small, individual replies.
+
 
   activerecord:
     attributes:
@@ -686,6 +693,7 @@ en:
     detect_custom_avatars: "Whether or not to check that users have uploaded custom avatars"
     max_daily_gravatar_crawls: "The maximum amount of times Discourse will check gravatar for custom avatars in a day"
 
+    sequential_replies_threshold: "The amount of posts a user has to make in a row in a topic before being notified"
 
   notification_types:
     mentioned: "%{display_username} mentioned you in %{link}"

lib/composer_messages_finder.rb

@@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ class ComposerMessagesFinder
 
   def find
     check_education_message ||
-    check_avatar_notification
+    check_avatar_notification ||
+    check_sequential_replies
   end
 
   # Determines whether to show the user education text
@@ -49,6 +50,40 @@ class ComposerMessagesFinder
     {templateName: 'composer/education', body: PrettyText.cook(I18n.t('education.avatar', profile_path: "/users/#{@user.username_lower}")) }
   end
 
+  # Is a user replying too much in succession?
+  def check_sequential_replies
+
+    # We only care about replies to topics
+    return unless replying? && @details[:topic_id] &&
+
+                  # For users who are not new
+                  @user.has_trust_level?(:basic) &&
+
+                  # And who have posted enough topics
+                  (@user.topic_reply_count > SiteSetting.educate_until_posts) &&
+
+                  # And who haven't been notified about sequential replies already
+                  (!UserHistory.exists_for_user?(@user, :notified_about_sequential_replies))
+
+    # Count the topics made by this user in the last day
+    recent_posts_user_ids = Post.where(topic_id: @details[:topic_id])
+                                .where("created_at > ?", 1.day.ago)
+                                .order('created_at desc')
+                                .limit(SiteSetting.sequential_replies_threshold)
+                                .pluck(:user_id)
+
+    # Did we get back as many posts as we asked for, and are they all by the current user?
+    return if recent_posts_user_ids.size != SiteSetting.sequential_replies_threshold ||
+              recent_posts_user_ids.detect {|u| u != @user.id }
+
+    # If we got this far, log that we've nagged them about the sequential replies
+    UserHistory.create!(action: UserHistory.actions[:notified_about_sequential_replies], target_user_id: @user.id )
+
+    {templateName: 'composer/education',
+     wait_for_typing: true,
+     body: PrettyText.cook(I18n.t('education.sequential_replies')) }
+  end
+
   private
 
     def creating_topic?

spec/components/composer_messages_finder_spec.rb

@@ -11,8 +11,8 @@ describe ComposerMessagesFinder do
     it "calls all the message finders" do
       finder.expects(:check_education_message).once
       finder.expects(:check_avatar_notification).once
+      finder.expects(:check_sequential_replies).once
       finder.find
-
     end
 
   end
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ describe ComposerMessagesFinder do
       end
 
       it "doesn't return notifications for new users" do
-        user.trust_level = 0
+        user.trust_level = TrustLevel.levels[:newuser]
         finder.check_avatar_notification.should be_blank
       end
 
@@ -101,6 +101,72 @@ describe ComposerMessagesFinder do
       end
 
     end
+  end
+
+  context '.check_sequential_replies' do
+    let(:user) { Fabricate(:user) }
+    let(:topic) { Fabricate(:topic) }
+
+    before do
+      SiteSetting.stubs(:educate_until_posts).returns(10)
+      user.topic_reply_count = 11
+
+      Fabricate(:post, topic: topic, user: user)
+      Fabricate(:post, topic: topic, user: user)
+
+      SiteSetting.stubs(:sequential_replies_threshold).returns(2)
+    end
+
+    it "does not give a message for new topics" do
+      finder = ComposerMessagesFinder.new(user, composerAction: 'createTopic')
+      finder.check_sequential_replies.should be_blank
+    end
+
+    it "does not give a message without a topic id" do
+      ComposerMessagesFinder.new(user, composerAction: 'reply').check_sequential_replies.should be_blank
+    end
+
+    context "reply" do
+      let(:finder) { ComposerMessagesFinder.new(user, composerAction: 'reply', topic_id: topic.id) }
+
+      it "does not give a message to new users" do
+        user.trust_level = TrustLevel.levels[:newuser]
+        finder.check_sequential_replies.should be_blank
+      end
+
+      it "does not give a message to users who are still in the 'education' phase" do
+        user.topic_reply_count = 10
+        finder.check_sequential_replies.should be_blank
+      end
+
+      it "doesn't notify a user it has already notified about sequential replies" do
+        UserHistory.create!(action: UserHistory.actions[:notified_about_sequential_replies], target_user_id: user.id )
+        finder.check_sequential_replies.should be_blank
+      end
+
+      it "doesn't notify a user who has less than the `sequential_replies_threshold` threshold posts" do
+        SiteSetting.stubs(:sequential_replies_threshold).returns(5)
+        finder.check_sequential_replies.should be_blank
+      end
+
+      it "doesn't notify a user if another user posted" do
+        Fabricate(:post, topic: topic, user: Fabricate(:user))
+        finder.check_sequential_replies.should be_blank
+      end
+
+      context "success" do
+        let!(:message) { finder.check_sequential_replies }
+
+        it "returns a message" do
+          message.should be_present
+        end
+
+        it "creates a notified_about_sequential_replies log" do
+          UserHistory.exists_for_user?(user, :notified_about_sequential_replies).should be_true
+        end
+
+      end
+    end
 
   end