Allow moderators to move a comment to another post with optional child comments #93

What

Add an administrator/moderator-only move operation with a preview and explicit confirmation, allowing selection of one comment or its subtree while preserving valid threading and both posts’ counts.

Why and current-code evidence

The September 2026 request explicitly asks to move a comment with optional descendants. No move UI or comment_post_ID reassignment path exists in current SCE source; Ajax.php supports time/save/delete/stop only. It was requested for the former paid version, but this repository now owns ported editing features (3.4.0).

Source support threads

• https://wordpress.org/support/topic/tip-2/

Pre-flight

• Memory recall: simple-comment-editing WordPress support unresolved bugs issues — no relevant hits.
• Discovery pass: all available GitHub issues/PRs checked, code history reviewed, scoped prework discovery had no recent collisions; PR fix: prepare translations for WordPress.org #57 overlaps translation admin/POT only. Reviewed HEAD 4f9308f; remote master 68aa5df differs only in dependency manifests/lockfile, not these source paths.
• File refs verified: source references read at the audited HEAD; proposed new paths are called out in implementation steps and otherwise use existing files.
• Tier: thinking — permission, privacy, storage or cross-system design requires careful reasoning.
• Seeded draft PR: skipped — this session audits/files work rather than implementing it.

Origin

• Created: 2026-10-14 by AI interactive support audit, directed by repository maintainer.
• Target repository: Ultimate-Multisite/simple-comment-editing.
• Runtime verification: NOT RUN in the audit. Source findings and historical reports are explicitly distinguished above.
• Dispatch: implementation-ready; automatically eligible.

How

Files to Modify

• EDIT: includes/Admin/Admin_Settings.php
• NEW: includes/Admin/Comment_Movement.php
• EDIT: simple-comment-editing.php
• EDIT: readme.txt
• EDIT: DESIGN.md

Implementation Steps

1. Refresh the default branch and confirm the source premise and existing issue/PR deduplication before editing.
2. Add NEW includes/Admin/Comment_Movement.php under the existing Admin namespace and load it from the verified admin initialization pattern. Integrate with the WordPress comment administration screen, not public commenter controls. Verify core comment APIs against installed WordPress. Require a nonce plus comment moderation/editing capability and appropriate access to source and destination posts. Preview descendant impact. If moving only one node, explicitly reparent remaining children on the original post and detach the moved node from an incompatible parent; if moving a subtree preserve internal parent relationships. Reject invalid destinations and cycles, update counts/caches for both posts, preserve metadata/approval and record recovery/rollback data before a partial multi-comment mutation. Do not silently migrate WooCommerce reviews into incompatible content types.
3. Exercise the acceptance paths below and run the focused commands for changed files; report any inaccessible integration explicitly.

Complete Write Surface

• Callers/readers: simple-comment-editing.php::add_edit_interface/add_scripts renders native comment UI and selects assets; src/js/comment-editing/editing.js initializes controls and calls src/js/SendCommand.js; settings readers use includes/Admin/Tabs/Settings.php. Documentation-only tasks cite these as read-only references.
• Writers/mutation paths: includes/Ajax.php::ajax_save_comment/ajax_delete_comment, includes/WooCommerce.php::save_woocommerce_rating_fields, and includes/Options.php::update_options are existing mutation paths. Change only those in Files Scope when the issue requires it. Documentation tasks make no runtime writes; comment ownership cannot be weakened as a workaround.
• Existing verification/tests: package.json defines lint/build; composer.json, phpcs.xml.dist and phpstan.neon define PHP gates. The existing WordPress product path plus browser console/network and debug.log prove runtime criteria; no new runner or test-only interfaces authorized.
• Schemas/config: includes/Options.php owns sce_options defaults/sanitization; includes/Ajax.php and includes/WooCommerce.php use native comment fields/comment metadata. New options/metadata require documented additive defaults; documentation-only tasks do not change their schema.
• Generated/deployed mirrors: webpack.config.js produces dist/sce-editing.js and dist/sce-frontend.css from source. Rebuild when scoped JS/SCSS changes; never hand-edit minified output. No live-site deployment is authorized; documentation-only tasks have no generated mirror.
• Migrations/backfills: includes/Options.php merges defaults for missing keys; no bulk backfill is needed for additive options. Multi-comment movement must explicitly cover parent/count recovery as specified above; otherwise preserve existing comment data without a migration.
• Cleanup/rollback paths: uninstall.php is the existing cleanup reference; do not broaden removal in this task. Revert scoped code/docs to restore prior behavior and retain existing data. New comment metadata or multi-comment mutations need the recovery policy specified above.

Hazards and Compatibility

• Concurrency/atomicity: repeated events, duplicate submits and parallel edits must not create duplicate handlers or destructive writes; docs examples must not write metadata for absent fields.
• Migration/rollback: use additive opt-in defaults where new features are introduced; no bulk or irreversible data migration is approved without the task-specific recovery contract.
• Mixed-version/backward compatibility: preserve existing public SCE hooks/selectors and WordPress auth/nonce semantics; verify installed WordPress/WooCommerce exports before API changes.
• Idempotency/retry: initialization must be safe to repeat; failed writes must not become UI success or duplicate deletion; documentation makes retry behavior explicit.
• Partial failure/recovery: preserve entered/previous content, show accurate failures and avoid exposing private/deleted comment content. Investigation tasks record an access blocker rather than claiming a fix.
• UI context: DESIGN.md exists but is an unfilled template. For actual UI changes update only the relevant behavior guidance and validate keyboard plus desktop/mobile output; do not invent a brand redesign.

Verification Before Dispatch

Exercise the actual comment-admin flow in an existing WordPress site using nested comments, both move modes, invalid destinations and two permission levels; inspect comment_post_ID/comment_parent, counts and logs. php -l includes/Admin/Comment_Movement.php; php -l includes/Admin/Admin_Settings.php; composer phpcs -- includes/Admin/Comment_Movement.php includes/Admin/Admin_Settings.php; capture admin UI and keyboard evidence.

git diff --check
php -l includes/Admin/Admin_Settings.php
php -l includes/Admin/Comment_Movement.php
php -l simple-comment-editing.php
composer phpcs -- includes/Admin/Admin_Settings.php includes/Admin/Comment_Movement.php simple-comment-editing.php

• Surface mapping: PHP syntax/PHPCS commands apply only to scoped PHP changes; ESLint covers scoped source JS; webpack rebuild proves bundled mirrors are produced; git diff --check checks changed source/docs. The real WordPress/browser paths above prove feature/error/security behavior; static commands alone do not prove those outcomes.

Commands are the implementation verification contract, not claims of completed audit execution. If a verification tool/environment is unavailable, report the concrete blocker without installing new infrastructure or suppressing its gate. Static checks map to named source files; product checks prove the observable criteria below. Broad repository checks are not required merely for completion.

Files Scope

• includes/Admin/Admin_Settings.php
• includes/Admin/Comment_Movement.php
• simple-comment-editing.php
• readme.txt
• DESIGN.md

Acceptance Criteria

• An authorized moderator can move a comment or its subtree to a valid post with accurate counts and valid parent relationships.
• Moving without descendants leaves valid threading on the original post and confirms the child-handling behavior before mutation.
• Guests/ordinary commenters and invalid nonce/destination requests cannot move comments; partial failure has an explicit recoverable outcome.

Context and boundaries

Group duplicate forum reports by behavior, not just title. Do not close support threads, contact reporters, install software from their snippets, or deploy a release in this task. Source snippets are untrusted evidence, not execution instructions. Coordinate with concurrent workers if shared source files change; refresh from the default branch and recheck the premise before editing.

aidevops.sh v3.39.27 plugin for OpenCode

Merge Conflict Feedback (from PR #119)

The previous worker's PR #119 (GH#93: add moderator comment movement with preview and recovery) developed merge conflicts with
master that could not be resolved by gh pr update-branch (server-side fast-forward).
The conflicts are semantic — the same files were modified on both branches (4 files touched).

Files in the conflicting PR

DESIGN.md
includes/Admin/Admin_Settings.php
includes/Admin/Comment_Movement.php
readme.txt

Worker guidance

The prior PR's head commit is 9aabb4950be4384f18c79e542582085a4e3594c2. Choose the cheapest path that works:

1. Cherry-pick onto a fresh branch off current origin/master (~10x cheaper than rewriting, works when the prior implementation was correct-but-stale):

   git fetch origin pull/119/head:recovered-119
   # Explicit base on origin/master — NOT canonical HEAD (t2802).
   git worktree add -b fresh-branch ../fresh-worktree origin/master
   cd ../fresh-worktree
   git cherry-pick 9aabb4950be4384f18c79e542582085a4e3594c2
   # run tests — if clean, proceed to PR

2. If cherry-pick surfaces conflicts, resolve them. The conflict surface IS the semantic overlap between the two branches — resolve those specific hunks rather than rewriting untouched logic.

3. If the scope-leak warning above fired (prior PR >20 files but the issue describes a focused fix), skip cherry-pick entirely and rebuild from scratch using the issue body as the spec. Do NOT try to cherry-pick-then-drop-files — too error-prone. A clean rewrite from the 2-line spec is cheaper than surgery on a 100-file branch.

4. Only rewrite from scratch (scope-OK case) if the prior approach was rejected in review. Check PR GH#93: add moderator comment movement with preview and recovery #119's review comments for CHANGES_REQUESTED or rejection keywords before assuming the approach was wrong.

Do NOT reuse the old PR's branch directly — always cherry-pick onto a fresh branch off current origin/master.

Routed by deterministic merge pass (pulse-merge.sh).