[wp-hackers] A disadvantage of comment normalisation [Was: "commenter" user role]

[Jeff Waugh]

<quote who="scribu">

> I never liked the duplication that occurs: when a logged-in user leaves a
> comment: his email, for example, is stored both in the wp_users table, and
> the once more for each comment.

One advantage to this denormalisation (if we're being anal retentive about
it)... historical accuracy.

An odd example from the opposite direction: I wrote a quick hack for one of
my sites which duplicates the user's bio into a custom field on each post
they publish, such that if they change their bio in the future, it will not
change on their historical posts. It was important because the context of
the bio and article were linked -- conflict of interest disclosures and the
like.

Were comment details normalised against the users table, old comment details
would change in a similar fashion (which may not be a problem for all sites,
but it would become dramatically more inconvenient for those who care).

- Jeff

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