getting rid of terrible hack in favor of re enabling the dispatcher to sync w/ the comment service

common/djangoapps/student/models.py

@@ -273,7 +273,7 @@ def add_user_to_default_group(user, group):
     utg.users.add(User.objects.get(username=user))
     utg.save()
 
-# @receiver(post_save, sender=User)
+@receiver(post_save, sender=User)
 def update_user_information(sender, instance, created, **kwargs):
     try:
         cc_user = cc.User.from_django_user(instance)

lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/base/views.py

@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ def ajax_content_response(request, course_id, content, template_name):
         'content': content,
     }
     html = render_to_string(template_name, context)
-    user_info = cc.User.from_django_user(request.user).safe_attributes()
+    user_info = cc.User.from_django_user(request.user).to_dict()
     annotated_content_info = utils.get_annotated_content_info(course_id, content, request.user, user_info)
     return JsonResponse({
         'html': html,

lms/djangoapps/django_comment_client/forum/views.py

@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ def render_discussion(request, course_id, threads, *args, **kwargs):
         'user': (lambda: reverse('django_comment_client.forum.views.user_profile', args=[course_id, user_id])),
     }[discussion_type]()
 
-    user_info = cc.User.from_django_user(request.user).safe_attributes()
+    user_info = cc.User.from_django_user(request.user).to_dict()
 
     def infogetter(thread):
         return utils.get_annotated_content_infos(course_id, thread, request.user, user_info)
@@ -176,7 +176,7 @@ def render_single_thread(request, discussion_id, course_id, thread_id):
     
     thread = cc.Thread.find(thread_id).retrieve(recursive=True).to_dict()
 
-    user_info = cc.User.from_django_user(request.user).safe_attributes()
+    user_info = cc.User.from_django_user(request.user).to_dict()
 
     annotated_content_info = utils.get_annotated_content_infos(course_id, thread=thread, user=request.user, user_info=user_info)
 
@@ -194,7 +194,7 @@ def single_thread(request, course_id, discussion_id, thread_id):
 
     if request.is_ajax():
         
-        user_info = cc.User.from_django_user(request.user).safe_attributes()
+        user_info = cc.User.from_django_user(request.user).to_dict()
         thread = cc.Thread.find(thread_id).retrieve(recursive=True)
         annotated_content_info = utils.get_annotated_content_infos(course_id, thread, request.user, user_info=user_info)
         context = {'thread': thread.to_dict(), 'course_id': course_id}

lms/lib/comment_client/user.py

@@ -33,16 +33,6 @@ class User(models.Model):
         params = {'source_type': source.type, 'source_id': source.id}
         response = perform_request('delete', _url_for_subscription(self.id), params)
 
-    # TODO this is a hack to compensate for the fact that synchronization isn't
-    # happening properly.
-    def safe_attributes(self):
-        try: 
-            return self.to_dict()
-        except:
-            self.save()
-            self._retrieve()
-            return self.to_dict()
-
     def vote(self, voteable, value):
         if voteable.type == 'thread':
             url = _url_for_vote_thread(voteable.id)