Thread Rating:
  • 1 Vote(s) - 5 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Space for member blogs

#1
Lightbulb  Leigha Offline
So, I was wondering if there has ever been consideration given to having a spot for member blogs/journals on here? I'm thinking a separate sub-forum, where it would be less thread-driven and more off topic, based on observations, books, hobbies, photos, and other such things we'd like to share under our own little umbrellas. (option given to allow comments from other members)

An example would be that I’ve been into water color painting lately, and may choose to share some of my latest artwork here but for “members only” kind of thing.

No worries if it's not something you'll consider, but just tossing the idea out there to discuss.
Reply
#2
stryder Offline
(Jan 19, 2022 09:31 PM)Leigha Wrote: So, I was wondering if there has ever been consideration given to having a spot for member blogs/journals on here? I'm thinking a separate sub-forum, where it would be less thread-driven and more off topic, based on observations, books, hobbies, photos, and other such things we'd like to share under our own little umbrellas. (option given to allow comments from other members)

An example would be that I’ve been into water color painting lately, and may choose to share some of my latest artwork here but for “members only” kind of thing.

No worries if it's not something you'll consider, but just tossing the idea out there to discuss.

In an early iteration of Scivillage some years ago (prior to this one which was Established in 2014), the forum software at the time had a plugin for blogging. (The users at the time didn't really find much use for it, and it really just ended up being a potential abuse tool, so it got scrapped pretty quick :/ )

My main concerns were:
  • Security (Both from the net at large and using multiple code bases for such a project),
  • Maintenance (Maintaining multiple different code bases and their compatibility),
  • Workload (the work the server has to does as multiple projects expand on the number of interactions with the server and databases),
  • Site identity crisis (It would try to do something that other sites already do well)


That being said there might still be a way to kind of do something within the forum software, it would be extremely bespoken and could work for a small number of active members (It's not something that would scale well to a large number of members due to what it uses and what limitations it would cause)

The forum software uses "User Groups" to deal with privilege settings for what you see on the forum. Currently the default method is that a user has One primary group which they belong too, and then they have a number of secondary groups. The Primary should take presidence over any secondary group, and the groups attempt to stack together to create a mask. (Where the combined overlay of group settings defines what privileges are given)

It's therefore possible to create a secondary group for a "blogger" to be the Group Leader. As a group leader they can control over who is in that group through the Member Control Panel.

That group would only have read and/or write access to one subforum, and the "blogger" would need a custom addition to their privileges to allow them to create threads in that subforum. (Which isn't too difficult to do)

What this would allow is the "blogger" to post to the subforum whatever they want, and people within their group will be able to respond. Those members in that group wouldn't be able to start threads themselves there.

This doesn't make the "blogger" a fully fledged moderator/administrator with ban privs etc, however should someone play up in their group they can remove their access rights by kicking them from the group.

It would be interesting to experiment with.


If I do this for you though, it should be something that any current member could ask to have done too should they want to.

If you want to give it a shot then I'll need to ask you a few things. It's okay, it's nothing to personal or indepth, just your SSN... J/king.

The things I would need per member intending to try this is:
  • What do you want to call the Group used?
  • What do you want the Subforum called?
  • What Description should be applied?
  • Do you want posting threads/polls reserved just for you in that subforum?

That would be enough information to get a test version up (Which would hopefully work well enough to go beyond just being a test.)

In all it should mean little change to forum software, not worrying about security issues (other than privilege settings), not having to worry about maintenance (software is already covered), the workload wouldn't be much more than normal since its the same code base, and the sites still a forum although with an area that can be a little more bloggy per Group leader. Furthermore I wouldn't have to make any huge change to the overall site codebase.

With further tweaking (and more effort) it might be possible to apply a different theme/skin for that subforum too, but thats more of a development potential and would take far more effort than creating some entries and tweaking some settings.

Anyway thats my thoughts on it.
Reply
#3
Leigha Offline
Hey, thanks stryder for the thoughtful reply, and giving this idea some consideration. I'll return later when I have more time, and answer some of your questions. For starters, I'm thinking of a sub-forum labeled ''blogs'' and each member will have the option of creating their own, or a separate section outside of forums. So, you'd have 'forums' and 'blogs' as to not clutter the actual forum area, if that makes sense.

Edit: All that being said, I don't wish to create a lot of work for you in order to add these features, so if it's a rather big ask, no worries. ^_^
Reply
#4
stryder Offline
Well it's an interesting potential at least from a configuration perspective. As to whether other users would like to use it in that fashion, that's yet to be seen.

What it currently looks like is:
two groups would be assigned, one for the "Publisher" of whatever the content is (Where they are the sole party in that group), the other for "followers?" of the content (which the Publisher would be the group leader of). The Publisher group is set for posting thread/poll rights and even some management of the subforum, whereas the followers can only post responses.

It's possible to create a "group image" which is shown by whatever group it's attached to, so it can make a visual reference as to what is being done by whom.

I tried to toy with using an SVG through a base64 string, so the image could be a vector and applied as data, however the software has limitations based upon it's security features that doesn't permit that without a bit of hacking (It strips the URL length). So images would have to be kept to files using URL's as opposed to pushing to data.

(Btw I babble all this encase someone wants to know, usually it tends to be just me reading it at a later date to catch up on what I did. So... "Hi! future me. *waves*")

It is also possible to complete forgo a forum completely and actually provide a direct link to a third-party site/location, although I'd have to workout how to drop a "there be dragons!" message in prior to loading external sites.

In any event theres no harm looking into it.
Reply
#5
Leigha Offline
Okay, finally have some time now.

I remember a site that no longer exists from about four years back, and they had a blog section separate and away from forums. So, if you were a member there, and wanted to add to your blog, you'd enter that section and add a new entry or reply to those who had left comments.

In terms of managing trolls, etc ...there was a feature for reviewing the comments before they were posted. So, any member could leave a comment, but there was a filter put in that only the administrator of the entire forum and the author of the blog were able to ''release'' those comments onto the blog for all to see. As the author of the blog, you'd have to select that option, otherwise, members would be able to see their comments in real time, as soon as they posted them.

There were other options like making the blog only visible to members or non-members as well. I like the comment filter idea because you can just delete offensive posts before they make it onto the blog for others to see. Never was a problem, overall, but there's always one . . .

So, to me, that would be the most ideal way to set it up...but, I'm not sure what your software is capable of here, in terms of visuals and tools. Thanks for thinking on it!
Reply
#6
Syne Offline
If it's not just a blogging section in the forum, why not just have a thread in the Respected Members section to post external blog links? Any dedicated blogging platform will already have permission and comment controls.
Reply
#7
Leigha Offline
I used to manage a blog on “WordPress,” but haven’t kept it up in the past couple of years so it would be a blog on here, only. I don’t have any external blogs right now.

The idea though would be a section here for anyone to keep a blog if they wish to. So it’s a matter of creating a “shell” where the blogs could be created and added to, etc...

@stryder - if the general consensus is “no interest”, I don’t wish for you to go through the trouble for just me lol We’ll see what others think about it...
Reply
#8
confused2 Offline
I like the idea of a blog simply as an online diary but that does seem rather selfish (making work for Stryder) unless anyone else would be remotely interested in knowing (for example) when and where Mr and Mrs Blackbird build a nest and whether or not the compost heap is behaving itself.
If (for example) Leigha blogged I'd probably read it from time to time.
A Stryder blog would be nice.
Reply
#9
Leigha Offline
Yea, I think it's fine if we don't continue to explore this idea. It's one of those ideas that fleeted through my mind, as a ''nice to have'' but I don't visit here (or forums in general) as much as I used to, and that would defeat the purpose of having a blog. (in terms of stryder going through the effort)

In general though, from what I've seen of blogs in action on other sites in the past, they can be an interesting addition. I've noticed people who blog usually don't post in threads, and vice versa. lol

Thanks stryder for the chat about it, though. Sometimes, it's good to throw an idea out there and see if it sticks.
Reply




Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)