New Feature: Usergroup-Private Discussion Threads

[jdporter]

ok so we have a new feature: usergroup-private discussion threads. I've been thinking we should have this for quite a long time. Currently we use wikis for intra-group discussion, and it's really very sub-ideal. (I first floated this idea in Create new [pmdev]-only section "Pmdev Discussion". That was much more generic and open-ended, but this solution meets the immediate need.)

If you're a member of any cabal groups, try going to one of your group pages (janitors, pmdev, etc.) and see what's at the bottom.

If you're in pmdev, you can see a technical description of the implementation by visiting the new nodetype usergroupnote; scroll to the bottom to the documentation.

Question: Is this a good feature? Should we publish it, or roll back the change? TIA for your thoughts.

[Discipulus]

Thanks for your work jdporter,

for sure is a good thing, not to roll back. It would be possible to message all members when something is added, ie not only when a reply is to one of your post?

L*

PS I tried to reply to the janitors thread and I got Tough beans. is still an experiment?

POST POST SCRIPTUM

No chance.. if both I click on Comment on.. or on Reply to yuor first message in the janitors aka Re: janitors I can preview the page but on submit I receive permission denied Tough beans. message.

L*

PPPS 5th June '19

Finally it works, thanks!

[jdporter]

Try again. And if it fails, tell me exactly where.

[Arunbear]

It fails ("permission denied") for me too, after Preview -> Create.

[Arunbear]

This is a great idea, a definite improvement on the wikis, but needs some more work e.g.
• A custom displaytype, so we can go directly to the threads
• Newer replies should be shown first (or some easy way for us to know that there is new content)
• Some kind of rotation mechanism
Having actual sections would fix these issues, but is no doubt harder to implement.

[jdporter]

A custom displaytype, so we can go directly to the threads
Some kind of rotation mechanism

Could you elaborate on these idea? I'm not really sure what you mean.

Newer replies should be shown first (or some easy way for us to know that there is new content)

I've put in a patch to order replies by date (newest first). Let me know if it doesn't seem to be working as expected.

I'd also like to set up some kind of notification of new posts (as I mentioned in usergroupnote devdoclet).

Update: I have made it so that when someone posts a direct reply to a group — which is essentially a top-level post under a group — it sends a message to all members of the group, something like this: There is a new comment on pmdev by jdporter...

Thank you!

[Arunbear]

A custom displaytype allows the page to support different views, e.g. for a poll, displaytype=vote takes you to the voting form. I think we'd want someting like that so we can see the usergroup threads directly (to keep the page less "busy").

A rotation/paging mechanism would ensure there are only N threads displayed at any time, however given how low participation is right now, this may not actually be a problem.

[footpad]

Interesting change. I wonder if it'll become unworkable or, like the corresponding wiki pages, replies will become a record of change.

(Should group replies be listed in descending order, rather than the usual?)

Minor nit: As of this writing, replies to group pages have voting buttons, but there's no Vote button on the group page to actually cast votes.

--f

[jdporter]

Ok, thanks. These are the kinds of little things that would be perfect projects for novice pmdevs trying to cut their teeth. :-D