Status Updates activity

[Interferon]

I think certain actions should generate a status update. I think the "status updates" should really just be a stream of activity:

Johnny posted a new file.
Johnny posted a new record.
Johnny posted a new image. (Maybe show a thumbnail of the image)
Johnny > Jenny Wow, what a great profile! (for profile comments)

It would make it easier to keep up with the community's activity, and it would be fun to view.

[mortenz]

On a busy board that would generate an immense amount of uninteresting noise.

On a side note, I noticed that my users have used the status update feature less after it got more advanced with comments etc.

[Collin1000]

I already requested this here:
http://community.invisionpower.com/topic/317742-plug-in-to-actions-system/

Basically, the answer is that the code isn't there for it to be possible at this point.

[Interferon]

On a busy board that would generate an immense amount of uninteresting noise.

Wow, no wonder Facebook doesn't have any users. <_<

[AndyF]

Wow, no wonder no one uses Facebook. <_<

Facebook will have a substantial server farm I would guess.

If what's requested here was added and it resulted in (shared) hosts suspending accounts to due resource usage, then who would be blamed ? :)

[Interferon]

This feature is not anywhere near as resource intensive as you suggest.

[MissNinja]

I wouldn't mind this as a separate feature- having some kind of activity stream is a cool idea- but I like the status updates as they are and so do my members.

[A Walk in Faith]

If what's requested here was added and it resulted in (shared) hosts suspending accounts to due resource usage, then who would be blamed ? :)

I believe that this mod could be worked into the IPB system where it would work and it wouldn't be as much of a resource hog as you would think.

The forum link I provided is a forum community that have it working on their system and somehow they have managed to make it work without killing off a server.

I also would think that this type of feature would have many options to check/uncheck making it 'fit' within most any Admin's resources.

We are lead to believe that a product like IP.Content requires skill to use and fully understand, we are lead to believe that an Admin SHOULD have some understanding of the web and their site... with that, IPS should have an understanding that an Admin would be able to check/uncheck options within this type of feature to make it fit within their resources.

I know people don't like to be compared to other sites.. be it vBulletin or Facebook but when something is working it just makes sense to add it in.

Facebook would not be anywhere as big as it is if it didn't have the live Status Updates.. It's that portion of that site that makes people want to post their lives to their friends, and family..

We, as forum owners want the same thing to happen to our communities.. We want people to be active and now a days, being active isn't only about posting in a forum.

Jamie

[Robulosity2]

In terms of resources, I'd like to see someone actually provide me with some stats showing why they figure it would not be resource hungry, as it would be be a bunch of new stat queries from multiple tables. While this would work fine on a Shared host for a small or not busy board, for anyone with a decent amount of activity this would just start adding up very very quickly..

You're also all making the assumption that a Forum Admin is familiar with server loads etc, when I'd safely say a fair chunk of them don't even know what a database error is... So, saying it could have multiple options nested in it so the Admin can tune it just adds extra options that will probably never be used and the person would still get suspended on their shared host


And comparing this to Facebook is pretty useless since IP.Board and Facebook are entirely different things (and some would argue their matching points are fine where they are and don't require more)

[A Walk in Faith]

In terms of resources, I'd like to see someone actually provide me with some stats showing why they figure it would not be resource hungry, as it would be be a bunch of new stat queries from multiple tables. While this would work fine on a Shared host for a small or not busy board, for anyone with a decent amount of activity this would just start adding up very very quickly..

True stats wouldn't be able to be given until the app was created and used. Since sites like Facebook that have this app won't be sharing their data, we will have to wait until the new forum XenForo comes out. As it has this feature, is active and then we will see how it works on shared resources.

You're also all making the assumption that a Forum Admin is familiar with server loads etc, when I'd safely say a fair chunk of them don't even know what a database error is... So, saying it could have multiple options nested in it so the Admin can tune it just adds extra options that will probably never be used and the person would still get suspended on their shared host

That assumption, that an Admin knows something about his site isn't a new one. I could find plenty of topics in this forum, or in other forum software communities where it's given that there is an understanding that the admin will have to know something to run a site. If not he or she will run into troubles. So this is not a new concept of needing the Admin to understand things about their site.

Everything in the running of a site it's point and click and we all know it.

And comparing this to Facebook is pretty useless since IP.Board and Facebook are entirely different things (and some would argue their matching points are fine where they are and don't require more)

On this I can agree with you, which was why I posted a forum script that has this feature. That is a true comparison of IPB vs....

Jamie

[bfarber]

I would not say such functionality would cause your server to implode.

In fact, we've already discussed internally a few different ideas related to the above. I, personally, am pushing for similar functionality in 3.2, however we have a ton of ideas on our plate and simply can't implement them all in the next version.

The way I envision something like this working is to have a table that collects all these recent "statuses" (separate from statuses actually posted manually). We would need to have a task that keeps this table in check (i.e. only keep last x entries from each user, prune after x days old, etc. etc.) but that's not impossible to work out. All in all it's doable, but there are more considerations to make beyond "can we do it". Many people aren't wanting "social networking in a box" - they're just wanting a forum script. We have to balance all of our customers' needs, and sometimes that means working on a feature that has wider appeal, but may not be the hot current thing.

We shall see. As I said, I would like to see a feature like this included myself, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be.

[mortenz]

Wow, no wonder Facebook doesn't have any users. <_<

Imagine having one status update page for all users on Facebook :)

On a board such status updates wouldn't be restricted to friends og friends friends, but all members on the board. Therefore it would be noise overload.

[A Walk in Faith]

I would not say such functionality would cause your server to implode.

In fact, we've already discussed internally a few different ideas related to the above. I, personally, am pushing for similar functionality in 3.2, however we have a ton of ideas on our plate and simply can't implement them all in the next version.

The way I envision something like this working is to have a table that collects all these recent "statuses" (separate from statuses actually posted manually). We would need to have a task that keeps this table in check (i.e. only keep last x entries from each user, prune after x days old, etc. etc.) but that's not impossible to work out. All in all it's doable, but there are more considerations to make beyond "can we do it". Many people aren't wanting "social networking in a box" - they're just wanting a forum script. We have to balance all of our customers' needs, and sometimes that means working on a feature that has wider appeal, but may not be the hot current thing.

We shall see. As I said, I would like to see a feature like this included myself, but that doesn't necessarily mean it will be.

Thanks for listening, and jotting it down for now or future growth! :thumbsup:

I, for one do understand the need to balance needs, wants and the community as a whole and am willing to wait, with some patience until these types of features come out.

I do agree that being the best 'forum' you can be is a great thing and a solid base, but times are changing, the web is more social than ever. People are going mobile and moving away from email and 'traditional' things and are moving towards to quick share and link type of connections. This is why Facebook is so popular. A site like that don't just show up and make it big without there being a need.

Just last night I ran across another Christian site that had what appeared to be exactly what I would love for my site. They had no copyright attached, so I didn't know what they were running.. After some snoping and trying to figure it out, I noticed it was PhpFox. Now, I have heard horror stories about how it's coded, supported etc, but if you go to their demo, they have a nice 'Site Feed' that really brings the site alive.

Having a great forum community and then incorporating more quick social features will help our communities grow.

Thanks again for listening and putting this on a burner.. be it a back one or front one. :)

Jamie

[mortenz]

Ok, now I see the idea. I'm withdrawing my concerns. This could actually be a nice option. Just need to be able to integrate it with my Joomla frontpage.