7SiN Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 I'm sure it's been suggested but since multiple of my members are asking for it, I thought I should lay down my thoughts. The current friends system is just....useless...boring...no fun. A follow system similar to that of twitter, to be able to see what the people you are following are up to, is something users want and are use to. Being able to see your followed friends activity is also like Facebook. It's in our nature to want to know what people are up to and I see this as a potential system to increase user activity. Not only would it help create more activity in threads and thread discoveries, it would also give users a sense of popularity, pride and prestige. Yes, the flip side of the coin may be that you aren't happy with not having many followers but I think the positives weigh out the negatives...and most of those people won't care how many are following them, just as long as they can follow people that they like and engage in topics they also like to engage in. People are use to Twitter and Facebook now days and it's evident 3.2 is harnessing this, but I think 3.2 could use a few more feature tweaks like this to make it a product aimed for members and member activity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy T Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Sounds like making it mroe like twitter. Facebook still has friends though and not a follow. The bad thing about follow as apposed to friend seems more like stalking. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsyvarth Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Well currently friends are mostly useless as there is no real advantage to adding people as a friend. I would like to see some more functionality in the friending system aswell... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MagnumOpus Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 I'm against the labeling of "follow". Sounds like that monstrosity called twitter and one of the things I dislike about xF. It took me some time to get over my gripe with it on xF but I still rather not have it called "followers". Friends sounds more personal whereas "follow" sounds like fandom or submission, it could use more functionality like you said but leave that kind of labeling to mindless social networks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy T Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 Well currently friends are mostly useless as there is no real advantage to adding people as a friend. I would like to see some more functionality in the friending system aswell... If you add some one as friend you get notified of their status updates. I'm against the labeling of "follow". Sounds like that monstrosity called twitter and one of the things I dislike about xF. It took me some time to get over my gripe with it on xF but I still rather not have it called "followers". Friends sounds more personal whereas "follow" sounds like fandom or submission, it could use more functionality like you said but leave that kind of labeling to mindless social networks. I do not like the term follow either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
.time Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 I like the terminology "friend" more than "follow", but if it's changed it's easy enough to revert in the language file. I agree the current system is useless though, some sort of "News Feed" page where we can see our friend's status updates would be lovely. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7SiN Posted May 11, 2011 Author Share Posted May 11, 2011 In either case, I would just like more functionality and by following people, you are saying that you would like to be updated on what they are doing. Call it what you want, I just don't like the "reciprocal friending" is what it comes down to. I know there's options for that in the ACP and the UCP, but I would still like to not be prompt with "Awaiting Request Approval" crap. If they want to "friend" me without really knowing me bc they want to know when I post, that is essentially following, or as one user put it, "stalking". But that's what our users are use to now days and when it comes to your site and user activity, ease and familiarity play a big role in user activity. So if "following" and "stalking" are terms that are not liked, what else could we use? I feel forums are more like twitter...where you don't (most of the time) personally know the people you are following, but you want to know what's going on with them. And the current system seems to be if people "friend" me, the system wants me to friend them back when I have no clue who these people are on my site that are adding me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rastaX Posted May 11, 2011 Share Posted May 11, 2011 I can see good reason to follow someones posts. I guess depending on the type of forum, it shouldn't be a social thing. I mean people can be more interested with content, a good poster should have a good following. The whole friend thing puts a different spin on it. It should be more of a "You post useful content" than "Hey, what's your sign". :P +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chito Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 I'm sure it's been suggested but since multiple of my members are asking for it, I thought I should lay down my thoughts. The current friends system is just....useless...boring...no fun. A follow system similar to that of twitter, to be able to see what the people you are following are up to, is something users want and are use to. Being able to see your followed friends activity is also like Facebook. It's in our nature to want to know what people are up to and I see this as a potential system to increase user activity. Not only would it help create more activity in threads and thread discoveries, it would also give users a sense of popularity, pride and prestige. Yes, the flip side of the coin may be that you aren't happy with not having many followers but I think the positives weigh out the negatives...and most of those people won't care how many are following them, just as long as they can follow people that they like and engage in topics they also like to engage in. People are use to Twitter and Facebook now days and it's evident 3.2 is harnessing this, but I think 3.2 could use a few more feature tweaks like this to make it a product aimed for members and member activity. I too like this idea. For those worried about being "stalked", they can implement several options for us in the UCP. For example, they can allow us to choose how someone will "follow" us by giving us several choices, such as:Check where you would allow members to follow you. Choose all that apply.When I start topics When I post a comment When I add friends When I add a status update Do not allow members to follow me Something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forgoten Dynasty Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Sounds like making it mroe like twitter. Facebook still has friends though and not a follow. The bad thing about follow as apposed to friend seems more like stalking. Facebook has 'friends' because there is a purpose behind it. It is a way of controlling who can view your profile and whatnot. However, on twitter (and IPB) Anyone can view your profile making the friend system completely useless. I like the terminology "friend" more than "follow", but if it's changed it's easy enough to revert in the language file. I agree the current system is useless though, some sort of "News Feed" page where we can see our friend's status updates would be lovely.http://community.invisionpower.com/statuses/friends/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogpatch Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 I agree that the friends system is kind of lame and useless because it doesnt really do anything. I mean what can you do when your somebodies friend that you cant do without being their friend in the current system? as far as i know.. nothing. i suggest that the friends system as is be improved first before a "follow" system is implemented. If this is going to work, first you need to have "friends" mean something. you have to give it facebook like permissions, so that only friends can view your profile (so it gives incentive to be somebodies friend and it gives friendship a meaning). Then once your somebodies friend, you could then have options on which type of content of theirs you want to follow or vice versa, you can choose which type you your content youll let people follow. this issue is in the same vein a post i made earlier about the need for more interboard sharing of post/threads and forums and a following system would be a good way to incorporate some of that interboard sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warzone Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 Lets go WANNABE faceBukk...:unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7SiN Posted May 12, 2011 Author Share Posted May 12, 2011 Lets go WANNABE faceBukk...:unsure: Listen to your members and you may get the same reaction my sites' members wanted. This software should not revolve and even evolve around us as much as it should around our users. Think about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tenaki Posted May 12, 2011 Share Posted May 12, 2011 FB and Twitter connect is as far as I want to go, if I wanted an fb I would have got a clone I do agree though that a bit more could be done with friends Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christophe Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 My opinion on the whole "friends" thing is that it does not represent my "Friends". I have a small number of friends and a crapload of people I know. On Facebook I have what...100 to 300 friends maybe with people I don t know personally but who know me from events I have organized. I don t know these people they are not my "friends" but for them to see my wall they have to be my "friends". I see these people more as "Contacts" but not "friends" so the whole "friends" system to me is flawed. As for IPB I can see having the same functionality as Facebook and I must admit that most people are either idiots or new to "this online thing" and think adding "friends" is cool. I wish I could think of the word I have in mind that fits for the people on my FB "Friends" list but my brain is somewhere else tonight. The problem is that if you call these "Contacts" then your friends get upset etc... in the end people always complain, but as far as the functionality for IPB I prefer having the "friends" feature than not having it. I just wish it was called something else and would have smaller thumbnails. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warzone Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 If ips gonna make IPB wannabe fb, im going to change system!! To make it easy, redo all the "Friends" to Follow?,,, can it be easier?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7SiN Posted May 13, 2011 Author Share Posted May 13, 2011 If ips gonna make IPB wannabe fb, im going to change system!! To make it easy, redo all the "Friends" to Follow?,,, can it be easier?? To what...vB? L!M!A!O!!!!! On a more serious note, I think you mean edit the language files to say follow instead of friend. Yeah, we can do that, there is still many features lacking to this system though. Call it what you want, but maybe reading the context of my suggestion may have provided better insight to you; instead you write it off because it says "follow" instead of "friends". The truth of the matter is, your opinion doesn't matter. It's the opinions of your users that actually do so I encourage you to see what your members think. I know I have a few members that don't like the idea much, but most users want to know what their "Friends" or people they are "following" are up to. It's become the nature of the internet and instead of resisting this change (like a lot of us admins do with many things), I think we should start embracing it now so we can be ahead of the game and increase the activity on all of our boards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dean84 Posted May 13, 2011 Share Posted May 13, 2011 If IP.Chat used a similar idea as CometChat or ArrowChat then friends would be useful. I am looking at getting one of these as I would prefer that idea for a chat system than the current IP.Chat, and as far as I am aware friends are used for those additions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warzone Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Asked my users: - Friends and Follow are exactly the same thing! If ya just edit the files from friends to follow.. well problem solved, they wont notice what you have done!! Caman, stop witht he Wannabe fb! it's LAME!!! And no, i dont go to vB, i just make a html/php website ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7SiN Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 Asked my users: - Friends and Follow are exactly the same thing! If ya just edit the files from friends to follow.. well problem solved, they wont notice what you have done!! Caman, stop witht he Wannabe fb! it's LAME!!! And no, i dont go to vB, i just make a html/php website ;) lmao It's not the same. Again, you may want to re-read what I wrote in this thread as to why we should have a follow system. Sounds like you just read the title and objected because "it's too much like fb/twitter". The reality is, they did it right while forums have done it wrong up until this point. Nothing wrong with making something similar knowing that it was done right somewhere else. Hmmm...I don't see anything posted on your sites about this topic. I can see you really asked all your users... :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warzone Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 lol.. kidding me? Do you think guests can see member forum?=,, haha FAIL!! topic: 36 answers and 80% said; Is not that the same as following?.. or in Norwegian; Er ikke det, det samme som venner?... I never menition twitter, i dont use twitter,. but hey.. i dont care at all.. change or not change...dont really bother me at all.. End of story.. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7SiN Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 lol.. kidding me? Do you think guests can see member forum?=,, haha FAIL!! topic: 36 answers and 80% said; Is not that the same as following?.. or in Norwegian; Er ikke det, det samme som venner?... I never menition twitter, i dont use twitter,. but hey.. i dont care at all.. change or not change...dont really bother me at all.. End of story.. ;) Your first paragraph made no sense. Sorry. You still cannot comprehend the words I'm speaking. You still haven't read a single word in the first post, but continue to argue like you have... :rolleyes: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marcher Technologies Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 I believe i see exactly what you mean 7sin... to note, friends/follow/whatevah only means anything if the profile view permissions restrict via it, then each tab can have settings in UCP: Allow friends to see posts ive made on my profile page? Allow friends to see topics ive started on my profile page? Allow friends to see blog entries ive made on my profile page? Allow members to see posts ive made on my profile page? Allow members to see topics ive started on my profile page? Allow members to see blog entries ive made on my profile page? and such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7SiN Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 I believe i see exactly what you mean 7sin... to note, friends/follow/whatevah only means anything if the profile view permissions restrict via it, then each tab can have settings in UCP: Allow friends to see posts ive made on my profile page? Allow friends to see topics ive started on my profile page? Allow friends to see blog entries ive made on my profile page? Allow members to see posts ive made on my profile page? Allow members to see topics ive started on my profile page? Allow members to see blog entries ive made on my profile page? and such. To a certain point, yes. I feel it would be better to have it all showing in a feed similar to that of Fb. Seems people are resistant to any similarities to fb but we have to consider that most people are use to fb and most people like to know what their "friends" are doing. So yes, being able to see when a friend makes a reply, a new thread, status updates, comments on statuses, etc. But I think we should have options so we can enable or disable what we want to see from our friends as well as giving them the options to allow people to see replies, threads, statuses, etc. Basically just giving more options. My whole thing is, most people on our sites are "anonymous"; we don't know them in real life so to call them friends may be an incorrect term, but that's just semantics I suppose. The one thing I don't like is the reciprocal friending similar to that of fb since most of my members as well as myself could care less who wants to follow us but we definitely don't care what they are up to, which is the reason I feel a "follow" system would be best and makes the most sense to me. In either case, if people don't want it, I really don't care. I was hoping to suggest this to IPS to help people increase activity on their site. Looking at some of the comments, people could care less. Then looking at their sites, I can see why...most of them have vacant sites that gets a few visitors a day so it's hard to optimize activity when you can't even get activity to their sites. I'm creating this for my board, I just thought it would help the IPS community if they had it as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
7SiN Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 And actually, now that I think about, Digg's system might be perfect. They have a "fans" category and a "friends" category (well haven't been on in over a year but that's how it use to be). Those that reciprocated the "friend request" became friends, otherwise you were considered a "fan". I think this would be perfect for IPB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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