Post Scheduler

[The Studio]

We need the ability to schedule posts in our forum so that we can prepare them in advance (and in the proper location) without our members being able to see us working. Right now we have to prep posts in a hidden section then move them right when we want them to go live (including times when we SHOULD be sleeping). Frankly it's ridiculous. 

It should work like this (very much like Wordpress): 

• Create a post in any forum and select a posting time & date (just like you would for a lock/unlock time & date).
• Members with the appropriate permissions setting should be able to see the post while it's being prepared (admin/moderators at least). In other words, there should be a setting in the plugin options to set permissions for who can view pre-scheduled posts. 
• At the scheduled posting time, the post should "publish" (become visible) to everyone with permission to view that particular forum. 
• The date on the post should be set to the scheduled posting date, NOT when it was prepared in advance. For team projects, I prep posts up to a year in advance. 

This is such a critical feature for any community especially those that are supporting a business. You can see additional members requesting this feature here: 

 

We're frustrated & we can't keep waiting for IPS to add such a critical function. Is there a developer willing to create a plugin for this? 

Thank you!!

Angel

Edited March 22, 2021 by Antoinette Westberry

[Sonya*]

You can do it if you have Pages. Just create a database, that is only visible to moderators. Create your posts in a database as articles, connect the database to a forum, where the posts should be post and set the future publish date. No extra feature is needed to accomplish it. Unless you do not have Pages.

[Adriano Faria]

@DawPi has such resource if I recall.

[Daniel F]

3 minutes ago, Sonya* said:

You can do it if you have Pages. Just create a database, that is only visible to moderators. Create your posts in a database as articles, connect the database to a forum, where the posts should be post and set the future publish date. No extra feature is needed to accomplish it. Unless you do not have Pages.

 

That's a brilliant work around.

[The Studio]

3 minutes ago, Sonya* said:

You can do it if you have Pages. Just create a database, that is only visible to moderators. Create your posts in a database as articles, connect the database to a forum, where the posts should be post and set the future publish date. No extra feature is needed to accomplish it. Unless you do not have Pages.

@Sonya* We do have pages but that won't work for our purposes. These are posts that must be forum-style; we have pages of replies depending on the post. 

[Sonya*]

Just now, Antoinette Westberry said:

These are posts that must be forum-style;

Pages creates real posts in your forum. Articles are just for scheduling. When article is published (future published date is reached) then a new post is created in forum. 

[The Studio]

Just now, Sonya* said:

Pages creates real posts in your forum. Articles are just for scheduling. When article is published (future published date is reached) then a new post is created in forum. 

@Sonya* THANK YOU! I will try that. 

 

Regardless though, we really do need this as an actual function. We have nearly 70 team members that should be using this function and we simply cannot give them access to create pages. The system would be a mess. 

[Adriano Faria]

Duplicate content seems pretty weird. So members would post an article to get a topic and in the end would have an article and a topic? Then request to delete the article later? 🥴

[Sonya*]

2 minutes ago, Antoinette Westberry said:

Regardless though, we really do need this as an actual function. We have nearly 70 team members that should be using this function and we simply cannot give them access to create pages

This is simple permission like creating new posts in forum, though. You can create a secondary group where all these 70 team members are. Give the ability to create articles within one database, not pages as single page. There is no really a great difference if you allow them creating scheduled posts in forum vs. allow them creating new entries in a database, where future publish date is enabled. The posts in forum are created automatically upon articles are created. 

3 minutes ago, Adriano Faria said:

Duplicate content seems pretty weird. So members would post an article to get a topic and in the end would have an article and a topic? Then request to delete the article later? 🥴

There is no duplicate content if the database is only visible to the moderators, though. 

[Adriano Faria]

2 minutes ago, Sonya* said:

There is no duplicate content if the database is only visible to the moderators, though. 

A user needs to post an article using a future date, right? When it gets visible, it creates a topic in the selected forum. At this point you will have an article and a topic with same content. It will require a manual action from a moderator later: either to delete or move the article to a hidden area.

Unless you allow members to delete their own content. Even choosing only Articles, it can be a mess. 

Anyway, just showing the downside of the workaround. It’s really up to the @Antoinette Westberry.

[Sonya*]

1 minute ago, Adriano Faria said:

A user needs to post an article using a future date, right? When it gets visible, it creates a topic in the selected forum. At this point you will have an article and a topic with same content. It will require a manual action from a moderator later: either to delete or move the article to a hidden area.

If the database (not forum) is only visible to the those 70 team members, then nobody else would be able to see the database. So, why should they delete or move something that is only visible to those who have created it? Or do you mean those 70 team members should not be able to see their articles afterwards? The posts visibility depends on the forum permission and not on database.

[The Studio]

@Sonya* I think she means that regardless of the fact that these articles are hidden from everyone except the 70 team members, it's still duplicated content. And believe me when I say it will be VERY confusing to some of those 70 members. Some of them are not at all technical. 

[Adriano Faria]

Just now, Sonya* said:

If the database (not forum) is only visible to the those 70 team members, then nobody else would be able to see the database

So how the user would create the article? Or will this be a moderator tool? I didn’t read all the first post, sorry.

Still, visible to 1 or 70 will generate duplicated content. 

[Sonya*]

7 minutes ago, Adriano Faria said:

Still, visible to 1 or 70 will generate duplicated content. 

When I hear "duplicate content" I always think about SEO 🙂 There is no duplicate content regarding SEO.

However, you are right, the user who created the article with future publish date will indeed see the article AND the post. To prevent this, a custom solution (like redirecting every article to its assigned post) will be required. In this case, they will not see anything else as the post itself.

8 minutes ago, Antoinette Westberry said:

Some of them are not at all technical. 

I can understand. This is indeed something that should be considered if you have non-technical users. Redirecting article to the assigned post can be solved within the article template, so that they will never see the original article after it is created.

Edited March 22, 2021 by Sonya*

[The Studio]

@Sonya* THANK YOU! I am testing this solution now to see if it will work for our next event. *fingers crossed*

[The Studio]

Update: My testing DOES work for this, so we will use this method for large events. We have hundreds of forums, so it won't work for everything, but it is at least a functional workaround for big events. I'll have to create a new database each time since it needs to post to a different forum each time. 

Thanks again, @Sonya*!

 

[Sonya*]

2 minutes ago, Antoinette Westberry said:

I'll have to create a new database each time since it needs to post to a different forum each time. 

No, you don't. You can overwrite the forum setting for each database category. Just edit a category and switch to Forum tab. This way you only need a new category and not the complete database.

[Joey_M]

On 3/22/2021 at 9:44 AM, Adriano Faria said:

@DawPi has such resource if I recall.

Yes, I requested a custom app to schedule posts for 3.4 (I think the version was).

I asked @DawPi if he would update and release it in the marketplace, but he wanted to keep it custom. I actually decided not to commit to it - it's something others would benefit from more than just me.

 

[DawPi]

3 hours ago, Joey_M said:

but he wanted to keep it custom

Client who initiated it and paid for development decided. I must follow agreements.

[Maxxius]

@Jordan Invision suggestion to consider making this a core feature. we can lock / unlock topics during creation but not publish it. Seems like a nice feature addition 🙂

[Joey_M]

6 hours ago, DawPi said:

Client who initiated it and paid for development decided. I must follow agreements.

I asked you originally to build it for me.

Which is what you did, you built the app as I needed it to add content for when I was away.

[Joey_M]