Birthday, calendar, plugin, core [VOTE NOW!]
Poll

So, what, exactly should be done with the birthday and calendar?

Birthdays and calendar should remain CORE
Birthdays CORE, calendar PLUGIN
Calendar PLUGIN with the birthdays built in to it
Birthdays PLUGIN, Calendar PLUGIN - separate but able to work together

Arantor

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Birthday, calendar, plugin, core [VOTE NOW!]
« on October 10th, 2011, 05:11 PM »Last edited on October 11th, 2011, 12:11 AM by Arantor
As per http://wedge.org/pub/feats/6931/the-calendar/ I've been trying to get a feel for how to handle birthdays and the calendar. So instead of faffing about with discussion, simple poll instead. I've deliberately kept it to a fresh thread to allow it to be considered objectively.

Remember: any plugins that are based on core code originally will almost certainly be considered as 'official' plugins and thus maintained over time.
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TE

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Thorsten "TE" Eurich - Former SMF Developer & Converters Guru

Arantor

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Nao

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CJ Jackson

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Arantor

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Re: Birthday, calendar, plugin, core [VOTE NOW!]
« Reply #5, on October 11th, 2011, 09:16 AM »
OK, let me put down how I see it. It might make a difference, it might not.[1]

Whether we like it or not, Wedge isn't a forum. It's a framework first and foremost, that just happens to be tuned to running a forum. User authentication, the template system, plugin system, these are all symptoms of a framework. As are a good deal of the components actually in Wedge.

Now, from my perspective, if it is the case that we have this setup, then to me the core framework should be best optimised for the one thing that is common to all forums (and varies between important and unimportant for non-forum uses): making the process of being able to share content and discussion easier.

Having AeMe in the core does this, IMO, both the auto embed and gallery parts (assuming using them for attachments), but the calendar and birthdays facilities do not inherently make it easier to share content and discussion.

To me, they're facilitators for social engagement, not content and discussion, so while they are important for some forums, for others they're absolutely unimportant.

Now, you could argue that other things we're doing fall into the same category, in particular the ability to like content, but that to me sits on the border between being content encouraging and social participation. It allows people to indicate they like some content, encourages more of it as a consequence and it allows people to feel they have an outlet for expressing an opinion without necessarily having to post - on those grounds I'd be inclined to make it core rather than through a plugin.


The bottom line is that this is a complex road we travel, we're not going to be able to please everyone all of the time, but I suspect the facility of having things as plugins that can co-exist nicely will really help matters.
 1. I'm not trying to change your mind, am I? :lol: Seriously, though, I do want to get across how I see it, to explain why I'm even suggesting/asking.

Nao

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Arantor

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Nao

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Re: Birthday, calendar, plugin, core [VOTE NOW!]
« Reply #8, on October 11th, 2011, 09:51 AM »
Btw I'm not a calendar user myself. I could care less about it. But I think it has potential for being useful like having a link in all dates that would point to that days posts.

I'm just saying I thought more people liked the calendar. Per se it's not important to have it in the core but if we change our minds later we can always rebuild it into the core in 2.0 or so.

Arantor

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Re: Birthday, calendar, plugin, core [VOTE NOW!]
« Reply #9, on October 11th, 2011, 09:58 AM »
Quote
Btw I'm not a calendar user myself. I could care less about it. But I think it has potential for being useful like having a link in all dates that would point to that days posts.
That can be part of the calendar plugin.
Quote
I'm just saying I thought more people liked the calendar.
I don't think people *dislike* it per se. I think partly the problem is some people use the calendar solely for birthdays (which to me seems odd because birthdays are a social feature, while a calendar is more organisational) and others use the calendar as a calendar, but find it a bit limited.

I think if it were more functional, it would be more likely to be used. At the same time I can see that it's not exactly something that's needed that heavily.

Roz

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Re: Birthday, calendar, plugin, core [VOTE NOW!]
« Reply #10, on October 11th, 2011, 12:06 PM »
I use the Calendar quite a lot in my SMF, because we run local and national events and want to keep track of them. The fact that the calendar can link to topics and vice versa is also very handy and keeps things clear and well organized. We also keep track of worldwide events and since the Upcoming Events shows on the front page, everyone is informed of them.

Don't know if you would include this in the "share content" category, but it certainly makes things easier and clearer for everybody. I guess it's one of those things you don't quite appreciate until you lose it.

Arantor

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Re: Birthday, calendar, plugin, core [VOTE NOW!]
« Reply #11, on October 11th, 2011, 12:08 PM »
It's organisational. Having it makes it easier to organise, it doesn't directly facilitate sharing content in and of itself.

It won't be disappearing - just it won't in the very core of the software.


Question, to those who think things should remain core: why? I can give you quite a few reasons why things should be removed from the core and turned into officially support plugins. I can't find the same enthusiasm for keeping them core, especially as the odds are they will be just supported, as opposed to extended and improved.

billy2

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Re: Birthday, calendar, plugin, core [VOTE NOW!]
« Reply #12, on October 11th, 2011, 12:20 PM »
I voted to keep birthdays core because I like the birthday message being sent - just in case it was voted to be removed totally. It can be a plugin as far as I am concerned. Talk about a u-turn  :D
IIRC there was talk of having birth date as part of the sign-up compulsory fields, dont quite know where that one ended up.
<br /><br />cough, cough.

Arantor

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Re: Birthday, calendar, plugin, core [VOTE NOW!]
« Reply #13, on October 11th, 2011, 12:25 PM »
Quote
I voted to keep birthdays core because I like the birthday message being sent - just in case it was voted to be removed totally. It can be a plugin as far as I am concerned. Talk about a u-turn
Nope, it was never going to be totally removed and never to be seen again. In fact, there's a problem before you start: birthday emails are sent independently of whether the calendar is enabled. Talk about logic disjoint.
Quote
IIRC there was talk of having birth date as part of the sign-up compulsory fields, dont quite know where that one ended up.
Birth date needs to remain in the core, oddly enough, because it's used for things like COPPA verification.

billy2

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Re: Birthday, calendar, plugin, core [VOTE NOW!]
« Reply #14, on October 11th, 2011, 01:00 PM »
* billy2 thinks to himself - If Birth Dates have to remain in Core, why is Arantor asking why I think Birthdays should be in the core. Are they not one of the same?

I've got a headache