[Helene Finidori]

Hi is it possible to reply to individual posts on a forum? There is a reply button at the post number level, but replying through there does not relate the repsponse to the selcted post. It puts it in the sequence as a ‘normal’ in line reply.

[Matthew K Gold]

Hi Helene. Are you talking about nested forum replies, so that comments to one forum reply can be associated with each other rather than with the whole forum post? I’m not sure about CBOX compatibility, but you might test this plugin – http://wordpress.org/plugins/bbpress-threaded-replies/

Generally, forum capabilities are related to BbPress, so you should check the BbPress plugin repo when you’re looking to alter forum functionality.

[Ray]

Threaded replies is coming in bbPress 2.4, so if you can wait until that is released, I would hold off on using that plugin.

[Helene Finidori]

Great thanks @r-a-y. Do you have an idea when will this be released?

[Helene Finidori]

Hi @r-a-y is there a place where I can see the list of updates for the new version? There’s a couple of things I would really like to see in there in addition to threaded responses:

> Problem of forum title and topic title display that confuses the reading of the forum (descriptions not ‘on top’) https://commonsinabox.org/groups/help-support/forum/topic/forums-fancy-editor-not-appearing-even-when-checked/#post-2860
> Forum search box from any forum page https://commonsinabox.org/groups/help-support/forum/topic/forum-search-and-forum-sidebar/
> Newest first and truncate posts https://commonsinabox.org/groups/help-support/forum/topic/bp-forums-newest-first-and-truncate-posts/

Will this update come at the same time as the Cbox update announced for mid july?

 

[Helene Finidori]

… and the bullet points still not appearing which does not make things easier for you!

[Matthew K Gold]

Hi Helene,

Thanks so much for your comments and suggestions for the CBOX platform. We’re currently in the process of working on a medium/long-term roadmap for Commons In A Box, and feedback from members of this forum is a valuable part of that process. We always appreciate suggestions and bug reports from users of the platform, but we can’t guarantee that all requests will be accomodated in the roadmap, due to decisions we may have to make given our limited resources and our consideration of the larger community of CBOX users.

However, the platform is designed to be customizable and extensible, so that users can customize their CBOX installations/themes and develop their own tools that can be integrated into the environment. If there are very specific things you’d like to see in your installation, it might make sense for you to work with a developer to add them, and it would be absolutely wonderful if you could then contribute that work back to the project by submitting patches at http://github.com/cuny-academic-commons/cbox-theme I’m very excited about the fact that we’re starting to see users of CBOX beginning to contribute patches to the project.

Employing a developer or working with someone invested in your project who is willing to learn coding/markup/styling along the way (there is a great tradition of that in the WordPress community!) is the best way to get your CBOX installation to look and function exactly how you’d like. If that’s not an option for you, we’ll just have to ask you to be patient as we work through various issues and prioritize them according to our own workflow and our vision of the larger free software project.

Again, many thanks for your use of the platform and your continuing comments and suggestions.

Best,

Matt
Project Director
Commons In A Box

[Helene Finidori]

Hi Matt,

Thanks for the attention and the advice.

We are trying our best to do stuff on our own. The thing is, we are very few to set this up, and no developers in the lot. We came to CBox because, well, it was in a box :)… and so maybe we anticipated something rather achieved and a great collaboration between developpers of Cbox, and the people who were actually trying to promote the Commons in all forms and shapes and collaboration on the ground… That’s something I find is quite missing in general is the collaboration between communities of practice and communities of developpers… Developpers tend to think of users as ‘clients’ and not collaborators… We need to work more closely together in the open source space, because currently effective ‘collective intelligence’, and action oreinted tools are being developed behind walled gardens. And what will be available for grassroots commons activists?

We have things to offer to communities of developpers in terms of product or tool design (at the user experience and means to an end level), in particular as far as collaboration/co-creation and discussion tools are concerned. There’s a big lack here. And the input we provide can help you guys fine tune your products so you get a better download rate and satisfaction. I’m not thinking as much in terms of custom ‘requests’ or features, but rather in providing some feedback and imput on the design of the product so it’s more usable and responds to the needs of communities of practice on the ground.

That’s the type of thing I ‘submit’ on github: https://github.com/HeleneFi/The_Project/blob/master/Conversation.to.Action-Pull.Platform.md

Here’s one I submitted for a Kinght Foundation grant: http://menemania.typepad.com/helene_finidori/2012/02/engaging-for-the-commons.html

All open source 🙂

Right now right here, I’m at the degree zero of these two visions, trying to see what can be done open source, plugin by plugin… I’m not requesting special features, I’m just hoping I will get bugs fixed, the forum a bit more ergonomic, and Participad and Collabpress to work, currently they don’t.  Big Blue Button for video chat and learning (too complicated for me to install), and, why not, Anthologize to process any form of user generated content (forum posts, blog comments, status, etc…). This would have some value for the community…

I hope it helps get some insight on your users motivations and intentions!

Best

Helene

[Matthew K Gold]

Thanks, Helene. We definitely appreciate your contributions to the project
and do see them as contributions. But I’d quibble with a few of your
points: (1) there’s a difference between a free-software project like CBOX
and what I think you mean when you call it a “product”; and (2) I don’t buy
the distinction between a “community of practitioners” and a “community of
developers” — our developers *are* practitioners, both in CBOX spaces and
in larger larger open-source communities like BuddyPress and WordPress. Our
entire project is built on an open-source ecosystem that we take very
seriously and contribute to as part of our mission.

But these are relatively minor points. The larger issue is that the project
wants and needs the kind of feedback you have been providing. And we
consider seriously all of those suggestions and implement them when and as
we can by looking at them in the context of our larger goals for the
project and, again, our limited resources. We are very much interested in
fostering work on this platform and appreciate all suggestions about it;
but what we can’t promise is that suggestions made by community members
will be implemented according to a particular timeline, and so we ask that
you be patient with us and consider engaging your own developers to work on
those suggestions if you find that our timeline is not suitable for your
needs. That’s the beauty of an open-source free software project — it has
the potential to be a joint endeavor, but it takes patience and good will
all around to make it work. Thanks again for your contributions to it.

Best,

Matt

[Author]

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