The Plugin
This is a thread for designing and developing a new plugin, one that creates a 2-way comments system so users can use our beautiful discourse forums to comment on external pages, like blog posts without having to leave the page they are on to visit the forum
There are 2 ways to join in the build, either by joining the coders below. Or if everyone interested throws a few coins in we can create a bounty and hire someone to create the plugin. Post below if you’re interested in either
Why its Needed
I’ve made a few posts about this now to check viability and interest, like this one There are a lot of developers and websites on here who’d like this plugin built, and also outside of our forums, like this group
It seems now Disqus has be bought out by Zeta-global, a data mining company, there is a huge hole in the market for a solid opensource commenting system, with many devs desparate for a solid alternative. Discourse with this plugin completely meets that need completely.
The Build
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The Plugin will use Discourse’s excellent SSO system. Stuff will be way easier to reason about if you can guarantee users in both sites and easily map from one to another (thanks @Rafael dos Santos Silva)
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Using Discourse API to post comments
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We could build off of the existing one-way app, or start from scratch
Requirements
- User can comment without leaving current page
- Scale-able (for blogs and events, etc). Can be easily setup to automatically create a new thread in a forum for each new post/page created - basically opensource Disqus
- Has option to ‘hide’ the thread used for commenting from the homepage in main forum. Some users worried a comments section would flood their forum with comments separated from the context of the item they are commenting on. This feature already exists in Discourse, it just needs to be pulled in.
- Users not logged in can login/register from the comments box
- Notifications. Users logged in via SSO should be able to receive notifications to replies on their comments wherever they are
- Anything missing?
Donating
I’m open to suggestions for how to collect the money
If we can’t find a better solution, can you trust me with the money?
I’m this guy. Money is literally my nemesis. My life’s work and what gives my life meaning is to find community focused alternatives to undo the damage our GDP based societies are causing to humanity …i really don’t want your money, or anyone else’s so yes i can set up paypal or something for it and there’s zero chance of me running away to the Bahama’s
We can put bounties out for parts of the build, or if we build the app without needing donations it’ll all be donated to the deserving Discourse community who maintain this fabulous opensource project.
Final note: I’m not (a good) web developer, and i’m going to be away for a month on a 900km hike to try and get more people into Public Happiness, and taking positive action on issues in their local community. I saw something that was needed and got the ball rolling, and I’ll do what i can to support this plugin while on the trail, i won’t be able to lead it though. You’ll all need to self-coordinate in the comments below
The Team