Feature Discussion: Groups

With the closing of Google+ coming up, this is going to be a highly requested feature.

thanks @goob! i will look after that :slight_smile:

@dpflug
indeed, in fact i came around here after someone i know from g+ moved from diaspora and asked me if this feature is available here. he asked that also for mastodon, for which the group feature is not implemented yet.

@tykayn

Hey,

Did you start work on this?

I would like to join in case that is the case.

Kind regards
Manuel

hey, i wanted to work on this but cant manage to have a few minutes to understand the stack.
i got some answers from the core devs of mastodon that there is no import design done.
you can import what you exported from your mastodon account because it is in a format of activitypub. but i didnt find where it manages that. plus it is written in ruby and i didnt do anything in ruby, just php/symfony for backend stuff.

same about diaspora, didnt check how i can handle import and talk to databases.
if you have clues i take it :smiley:

Hello all diaspora* enthusiasts :slight_smile: Iā€™m also interested in a group feature. I would be happy to contribute documentation and testing.

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Hello @tykayn :slight_smile: Have you tried search those?

Iā€™m not a developer. Iā€™m happy to contribute testing and documentation though.

@tykayn :slight_smile: If you are more familiar with PHP. You might also be interested in Friendica at https://friendi.ca/resources/contribute/

Friendica is able to both read and publish to diaspora* and others. Like diaspora*, Friendica is open source and owned by a friendly community, not a for-profit corporation. diaspora* and Friendica complete and collaborate with each other. Friendica is not a meant as a replacement for diaspora*.

Read more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friendica

Hi, still nobody working on that ?
The bounty is 372 USD : https://www.bountysource.com/issues/25215034-implement-groups

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I havenā€™t seen any traffic on this topic, so Iā€™m guessing no :frowning: .

i guess that is quite a small amount for such a big feature requiring several days of work. might explain why so few activity

I havenā€™t looked into it but I would guess it is at least a few man months of work, so thatā€™d be an effectively hourly rate of something like $2.33 an hour to $0.38 an hour. That said we are an all volunteer effort so we are doing it more for the love of the project than to get rich. I would love to see groups be a thing. Itā€™s such a large thing itā€™s not on my immediate work list though.

Itā€™s one of the most important feature for any social media network and this has been dormant for seven years?

This should be priority number one!

How long would it take to create a group feature and what would it cost?

How long would it take to create a group feature and what would it cost?

Think of it as a few months of work for one person (probably three months). That would make a few thousand euros that are needed at least.

I know this is my first post, but I just want to dive right in.

A few years ago I was looking for FB alternatives that I could use for friends and family, and maybe even organisations. Diaspora was about the only one I could find. Just looking now: Friendica, Diaspora and (maybe) Hubzilla are just about it.

Friendica does have groups I think, but I cannot get a good server to try it out. What I did see was a cluttered old-school interface that is going to be way to hard for the average FB user. Hubzilla is just a lot of mumbo-jumbo and seems more like some kind of middle layer than an actual social network.

Diaspora ticks about all the boxes, but it is simply completely useless without a groups function? How is it possible that this is not a top priority with the devs? Where is everyone focussing on?

I can assure you: you will never get any traction as a social network (FB like) without groups. Groups are at the hart of FB. I am now seeing Telegram groups beeĆÆng used as groups with one Telegram channel containing the idā€™s of all the subgroups. It is so frustrating to see that Telegram is beeing used for this just because there is no alternative for just simple social groups. Come on!

I think you can look at Mastodon for example: it is just really simple, clean interface and does what it needs to as a Twitter alternative. But as a FB alternative, you simply need groups.

Pretty please?

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Hello all Diaspora* enthusiasts :slight_smile:

For software engineers interested in adding a group feature to Diaspora*, the following might be of interest for inspiration. Gab recently added a group feature to their open source software. Maybe some of its code or architecture could be recycled for Diaspora*?

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I wanted to contribute to the bounty, but canā€™t verify my email address with Bountysource because the confirmation email isnā€™t received (I checked my spam). Their Facebook login doesnā€™t work either. Does anyone know if Bountysource is still really functioning?

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Seems to me bountysource turned into a cash grab a few years ago.

I am willing to pitch in as well.

I know a lot of effort has gone in to diaspora, but it seems to be struggling for updates now. I believe that the ā€œgroupsā€ part would make diaspora usable for a lot larger group (hehe) of people. In turn providing some devs willing to help their new platform?

Let me know if there is some way I can contribute. I am willing to donate 150ā‚¬ for the implementation of a working groups system too.

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Did a survey recently and concluded that bounties donā€™t work unless they come close to a real wage. So if you have a strong network who can raise ā‚¬2k+ for a feature like this, then go for it.

An alternative might be to make the feature (and diaspora*) the focus of a hackathon. Iā€™d love to see some of those for the fedi. Only problem is I donā€™t know anyone who does hackathons. Maybe experience doesnā€™t matter for a first oneā€¦all it takes is Jitsi and a wiki, no?

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You canā€™t buy time.
Most devs here work in their free time. For me, for example, I have to coordinate my valuable coding time with my wife (Thanks to her!)

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