CUNY Academic Commons

Hi Gina - Thanks for the idea.

I agree with Matt that it's probably too specific a feature to be able to send posts to groups based on category or tag. This kind of feature would need its own admin interface to manage, which would be complex for us to build and for users to understand.

Another idea is to have a per-post toggle for notifications. We already have prior art for this, in other parts of the interface. Specifically, in group Docs and Files, we have "silent" checkboxes, where you can decide on an individual basis whether you want to suppress the notifications for a specific upload/edit. I can imagine something similar on group posts screens. (The UX here could possibly be made clearer; maybe instead of "silent", a checkbox that says "send notifications to group members?", which would be checked by default.)

Gina, does it feel like this sort of thing would serve the purpose? It would require that you and your team remember to check the box at the right times, but it would also give you very granular control.

Thanks, Boone and Matt. A per post option would work too.

Thanks, Gina.

This kind of option would best live in the editing interface, which is currently in flux. See #10849. I'd like to sit on this feature request just a bit until some consensus has been reached about what's happening with the block editor. If we're making an aggressive move in that direction, it makes the most sense to integrate the "silent" feature there only.

Thanks, Boone. Do you have a sense of how long it would be sitting? Depending on the timing, I may need to find another way to add the content that I am planning to add next semester.

I'm afraid it won't be possible to build anything in the near-term. Definitely not before the beginning of the Spring term. If you're concerned about a one-time addition of content, I'd suggest unlinking the site from the group temporarily, and relinking when you're done.

There would be multiple additions of content, but I suppose I could link and unlink multiple times, if necessary. Would that cause any problems? I was using a different content type (portfolios via JetPack) for this content, but that caused other issues that I don't have a good fix for.

I can't think of any problems from linking and unlinking multiple times.

Merging #11093 into this ticket, which is another vote for a "silent" toggle for groupblog posts.

I imagine something like the following:
1. Gutenberg support only
2. A toggle that appears only on sites linked to groups
3. The toggle says something like "Post to <group name>?" with a gloss along the lines of "Will trigger email notifications for subscribed group members". The toggle will be checked by default.

Reviewed for UX and works for my side regarding UI implementation.

Thanks, Boone and Sonja, for your work on this. That language in the screenshots looks good to me.

I'm passing along a use-case that myself and Colin experienced while testing this functionality.

If you create a new post, you will see a "Send to Group" checkbox. However, let's say I'm editing this post and haven't published it yet, but then decide I want to switch editors. You will no longer see the "Send to Group" checkbox because the post is no longer considered "new" due to the following restriction:
https://github.com/cuny-academic-commons/cac/blob/1.15.x/wp-content/plugins/cac-bp-custom-includes/groupblog.php#L692

We'll have to do some sort of transition post status check to enable the "Send to Group" checkbox instead.

Will see what can be done.

Scott reports the following over on the Commons group here:

I am testing the “Send To Group” button. When I leave it on, with both the Classic Editor and the Block Editor, the post is sent to the Group Activity stream, as expected. But when I turn off the “Send To Group” button, I do not see the activity in “My Commons.” I think it should appear, right?

As expected, the post does not appear in the group activity stream – which is good.

But I would think that “My Commons” should show the site post.

I think Scott makes a good point. We might want the activity item to be recorded, but not sent to the group.

As mentioned in comment 14 by Boone, I understand that with Gutenberg using the REST API and in combination with the way GES uses BP activity stream records to send emails out, this might be really difficult.