Feature #10847
closedSelect which blog posts are sent to group
Added by Gina Cherry over 5 years ago. Updated over 5 years ago.
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Description
I have a web site connected to a group and would like to be able to use the blog for multiple purposes. Right now, it's being used as a traditional blog and group members receive email notifications for new blog posts. I would also like to be able to use the blog for other purposes (e.g., as an archive of faculty projects related to various initiatives). I do not want to email group members every time content of this nature is added. I'd like the option to mute these group email notifications by category. For example, if I had a blog category called "faculty projects," I'd like to be able to specify that posts in this category do not trigger group emails.
Files
Screenshot_2019-03-13_16-13-21.png (56.2 KB) Screenshot_2019-03-13_16-13-21.png | Boone Gorges, 2019-03-13 05:18 PM | ||
Screenshot_2019-03-13_16-14-06.png (85.1 KB) Screenshot_2019-03-13_16-14-06.png | Boone Gorges, 2019-03-13 05:18 PM | ||
Screenshot_2019-04-18_07-19-42.png (11 KB) Screenshot_2019-04-18_07-19-42.png | Boone Gorges, 2019-04-18 08:22 AM |
Related issues
Updated by Matt Gold over 5 years ago
- Status changed from New to Assigned
- Assignee set to Boone Gorges
Hi Gina -- this is an interesting feature request! I am not sure how widely this kind of functionality is desired, but it is the kind of thing we can explore. I'm assigning to Boone to see whether he has thoughts on a way this could be accomplished with our existing features. One idea I have is not to associate the blog with a group, but rather to assign a certain tag or category to posts you want to go out via email, and then to use one of our newsletter plugins to send out an email using only that tag/category. Boone, please let me know whether you think that is an option Gina could explore. And Gina, if you see some reason why that wouldn't work for you, please let us know.
Updated by Boone Gorges over 5 years ago
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.
Updated by Gina Cherry over 5 years ago
Thanks, Boone and Matt. A per post option would work too.
Updated by Boone Gorges over 5 years ago
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.
Updated by Boone Gorges over 5 years ago
- Related to Feature #10849: Gutenberg / WP 5.0 upgrade strategy added
Updated by Gina Cherry over 5 years ago
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.
Updated by Boone Gorges over 5 years ago
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.
Updated by Gina Cherry over 5 years ago
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.
Updated by Boone Gorges over 5 years ago
I can't think of any problems from linking and unlinking multiple times.
Updated by Boone Gorges over 5 years ago
- Category name set to Blogs (BuddyPress)
Updated by Boone Gorges over 5 years ago
- Has duplicate Feature #11093: Silent option for groupblog posts added
Updated by Boone Gorges over 5 years ago
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.
Updated by Boone Gorges over 5 years ago
- File Screenshot_2019-03-13_16-14-06.png Screenshot_2019-03-13_16-14-06.png added
- File Screenshot_2019-03-13_16-13-21.png Screenshot_2019-03-13_16-13-21.png added
- Status changed from Assigned to Reporter Feedback
Making this work on Gutenberg was an enormous pain. Gutenberg creates posts via the REST API. And BuddyPress creates activity items just after post creation. There's no way, as far as I can see, to interject into this process - I can hook in after post creation via the native metabox and/or postmeta save routines, but it's too late to prevent BP from creating the activity item.
So I had to go with a funky solution of unhooking BP's activity-creation script in all cases; then, if I determine that it's coming from something other than Gutenberg, I allow it to go forward. This is imprecise, but it appears to work.
I'm able to use the same UI code to target both Classic and Block, but the appearance is quite different. This is about as good as I can do given the technical limitations. See screenshots.
Are others happy with the language in the screenshots?
Updated by Sonja Leix over 5 years ago
Reviewed for UX and works for my side regarding UI implementation.
Updated by Tom Harbison over 5 years ago
Thanks, Boone and Sonja, for your work on this. That language in the screenshots looks good to me.
Updated by Boone Gorges over 5 years ago
- Status changed from Reporter Feedback to Testing Required
Thanks for the feedback! I'm going to flag this for testing prior to our 1.15 release.
Updated by Raymond Hoh over 5 years ago
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.
Updated by Raymond Hoh over 5 years ago
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.
Updated by Boone Gorges over 5 years ago
Thanks for checking this out, Scott and Ray.
I made a change in https://github.com/cuny-academic-commons/cac/commit/2955ccdb1167a70876527fbae665967707ad2f72 so that the metabox shows both on post-new.php and when the post status is 'draft'. This should address the issue reported by Colin and Ray.
As for Scott's issue, this change requires a totally different approach from what I'd previous done. In https://github.com/cuny-academic-commons/cac/commit/a4f8dac8972eb0238398af612cdd19ee3795f007 I made a change so that activity items are always created, but the BPGES email (or digest) notification is suppressed based on the 'Send to group' button. Since this behavior is different, I've updated the language in the checkbox gloss to be more accurate https://github.com/cuny-academic-commons/cac/commit/23b969e53f01c9351d9bd6960b0be6b95bebdec0; see screenshot.
Updated by Boone Gorges over 5 years ago
- Status changed from Testing Required to Resolved