Wanted: PHP programmer to add "Groups" to NoseRub

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Wednesday, November 28. 2007

Wanted: PHP programmer to add "Groups" to NoseRub

This is something, I really would like to see in NoseRub, but as there is so much to do right now, I will try it this way. If you are interested, or know someone who is capable of helping and also has some time to spare, please contact me, or forward this post.

The idea is pretty simple: I want to add "interest" to a profile, for instance Apple, Scuba Diving, Nintendo Wii and CakePHP. For every interest, there should be a "group" within NoseRub. That means some kind of message board.

In order to have a real distributed solution, where people from different servers can join such groups, this should be based on Usenet technology. I will set up an INN on groups.identoo.com and any NoseRub instance could contact this server. Just like a newsreader. That solution also allows several groups.* servers, because NNTP (the Usenet protocol), supports exchange of posts and groups between servers.

That would make it possible to have a group CakePHP on groups.identoo.com, but also on groups.media-adventures.de. The posts would be exchanged across the servers, so users on Identoo can share the same posts with the guys on media-adventures.

Another idea would be to tag items on your already present feed. For instance a link from your del.icio.us feed or an image on your Flickr account. When they are tagged with an interest, those items would show up automatically in that group.

Although NoseRub is implemented in CakePHP, you don't neccessarily need to be an expert in CakePHP. Good knowledge of PHP and web protocols would be enough. We could implement some kind of library first, before adding the real functionality into NoseRub.

So, please spread the word. I think this is a really interesting project and highly valuable to NoseRub and therefore the idea of a distributed social network - something we all want to have...

Posted by Dirk Olbertz at 21:06 | Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0)

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Hi Dirk, if this does mean that I am automatically part of the group just by adding an interest in my profil - then I a very sceptic about the idea. The Sueddeutsche did integrate this idea on suedcafe.sueddeutsche.de and it is awwwwwwfull. Simple Example:

I am interested in literature, and i want to claim that in my profile. But the discussions in the Literatur Group are horrible, underearthly. All this Harry Potter Crap. The only way to leave the group ist to unclaim my interrest in Literature. Stupid.

#1 ben_ (Homepage) on 2007-11-29 09:43 (Reply)

OK. Thanks for that insight. I didn't think about that.

I came to that idea by listening to some students here in the company who use StudiVZ to search for people they wanted to drive with in a "Mitfahrgelegenheit": by looking at their group membership, they get to know what "interests" he7she has.

This is, why I did not want to add "interests" AND "groups", but combine them.

But I completely get your point. The question now is: how could your wish be met, without de-coupling interests and groups completely? Would it be sufficient to say: yes, I'm interested in literature, but I don't want to take part in the discussions?

Does this then also mean, you don't want to be found, when someone is looking for people, interested in literature? Should you still be able to "tag" your own items with "literature"? And should that then be put into the group, or only, when you join the discussions?

I would be happy, if you might have some more example. Something like: I don't want to be listed on that page on suedcafe.sueddeutsche.de, because...

Anyway: thanks so far for this comment. Some very good points!

#1.1 Dirk Olbertz (Homepage) on 2007-11-29 10:54 (Reply)

Well, yeah. I found out about this weird and wonderful thing called NoseRub about twenty minutes ago, so forgive me if I sound really uninformed.

Here's the thing with "interests". As ben_ mentioned, automatically subscribing a member to a group because of an interest won't work.

But what would work is if that you indexed the interests, and made them searchable. So, for example:

I belong to the South Africa social network, and one of my interests is "Webdesign". When someone clicks the interest, it will search across all the NoseRub servers for anyone with "webdesign" in their interests, prioritizing the results from South Africa.

That will connect people via their interests, which - it seems - is the first goal of this expansion.

But that's the first level. Joining a group for webdesign would be the next step, and only with the user's consent.

Personally, I have many interests, but very few of them are topics of discussion for me. And while I would like to be found by (and find) other people that share my interests, I don't necessarily want to associate myself with a discussion group.

"I did not want to add "interests" AND "groups", but combine them."

Unfortunately, it's just the best thing to do. My interests do not necessarily equal the groups I want to join. And the groups I want to join do not always necessarily stick to one interest.

Well, yeah. My first two cents of contribution to this project, lol.

~ Wogan

#2 Wogan May (Homepage) on 2007-12-16 00:07 (Reply)

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