Social Groups
- Thread starter 80sDude
- Start date
Forsaken
Well-known member
@DragonByte Tech probably will have better stability and support long term, though it currently lacks some of the features some people want from the other add-ons.
@truonglv is very feature rich, but I've heard that some people will have issues with it every few updates. He does offer good support, but stability can be problematic.
Snogs add-on gets less updates and tends to be a bit buggy at times. @Ozzy47 and @Painbaker do a decent job maintaining it, but the original code is by someone else and likely needs to be refactored.
I use add-ons from all three developers, so it mostly just comes down to the care they can put towards this specific add-on. If long term support is your goal, DragonByte is probably your best option. If quicker, more frequent updates (that may introduce bugs) then go with Truong.
@truonglv is very feature rich, but I've heard that some people will have issues with it every few updates. He does offer good support, but stability can be problematic.
Snogs add-on gets less updates and tends to be a bit buggy at times. @Ozzy47 and @Painbaker do a decent job maintaining it, but the original code is by someone else and likely needs to be refactored.
I use add-ons from all three developers, so it mostly just comes down to the care they can put towards this specific add-on. If long term support is your goal, DragonByte is probably your best option. If quicker, more frequent updates (that may introduce bugs) then go with Truong.
Last edited:
TPerry
Well-known member
I went with @truonglv's due to overall feature set... and he's fairly responsive to suggestions for improvements in it.
I haven't had any "issues" with bugs... but it's not heavily used on my site yet as I haven't gotten involved in the local schools yet to see if there's an interest in my niche there.
DragonByte has been around awhile..... but theirs lacks several features that I desired. The prime being an integrated event calendar.
Snog's old social group add-on was nice... but as @Forsaken said, it probably needs to be refactored.... I know I had issues with certain add-ons by Snog, and some of it was due to coding. This one would probably be (if it was rewritten and been updated more frequently) one I would also try and then decide. One thing I don't like (from what I understand) is it puts the group discussions into the normal node areas and they are visible by the public (if the group is a public one). With Truonglv's, they can be in a hidden area that does not show up on your nodelist.
80sDude
Well-known member
Thank you for the info.
80sDude
Well-known member
Thanks for the heads up.
TPerry
Well-known member
One thing, as was pointed out... you can scavenge your main site of discussions... but it's not any more than having user groups set up in the ACP and then assigning users to them either by promotion (manually assigned or using custom user fields).
The simple solution is to create a notice for when the user goes into that discussion area for the social group to let them know to keep the discussions directly related to the group and for general knowledge posts to go into the main forum. Most users will comply with that. I have mine as able to be dismissed manually.... it doesn't time out. It also only shows up when the user goes into the group discussion area.
Forgot to mention.... @truonglv's add-on doesn't charge to remove the copyright from the footer... it simply doesn't place one there.
The simple solution is to create a notice for when the user goes into that discussion area for the social group to let them know to keep the discussions directly related to the group and for general knowledge posts to go into the main forum. Most users will comply with that. I have mine as able to be dismissed manually.... it doesn't time out. It also only shows up when the user goes into the group discussion area.
Forgot to mention.... @truonglv's add-on doesn't charge to remove the copyright from the footer... it simply doesn't place one there.
Last edited:
80sDude
Well-known member
That’s good to know and thanks again Tracy.
Forsaken
Well-known member
Most of those issues were for other addons.
I do not normally run into those problems because I only update in cycles unless it's a security release, so I usually miss out on having to find bugs.
CallingHome
New member
Hi there,
I run a big forum and there was a big demand for a "social groups" feature.
I had tested tronglv's solution years ago and also reported some bugs, but with every fix an new bug seemed to be introduced. There was also a language barrier. So, in the end I never used this add-on in production.
The solution by Snog/Ozzy was very rudimental, when I bought a license and took a look at it. One big problem was, that it used the node-system for group discussions: for every group a new node (sub-forum) is created. That might be an easy way to go (code-wise) when there are not more than a couple of dozens of social groups, but the XenForo node system is not made for a large number of nodes. So, for an active community with tousands of socail groups, this can be a performance-killer. :/
In the end I asked @DragonByte Tech if they want to create a new add-on, that was funded by me. They agreed and there it is:
xenforo.com
(I funded the add-on, but I am not involved in the sale and don't get any revenue)
Features I like are especially:
There are permission-based limits: You can decide for each user group, how many social groups can be joined or created. So, you can sell user upgraded, and allow nowmal users only a very basic usage of the social groups (e.g. normal users can only create a single public group, paying users can create up to 10 groups of all types. Or: normal users can only join 10 groups, paying users can join unlimited groups,..).
There are 4 type of groups: public, closed, private and hidden. You can disable "privacy downgrade", so group creators cannot create a hidden group, and then make it public Why? Because group members, who joined a hidden group might not want to have their membership and contents to be public.
With the new XFMG integration social group members can "link" their exiting albums with a group or create new albums inside the group. linked albums automatically get the privacy settings of the group they are linked to. On unlinking, they are set to private, so it is guaranteed, that nothing gets public, that was private before. Also important is, that you can disallow your groups staff to edit albums or media items. I recommend to do so, because otherwise group staff could distort the content of other users. I only allow them to unlink albums from their group.
Also important is, that users tend create groups and delete them later out of nothing, so very much content can be lost. In order to cushion these cases, social groups can be soft-deleted. Also, you can decide via admin cp option, what should happen with group albums on group deletion. I recommend to unlink them (instead of deleting them), so the creators of the albums can still manage them and maybe link them to another group:
Group bans/kicks/leaves were also taken into account when the XFMG integration was built: If you have a closed group, and a user is banned from that group, they should not loose access to the own group albums. So, there are these self-explanatory admin cp options:
Yeah, the first release was very basic. But the add-on is actively developed and will be further improved. Main new feature since 1st release is the XFMG integration, so each group can have albums. There were also several other fixes and improvements also also new feature: related threads: Social group staff can define forum threads, they would like to have displayed on group overview (think of it like public bookmarks).
I run a big forum and there was a big demand for a "social groups" feature.
I had tested tronglv's solution years ago and also reported some bugs, but with every fix an new bug seemed to be introduced. There was also a language barrier. So, in the end I never used this add-on in production.
The solution by Snog/Ozzy was very rudimental, when I bought a license and took a look at it. One big problem was, that it used the node-system for group discussions: for every group a new node (sub-forum) is created. That might be an easy way to go (code-wise) when there are not more than a couple of dozens of social groups, but the XenForo node system is not made for a large number of nodes. So, for an active community with tousands of socail groups, this can be a performance-killer. :/
In the end I asked @DragonByte Tech if they want to create a new add-on, that was funded by me. They agreed and there it is:
[DBTech] DragonByte Social Groups
DragonByte Social Groups is a highly advanced social group management add-on for XenForo, containing advanced features such as fine-tuned permissions, a fully featured posting interface, and an invitation system. Fully integrated with XenForo 2...
xenforo.com
(I funded the add-on, but I am not involved in the sale and don't get any revenue)
Features I like are especially:
There are permission-based limits: You can decide for each user group, how many social groups can be joined or created. So, you can sell user upgraded, and allow nowmal users only a very basic usage of the social groups (e.g. normal users can only create a single public group, paying users can create up to 10 groups of all types. Or: normal users can only join 10 groups, paying users can join unlimited groups,..).
There are 4 type of groups: public, closed, private and hidden. You can disable "privacy downgrade", so group creators cannot create a hidden group, and then make it public Why? Because group members, who joined a hidden group might not want to have their membership and contents to be public.
With the new XFMG integration social group members can "link" their exiting albums with a group or create new albums inside the group. linked albums automatically get the privacy settings of the group they are linked to. On unlinking, they are set to private, so it is guaranteed, that nothing gets public, that was private before. Also important is, that you can disallow your groups staff to edit albums or media items. I recommend to do so, because otherwise group staff could distort the content of other users. I only allow them to unlink albums from their group.
Also important is, that users tend create groups and delete them later out of nothing, so very much content can be lost. In order to cushion these cases, social groups can be soft-deleted. Also, you can decide via admin cp option, what should happen with group albums on group deletion. I recommend to unlink them (instead of deleting them), so the creators of the albums can still manage them and maybe link them to another group:
Group bans/kicks/leaves were also taken into account when the XFMG integration was built: If you have a closed group, and a user is banned from that group, they should not loose access to the own group albums. So, there are these self-explanatory admin cp options:
Yeah, the first release was very basic. But the add-on is actively developed and will be further improved. Main new feature since 1st release is the XFMG integration, so each group can have albums. There were also several other fixes and improvements also also new feature: related threads: Social group staff can define forum threads, they would like to have displayed on group overview (think of it like public bookmarks).
DragonByte Tech
Well-known member
An importer from truonglv’s system already exists
securedme
Active member
An importer from truonglv’s system already exists
Thanks for your reply. Is there a demo site that I can try as a user?
DragonByte Tech
Well-known member
Not at this time, sorry. Demo sites are a lot of work to maintain & secure.
80sDude
Well-known member
Thank you for the detailed explanation. If my forum ever gets busy I might consider purchasing this one.Hi there,
I run a big forum and there was a big demand for a "social groups" feature.
I had tested tronglv's solution years ago and also reported some bugs, but with every fix an new bug seemed to be introduced. There was also a language barrier. So, in the end I never used this add-on in production.
The solution by Snog/Ozzy was very rudimental, when I bought a license and took a look at it. One big problem was, that it used the node-system for group discussions: for every group a new node (sub-forum) is created. That might be an easy way to go (code-wise) when there are not more than a couple of dozens of social groups, but the XenForo node system is not made for a large number of nodes. So, for an active community with tousands of socail groups, this can be a performance-killer. :/
In the end I asked @DragonByte Tech if they want to create a new add-on, that was funded by me. They agreed and there it is:
[DBTech] DragonByte Social Groups
DragonByte Social Groups is a highly advanced social group management add-on for XenForo, containing advanced features such as fine-tuned permissions, a fully featured posting interface, and an invitation system. Fully integrated with XenForo 2...
(I funded the add-on, but I am not involved in the sale and don't get any revenue)
Features I like are especially:
There are permission-based limits: You can decide for each user group, how many social groups can be joined or created. So, you can sell user upgraded, and allow nowmal users only a very basic usage of the social groups (e.g. normal users can only create a single public group, paying users can create up to 10 groups of all types. Or: normal users can only join 10 groups, paying users can join unlimited groups,..).
There are 4 type of groups: public, closed, private and hidden. You can disable "privacy downgrade", so group creators cannot create a hidden group, and then make it public Why? Because group members, who joined a hidden group might not want to have their membership and contents to be public.
View attachment 294080
View attachment 294081
With the new XFMG integration social group members can "link" their exiting albums with a group or create new albums inside the group. linked albums automatically get the privacy settings of the group they are linked to. On unlinking, they are set to private, so it is guaranteed, that nothing gets public, that was private before. Also important is, that you can disallow your groups staff to edit albums or media items. I recommend to do so, because otherwise group staff could distort the content of other users. I only allow them to unlink albums from their group.
Also important is, that users tend create groups and delete them later out of nothing, so very much content can be lost. In order to cushion these cases, social groups can be soft-deleted. Also, you can decide via admin cp option, what should happen with group albums on group deletion. I recommend to unlink them (instead of deleting them), so the creators of the albums can still manage them and maybe link them to another group:
View attachment 294083
Group bans/kicks/leaves were also taken into account when the XFMG integration was built: If you have a closed group, and a user is banned from that group, they should not loose access to the own group albums. So, there are these self-explanatory admin cp options:
View attachment 294082
Yeah, the first release was very basic. But the add-on is actively developed and will be further improved. Main new feature since 1st release is the XFMG integration, so each group can have albums. There were also several other fixes and improvements also also new feature: related threads: Social group staff can define forum threads, they would like to have displayed on group overview (think of it like public bookmarks).
Alpha1
Well-known member
@CallingHome Thank you for funding this stable solution. It's highly appreciated!
I'm looking forward to version 1.2 with features like multiple forums.
I'm looking forward to version 1.2 with features like multiple forums.
CallingHome
New member
I am also interested in a "Sections" feature.
Maybe we can talk about new features in the resource thread:
[DBTech] DragonByte Social Groups [Paid]
DragonByte Tech submitted a new resource: [DBTech] DragonByte Social Groups - Create private or public social groups from within your forum. DragonByte Social Groups is a highly advanced social group management add-on for XenForo, containing advanced features such as fine-tuned permissions, a...
xenforo.com
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