Twitter & Google Registration

[Adam Howard]

This is a pre-sales question because before I buy another copy of XenForo to convert a different forum; I need to know if there are any future plans to include Twitter and Google Registration.

XenForo manages Facebook Registration just fine and I've been waiting for Twitter & Google to soon be included. At one time it was suggested as a future possibility and naturally, I assumed with a release of 1.2, it would be included.

I'm still hopeful that it will be or maybe that it is, but not active on XenForo.com

So from the developers who would know, is there plans or is it already an option, to include Twitter & Google Registrations?

 

[Adam Howard]

Then, by that logic, no one should ever use any add-ons ever.

People's lives change, people will come and go. Unfortunately some of them will be developers. You have basically just said, don't use any add-ons ever.

For some communities, that actually is the policy.

And some community do an even blend between core and "in house only" (with no outside sources).

So sometimes a 3rd party add-on isn't the answer.

 

[Paul B]

Looks like you'll just have to stay where you are then until at least 1.3, if not later, possibly for ever.

 

[Sheldon]

What a strange, beating around the bush way to get an answer.

 

[Adam Howard]

Looks like you'll just have to stay where you are then until at least 1.3, if not later, possibly for ever.

I wouldn't see it logical for XenForo to exclude the other 2 top sites. I'm optimistic that it will happen one of these days

 

[Adam Howard]

What a strange, beating around the bush way to get an answer.

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[oman]

What a strange, beating around the bush way to get an answer.

Yes, I agree. You can see the way it has been achieved.

 

[RobParker]

Then, by that logic, no one should ever use any add-ons ever.

People's lives change, people will come and go. Unfortunately some of them will be developers. You have basically just said, don't use any add-ons ever.

Not quite but there is a risk/benefit consideration to installing any Addon.

For example, I'm fairly comfortable with your addons as you seem like you'll be around for a while and your gallery is so great that it outweighs the risk of in the future it maybe not being supported. It being so popular also helps as it shows that there's a strong market for it.

Having said that, its also not a key component of our site and we could (unhappily) live without it.

There are some authors I'd never install addons from as while the quality might be great, there's too much risk that support would stop for whatever reason.

If something is basic and vital to the software like registration (and with Facebook registration already possible they've shown it being core is something they'd consider at some stage unlike say a gallery where we've had absolutely no indication KAM are ever considering working on one) then many people would be reluctant to rely so strongly on a 3rd party.

Like I said, I was playing devil's advocate somewhat

 

[Paul B]

your gallery is so great that it outweighs the risk of in the future it maybe not being supported

What if it wasn't updated to be compatible with 1.2, for whatever reason?

The risk is the same for any add-on/developer.

 

[RobParker]

What if it wasn't updated to be compatible with 1.2, for whatever reason?

The risk is the same for any add-on/developer.

Did you even read my post? Like I said, if for whatever reason Chris couldn't continue to support it then we'd have to live with that but its not a key part of our site so we'd cope. We've already made the decision that Chris's gallery is so good with a low risk (and is non-critical to our main site) that we're happy to take the risk but that risk is different with every Addon/author. For example I'm not sure I'd have been happy using a 3rd party Addon for something as complicated as Big Board Search but thankfully KAM addressed that early on.

I can see why Adam might not be happy with an addon for registrations though, especially as it looks likely that it will be added at some stage to the core.

 

[RobParker]

(Not trying to be argumentative, just expressing a view as to why some people are asking for things as core when good addons already exist)

 

[Paul B]

I know the arguments but you are making excuses for why some add-ons are OK to install and others aren't.

The risk is the same, no matter who the developer is.

 

[RobParker]

The risk is the same, no matter who the developer is.

Of course it isn't. I don't want to name any names as that'd get into the territory of upsetting people or getting this thread locked but there are clearly developers who represent a bigger risk, even if just basing it on past experience.

Call it "perceived risk" if you really believe what you said but the point still stands.

 

[Chris D]

Well I'd say, to get back on topic, that @guiltar is not one of those bigger risks, you speak of.

For a start, the social auth add-on is open source and freely available on GitHub. As we saw recently with the Steam Authentication and Integration add-on: Open Source add-ons will often find their way into the hands of a new developer if the old one becomes unable to maintain the project.

Thank you for the kind comments on the gallery

 

[RobParker]

I didn't mean to imply he was so hope that he's not offended and yeah, apologies for straying off-topic

 

[Renegade]

Perhaps the reservation is because that add-on is marked as beta 2 since over a year now.

 

[Luxus]

Eh, guiltar proved his superior skills with his released and unreleased add-ons and Chris just verified the quality of guilar's Twitter/Google add-on. What are you waiting for? If it works, it works. If not, it will be updated. If it won't be updated then you just have 2 less registration options, which doesn't affect your existing users at all and encourages new Google and Twitter-only users to move their behind and register the old way. If they don't want to do that, then probably they aren't interested that much in what your site provides and would be - how I like to call those users - stub users anyway.

 

[Adam Howard]

Eh, guiltar proved his superior skills with his released and unreleased add-ons and Chris just verified the quality of guilar's Twitter/Google add-on. What are you waiting for? If it works, it works. If not, it will be updated. If it won't be updated then you just have 2 less registration options, which doesn't affect your existing users at all and encourages new Google and Twitter-only users to move their behind and register the old way. If they don't want to do that, then probably they aren't interested that much in what your site provides and would be - how I like to call those users - stub users anyway.

The community in question has 122 users who are not linked to social networking. And of those 122, only 2 are active.

The other 13,741 members all registered through social networking. Of those members 5,000+ of them are active members who post regularly.

I admit that this community is the exception and not the norm. But it is an exception which I must consider.

 

[Chris D]

So, which forum software are you currently using that has social auth in the core?

 

[Adam Howard]

So, which forum software are you currently using that has social auth in the core?

The site in question was a site I acquire which is currently using a highly customized version of this

http://vanillaforums.org/discussions

Which by default currently does offer socil auth for both facebook, twitter, google, and open id

The general idea is to move away from those customizations and also the current core products.

 

[Luxus]

So you think that users who registered via Twitter/Facebook/Google are generally more active than users who registered the normal way?