gluefreak
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Forum: Everything else WordPress
In reply to: OT: Gawker Media & Commenter ManagementOne more thing: perhaps I am misunderstanding how this works, but I find it disturbing that, once an admin checks the “anyone can register” option, literally anyone can register. Is there a function that enables the admin to moderate registrations, the same as comments can be moderated?
Forum: Everything else WordPress
In reply to: OT: Gawker Media & Commenter ManagementI feel like we’re talking circles around each other, doodlebee. You say you’re wary about giving anybody privileges — and I say I’m wary about even showing the WP dashboard to anybody. In that sense, we’re talking about the same thing: security. It freaks me out to think of anybody being encouraged to have the slightest access to my WP installation.
(And for the record, if my tone conveyed “disgruntlement” I apologize. I love WP, am extremely grateful to it and the developers who give their time to it. However, I do think this is an area that could stand improvement.)
I just installed WP 2.2 and Dan’s avatar thingy on a test site. It’s not a bad combo. But it’s still really rudimentary. I’m fantasizing about something more like this:
– A registration function that does not expose the WP admin interface in any way, not even the dashboard. (Besides, why would commenters want to see that?)
– A registration function that remains within the default page style of the site.
– A registration function that allows for custom avatars, like Dan’s avatar thingy.
– A profile page (outside WP admin) that enables a commenter to page through his own comments and/or see a list of stories that he’s commented on.
– A profile page that enables a commenter to make his profile private or public — ie enable others to see his profile, page through his comments, etc.
– A profile page that enables a commenter to bookmark favorite posts.
– A profile page that enables a user to give some additional info about himself.
I recognize that all this is do-able with plugins and some php know-how. I’m not trying to be a whiner who says, “Ohh, that darn WP, why doesn’t it anticipate my every need?” What I’m saying is that I think this could or should be a core set of features. Lots of bloggers would love this functionality. Why should every one of them struggle to hack it together? Personally I would find such commenter functionality far more useful than any more widgets or the new “infinite comment stream.” (I’m not knocking anybody’s hard work. I’m just saying that this commenter functionality seems really fundamental and important to me.)
Forum: Everything else WordPress
In reply to: OT: Gawker Media & Commenter ManagementYes, I want a functionality for *commenters* that is comparable to what Gawker’s sites have. I would also cite the commenter functionality of Digg as a great example of what it would be nice to do in WordPress. I believe this is very important because commenters are very important to blogs — perhaps not quite as important as actual authors, but still important. They form a blog’s community, and I see no reason not to enable functions that make it easy and efficient to maintain a community.
I would encourage you to have a look at gizmodo.com. A commenter has a relatively rudimentary admin page that is its own entity. It does not lie in the root admin path of whatever software Gawker uses. Why would you want to expose the WP dashboard and any part of the admin interface to someone who’s a mere commenter on your site?
I understand entirely why someone would not want to sign up for gravatars or whatnot. There is this new plugin that provides rudimentary avatar functionality for WP commenters:
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/localised-comment-avatar/
In theory I am sure that it is possible to create a more advanced Digg-style functionality for commenters in WP. My point is not that I’m too lazy to customize WP in ways I need. My point is that this advanced sort of commenter functionality should be a core part of WP (or a future version of it). I see other people asking for this sort of thing. Commenters are extremely valuable. Why is this such a shocking point? If anything, I was shocked that the functionality didn’t really exist already.
(That’s a veiled compliment to WP. Generally speaking I’ve found it to be such a great platform that I’ve developed rather high expectations of it.)