Suggestion to change the obsolete social media from account info

[GazetaBitcoin]

As of now, at the account info are available the following (obsolete) social media: ICQ, AIM, MSN and YIM.

- ICQ is not used anymore or is used only by a few people. Its servers were shut down in December 2018.
- AIM was shut down in December 2017 but even before this date it wasn't used anymore.
- MSN desn't exist anymore under this name since 2005 when it was rebranded as Windows Live Messenger, but even this new form of MSN was shut down in 2013.
-YIM was shut down in July 2018.

Considering all of the above, is it the time to change these social media from the profile info (if it is technically possible)? Maybe they can be replaced with Telegram, Discord, Skype and Instagram, for example.

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[TryNinja]

Let’s google first to see if things have been suggested before.

What similar things do people use now?

Those fields are actually built a bit deeply into SMF for some reason, so it's not completely trivial to change, but it can be done. Low on my to-do list, though, as hugeblack mentioned.

I’ve long thought there should be a spot for PGP fingerprint.

PGP fingerprints are SHA-1, which is insecure. The OpenPGP standard really needs a complete new revision...

[GazetaBitcoin]

Let’s google first to see if things have been suggested before.

Oh well...it seems this has been discussed before, but I didn't see the topic prior writing this one. My bad.
But, as far as I see, it past almost an year since then... Maybe theymos forgot about that suggestion. Maybe after seeing this thread he will decide to make the change

[hilariousetc]

I doubt it's a priority and from the quote above it doesn't look like it's a quick/easy fix to remove them, but them being there isn't really an issue. I don't even notice them to be honest and I even had to check that they were publicly displayed if you hadn't filled the details in. You could even use them to put some other info there as there's not much space for additional info (contact or otherwise) and others have done this in the past. I'm sure on the new forum there will be ones for all the current big socials and if not I'm sure they'll be added at some point.

[Jet Cash]

I think it would be useful to restrict the link in the Website entry to a site owned and run by the member including the link.

[hilariousetc]

I think it would be useful to restrict the link in the Website entry to a site owned and run by the member including the link.

But how would you enforce that? And besides, I like using it for other stuff. People also often use them as part of their sig campaign or to put a ref link in there or something. I think the only links I would possibly restrict was in the feedback section and links to bitcointalk threads only should be accepted as I've seen a few users use them maliciously and spam advertise or link to things they shouldn't be there.

[Jet Cash]

Using the website box to spam an affiliate link is similar to using an ICQ box in my opinion. I think it is misleading to call it "website", and then use it for other purposes. Maybe we should dump the unused social media entries, and introduce a couple of affiliation entries. This would make it clear that it isn't the members website.

[AdolfinWolf]

I think it would be useful to restrict the link in the Website entry to a site owned and run by the member including the link.

But how would you enforce that? And besides, I like using it for other stuff. People also often use them as part of their sig campaign or to put a ref link in there or something. I think the only links I would possibly restrict was in the feedback section and links to bitcointalk threads only should be accepted as I've seen a few users use them maliciously and spam advertise or link to things they shouldn't be there.

You could make some sort of verification system using Keybase in combination with https://keybase.io/docs/proof_integration_guide (Set a DNS on your domain)

(( Implementing something like keybase instead of the forums standard PM system might also be a really big improvement... eg. link your Bitcointalk account with your keybase account and people can, instead of Pming you over the forum (insecure!), PM you over your keybase account. (Just a button that'd open keybase with your linked username i guess, and people can cryptographically verify on Keybase that that account is actually linked to your bitcointalk account.) ))


As of right now though; I don't think it works with bitcointalk, which is really a shame.
(I haven't looked into how hard it would be for bitcointalk to add such integration, but i think it'd be really cool to verify your bitcointalk account with your keybase account, and vice versa.)

[Thekool1s]

Oh well...it seems this has been discussed before, but I didn't see the topic prior writing this one. My bad.

You don't have to apologize even if you had used the search feature you wouldn't have found that discussion ^{( something which needs work )}. Hence why @TryNinja suggested to "google search".

I doubt it's a priority and from the quote above it doesn't look like it's a quick/easy fix to remove them, but them being there isn't really an issue.

From what I believe how this information is stored is in MySQL database, there are respective columns for each "Social network" and the values are stored in a row. If the columns are renamed to the other "Networks" that should do the trick but I guess it's not a priority for now...

I think it would be useful to restrict the link in the Website entry to a site owned and run by the member including the link.

The only "usefulness" I see is to prevent scams/phishing but then again its something which isn't moderated here, tbh I don't think we need it. What am interested in tho is what kind of click-rate do these website URLs get each month...

But how would you enforce that? And besides, I like using it for other stuff.

One of the ways that could be achieved could be via placing a small code in the header of the website you "own". Just like Google Adsense. You place a small code in your header which is then verified by google crawlers.

[hugeblack]

Does any of you know which of these social media have been included in the new update of the forum? Are there plans to include specific one, or will they be ignored?

In general, I did not pay attention to them and I think there is no point in adding them, as it increases the confusion of a forum that focus on texting.

[dzungmobile]

In general, I did not pay attention to them and I think there is no point in adding them, as it increases the confusion of a forum that focus on texting.

I agree with you. Profile page of users should be kept as simple and clean as possible. It is not good if the forum allows 10-20-50 lines to add external platforms' links. Now we have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram,etc. But the list will become longer.

[shield132]

Does any of you know which of these social media have been included in the new update of the forum? Are there plans to include specific one, or will they be ignored?

In general, I did not pay attention to them and I think there is no point in adding them, as it increases the confusion of a forum that focus on texting.

At the moment none of them, you can only fill the bars of 1. Your website and 2nd - Your BTC adress.
I think they will be ignored because there is none talk about that and if you are interested with planned features, here it is: http://epochtalk.org/map.html#planned
New forum will have better communication possibilities like notification on hashtag and etc so...

[LTU_btc]

Yeah, these social networks is outdated, or doesn't works at all anymore. Personally, I haven't ever used most of them in my life . I only remember having MSN account.
Probably it would be good thing to remove them, but I think it's not big issue. Probably in new forum software it will be removed, so I think it's worth all hassle to remove them now.
But personally, I don't think that these things is really needed. If new social networks would be added, I wouldn't upload links to it for privacy reasons. Maybe it's enough to have email, Telegram and Discord fields.
BTW, OP, one of your mentioned services - Skype is already available here for long time, maybe since launch of Bitcointalk.

[ChuckBuck]

Oh well...it seems this has been discussed before, but I didn't see the topic prior writing this one. My bad.
But, as far as I see, it past almost an year since then... Maybe theymos forgot about that suggestion. Maybe after seeing this thread he will decide to make the change

I don't think they forgot that suggestion. Simply, they consider it a normal proposal, not of importance, so it is not a priority to make. This forum has thousands of things to do, an unnecessary offer that won't be considered. Morever, we can provide some other information through the website section in the profile and name it arbitrary, it's completely enough to assist in communication. This proposal was put with low priority

[Upgrade00]

I agree with you. Profile page of users should be kept as simple and clean as possible. It is not good if the forum allows 10-20-50 lines to add external platforms' links. Now we have Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Telegram,etc. But the list will become longer.

It's also unlikely that one would want to link their bitcointalk account to their Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. These platforms are not geared towards privacy rather exposure and would compromise a lot of accounts. It's a choice however and some users may want then available, but I don't think it's sufficient incentive tmfir the admins to implement considering the hint at how difficult it is.

[eddie13]

(obsolete)

Making me feel old..
 

[UserU]

The 90s kid will remember how MSN used to be the bomb. All those nudges and emojis

[GazetaBitcoin]

Hehe that's a long time history here... I am glad I was around that time. I used to be a fan of YIM that time

[Timelord2067]

My ICQ number is seven digits long and I know someone who's number was six digits long.  I had been using it via a third party application enabling me to use other ICQ style chat channels on my laptop (the names were in one list and in the background they were processed via the various applications (ICQ mIRC etc)).

I downloaded the ICQ program about 18 months ago, but didn't get around to installing it.  I did read at the time that their focus was changing, or something or other.

I'll definately miss ICQ.


Removing those links list a simple matter of a couple of mouse clicks - I suspect NO ONE has enough clearance to do that hence it and a number of other features that can be modified haven't been.


<OT>There's another thread concerning splitting a thread into two new topics, this is also a feature of SMF that is rarely used here.</ot>

[GazetaBitcoin]

My ICQ number is seven digits long and I know someone who's number was six digits long.  I had been using it via a third party application enabling me to use other ICQ style chat channels on my laptop (the names were in one list and in the background they were processed via the various applications (ICQ mIRC etc)).

Was that program's name Trillian perhaps? I remember that one used to work at that time for more chat softwares at one (mIRC, YIM, MSN). I remember I used it for a little while as well