[proposal] Update Profile > Social Networks ICQ/AIM/MSN/YIM

[seoincorporation]

On the profile section (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?action=profile) We can find fields like:

Code:

ICQ: 	
AIM: 	
MSN: 	
YIM: 

But to be honest, 2024 is around the corner and those chat engines are obsolete, and for those who don't know what those chars mean:

ICQ: (Initial release November 15, 1996. and still alive)
AIM: AOL Instant Messenger (The company discontinued AIM as a service on December 15, 2017)
MSN:  MSN Chat (On August 31, 2006 Microsoft announced that MSN Chat would no longer be provided.)
YIM: Yahoo! Messenger (A new Yahoo! Messenger was released in 2015, replacing the older one. Yahoo! Messenger was shut down entirely on July 17, 2018, replaced by a new service titled Yahoo! Together, only to be shut down as well in 2019.)

3 of them are gone, and it would be nice if we change those ones for something like Discord, Telegram and Skype.

[1714316572]

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[1714316572]

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[logfiles]

Sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but it looks like your proposal is going to be part of the many social network proposals that have been made in the past and have been totally ignored.

1. Add a Telegram contact method.
2. Can the mod add GetGems Messenger to Forum Profile Information?
3. Profile information
4. The profile page should be changed. No one uses ICQ, AIM, MSN or YIM.]
5. Adding Telegram on the profile page
6. Suggestion to change the obsolete social media from account info
7. Why do we still have options for MSN, YIM etc?

Honestly, as the oldest major crypto forum where there's always buzz about the future of money and all these web 3.0's, changing with the times seems to be something hard here, not even 2FA has been considered. I don't know what we are waiting for in order for all these changes to roll out. New forum software?

[Igebotz]

Honestly, as the oldest major crypto forum where there's always buzz about the future of money and all these web 3.0's, changing with the times seems to be something hard here, not even 2FA has been considered. I don't know what we are waiting for in order for all these changes to roll out. New forum software?

The forum code is set in stone, and no changes or suggestions have been adopted over the years. I feel bad for PowerGlove - he's been working his tail off to enhance the forum with free patches, but the admin doesn't give a damn.

There is no new forum software anywhere. They sold us fales dreams. Lol

[Adbitco]

If I may get it correctly there's nothing much for you and I to over bug ourselves about theymos changing those things why because they are empty spaces so you can replace whatever you feels like replacing in those spaces without theymos entirely erasing those names as we may think.

Like I have seen some users filling up their profile with something else that matters we can say they are as well serving the same function, I noticed some people do put their wallet and some referral links on those spaces even their telegram and Skype username on those spaces yet they are functioning same thing the difference there is that for theymos to replace the names to the ones we needs.

So I don't see this as problems as long as you can fill in your other details and it appears on your profile then we are good to go, although I am still on the opinion for theymos to change it as others already proposed but in a way he is not making changes then we have to learn to used it that way and replace our important details to those spaces.

Even as that what about the age and location space are we all really making use of it?
No because the forum doesn't put any law that everyone must update their location or put their age on the profile but still we are requesting for additional options or the previous space to be replaced well it is a good one anyway but no need for that in my opinion.

[seoincorporation]

The forum code is set in stone...

If I may get it correctly there's nothing much for you and I to over bug ourselves about theymos changing those things why because they are empty spaces so you can replace whatever you feels like replacing in those spaces without theymos entirely erasing those names as we may think.

I get the point guys, but a change like this would be a nice improvement and will not take a big effort. They don't have to change the code, it is only text. And the fact that 3 of them aren't working anymore should be a good reason to do it.

But i get that point from Igebotz. Proposing changes maybe is a waste of time. I don't know if the forum's new version will come Next Year, but that should be our focus if we want to improve things.

[Adbitco]

The forum code is set in stone...

If I may get it correctly there's nothing much for you and I to over bug ourselves about theymos changing those things why because they are empty spaces so you can replace whatever you feels like replacing in those spaces without theymos entirely erasing those names as we may think.

I get the point guys, but a change like this would be a nice improvement and will not take a big effort. They don't have to change the code, it is only text. And the fact that 3 of them aren't working anymore should be a good reason to do it.

But i get that point from Igebotz. Proposing changes maybe is a waste of time. I don't know if the forum's new version will come Next Year, but that should be our focus if we want to improve things.

Theymos has his own ways of doing something infact he works in mysterious ways where no one understands him whenever he wants to implement something just like he came up on the 1st of December to announced about mixers so he will come to give update soon. So to me let's wait patiently to see what new year would give birth to from his side, I believe something new is cooking around the corner just waiting for next to unveil itself.

[PowerGlove]

I feel bad for PowerGlove - he's been working his tail off to enhance the forum with free patches, but the admin doesn't give a damn.

Haha, I feel seen.

I mean, you're totally right (except for that last part), and 2023 was kind of frustrating for me. I didn't keep track (ratio-wise) of how much of my work got merged, but it feels like my success rate was around 20%. That's pretty depressing, but, on the other hand, it's also pretty encouraging: when I joined Bitcointalk, I knew jack-diddly-squat about SMF and I had never really used PHP in anger (when I'm working on things that I have architectural input on, which is most of the time, then I'll almost always reach for something with a better type system). PHP proficiency is easy to pick up, but SMF is difficult to untangle: internalizing all of its idioms and reasoning out the consequences of any given change takes a lot of time/effort (and a lot of testing).

So, I get why theymos has been slow to merge my work: on his end, he either has to trust me (which would be kind of reckless at this stage; I'm still new), or he has to essentially repeat most of the thinking and double-checking that I do for each patch, to convince himself that it won't cause new problems (especially security-related ones). And once he's done that (either trusted my work or independently verified it), he then has to splice the patch into the franken-SMF that this forum runs on. So, don't be too hard on theymos, he's a legend, and we're very lucky to have him. (I think if he ever moved on from Bitcointalk, I probably would, too.)

I'm quite proud of what I did in 2023 (the April Fools thing, the 2FA patch [1], the spiffy badge I got for fixing a small security bug, and some other things I did behind the scenes). I'm not that concerned (all things considered) about my stuff sitting around for a long time before theymos looks at it. I'm also not that concerned about some fraction of my stuff never getting merged (I count those failed attempts as me accumulating the experience I need to do bigger/better patches in the future).

[1] I'm 99% sure that the 2FA/TOTP patch will get merged. And I'm 100% sure that I'll open a bottle of something special when it does.


On-topic: Yep, the profile page/settings could use some attention. I've got some ideas about how to migrate those fixed-label messenger links to something more free-form, but I haven't thought about it deeply. I'll read through the topics logfiles posted, and see what folks have said/suggested in the past.

[libert19]

Agreed. No need of updating whole forum, if we'd just get this little useful suggestions implemented, it'll be great. I like how this forum is but new features as needed, simplicity intact but add new features — best!

[dzungmobile]

It is good suggestion and I am expecting from another SMF patch from PowerGlove.  

I feel bad for PowerGlove - he's been working his tail off to enhance the forum with free patches, but the admin doesn't give a damn.

Haha, I feel seen.

The admins recognized PowerGlove's contributions and awarded him a special badge.

Code:

Responsibly disclosed forum security flaws

I did not see many members have that badge so it is actually big recognition from forum admins.

The Glider(hacker symbol)

Awarded for people who have responsibly disclosed forum security flaws.

[CODE200]

Agreed. No need of updating whole forum, if we'd just get this little useful suggestions implemented, it'll be great. I like how this forum is but new features as needed, simplicity intact but add new features — best!

It's just OP having an OCD or something, can't really feel like something is right if the profile isn't updated but as many have mentioned already, it's set in stone and it's unlikely to find any kind of changes since a lot of people are also resistant to the changes. I'm also sure that anyone can just use your signature or your profile text if you want to. Or you can put the Discord, Telegram and other social media stuff you got on your website.

[Cyrus]

Let me be the first to tell you, I feel you and agree... and as @logfiles impressively summed up those threads this has been discussed before. And IIRC it's something I've discussed with theymos long time ago as well.
From memory and current opinion here is why is stayed the same for all this time:
- Removing obsolete profile fields would mess up whatever data is stored in them.
- Adding new ones without removing obselete fields just clutters the profile page.
- Low priority, as there are alternatives like repurposing existing fields, signature space, etc.

I'd like for this and other things to improve and throughout the years I've probably nagged theymos with suggestions more than just about anyone  And some of them did eventually get implemented. Be it new sections or other suggestions for patches like the ones @PowerGlove did.
In general, if we identify something that needs improving and come up with a solution plus some code to back it up I'm fairly convinced theymos would at least consider implementing it!

[1] I'm 99% sure that the 2FA/TOTP patch will get merged. And I'm 100% sure that I'll open a bottle of something special when it does.

Then allow me to be the first to raise the glass when it happens!

On-topic: Yep, the profile page/settings could use some attention. I've got some ideas about how to migrate those fixed-label messenger links to something more free-form, but I haven't thought about it deeply. I'll read through the topics logfiles posted, and see what folks have said/suggested in the past.

Now we're getting somewhere...

What about something like this:
- The number of fields, platform names and user input remains the same. This is how existing information is preserved.
- In the Forum Profile Information page a dropdown menu is added next to the defaults to switch with some new ones (Discord, Telegram, etc). This also keeps the same number of contact fields.
- Updating the contact fields should also update the small logo under the user's avatar, displayed in posts.

PS: Thanks again @PowerGlove for your efforts!

[PowerGlove]

I've read through the topics helpfully posted by logfiles (thanks, man), and I've looked at the relevant SMF code, and I think I can put together a patch to improve the usefulness of those old fields. It's a little tricky because those fields have been baked into SMF's code without much forward-thinking or extensibility in mind, so I don't think it's wise to keep adding new fields using the current approach (both from a programming point-of-view and in terms of visual clutter). Even though most of those fields now refer to defunct services, I also don't think it's wise to remove any of them (with Bitcointalk, especially when messing with existing functionality, my inclination is to have a conservator/preservation mindset and to steer well-clear of destructive updates).

What about something like this:
- The number of fields, platform names and user input remains the same. This is how existing information is preserved.
- In the Forum Profile Information page a dropdown menu is added next to the defaults to switch with some new ones (Discord, Telegram, etc). This also keeps the same number of contact fields.
- Updating the contact fields should also update the small logo under the user's avatar, displayed in posts.

Yep. That's just about the best way to approach it, IMO.

I think the "Skype" field should probably be moved upwards to sit with the other fields, like this:



Then, I think those 5 field labels could be converted into dropdowns, like this:



That way, everyone's existing field values would remain intact, but people would be free to switch them out for more modern alternatives (and whenever those get out-of-date, adding new choices would be really simple).

There's some extra per-choice stuff to keep track of in the background (an icon, a regex to limit what can be entered, a template to transform what was entered into a link, etc.) and some database adjustments would be needed (I think ~5 new columns on the members table, and 1 new table to catalog the available choices would probably do it).

I'll see what I can come up with in my test environment...

(If anyone has any notes/ideas about this, feel free to either leave them here or PM me about it.)

[1] I'm 99% sure that the 2FA/TOTP patch will get merged. And I'm 100% sure that I'll open a bottle of something special when it does.

Then allow me to be the first to raise the glass when it happens!

Hehe. Cheers! (I actually didn't get around to opening a bottle of anything when 2FA got merged; there was too much IRL stuff going on at the time. I think I'll open a bottle of the "good stuff" tonight, though.)

PS: Thanks again @PowerGlove for your efforts!

Right back at you, Cyrus.

It wasn't part of my plan to work on forum improvements when I joined Bitcointalk, but it's work that suits my temperament, and I'm happy to try to improve things where/while I can.

[joker_josue]

I feel bad for PowerGlove - he's been working his tail off to enhance the forum with free patches, but the admin doesn't give a damn.

Haha, I feel seen.

I mean, you're totally right (except for that last part), and 2023 was kind of frustrating for me. I didn't keep track (ratio-wise) of how much of my work got merged, but it feels like my success rate was around 20%. That's pretty depressing, but, on the other hand, it's also pretty encouraging: when I joined Bitcointalk, I knew jack-diddly-squat about SMF and I had never really used PHP in anger (when I'm working on things that I have architectural input on, which is most of the time, then I'll almost always reach for something with a better type system). PHP proficiency is easy to pick up, but SMF is difficult to untangle: internalizing all of its idioms and reasoning out the consequences of any given change takes a lot of time/effort (and a lot of testing).

20% may seem little, but in reality it is a lot of work accepted and many improvements made. I believe that not even in the biggest software companies can a single programmer get 20% of his individual work accepted. So I think that 20% should be very encouraging.

Furthermore, the more additions you create, the greater the difference in this percentage will be. Especially because 2FA alone is worth 10x more than many of your other proposals that were not accepted. 



Regarding the OP's proposal, honestly, how many users would publicly display their network's contact details on their profile? Today, there is a very low percentage of those who share a link in the "website" field (which could be used to share a social network), let alone fill in the other fields. Therefore, I think it is not a necessary effort for this update. I'm not saying it shouldn't be done, just that it shouldn't be a priority. It's my opinion, of course.