Hello there,
Let me just start of by saying this is not a complaint or rant but rather an inquiry about what others might have done….a forum-blog entry if you like 😊
EE is great and weblogs with status fields and relationships are just beyond sweet.
But when it comes to having member contribute to content I feel there are still major obstacles in having a really nice workflow and having members feel as if they “have true control over their content contributed” outside CP.
Here are few points that I just can not wrap my head around with just using EE or even any module/extension out there. Any suggestions would be great.
=Giving access to CP?
initial reaction of a few members was “what the he** is this purple site now…am I still on the same site…so why don’t you template this as the rest of the site…”
:exclaim: ok I see the point and agree…of I went to lean a few more techniques with EE and reached for SAEF…cool
=Contribution using SAEF?
-works pretty good but very limiting to how much style you truly can apply to them
-almost feels as members have one shoot to submit content and no way to see what happened to their content
:exclaim: Oh but sql query module comes to rescue and yay I am a hero ago now can show data and format it how I want..list their comments and comments on their work…types of weblogs they contributed…oh so slick proving my point how cool EE is yet again.
=Edit & Delete ‘my contributions’?
:exclaim: ..hm..oh-oh ‘let me get back to you’ lol….ah there is Form Helper…yay!
=EDIT
-oh great back to ‘other opensource apps’ days installing modules with lot of crossed fingers that they are around for a while…solspace seems like a reputable company and guys (thanks Pie Man!!!) on their support site are more than willing to help and 4 free...awesome! I live another day! 😊
-but turns out can not have/edit Related Fields nor control Comments…oh nooo no not again a half-as* edit solution where I would be asked to ‘stuff for them’...
=DELETE content
= ok, using status field not truly a delete function…I don’t mind doing a bit of clean up every so often
=DELETE files (media and images)
“I was doing some testing and uploaded some files can you please delete them for me…I don’t remember what I named them”.
:exclaim: oh boy, I will have to babysit these members and their files, use FTP and take notes who added what…well so much for me benefiting from cms. Oh but there is way…I reacted for wysiwyg (TinyMCE) editor to make their lives easier as well use a plugin of Ibrowser…so sexy so cool
Now they can delete each others files and I can have member register with malicious intent of doing just that…. :sick: ...do what?
create a File Upload location per user? no way sooner or alter it would suffer in performance and it is almost impossible to create and support logic of having ACL through member groups
upload location = member groupX access = memberX
Site is just about done and my ‘safest conclusion’....screw the members even if they are my co-workers or best friends, EE is just a 1 man blogging tool and ‘there can only be one true author’.....
I must say, EE is very inspiring when it comes to design but not very encouraging when it comes to actually writing and contributing content.
So, slightly disappointed and worn out by the amount of work invested I ask for suggestions:
What have you done to empower your members to contribute to your weblogs?
Wiki and Comments don’t count while Wblogs are not necessarily looked and used as ‘member blogs’...
eg. one of the weblogs is “Site Showcase” where I would like members to write a little paragraphs or two and include a screen shoot of their site and have it ‘advertised’ for free on the main page…sort of a ‘self-promotion sideshow’ tool if you like.
Again, not looking for members to become mega bloggers but really just feel some ownership of the content they contribute.
Many thanks for the suggestions!!!