Improve co-author system
 

I think this has been a topic all along but I didn't see one recently :)

I think the co-author system needs to be greatly improved like:

Count the install towards the co-authors release level (original post would maybe write in % of the work the co-author has done?)

Co-author should be able to edit (if the original poster allowed) and administer the thread with it settings.

The mods where the user is a co-author should show up in his profile,under mod listing in a separate category as well.

This is all I can think off right now.I know you are now preparing for the 3.7 upgrade,but please add these to your suggestion list after the upgrade :)

Best Regards

--------------- Added [DATE]1228196540[/DATE] at [TIME]1228196540[/TIME] ---------------

Any feedback ? :)

I think this would be a good improvement :)

you really need friends Ziki if you are the one to comment your own posts...

ROFL!

viva christmas!

btw, my view on co-authors?!... have any take-over authors have access to the first post and the attachments. co-authors are just here to support, not to handle.

I always thought threads are merged when a member double posts. I suppose that there is a time restriction in place after a set period it allows the secondary reply.

Anyway, The suggestion, allowing co-authors to edit posts? Wouldn't this pose a security risk? What's stopping a co-author from adding infected files or deleting attachments because they fell out with you over not sending a christmas cards to them. I agree, co-authors should have their moment to shine and reap the install benefits but allowing them editing privileges would cause more harm than good if they have an acute forum of forum rage that would potentially alter attachments uploaded to the system.

There's a good reason why your thread was not answered... the risks outweigh the benefits and could potentially cause headaches for people who download and the people that have coloured usernames.

Edit: Actually I take that back. There's never a good reason not to answer/reply to a suggestion.

I had to bump as no staff member replied on this topic and this is the vBulletin.org Site Feedback.

Like I said,the co-author could only manage the files and options when the original author gives him the permissions (maybe a checkbox next to co-author name that says like "Can administer?")

I hear what you say. When you mean manage you mean upload/replace new files which you have authorized a (co-author) of your choice to have. But the question still remains, what's stopping your co-author from uploading a trojan/virus infected file? And do the authors that authorized the co-authors be hold accountable for this?

What's stopping them from simply deleting the files because they had a bad day, or they have just argued with you and bare a little grudge against you or the site because their suggestion never got answered in the feedback area. I'm not saying it will happen, only that it can happen when you start to introduce additional privileges to a whole host of people for the same thread/file(s). In short, it's simple overkill in my opinion when one person can do all of this him/herself.

I've nothing against your suggestion ziki, I'm just posting the obvious nightmare scenarios that can happen and members who rely on a certain script might take it out on staff or hold jelsoft accountable. :)

What about those members that do want their co-authors to be able to edit the first post? You are making a stark assumption that it'd be abused too. I mean what's the worst that could happen? An attachment is removed? A first post is edited. Shock horror! lol ;)

Why not kill two birds with one stone and make it an option for the original poster of the thread?

the problem is to find two birds willing to be killed by a stone... (i mean the admins here)... coding, again and again... remember they want to upgrade to 3.8 one day... not one year...

Haven't you been making the same stark assumptions when it comes to suggestions regarding the feedback system being implemented for the paid area and how it can be abused? hmmm. I'm going by what actions that staff implement here. They tend to play it safe which makes my reply consistently acceptable. :D

/me send two stars to Shelley's acceptable post!

Posts are only merged if the post is replied to within a few hours by the same author...

The staff has been in discussions about this idea.

No, you didn't need to bump the thread. Please review the rules on the site.

Most people wouldn't believe it, but we have some pretty "big" ambitions. :)

Actually, this is the most popular quote ever here... all ideas posted in this forum for the last 5 years have this answer one day or the other, so nobody believes it!

So? What's wrong with vB.org as it is? Just because a select few troublemakers think their suggestion is good for vB.org, doesn't mean the majority of members aren't happy here. Last time I checked there's normally around 182 members online, and it's always the same select few that seem to post suggestions with the sole intention of having a little bit of sarcastic banter. This doesn't include you btw Ziki :) I guess there's a 100 people online or so here at a time that are more happy than the half a dozen who aren't :)

The sole reason why members are happy is because you have people such as myself and the many more talented contributors doing just that. Contributing to this site. Let's not forget that now dean. You are the one that has started this feud in here posting your negative comments and so forth. Another reason why people are generally happy is because they have either signed up or can't see the potential in bettering this site and they think this is as good as it gets. Settling for second best is not coming to the assumption that the member base is happy, they just don't realize how better this site could be coordinated, features implemented, board upgraded etc etc.

If anything your enticing the ongoing feud which I'm surprised why your posts have not been removed. As you can see, I pointed out some of the flaws with this suggestion that's a big difference from being sarcastic.

And badmouthing members won't give you any financial incentives.

can someone focus on the topic, please... and if Dean C have something about members whinning, he can post a request to mouthshut them instead of spoiling others threads...

And what's stopping the original author from posting a virus or infected file,or simply deleting it after a bad day? ;)

Care to share some more info? :o

Nothing ever stops the original author from uploading a virus infected file and/or deleting the file from the submitted post. I'm saying, introducing more people with additional privileges for the same thread increases the chances of that bad scenario.

How many times have we heard about the feedback system suggestion being put towards staff and have them saying "this could easily be abused" or dean responding "How would you like someone to leave false negative feedback". The chances are greatly increased, and I'm simply going with the flow and stating the reasons on what could happen just like many others (who forget they have done) have done before aka less than a week ago.

Without this getting into some harassment thread, I'm not knocking your suggestion ziki simply pointing out the obvious. :up:

The co-author feature is rarely used, and not easily adaptable to your suggestions in its current form - therefore we are not going to spend a lot of time writing new code/features for it.

Well it's used quite often I think.

And are there going to be at least some minor improvements?

No changes are planned to it atm.