Feature request - use Discourse for discussions
Hi folks.
I've been using discourse across a number of (FLOSS) sites & projects and eployed an instance for my own testing purposes.
It's a mature stack with a lot of great functionality - and it's not a massive leap from what I'm seeing in Loomio to what's aready there.
Loomio as a whole is pretty swank, but Discourse(.org) has a clear advantage where the actual discussion thread takes place.
I'm wondering what the feasibility is of simply substituting Loomio's discussion column with Discourse's code-base, freeing up developers to concentrate efforts around other functionality that's needed, and/or contributing to the upstream Discourse code-base for functionality needed/desired?
Both are Ruby/RoR & .... orientation is not all that different IMHO.
Jaco van der Merwe Mon 2 Jun 2014 5:18AM
Hi @alanna,
Unfortunately I'm not in a position to help - my own Ruby/RoR knowledge is extremely poor.
I did have a look at both stacks github repo's, and from what I can tell it does seem possible to kobble them together, but the how eludes me.
From chatting with their peeps @ IRC, they certainly seem receptive to the idea - they've architeched their API to be extendible with add-on/modules (such a SSO being very popular), so I suspect that could be a way of achieving such an outcome.
Michael Duane Mooring Thu 12 Jun 2014 9:50PM
I'm a passionate about this idea as well. Integrate Discourse, let them do their awesome work of creating the best open-source online conversations, and Loomio laser focuses on making it's distributed/decentralized/open polling system the best it can be.
Alanna Irving Thu 12 Jun 2014 10:05PM
Great idea @michaelduanemoorin - why don't you research what's involved in such an integration?
Michael Duane Mooring Thu 12 Jun 2014 10:49PM
Sounds like a nice weekend project, will do!
Have you guys considered using something like BountySource to enable people to supplement their feature votes with dollars? For example, I'ld put some money down on the Loomio API. ;)
I know Co-Budget is coming out from EnSpiral this summer probably but it's different from BountySource I'm thinking.
Michael Duane Mooring Fri 13 Jun 2014 6:41AM
@alanna & @richarddbartlett, I'm in the process of scheduling an hour with a Discourse developer via http://airpair.com to discuss the idea. We may have as many people join the Hangout on our side as we want and the session will be recorded for reference and review afterwards. Is there an ideal time for you guys if you want to be present for the session or part of it? If so, let me know a good time(s).
Michael Duane Mooring Fri 13 Jun 2014 6:46AM
An hour's a long time. We'll have time to discuss the merit of the idea of employing Discourse as a commenting engine with the Discourse developer and if I get a Loomio staging server and some progress towards prototyping this feature we may even spend 30 minutes or so doing some actual pair-programming. Which would be pretty neat I think. :)
Richard D. Bartlett Fri 13 Jun 2014 9:58PM
Awesome, love that you're being so proactive @michaelduanemoorin.
I want to spend some time with @robertguthrie this week designing a great email-first discussion experience (we'll draw up some wireframes and user stories and then get some input from folks). I'd want to have an idea of those requirements first, before talking to Discourse.
Michael Duane Mooring Fri 13 Jun 2014 10:22PM
Good stuff @richarddbartlett ! and your welcome of course. Let me know if there are any gaps I may fill in your preparations.
p.s.
Is there a Loomio IRC? I remmeber finding a room once I think but now in Freenode I'm the lone user.
Richard D. Bartlett Sun 15 Jun 2014 9:04PM
There is a Loomio IRC (#loomio on freenode), but we don't use it so it doesn't get used.
Engaging with the open source community in a meaningful way is going to take some time and energy from our end, e.g. actually hosting a useful IRC channel, frontloading some wireframes and user stories for features for contributors to work on, then supporting them as they build them, and QAing and merging the work...
We're working on it, but it's a bit like spinning plates at the moment.
Alanna Irving · Mon 2 Jun 2014 4:08AM
Discourse was a big inspiration for us @jacovandermerwe - I think we definitely want to look to them in designing a commenting system. We're not really happy with the current commenting system, but we just haven't had the time or resources to improve it beyond the most basic functionality.
Is an integration with discourse something you have capacity to implement? If so, let's talk about how it could work.