Idea: Private messaging between users

I'll mention again, couldn't the existing infrastructure of Loomio accommodate "private" messages by allowing for a closed group of two people? Actively hindering communication is a poor direction to choose and seems to be the antithesis of the foundation of Loomio.

@Grégoire Barrault - have you seen the proposal for

• Per user activity feed

and my earlier post in this topic with a mockup proposal for the "User Profile" page.

The site currently uses a twitter style @ to alert another member of a comment that "mentions" them. This already triggers an email notification (at least it does for me) .

I propose that if a member chooses to share contact information then

• "Request contact details" will show up in their profile page.

• They would approve/decline that request

• If approved each member would see the other persons "contact icons" which are easy to press on a mobile interface and would trigger that communication system. Email, facebook, g+, twitter etc.

EDIT :

Once again your @ name is not appearing as a link and I guess you are not getting notifications.

@alandavison, you're right, I didn't get your mention notification. However I received one for your comment since I was following this topic (since I voted). I've seen the activity feed proposal and you're mockup.

Mention users is a good feature, but it is different from sending private message. If I want to say something to you only, I must post in this topic.

I don't think 'add to contacts' or a request that need an answer is a good idea. It needs too much implication. No one will do that. Even group creators don't spend enough time here to get benefit from this feature. Just my feeling, I may be wrong.

I wish I could automatically send you a private message, by default, at least if we are in a common group, and you would receive a notification, without me knowing you're mail address, exactly what mention already does, but private. Unless you deactivate notifications or block me personally of course. Then no contact list to manage positively, no request/approve, only have to block someone exceptionally. It fits better this website since regular users won't spend enough time here.

@Grégoire Barrault I think the issue with your name and not receiving mention notifications could be down to the "é" character - just guessing so I could be wrong. I would assume that the unique @ name is some form of concatenation of the Sign up name and the algorithm can't cope with the accented character. Maybe @richarddbartlett could point us in the right direction or know who may have a better idea why.

I agree with Private messages as you can probably see from my previous posts. Some other members are also open to private communications so there is a willingness there to communicate.

However, as has been pointed out previously there are already dozens of ways that users can communicate privately and the Loomio team's focus is on getting core components working on the new platform. At this stage I see email being the simplest to implement and most likely to be checked regularly but other users may have their own preference.

There are several sites that allow email communication without knowing the other persons actual address, the site acts as an intermediary. I don't know how much work this would involve.

The reason for the request / approve is that some users have expressed privacy concerns but this could be addressed with a simple opt in / opt out method.

Essentially we are all using Loomio to discuss Loomio. The issues we are having transitioning to a mobile interface with limited space, things that work in Beta that don't currently work in 1.0, Features we would like to see, etc.

I have managed to find one or two users contact details from the links they have supplied and therefore implied that they are willing to share that info. I haven't contacted anybody privately yet because my time is currently spent in the discussions.

@Grégoire Barrault

I have read your comment again ...

I’ve seen the activity feed proposal and you’re mockup.

I can assure you I am not mockup :-)

Hi Grégoire, I just wanted to see if this works and if it does do you
get my email address or a via Loomio style message?

@Grégoire Barrault It looks like I am replying to your comment an not you directly.