Proposal for Improvements for Xen.Pub Forum

Franco

Please let me suggest a few suggestions to improve the forum's usability.

Open external links in a new tab as default
Change the buttons to a more active color when enabled. Right now, they look greyed-out (inactive)

genesis_1_1_1

Need a verified tag for devs like Raz

EtherX

I only wish for there to be a way to subscribing to latest articles using RSS. I know this is considered an outdated way of doing things, but I still use RSS in my email reader and this way I could easily see what's new.

Admin

EtherX
Here you go, RSS feed for latest 5 posts:
https://xen.pub/forum/atom/discussions

Additional feeds:
/atom: Feed with the last discussions with activity (the / page as an Atom feed);
/atom/discussions: Feed with the newly created discussions in the forum;
/atom/t/tag: Feed with the last discussions in the given tag (the /t/tag page as an Atom feed);
/atom/t/tag/discussions: Feed with the newly created discussions in the given tag;
/atom/d/21-discussion-slug: Feed with the recent posts in the given discussion.

Xen0m0rf0

@Admin I miss a tab called "COMMUNITY LAB" or something similar where everyone could throw ideas for protocols to be developed or improving the ecosystem in general. Think of it as pond for developers to go fishing for ideas. Most ideas probably would go nowhere, but some might stick and get actually developed.

Admin

Xen0m0rf0 That's a brilliant idea. Let me think about it, but just high level, how would you want that implemented?

Earthlysage

Xen0m0rf0 That's definitely a great idea!

genesis_1_1_1

Admin

To submit an idea, a form should be required, answering these prompts:

A very short title/name for the idea (optional, maybe mods could handle this post-submission)
What problem(s) does this idea solve? Only describe the problem(s).
Sufficiently describe how this idea solves the problem(s).
How feasible do you believe this idea is? What are some unknowns/obstacles that you anticipate?
What is the potential impact of this idea, i.e., how important is it, how many users would it benefit?
Does this idea embody first principles - is it as fair as possible for everyone? Is it transparent? Is there any concern with centralized entities?

At minimum, we should have a thumbs up/thumbs down system for each submission, assuming spam votes/accounts can be filtered, to gauge overall community reaction. Ideally there would be a few more choices:

❓(for when people don't understand/are confused)
🚀 (extreme approval, two thumbs up, etc)
❌ (extreme disapproval, two thumbs down, etc)

Obviously a user would not be able to pick more than one reaction per submission.

Xen0m0rf0

I think we should start in a simple way, just another tab for people to make posts with their ideas, then it may evolve. But for now my suggestion is just for a place, more stable than twitter or telegram, for ideas to be thrown.

I don´t think it should be very complex or difficult to participate. Each of us think in a different way and a form requirement or many prerequisites could throw people away from participate. Ideas don´t come clear everytime and I think they should find a place even if they are imcomplete at first.

Maybe it is a good idea to make it required to be tagged, only so they can be easily filtered. Tags could go from "brain fart" (or a more formal tag) to "serious proposal"

The three types of votes is a very good idea. I don´t know if this voting system could be used for shorting the posts within the tab, so the idea with most rockets would go to the top and the most disapproved would go to the bottom and likely be ignored...

Also that tab can serve for people to post their technical improvements or hacks. That way the whole ecosystem can keep growing and improving.

genesis_1_1_1

Xen0m0rf0 I don´t think it should be very complex or difficult to participate. Each of us think in a different way and a form requirement or many prerequisites could throw people away from participate. Ideas don´t come clear everytime and I think they should find a place even if they are imcomplete at first.

Good points. I like the idea of a brainstorming section/drawing board of sorts, and a separate section where proposals can be formally submitted, voted on, and discussed.

I do think the form is going to be helpful to cater to more serious discussions and especially developers. They can easily see answers to the most common questions (that the form asks) and what needs to be done and considered at a high level. We should have a section where we make efforts to frontload as much of the organization as we can on the idea side so that the implementation side for the developer can be as clear and as directed as possible.

So perhaps a "Drafts"/"Drawing board" section - anyone can freely post.
And a "Proposals" section - where a form is required to make submissions.

Xen0m0rf0

genesis_1_1_1 The trade-off there is that developers/builders would have to dig through all of the discussions post by post, whereas with a form requirement they can easily see what needs to be done and considered at a high level. We should make efforts to frontload as much of the organization as we can on the idea side so that the implementation side for the developer can be as clear and as directed as possible. So, as stated above, I think there is a need for both a drafting/brainstorming section as you suggested and a formal proposal section.

You´re right, it can get pretty messy pretty quick. Maybe is better to have a messy section where everything goes, and a separated, more structured section where the ones that want to/know how to put more work on it can do it in a more formal way.

Maybe the ones that use a form to fill in all the required topics get highlighted from the ones that don´t use it. That way people get some encouragment to see their post at the top and put some more brain power and time into their own ideas.

Xen0m0rf0

genesis_1_1_1

genesis_1_1_1 So perhaps a "Drafts"/"Drawing board" section - anyone can freely post.
And a "Proposals" section - where a form is required to make submissions.

I think this are two sections for the same purpouse. I see them more as a "more developed" "less developed" thing.
I think Proposals can go in the specific section they target as the XCM proposal.

It seems to me that we are discussing how many levels of development should get their own section. 🤓 😆

genesis_1_1_1

Xen0m0rf0 It's possible we are disagreeing on semantics or implementation details. I just want to suggest for a more organized/formal option that provides a good experience for developers and an option that provides a good experience for ideation/drafting. It can be tags, sections, pages, tabs, or something else, as long as those options are filterable somehow.

Xen0m0rf0

genesis_1_1_1 Let´s try it your way. @Admin Can it be done? Can be form be required to post ideas?

Admin

How about we just implement IDEA top level tag and people can post whatever ideas and enhancements they come up with, as proposals?

Xen0m0rf0

Admin Simpler approach. Looks good to me.

Admin

Here you go, the top level category is up and running, please submit your ideas there...
https://xen.pub/forum/t/ideas
I am also moving this one there...

Xen11

Hey @Admin I freaking love this website! Just curious (if you don't mind sharing of course) what tech stack you used to make xen.pub? I am getting into web development but I am overwhelmed with options of what framework to use, SQL or noSQL database etc. Would be amazing to get some insight into what you use and prefer as I am a big fan of what you have created here!

Admin

Hey, thank you for your kind words.
As far as technology stack, it's a mix of PHP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript on the front end (mostly vanilla code) and AdminLTE templates, with Python and PHP on the backend. As far as database I am using MariaDB.
Hope that helps.

Xen11

Admin Thanks for your response dude! Love what you're doing for the community.