Byobu vs Private Messages

Kyrne

We have private messages in the form of Byobu right now, yet, some people don't seem to think it satisfies the need for private messages.

If someone were to build private messages, what would you like to see that's different from Byobu? (Asking for a friend)

gurjyot

Kyrne The thing is, due to social media websites people are conditioned to think that messages and posts are different. So when people see private posts by Byobu with the rest of the posts on homepage, they are not very comfortable with it. Actually, even having the same design template for posts and messages is what makes it feel wrong.
Having a proper different section of messages where all the private conversation threads are available is what everyone wants nowadays. And rest I agree with everything that @jordanjay29 said.

Mark73

Kyrne Seems like you were asking to make the extension yourself and not for a friend 😛
Anyways, good luck, I'm super excited for the private message extension

010101

I like Byobu. Not only can you post something only certain members can see, but you can also just leave your username only, and you've got a private post only you can see. In case you want to make a note for yourself or something.

But, it's in the main forum. I think when people ask for Private Messaging, they want to be able to send another member a quick message in a separate area. Like most social media sites do it. Also, you can have private messages, if done in this way, listed by member. In other words, you can go to your private messages page or pop up and see every member you've had a private conversation with and easily pick that conversation back up at any point. Or, block them. Or delete the conversation.

I don't know which way is better. Part of me likes the way Byobu does it. And part of me likes the instant message type private messages.

jordanjay29

While I really like Byobu as a consolidated method (and it feels like something purpose-built for Flarum rather than an old concept shoehorned on top) there are things I enjoy from the traditional private/personal/direct messages idea.

Separated from discussions - Makes it easy to see all your PMs in one place, especially if you've forgotten to respond to one or have dismissed any notifications of new messages without actually reading them. Byobu has a search filter, and a direct link to that could easily be added to the sidebar on All Discussions, but there's just something about having a separate area completely.
Notification settings - Right not, Byobu uses Flarum's built-in notification settings. And while that could change in the future, what it misses is having the ability to be notified by email that someone has started or replied to a PM with me.
Report to admin - This is something I know Byobu has struggled with. How to take Flarum's discussion format, which is explicit as to what tag (or with Byobu, what recipients) it belongs to, and add something surreptitious? With a more traditional PM, it's a bit simpler in concept, and the solution feels intuitive. Simply copy the message(s) and send them to the admin, with or without opening a new conversation with the reporter. Forums all handle the admin end of it differently, but the ability itself and its implementation is mostly ubiquitous, and doesn't rely on the real-time access that Byobu has wrestled with.
Static recipients - While being able to adjust the recipients list is a feature I enjoy with Byobu, it complicates things. Sometimes it's nice to have the peace of mind that a conversation is just between you and me, not you, me and Dupree. Sure, you could talk about it with Dupree, and copy/paste my messages to her, but I'm talking to you and not her, and sometimes what I don't know can't hurt me.

jordanjay29

gurjyot due to social media websites

Not really, the distinction between personal and public messages predated social media by at least a decade. And Facebook/Google Plus has blurred the lines just as much with per-post privacy settings, so posts can be directed to you or to a broader audience without being separated.

DanielPinder

gurjyot i agree with this.

gurjyot

jordanjay29 And Facebook/Google Plus has blurred the lines just as much with per-post privacy settings, so posts can be directed to you or to a broader audience without being separated.

I know that social media has blurred the lines but, after these social media websites only, 90% of the population got to know why posts are different from messages. To be staright, Facebook has a main app for posts and a messenger app for messages. Instead, they could have just said to use posts with specific recipients and saved a lot of money from building a separate Messenger app.
Social media websites are the ones which reached to people in every corner of the world and thus I can say it's their doing. Before that people didn't even cared about messages that much on websites.

Ralkage

jordanjay29 I still like how Instagram flipped it as "Direct Messages" from most likely trying to tell us that private messages aren't really that "private" anymore ?

Plus, you are DIRECTLY messaging users, no?

Digital

Second @010101 and @jordanjay29 posts.

With all that said, everything is still in infancy. Great extension like Byobu will evolve overtime.

I am pretty sure some other guys will build something that fits their needs and at the same time help other users who shares the same view.

Ahhh.. the beauty of Flarum extension system...

Kyrne

Mark73 took me long enough haha

almalino

Is it so that Byobu introduce a separate tag where all your private messages are kept? I think it is a cool concept and should not scare users though I have not yet tried it myself

askvortsov

almalino Not anymore, byobu is now decoupled from tags. There's now a separate page in the nav for it.