Contrib.social

Integrate DrupalChat in drupal.org

Open on Drupal.org →
Created on 1 June 2023, almost 2 years ago
Updated 14 July 2023, over 1 year ago

Problem/Motivation

drupal.org needs an integrated chat solution, and DrupalChat → which is based on the open source project Rocket.Chat is the obvious choice.

It's already up and running, it's based on an open source project, and driven by the Drupal community.

Steps to reproduce

Feel the need to chat about Drupal, and see that a third party solution (Slack) is widely suggested to the community.

This is problematic for several reasons. @jhodgdon (Aug. 2019):

[...] A big drawback of Slack is that it is a commercial enterprise. We have a free account there, but it is limited (for example, the messages vanish after some time has elapsed or some number of them have accumulated). Also their terms of use basically mean they can do whatever they want with the chats (or at least, I think so?).

From Should we move the Drupal community from IRC to Slack?.

In recent years, privacy concerns have become important to many. In that regard, Slack shouldn't be trusted any more than Facebook, Google, Windows, etc. to handle personal information and data input ethically.

Proposed resolution

Implement an integrated chat solution directly in drupal.org with DrupalChat → which is based on Rocket.Chat.

When a user creates a new account on drupal.org, a DrupalChat account is automatically created as well.

When a user logs in and visits the dashboard, there will also be a list of recent chat messages, making the user of aware of this feature.

The new user can click on any subject and participate right away in the dialogue, without the need to register, since this is already done.

Remaining tasks

  1. Add to the Dashboard a list of 5 recent DrupalChat messages from the #general channel
  2. Build a solution, which creates a DrupalChat account as part of drupal.org account creation

User interface changes

API changes

Data model changes

✨ Feature request
Status

Active

Version

3.0

Component

Code

Created by

🇩🇰Denmark ressa Copenhagen

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Comments & Activities

  • Issue created by @ressa
  • Comment almost 2 years ago →
    🇩🇰Denmark ressa Copenhagen
  • Comment almost 2 years ago →
    🇫🇷France fmb Perpinyà, Catalonia, EU

    I like the idea of giving more space to an open-source solution. I have never quite understood the move to Slack, which was quite abrupt, as Matrix was regarded as a good candidate by that time, if I remember well. In my opinion, this was not so considerate towards people who care about FOSS and how their data are handled. If, as a community, we really do care about the open web, then we should avoid being entangled in a closed, basically non-operable and rather monopolistic solution.

  • Comment almost 2 years ago →
    🇺🇸United States fkelly

    I've been using Slack for a few months now. There are some very useful and helpful (i.e., d10readiness channel) discussions taking place there. I've gotten some technical help there (though certainly no hand holding) that I've never found elsewhere. I took a quick look at DrupalChat earlier today.

    It would just be "nice" if the Drupal community could agree on a single solution and not further divide our efforts. I doubt that the folks using Slack are ready to move over to DrupalChat. It's too bad that there isn't a full featured Forums/Chat like solution available straight from Drupal dot org. But I guess that's a graveyard that's been whistled by before.

  • Comment almost 2 years ago →
    🇩🇰Denmark ressa Copenhagen

    I think it was "The Market" that gave Slack monopoly, like Google for search engines, FB/Insta for social, Windows for OS, Chrome for browsers, etc. Many Drupal users probably use Slack, since that's what the company they work for have selected.

    Regardless of the reason, the goal in this issue is to integrate a chat in drupal.org, using an open source solution, to have control over user data.

    And by the way, I must commend your for choosing well with Rocket.Chat. It is the most popular Open Source chat solution on Capterra: https://www.capterra.com/p/161575/Rocket-Chat/

    @fkelly12054@gmail.com: In the same way that there several browsers to choose from, we don't need to shoehorn users into using a single chat software. Also, there are no efforts about Slack. It just exists and people are guided to it, sadly.

    Now, if DrupalChat were to be integrated in the drupal.org Dashboard, many many more Drupal users would populate it, and it could become a thriving bazaar for exchanging ideas, getting help, etc.

    It's too bad that there isn't a full featured Forums/Chat like solution available straight from Drupal dot org.

    That's the purpose of this issue :)

    And it's great that you tried Slack and now have registered at DrupalChat, so you can compare the features between the two.

  • Comment over 1 year ago →
    🇩🇰Denmark ressa Copenhagen

    I found a few older related issues, and a more fitting parent issue.

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