afterpod admin (rick) - admin@afterpod.com

Nested Channels?

Tue, 25 Sep 2018 07:01:13 -0600

!Hubzilla Support Forum
Not that I want to complicate an already intricate system...

Is there any way to nest channels? I want a hierarchical structure but maybe it's just the navigation to channels? At the least, some way to associate channels with each other in a parent/child manner.

For example, a small podcast network might produce three podcasts. I want a channel for the network itself and then 3 underneath that level for each podcast.

(I'll probably want CATEGORIES to work the same way but that's NOT what I'm talking about here.)

show all 7 comments

M. Dent

Tue, 25 Sep 2018 13:04:08 -0600

I'm assuming there is a data flow you are trying to achieve, not just something that can be accomplished through creating a sidebar widget or footer, or something else. Are you trying to have it so that the network page has announcements from the podcasts themselves? For that you could use forums with !mentions and allow the podcast channels to post to the network page that way. Then you can achieve cross linking with sidebars/widgets. But it sounds like you have something more in mind.

As far as I know, there is no way to "nest" things in the way it sounds like you are asking, but there may be ways to achieve the ends you intend. Just need more info about the end goal rather than the desired implementation.

hEARt PhoniX

Tue, 25 Sep 2018 13:28:15 -0600

afterpod admin (rick)

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 06:25:14 -0600

My goal is to have a structure that functions or be presented as a hierarchical structure.  For podcasts, there are two perspectives I need to consider:

LISTENER - ability to connect to an individual podcast social network OR to its parent, an aggregated network with the posts by each podcast plus the network itself.

PODCASTERS - ability to post about the network as well as about individual podcasts underneath it (which would post about individual episodes).

@h.ear.t | tobias I don't know what you mean by channel sourcing.  I know one type of channel imports RSS feeds for source content...

@M. Dent "use forums with !mentions" -- I am not clear on all the channel types.  Reading the doc, most appear "just" variations on permissions (access, attaching images,...) but the general post/thread functionality appears the same except if the source is an RSS feed.  I do see that FORUMS have the ! search feature... is that the only difference?

M. Dent

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 07:37:08 -0600

@afterpod admin (rick) - A channel is a channel is a channel, you're right from that vantage point. A Forum is a channel configured more or less as a "bulletin board" or discussion group. One of the settings many/most forums use is the !mention. The ! mention is used to forward a post to the contact list of the channel. So, when you use a !mention for the Hubzilla Support forum, a copy of your message is posted on the forum wall and is also sent to all the connections associated with the Support Forum (SIMILAR to what would happen if you went to the Support Forum and posted the message there).

My proposal is - each podcaster have a channel that represents their person - and each podcast itself has it's own Forum channel. Also, each network have it's own Forum channel.

All of the PODCAST forums are subscribed to the NETWORK forum and have the !mention ("Can forward to all my channel connections via ! mentions in posts") turned on. When a podcaster posts to the PODCAST forum, add an !mention for the NETWORK. Then, the NETWORK forum's page will have a full stream of all the posts by individual podcasts.

A fairly simple plugin/addon could automate some of this for your circumstance - automatically adding the NETWORK mention and even adding appropriate category tags or other tags for the specific podcast to make it possible to SEARCH and filter things on the NETWORK page by individual podcast.

The other option, as @h.ear.t | tobias was mentioning is to use the CHANNEL SOURCING which (at a high level) allows one channel to listen for posts on another channel and redistribute them in their own feed. In that way, you could have the NETWORK channel simply source all of the individual PODCAST channels directly. The podcaster themselves (from their own channel) could post to the PODCAST wall and it would be picked up/syndicated by the NETWORK (on the channel sources tool there's already a place to add categories). For that matter, you could have the PODCAST channel directly syndicate from the podcaster's personal channel and then have the NETWORK channel syndicate from the PODCAST channel.

giac hellvecio

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 07:56:31 -0600

#just_remembering
that maximum we can make 2 forum-mentions in a post.
it is still so @Mario Vavti ?

afterpod admin (rick)

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 08:59:14 -0600

I've always been one for OPTIONS in systems... and, in this case, it appears there are (at least) 3 WAYS to skin the cat.

Thanks for the excellent explanation.  I'll have to look at each more specifically to see which seems best for my case.

I'm really liking Hubzilla but STILL have not wrapped my mind around it.  Big.

I am also pretty convinced a lot of what I intend to do will be (1) temporarily hiding even more functionality AND (2) changing the navigation/flow/appearance to make it more intuitive (at some basic member level anyway).

Mike Macgirvin

Thu, 27 Sep 2018 17:01:50 -0600

It's not something you can get your head around in a weekend, but it will all start to make sense if you persevere. There are a few places where it's a bit clumsy and hackish but for the most part it's designed for flexibility and extensibility.