[Wolves] Doodle?

[Iain Cuthbertson]

On Wed, 2020-03-04 at 16:30 +0000, Adam Sweet via Wolves wrote:
> On 03/03/2020 16:36, Iain Cuthbertson via Wolves wrote:
> > 
> > On Tue, 2020-03-03 at 15:58 +0000, Adam Sweet via Wolves wrote:
> > > On 03/03/2020 11:54, Richard Sheppard via Wolves wrote:
> > > > Hi all,
> > > > 
> > > > Would you guys be averse to using doodle.com for confirming
> > > > meeting
> > > > attendances? Something like this:
> > > > https://doodle.com/poll/fbbqnuzbnc47pwse
> > > > 
> > > >  ?
> > > 
> > > My first thought, without looking at it, was to say I'd rather
> > > keep
> > > everything on-list, partly so people don't have to make an extra
> > > step
> > > just to add themselves or see who's coming as the information is
> > > just
> > > in
> > > front of you already in your mail client.
> > > 
> > > I'm also reluctant to use third party services unless they
> > > significantly
> > > benefit us. I'm conscious of the risk of history loss if the
> > > service
> > > went away or paid only (maybe I'm just a hoarder). I certainly
> > > wouldn't
> > > want people to have to create an account, or for us to have to
> > > pay to
> > > use it for our events.
> > > Does anybody else have any feelings on the matter?
> > 
> > I agree with Ad's sentiments about using 3rd party system and
> > requiring
> > users having logins - I'm still surprised that we have a Facebook
> > page
> > ;)
> 
> Good point. I considered it a useful evil. At least Doodle doesn't
> require a login.
> 
> > I think that the doodle poll system is good for when you want a
> > binary
> > response.
> > I've recently used it to determine which dates a group of people
> > can
> > attend an event.
> > 
> > In its current form, I don't see it working for our three
> > "attending",
> > "late/maybe", "no goes" states.
> 
> Ahh yes. I didn't think about this. We'd have to live with an
> attending/no answer binary response. Do you know if it's possible to
> extend the range of options Richard?

I have also been using a free account, and haven't seen such options to
extend to our needs.

> 
> > Maybe we could take the doodle poll idea, extend it to our
> > requirements, and host it on the same server as the LUG's website.
> > 
> > There are lots of open-source packages out there. If there isn't
> > one
> > that fits our requirements, we could release one for other
> > LUGs/organisations to use.
> > 
> > I haven't had a pet project to tinker on outside of work for a long
> > time. It's tempting to see if I can write something even if we
> > don't
> > end up using it.
> > 
> > Yes, I would be using PHP and likely bootstrap for display :P
> 
> Well volunteered :) Write it in Java and Chris will help you 🤮

My choice would be a PHP framework such as Slim, Laravel, Symfony, etc.
The more I can use other people's modules, the more secure it would be
and not require as much bespoke code.

> 
> Speak to Ron about software/hosting dependencies.

PHP 7, a smattering of PHP extensions, and a database (MySQL would be
my preference, though DBAL will let me work with most popular engines)

>  Would it be
> sensible/trivial to have it mail the list when somebody adds/removes
> their name or changes their response?

That's feasible, though it could cause anon-spam if somebody gets click
happy on a radio button ;)

>  What about storing historical
> meeting data?

Sending it to the mailing list and storing it in a database should do.

>  We can discuss later if you like.
> 
> Ad
> 
> 

Indeed, I thought that it would make for a good topic for discussion
tonight.

We can spec out what our requirements are and then either a) look for
an existing solution that fits, or b) roll our own :)

Cheers,
Iain