It's great to see someone working on improving Oxwall! I hope your project works out well, I would love to see some updates again.
Since you are working on improving the software, I have a list of desired changes and improvements that I thought I would share, in the hope that it might give you a few ideas. I run a fairly busy site, and as an admin, these are just a few of the things on my wishlist.
Bugs that need fixing
Text-box won’t work on Responsive pages for mobile Apple users - If you’re using a responsive theme, instead of the mobile version of the site, then users on iphones and ipads cannot send emails. When they click the text-enter box to type a reply, it jumps off the screen, and so they cannot reply to messages. This is the single biggest on-going problem on my entire site.
Very Important Added Functionality
Set minimum age for registration - Currently you can set the minimum year to display as option (such as 1999), but this does not equate to setting a minimum age. Admin should be able to set minimum age, which should then automatically recalculate the dates for the sign-up page every day. It should not be possible for anyone to select and register with an age below the minimum set. Anyone signing up through a connection to Facebook, google, etc., who does not meet the minimum, should be automatically rejected and deleted.
Canned Email responses - Admin needs ability to create email-templates for quickly replying. Right now, the same email has to be manually copied and pasted constantly. Admin should be able to create and name email templates, then when sending an email, simply select from a dropdown menu the correct response, and email is automatically filled in.
Ability to send canned emails from Moderation / reports screen - This is an extension of the canned email idea. Moderator should be able, on the moderation/flags screen, to be able to select a canned response from a dropdown list next to the report. Moderator should be able to select a response for each report as needed, then hit a single “SEND” button and have them all sent at once.
Flags need to include a text-box - When a user flags something, there needs to be a pop-up screen with a text-box for them to explain the issue further if needed, plus there needs to be an option to upload pics as well. This way, they can upload screenshots, to prove their complaint. This text and thumbnails of the pics need to be fully displayed on the moderation/flags page, so moderators can easily see them.
Auto-reply emails after flag - When a user flags something, there should be a moderator created auto-generated email, specifically set for that flag, to let them know their report has been received, and that it will be looked into. "Thank you for reporting spam, we will look into it and contact you if we need further info", that sort of thing.
Medium Importance
Auto-suspend user on multiple reports - If a user receives multiple flags from multiple users, they should automatically be suspended, with an alert sent to the admin to view later. This way trouble-makers are automatically suspended, even if no admin checks the site until hours later. Admin should be able to set the number of flags needed before auto-suspend (the number may be quite low for small sites, but can be set much higher for larger sites).
Auto-limit on forum and blog posts - Let admin limit number of blog or forum posts a user can create in an hour. Only spammers create a lot of posts quickly.
Auto-limit on number of emails and messages sent - Let admin limit number of emails or messages sent in a day. Only spammers send too many (usually).
Full list of countries, states and cities for registration - This is currently a complete mess, and desperately needs fixing. User should be able to choose country, then state/region, then city. Bonus: Being able to enter zip code instead, and having it auto-fill, or attempting to pull this info from user IP.
Option to block emails from all non-friends - Users should be able to choose to only receive email from people in their friends list. Admin should have the option to set this as default behavior for the entire site.
Auto-generated pics for new members - New members should get a profile pic displaying their username initial, with a randomly colored background (or the ability to choose background color based on user role or gender). Bonus: Let user choose whether to auto-generate image with initials, or select from a list of generic images (admin should be able to add/remove to this list of images), or an auto-generated profile image. See: http://avatars.adorable.io/ or https://getavataaars.com/ ;
Less important
Create Smart Newsfeed - Newsfeed needs complex algorithms to decide what to bump up, and what to push down. This is no doubt very complex and difficult to create, but it would be very useful. The content that people are engaging with should get pushed towards the top longer, while older content should start to move down, etc. Bonus: Ability for admin to tweak the algorithm to suit his site’s needs, plus ability to encourage or discourage specific posts.
Newsfeed display needs changing - The newsfeed should display the same way as Facebook does. Currently, when someone “likes” something or comments on it, the newsfeed displays their pic at the top and it is confusing to determine who the original poster was. This should operate the same as Facebook, which is what 99% of users are expecting.
‘Users list’ widget in Groups should display most recent users - List of users in groups currently displays the first people who joined. This means it NEVER changes, it’s the same list of people for FOREVER. Some of them may not have been on the site in years, but it never changes, they are always the users listed in the widget when you view the group. It should show the most recently joined users instead.
Widgets need additional sorting options - Need ability to sort by more criteria. For instance, the Groups widget on the newsfeed page needs various sort algorithms, to semi-randomly display groups. Newer groups and recently active groups should get priority.
Forum needs “Sort by most recent” option - Forum needs options to sort by “most recently created posts” and “most recently active” posts. Moderator should be able to choose the default sorting for each forum.
Ability to rotate photos - Users and admins should be able to rotate user photos.
Better sort options on polls - Polls plug-in should have better sort options for finding polls of interest to the user.
Need hugely expanded control and functionality on Forum - See other, “real” forum software for ideas.
Better sorting options in the admin panel, for Admin to view user lists - For instance, ability to sort by whether a user has answered a specific profile question. Some user abandon their profile before agreeing to all the terms, leaving a half-finished, never accessed profile. Admin needs ability to sort and find these for deletion.
Require Pic for Groups - Admin should be able to set a requirement that all groups must have an image. Bonus: Option to automatically generate an image for the group, showing the groups name as the image, or the option for the user to select his group’s pic from a list of generic clip-art type images.
Videos should be easier to add - Copying embed code is needlessly confusing, you should just be able to copy the URL. There are currently too many fields to fill out, the plug-in should know how to pull the video description and title for itself. You should be able to enter the URL and an optional comment section, and then just hit submit.
Videos should be fully integrated in the newsfeed - videos should be playable and expandable in the newsfeed, without a modal.
User Profile should display birthdate when viewed by Moderators.
“Hide from public photos list” option - User should have option after posting photo, to hide the photo from displaying in the main list of photos on the site. Option should only be available AFTER posting the photo though, to discourage its use.
Suspended users should not have their posts still on display - When a user is suspended, their forum posts and groups are still visible, but they should automatically be hidden when a user is suspended. Or at least give the admin this option, when suspending a user.
Upvotes and downvotes for newsfeed (and other content, possibly) - People love to engage with content, give them ability to upvote and downvote (lowest possible vote level should be 0 though, negative numbers should not be displayed). This could then be used in the improved newsfeed sorting algorithm.
Popular content widget - add a widget that lists recently highly upvoted content.
Auto-email new users - Ability to automatically send one or more emails to every new user, from one of the admin accounts. This way everyone immediately has an email in their inbox, plus it’s a chance to remind them of the rules or welcome them to the site.
Ability to control how often users gets emails about the site - The default is every 3 days. Admin should be able to adjust this to any number, or at least have options available (every 7 days, 15 days, 30 days, etc.).
Birthdays widget - Birthday widget should not display users with no profile pic, if there are many users. If there are enough users with pics to fill up the widget instead, then it should ONLY display those users. Also, it should prefer users who have not been on the site recently, to help encourage them to come back. So first sort by whether they have a pic, then sort according to last time on site.
Expand User Statistics - User statistics on admin page needs to go back further than 12 months. Also, it messes up during the last few days of every month. Needs reworking and expanding.
Records of changes - moderator needs ability to see what users have changed on their profile. Probably only needs to go back a few days, or maybe a month at most. Sometimes people will post something, be reported, but then delete it before mods have a chance to see it, and it is then impossible to prove or disprove what happened.
Record-keeping of moderator changes - Records should be kept of all moderator changes/actions, preferably with option for easy reverting. This will keep moderators accountable, so that it is easier for the head Admin to know what they’ve been doing.
Photo display needs improving - main photos page should work better. Maybe use the Google Images page as an inspiration?
Plug-in Related ideas / Desired Plug-ins
Need working sign-up / log-in using: Facebook, Google, Twitter, Instagram - All these sign-ups should pull user profile pic and username, but give the user the option to change both before adding them to the site.
Full integration with PhPBB or other full-featured Forum software - this would be amazing. Why re-invent the wheel? There is already great forum software out there, why not just integrate it fully into Oxwall? Probably much easier than trying to recreate the same features.
Gamification - Need badges for using site. A “Level 1 Forum User” badge on first forum post, then a “Level 5” badge on 5th post, etc. Should be able to display a badge on profile pic. Should be able to arrange badges on profile as desired. Admin should be able to set certain badge awards to display in newsfeed (“User John Doe just earned a 100th forum post badge! Congrats!”). Users who unlock certain badges gain access to rewards, such as access to extra “gifts” to send, that aren’t available to other users.
