“Friends?”

[Ginger Herten]

Is “friends” a new feature of WordPress, or has it always been here and I just never noticed it?

[f35h]

I noticed it a little while ago, couple of months, maybe. But it may have been there a lot longer.

What does it do?

[Ginger Herten]

I don’t really know what it does beyond putting a link to the “friend’s” profile in my profile. I just received a friend request several days ago and was rather surprised. I accepted it, since it was from a long established fellow writer, so seemed harmless. I don’t know if I will get notifications if they publish new stories or something.

I sent you a friend request so you can try it out if you want. Or just ignore it, because as I said, I have no idea what it does.

[Marquis.d.ayre]

According to my (but probably not yours) friend ChatGPT :

The “Friends” feature in WordPress typically refers to a social networking or community building aspect of some WordPress plugins or themes. It allows users to connect with each other, add each other as friends, and interact within the WordPress environment.

Here are some common functionalities associated with the “Friends” feature in WordPress:

Friend Requests: Users can send friend requests to other users within the WordPress community.

Accept/Reject Requests: Users can accept or reject friend requests received from other users.

Friend Lists: Users can manage their list of friends, view their friends’ profiles, and access content shared by their friends.

Activity Feeds: Users can see the activities of their friends, such as posts, comments, likes, and other interactions.

Private Messaging: Some plugins or themes might include private messaging features, allowing friends to communicate directly with each other within WordPress.

Privacy Settings: Users may have control over their privacy settings, determining who can send them friend requests, view their profile, or access their activities.

Community Building: The Friends feature can help foster a sense of community within a WordPress website, encouraging users to engage with each other and build relationships.

It’s important to note that the availability and functionality of the Friends feature can vary depending on the specific plugin or theme being used on a WordPress site. Additionally, not all WordPress sites will have this feature, as it depends on the site’s purpose and the functionality chosen by the site administrator.

[Shroudedone]

I noticed the ability to “Add Friend” on profiles.

But is there a private messaging function here linked to it or not?

I’d like to be able to write to an author more privately/at greater length than in the comments section under a story.

[Ginger Herten]

If it allows for private messaging, I haven’t figured out how yet.

When I want to communicate more privately, I will generally either invite them to email me, or ask permission to email them. When I share my email, I have a dedicated account as Ginger Herten not linked to my legal name, I break up the address to avoid it being used by bots. Like this, ginger.herten(at)gmail(dot)com and people unlike bots can figure out how to fix it.

[HSN Admin]

Hi all, just dipping in here as I’ve enabled a couple of new features recently.

The friends feature is not new but is somewhat pointless but it needs to be enabled for other features to work.

I’ve now enabled private messaging. Any registered member can message any other registered member. I don’t know if that opens a can of worms or is something that people will find useful, time will tell.

I’ve removed the “activity” panel on profiles as it was fairly redundant as it didn’t include stories or comments as activity. If I can get those included I’ll enable it again.

[Ginger Herten]

Thanks MSNadmin. Private messaging should be a good thing as long as everyone usus it in a respectful manner. I do understand your concern that it may have opened a can of worms though, since using things in a respectful manner can be something that eludes some people. Possibly there should be some guidelines to help define what counts as a respectful manner.

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