Something that I think about is what the ideal size and scope of Smoke Signal should be.
For example, I’d like to have ICS calendar exports so that I can subscribe to events that I create and RSVP to in my calendar application. Originally that was part of Smoke Signal as a core feature, but with the rewrite, I opted to leave it out. My thought was that having a separate application like https://calendar.smokesignal.events/ would be a better place for that specific feature set.
Another is displaying badges. I really like the idea that you can earn fun badges through contributions and activity, but should they be displayed in Smoke Signal itself? Currently you can see recently earned badges and user badge awards on https://badges.smokesignal.events/, but should it be built in?
What I’m afraid of is Smoke Signal becoming too big and trying to do too much.
I’d love to get feedback and to hear thoughts from the community.
I actually was looking for a roadmap because I can’t always pay attention to the numerous changes going on with everyone’s various projects.
I kinda need the ics component of things.
For me to ever make it to any event it has to be on my normal calendar with my work stuff. And I would prefer an easy way to add it instead of a lot of copy and paste of info (which is what I just did after RSVPing to something just now.)
I know you’re doing a lot of underlying work so this is just a comment about why this component was/is important really important for usability.
I think that Smoke-Signal-as-events-infrastructure – basically, a shared, global backend – is an amazing starting point that can help everyone!
Which “apps” or products exist is the big question, and absolutely Smoke Signal the global appview, shouldn’t take on too much!
The XRPC proof of concept with Emailer and Webhooks with Tito show one path forward, but I think we need a couple of people self-hosting other instances and building some shared or custom “apps” before we’ll know more.
I totally support less being in core / on the main instance, but I do think it has to offer basic functionality to start for organizers and attendees, and be clear which pieces need to be overridden by self hosting or an external app.
