Thanks for the suggestions and I’m sorry that you were experiencing strange behavior with WP/BP. I only wish that I had caught this sooner.

As per your last idea, WP Hook Sniffer has performed that check since day one. Although, it does not do so during activation, it does so after activation so that it can display a warning message at the top of hook sniffer’s settings screen.

I felt it best to let the plugin activate so as to provide a warning message but just not function—other than allowing settings to be changed. So, if the modified plugin.php file is not installed, it will not fire the routines that output the hook sniffer information. In the pending new version, I’ve taken it a step further by versioning the modified plugin.php file. WP Hook Sniffer will now make sure that not only the modified plugin.php file is installed, but also the proper version of that file.

As to your first suggestion, I agree that reinstalling the original, stock plugin.php file upon plugin deactivation is a good idea. That way, people can simply activate hook sniffer when they need to figure out an action or filter hook firing issue and then when done, deactivate and rest assured that their stock WP install is as it should be—with no modifications to the plugin.php file.

I will work on coding that into the upcoming version as well.

Thanks for the comment and the donation!

One possible improvement would be to have hook sniffer automatically replace the original WordPress plugins.php file on activation, and then restore it to the original file when the plugin is deactivated. That way, future problems will easily be found using first line debugging techniques. Don’t forget to handle the situation of the WordPress install being upgraded between hook sniffer activation and deactivation, to avoid restoring plugins.php to an out of date version.

You also might want to think about taking a hash of the original plugins.php file during the replacement operation and blocking activation of hook sniffer if it doesn’t match the right value. That way, if WordPress is upgraded, overwrites the plugins.php file, and the plugin re-activates …and the newly upgraded plugins.php file has been modified from the previous version… the plugin will not activate.

These are, of course, only suggestions. We’ll continue to enjoy wp hook sniffer no matter what you do to it.

^F^

I was expecting some small issues anyway but, the good news is that I was able to use the hook sniffer info to quickly get to exactly what I needed. (I was so impressed I donated!)

I am looking forward to the latest and greatest version because I envisage the need to use those cool geek-worth features when the project goes into overdrive, thanks for letting me know you’re still on the case…

I like the article and your extension of the stream methaphor. It aligns nicely with work we are doing in this area at the Centre for Next Generation Localisation (CNGL) in Ireland. I have a question though: People are obviously happy (or not ticked off enough to move) with the social contracts they have with the likes of Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, etc. They are willing to let providers silo their data in exchange for easy to use and access applications (the daily new account rates of these providers attest to this). So my question is, can we actually make the technology you describe transparent, user friendly and free enough so that it will be attractive to the masses (without the need to install or manage stream servers or pay for third party provisions)?

Regards,
Declan.

I’m not too sure of the advantage of distributing it as a patch file. I thought about it but decided that it made sense to require a manual install as it would force the developer to think about comparing any new WP versions before installing. I am not always on top of the newest changes as I have too much to do. But, a patch file could be possible.

As far as working with WP 3.0, I personally have not experienced any issues. I need to check the WP changesets and see if there have been any changes to plugin.php since I created WP Hook Sniffer.

Individual component settings in the group. I want the group forum / blog / document etc to be private (hidden from non group members), but the main group members list to be shown.

hope that makes sense!
Many thanks!

It is the technologists of each new Social Web creation who will decide if open data and user-centric identity control is important to their platform. If they can see some technological benefits to adopting SemWeb protocols and envision solid business benefits in implementing such, then users will be the beneficiaries.

At this current stage in the SemWeb’s evolution, it is imperative that we convince the technologists of the benefits. It is equally important that we learn how to better craft a more general message so that a broader audience will begin to understand why they should care and ask (even demand) for such technologies.

Both of you have (i believe) inadvertently hit on a key point here, all the current social services deal with ‘Users’ and ‘User Accounts’ – whereas we are primarily dealing with a layer above (or below) that, namely the Person.

Each Person has multiple User Accounts – so what we are doing can tie everything together, without interfering with it, people can adopt and still use Facebook, Twitter, everything else, and slowly migrate across as and when suits.

Each Person has 1 or more User Accounts, each User Account has a username and password as we do now. Where the personal identification comes in, is if a Person has FOAF+SSL, then they can link their WebID to their UserAccount, and ‘identify’ themselves rather than ‘logging in’; it’s an optional layer atop what is already on the web.

And slowly but surely, as the benefits of personal identification and open data become apparent, so will the benefits of Privacy, IdentitySpace and decentralisation.

Twitter, Facebook et al still have an important role, and can easily adapt and change with the web. It’s up to them to seek, invent and adopt new business models that match the changing web, and I think we can rest assured that they will – even if they don’t they’ll simply do a myspace whilst yet unknown entities take over the pack.

Best,

Nathan

ps: I might be sounding preachy, apologies!

I must admit I swayed at going in to anything remotely technical, and eventually decided in the wrong direction I fear.

Admirable work, and very glad to see semweb being crafted towards a broader audience.

Keep up the good work, I’ll be subscribed from here on for sure!

Best,

Nathan

Thanks for the comment. You are correct that convincing the closed-data-silo owners to open up their data stores to user-centric control will not be an easy task. In fact, it may not be possible at all. Huge fortunes are at stake for the few who control the majority of user-generated content.

I believe that we are at a juncture where users might have to purposely decide to “write off” large swaths of their identity graph–more specifically their IdentitySpace–and move their activities to new Social Web spaces that allow for user-centric ownership and control. The Facebooks, Twitters, Google Buzz’s of the Web will become relicts of an older, less enlightened InterWeb time. Of course, for this to happen, these new Social Web spaces need to materialize and Web citizens need to realize the virtues of breaking away from the current behemoths.

Thanks for the comment. You’re spot on in your point about SSL and the role it plays in ensuring an additional privacy layer. I thought it best to keep my post to higher-level concepts and not delve into the equally-important technical considerations and benefits.

One of my goals of late is to try and craft my messages to a broader audience, providing those users who wish more details with resource links to more in-depth technical descriptions. As I conclude in my article, Repackaging the Promise of the Social Semantic Web:

The promise of a fully-actualized Social Semantic Web is to firmly place the control of one’s identity and privacy back into the hands of the Web’s citizens. If our work in making that dream come to reality is going to succeed, we must better craft our message, we must better communicate the virtues of a user-centric, user-controlled Social Semantic Web.

I’m trying to do just that by describing SemWeb benefits in a more general context.