Geeklog Forums

I'm going to have trouble selling Geeklog to the higher-ups without user data collection of some sort. Has anybody though about this problem, or implemented a solution?

I don't see this as a problem. That's a fairly easy routine to write. First, you figure out which info you want to collect. Then, just do up a form and have the input inserted into a database. Link the user database with this new one using the "uid" field. This form can either replace the current login page or be displayed later on when you want to swap personal info for say access to additional features. FYI, most people hate giving out personal info on themselves because it can be easily abused by the collector and sometimes it is. Unless your site is for an intranet or offering some paid for service, many visitors will enter false info. The more you ask the more corrupt the data will be. I think the developers here realized this and went for the minimalist approach which fits the majority of people's needs, but it's not hard at all to expand data collection to have people fill out extensive surveys on themselves.

If anyone does create an expanded data collection system, I hope they pass it on to the rest of us! As a non-programmer just looking for a program that fits my needs, it would be great to have this feature available. Especially if it were easily configurable -- maybe an admin page where I could check which items I wanted to appear on the login page (name, addy, phone, etc.) and which would be optional, which required. That would add a tremendous amount of flexibility & make it usable for a broader range of uses, too! So if anyone's done this already, please let the rest of us know!