All valid points. I will give some examples where comments fall short:
- Integration (WhatsApp/Telegram/Insta DM). If we wanted to integrate a chat app into Fibery, it would need to be able to show the messages as a chat, and we can’t integrate messages as comments (i think). I think there is a really use case here for customer support in Fibery. Then comments are not enough.
- Better control over access. Using comments, you can control visibility of the entity, but not the visibility of the comments inside. For example, if we want people to see the channel, and press a button to “Request Access”, then the channel admin needs to approve. This is quite simple to build using Fibery Automations and Access Control, but not possible using comments. Adding access control to Comments could solve this though.
Adding unread functionality to databases and entities allows for more flexibility and other use cases outside of just for chat. (Especially when chat permissions fall short)
4. Data export. A big reason people are hating on slack, (and I think this is part of the reason for their api changes) is due to the fact they lock people in. You could advertise that all chat messages are easily exportable as a csv.
I understand you might not see the value of using real databases, but I also don’t understand the value of having it as a fake/hidden database. Is it just because of ease of use? What if it was still a field you can add called “Comments” but it would then create a new database called “{Original Database} Comment”, linked it properly, set up notification automations, and defaulted to “Thread View” in the relation view. Would that solve the ease-of-use issue? Are there other advantages to the current implementation? Genuinely curious.
Thanks for engaging the the discussion and explaining your thoughts! Really appreciate it.