Should we generalize profile links to accept any URL (not just GitHub)?

[bernhold]

Currently, in the Contributed by field, we expect any links to be to GitHub profiles. But with a small amount of work on Parallactic's part, this could be generalized so that contributors could supply any link they want, and as long as they use it consistently, we can use it in the same way as we've been using GitHub profile links. This would allow contributors who don't have GitHub IDs or would prefer to point people to some other profile page to do that.

• The profile URL will treated as a unique identifier -- the profile URL will result in a single contributor entry on the Site Contributors page, regardless of the name associated with the contribution. E.g., "David Bernholdt", "David E. Bernholdt" and "D.E. Bernholdt" would also show up on the same contributor page as long as they use the same profile link.
  • As has been the case for some time, the front-end will pick one of the names to use on the contributor page. If the contributor cares which name is used, they can make their name uniform across their contributions or mappings can be provided in the https://raw.githubusercontent.com/betterscientificsoftware/bssw.io/main/Site/Contributors.md file
• The front-end can be slightly modified to recognize other common profile sites (e.g., LinkedIn, etc.) in addition to GitHub and label the link on the contributor page accordingly. Any unrecognized site would get a generic label like "Website" or "Profile".

[bernhold]

The point that needs to be made is that there's no general way to download a profile picture from arbitrary profile sites. There might be something we can do with certain ones. But maybe not. So anyone who didn't give us a GitHub link for their profile would be represented by the BSSw.io B logo rather than a picture. On the other hand, that's nothing new. Its just that maybe if we don't push for the GH profile, we'll have fewer contributor photos on the Site Contributor page.

[bernhold]

I emailed Mike Heroux for input and he said this:

Accepting multiple approaches seems to make sense. Along with that approach, we could consider using ORCID as an option, maybe a preferred option. At ACM, we are moving to all-ORCID as the identifier. This buys us a lot. Not only is the identifier unique and universally available, but this approach allows us to handle name and identity changes very cleanly. Basically, we only deal with ID numbers.

GitHub IDs have a lot of the same properties as ORCID, but I know many people have more than one GitHub ID, even though it is generally a bad idea from what I can see. Some employers are still insisting that their staff have a different work GitHub ID than personal. The same is not true for ORCID.

[bernhold]

I responded that someone could use their ORCID page as their profile, and that would work fine. Byt we're not going to use ORCID to cannonicalize names or anything like that.

[bernhold]

Are there any concerns or objections to proceeding as I propose at the top of this issue? Please speak up ASAP so that we can close this and I can get back to Parallactic. Thanks

[markcmiller86]

I like generalizing too. About images, I am not sure it is too terribly imporant. In fact, a contributors page without the images might be preferred IMHO because you can fit more names on the page without having to scroll. Many people's github profile image is just the random one they were assigned when the account was created. That said, what about offering people the option of uploading a profile image to be associated with their profile URL? If we named them in some well thought out way, the back end could search in images/contributor_profiles for the associated image if not there and the URL is a github url, take the GitHub image.

In general, I don't like requiring people register yet again with yet another online registry of some kind (GitHub, Orcid, mattermost, etc.). So, having the flexibility to use non-GitHub URL is welcomed.

[bernhold]

I thought about the possibility of managing photos/profiles on bssw.io itself, but I think that's too complicated and too error prone. And I agree that maybe the photos are not mandatory. I think they make the contributors more real, but as you note, so many people just stick with the default avatar or put some goofy graphic there...

[markcmiller86]

So anyone who didn't give us a GitHub link for their profile would be represented by the BSSw.io B logo rather than a picture.

About this...what about a generic profile image..

Or this...