Is there a way to set recurring tasks (daily, every Wednesday etc) in #NextCloud tasks?

#AskFedi

Because if there isn't I am developing a very strong suspicion that NextCloud developers aren't the ones who do the housework in their households

If any @nextcloud developers happen to be reading this and want a feminist perspective, actually especially if they're reading and don't want a feminist perspective: there are two types of tasks, one off achievement tasks like build a website, write an article, paint a room where once it's done it's done, and recurring maintenance tasks: do the laundry, change the sheets, water the plants.

The first type is the one that tends to get celebrated, awarded and rewarded, the second type are necessary for everyone to stay healthy and everything to keep ticking over, to create an environment in which the first type that impresses everyone can happen. At home we call these housework or care work, in a professional context we call them routine maintenance or "glue"

Guess which one usually gets handed to which gender. Men tend to get the one off high profile, highly regarded tasks (build the shed or the kitchen or the database), women tend to get the recurring tasks (clean the house, make sure the invoices are paid on time) that don't get the respect the one off tasks get but without which the big one off projects couldn't happen.

If you build a task manager without the facility to do recurring tasks that tells me a) you're not the one doing the recurring maintenance tasks and b) you either don't recognise the importance of maintenance tasks or you haven't even noticed that they're being done around you to allow you to do the big one off production of a European open source task manager, say.

Come on, it's 2026. Do better men. And it is mostly men.

Oh and before anyone says "Oh but women are good at recurring maintenance tasks because they're naturally good at multitasking": 1) saying this will earn you a block. 2) No, we're not, we had to learn to be. That's why I need a task manager to tell me to keep on top of things like that. If you're willing to put in your share of the work to maintain a healthy, functional environment both at home and at work you can learn too

See also: "But women naturally notice mess and dirt in a way men don't." No, women learn to notice because we're shamed for not noticing and keeping on top of things in a way men aren't. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0049124119852395

So we've strayed a very long way from Nextcloud's task manager, but the older I get the more I see "Who does the dishes after the revolution?" as one of the first questions that should be asked in any progressive space. I've seen at permaculture camps where the men wander off to form a drumming circle while the women set up the cooking rotas and compost station. I've seen it at the meetings where the men stand up and give inspiring speeches while the women organise drinks and take the minutes

Hell I even see it in queer spaces where the women, femmes and enbies are the ones organising booking the venue and bringing home made cake after checking everyone's dietary requirements in advance. The first step towards dividing the tasks that bring the glory and the tasks that just have to be done up fairly is just noticing how they're divided now

@afewbugs

The underlying iCalendar specification supports recurring tasks, it looks like the next cloud ui doesnt give you any way to view or edit the recurrence field.

Though the specification doesn't have a way to express 6 months after I last did the task. Which would be great for remembering to clean filters

@afewbugs There's one thing that I can somewhat, only a bit, accept as an excuse for talking about NextCloud in particular: It operates on CalDAV Standards and the Tasks part of that ... sucks badly. Like, terrible. I've not been happy with any of CalDAV synced Tasks because not only is support shoddy, but for exactly the reason you give.

However, NextCloud could – as any one of the stakeholders – try to push for something different or find ways to enable this use case better.

Case in point: What do people use for such tasks? Alarms are... hard to manage. Calendar entries are overwhelming. I try paper but I forget too often.

@ljrk @afewbugs I was trying to de-Google, and I was most thinking about Gmail, but the calendar turned out to be much more challenging, particularly because I'd got used to Tasks being associated with the calendar. I found out I wasn't alone in missing that. My new email service also offered calendars through CalDAV, and I started to dig into the options, and it all got terribly confusing. Just connecting to basic calendars was confusing enough, especially with Android. Then I started looking into Journals and Tasks, and it looks like CalDAV specifically supports them, but each client involved implemented Tasks very differently, and I never found a satisfactory solution.

I was also apprehensive about working through this with my partner, who relies on calendar reminders quite a lot, and we've had uncomfortable disagreements about how to organize shared calendars in the past, though I think we were both aware of that history and more patient with each other about it.

@foolishowl @ljrk @afewbugs I was recently surprised as well to discover CalDAV tasks don't integrate with calendar apps. Even the dedicated Android tasks app, @jtx , which is recommended by @davx5app doesn't have an inbuilt calendar view. This seems like an important feature to me.

@banderkat @foolishowl @ljrk @afewbugs @jtx acalendar+ has support for built-in tasks into the caledar view. it can be synced through davx5!

@ljrk @afewbugs After this, my partner told me about a dream where she was telling a guy she met on the bus how to get to a concert, then felt annoyed because he could have just looked it up on his phone himself.

@afewbugs "while the women ... take the minutes"

That's where the power is, however. It doesn't matter what people think they remember the meeting decided: what matters is what's written in the minutes.

For extra points, wangle it so that you get to write the agenda as well as the minutes. Then something you don't want changed won't even be discussed!

@TimWardCam @afewbugs Maybe I'm reading this differently to you but I think the OP is about women not getting credit / recognition for the work they do. Not whether or not that work has power or influence.

@jmbmkn @afewbugs Sure. I'm suggesting that the minute taker has more power than some people might realise, whether or not this is recognised.

@TimWardCam @jmbmkn the minute taker and agenda setters do often have power to control what gets recorded, but also it's a pretty thankless task I rarely see the men in groups volunteering for. I rarely see anyone enthusiastically volunteering for it actually, it's usually that someone steps up and goes "well I guess this has to get done for things to happen". And that someone is usually a woman (often me, I have taken so many bloody minutes for community woods and Quaker meetings and cycling campaigns over the years and can't say I've really relished the experience 😂)

@afewbugs @TimWardCam @jmbmkn I don't much like taking minutes/notes but luckily for me everyone hates my style of very terse notes and so only ask me to do it as a last resort! But there are other thankless tasks to do instead... %-P

Also, I try to keep meetings that I chair informal enough not to need anything more formal than 'notes'...

@DamonHD @afewbugs @TimWardCam @jmbmkn is it wrong that I often volunteer to make notes or simply start to take notes for my table at workshop sessions, then "fail to realise the significance" of points I feel are unhelpful and don't note them? 😈 Powerful are the note-takers...

@mjr @afewbugs @TimWardCam @jmbmkn Have you thought of writing a guide for princes / minute-takers?

@davx5app Good to know, thank you! I'll give that a try. I've been using Fossify Calendar.

@DamonHD @afewbugs @TimWardCam @jmbmkn I have, but won't because I don't want to be overly generous else I will not be appreciated, and it will only cause greed for more. Eventually my advice will be exhausted and that will bring grief. If I decide to discontinue or limit my advice, I will be labelled as a miser. Guarding against the people's hatred is more important than building up a reputation for generosity. 😉