Suggested features

[icedawg]

I have a medium-sized forum (300 000 messages) that has been run on phpBB2 for the past 3 years, but have recently installed the trial version of IPB. Although my users appreciate many of the improvements, they rather strongly miss a number of features that were available in phpBB2:

- ability for users to add or remove themselves to usergroups at will; we had teams set up at our phpBB2 board that provided access to various forums. Our users really miss the option of adding and removing themselves as they like.
- phpBB2 would just delete the oldest PM instead of refusing to send a private message if a user's box is full. Seems kind of critical to me to allow private communication to continue regardless of whether the user [probably unknowingly] has a full inbox.
- the 'View Your Posts' functionality to bring up all topics a user has participated in, allowing the user to immediately see if someone has added a reply to a thread that he or she participated in. I managed to bring back this functionality by simplying adding a URL that posts the necessary variables to search.php, except that it puts all stickies (or 'pinned topics') at the beginning, instead of sorting everything based only on date, which is very annoying.
- the ability to edit a private message after it has been sent, but before the recipient has received it
- the ability to save a search URL to generate the same results later; IPB seems to use search IDs that expire
- the topic subscription service is really annoying users because it sends an email after absolutely every reply in one thread; my users want it to just send one email, and then wait for the user to actually view the thread, regardless of whether there is 1 new post or 100. I don't think the "daily digest" option is really the same thing.

Anyway, these aren't just my opinions...these are things my users have complained about since installing the trial version of Invision. I realize there isn't a perfect message board solution out there (I did spend 3 years doing custom mods on our old phpBB2 board), but right now I'm looking for the closest solution I can find since I have much less time now than I once did to devote to the board.

I've been told that version 2.2 of IPB will likely have the option of deleting the oldest PM when a user's message box is full, which is great.

Personally, I think the only other thing I don't like is the cryptic messages given when registering if the custom fields are not properly filled in (it doesn't even identify to the user which field has not been properly filled in). Plus, it would be nice to have the option of allowing the user to fill in more of his or her data when registering (like selecting an avatar right away, instead of after the account is created). I'd also love for topic/post abuse reports to populate a forum instead of being sent via PM to the moderators, so that we can easily handle the situation as a team (that's usually how we moderate the forum), instead of individually.

[Dark Phantom]

I have a medium-sized forum (300 000 messages) that has been run on phpBB2 for the past 3 years, but have recently installed the trial version of IPB. Although my users appreciate many of the improvements, they rather strongly miss a number of features that were available in phpBB2:

What version exactly are did you based these suggestions on?

Since the trial version is really really old.

the topic subscription service is really annoying users because it sends an email after absolutely every reply in one thread; my users want it to just send one email, and then wait for the user to actually view the thread, regardless of whether there is 1 new post or 100. I don't think the "daily digest" option is really the same thing.

I believe you can set how often its sent to you.

[whitetigergrowl]

I have a medium-sized forum (300 000 messages) that has been run on phpBB2 for the past 3 years, but have recently installed the trial version of IPB.

Dude, the trial version is horribly outdated and shows very little in the way of what can happen in 2.1...let alone the eventual 2.2. And unless you downloaded that trial version directly from this site, its warez. Which could compromise your server.

http://www.invisionpower.com/ip.dynamic/pr...emoaccount.html

Thats the way to go.

[Mark]

Yes, first of all the trial version is terribly out of date and illegal to download. However, regarding your suggestions:

- ability for users to add or remove themselves to usergroups at will; we had teams set up at our phpBB2 board that provided access to various forums. Our users really miss the option of adding and removing themselves as they like.

Mod: http://mods.invisionize.com/db/index.php/f/5494
Note, this is only compatible with 2.1 - the latest version (and the legal version!)

- phpBB2 would just delete the oldest PM instead of refusing to send a private message if a user's box is full. Seems kind of critical to me to allow private communication to continue regardless of whether the user [probably unknowingly] has a full inbox.

IPB alerts you when your inbox is full. See the link that says "x New Messages" - that becomes "Messenger FULL" when you have no space left.

- the 'View Your Posts' functionality to bring up all topics a user has participated in, allowing the user to immediately see if someone has added a reply to a thread that he or she participated in. I managed to bring back this functionality by simplying adding a URL that posts the necessary variables to search.php, except that it puts all stickies (or 'pinned topics') at the beginning, instead of sorting everything based only on date, which is very annoying.

You can subscribe to threads, or you can click "View Member's Topics" in the member's profile.

- the ability to edit a private message after it has been sent, but before the recipient has received it

Message Tracker can delete the message, then you can resend it :thumbsup:

- the ability to save a search URL to generate the same results later; IPB seems to use search IDs that expire

The reason is, the results would change every time as there is new posts being made all the time. Just re-search.

- the topic subscription service is really annoying users because it sends an email after absolutely every reply in one thread; my users want it to just send one email, and then wait for the user to actually view the thread, regardless of whether there is 1 new post or 100. I don't think the "daily digest" option is really the same thing.

Not in the latest version :P

Personally, I think the only other thing I don't like is the cryptic messages given when registering if the custom fields are not properly filled in (it doesn't even identify to the user which field has not been properly filled in).

Again, in the latest version it it much more detailed. However, you can edit the message in the lang_register file. In the lang folder (I think so anyway, it is in a different folder in 2.1)

Plus, it would be nice to have the option of allowing the user to fill in more of his or her data when registering (like selecting an avatar right away, instead of after the account is created).

Once you purchase a license you can request a mod at IPSBeyond. I am sure someone will be more than happy to make it for you.

I'd also love for topic/post abuse reports to populate a forum instead of being sent via PM to the moderators, so that we can easily handle the situation as a team (that's usually how we moderate the forum), instead of individually.

There is a mod that does this. There is also an even better mod that sends all reports to a "report center" that only the mods can see, you can then mark a report under different statuses. You can download this mod from IPSBeyond once you purchase a license :thumbsup:

[icedawg]

Yes, first of all the trial version is terribly out of date and illegal to download.

Really? I thought IPB gave me the latest version, IonCube encoded... 2.1.7 isn't the latest? My bad, sorry.

However, regarding your suggestions:

Mod:

http://mods.invisionize.com/db/index.php/f/5494

Note, this is only compatible with 2.1 - the latest version (and the legal version!)

Thanks man, obviously I'm going to have to add some mods...as I said, I just want to keep that to an absolute minimum, which is why I'm only evaluating IPB and possibly also going to do the same with vBulletin. Whichever requires the least amount of mods I guess will win out.

IPB alerts you when your inbox is full. See the link that says "x New Messages" - that becomes "Messenger FULL" when you have no space left.

I know. Already that's proven very easy for members to miss.

You can subscribe to threads, or you can click "View Member's Topics" in the member's profile.

Not the same functionality as phpBB's 'View Your Posts,' since it doesn't just bring up threads a user created, nor do you need to subscribe to any particular thread. It's just a very simple way of helping a user monitor all discussions he or she has participated in.

Message Tracker can delete the message, then you can resend it :thumbsup:

IMO, unnecessarily complicates things. The user would have to have enough foresight to select the track method; much simpler in phpBB.

The reason is, the results would change every time as there is new posts being made all the time. Just re-search.

Indeed. I didn't mean save the results, but the search query. In phpBB, it's right in the URL, so it's very easy. However, I suspect there may be enough behind-the-scenes reasons to use search IDs instead, because vBulletin seems to do the same, so this is probably something my users will have to get over.

Not in the latest version :P

What is the latest version then? I really thought they gave me the latest version. I guess not though, because according to my users it really does send an email for every single reply in a subscribed thread.

Again, in the latest version it it much more detailed. However, you can edit the message in the lang_register file. In the lang folder (I think so anyway, it is in a different folder in 2.1)

If I have multiple fields though, editing one message won't solve the problem. It just seems logical to me that it should identify to users exactly where the problem is in their registration form.

Once you purchase a license you can request a mod at IPSBeyond. I am sure someone will be more than happy to make it for you.

There is a mod that does this. There is also an even better mod that sends all reports to a "report center" that only the mods can see, you can then mark a report under different statuses. You can download this mod from IPSBeyond once you purchase a license :thumbsup:

Yep. As I said, trying to minimize mods needed. I very heavily modified my old phpBB forum and it got to the point where it was nearly impossible to upgrade it with new security releases; I don't want the same to happen with whatever software we end up going with now.

Anyway guys, I really intended my comments only to the IPB staff because they gave me a trial version to check out; I apologize for not making that clear initially. If there's a feature I've requested that is already present in IPB, then by all means point that out to me (so far, I haven't been convinced of that though). Otherwise, as I stated, these comments are straight from my users, and I'm hoping their opinions matter to the Invision staff.

[Guest]

- phpBB2 would just delete the oldest PM instead of refusing to send a private message if a user's box is full. Seems kind of critical to me to allow private communication to continue regardless of whether the user [probably unknowingly] has a full inbox.

- the 'View Your Posts' functionality to bring up all topics a user has participated in, allowing the user to immediately see if someone has added a reply to a thread that he or she participated in. I managed to bring back this functionality by simplying adding a URL that posts the necessary variables to search.php, except that it puts all stickies (or 'pinned topics') at the beginning, instead of sorting everything based only on date, which is very annoying.

- the ability to edit a private message after it has been sent, but before the recipient has received it

- the ability to save a search URL to generate the same results later; IPB seems to use search IDs that expire

those are features I'd like to see in ipb too. :)

[bfarber]

I have a medium-sized forum (300 000 messages) that has been run on phpBB2 for the past 3 years, but have recently installed the trial version of IPB. Although my users appreciate many of the improvements, they rather strongly miss a number of features that were available in phpBB2:

- ability for users to add or remove themselves to usergroups at will; we had teams set up at our phpBB2 board that provided access to various forums. Our users really miss the option of adding and removing themselves as they like.

This is something beind discussed, but won't be available with 2.2 - perhaps 3.0, we'll see

- phpBB2 would just delete the oldest PM instead of refusing to send a private message if a user's box is full. Seems kind of critical to me to allow private communication to continue regardless of whether the user [probably unknowingly] has a full inbox.

In 2.2 you will be able to set groups who can override the 'inbox full' error message. You could in theory set ALL groups to do this (note that the inbox count would continue to rise, messages wouldn't be deleted). However, I don't personally like the idea of just deleting the oldest message - sometimes I delete several pm's but save some. What if the ones I saved were important, and my inbox at some point later got full - those important messages would just be deleted without my knowledge or permission? That seems very very horrible to me.

- the 'View Your Posts' functionality to bring up all topics a user has participated in, allowing the user to immediately see if someone has added a reply to a thread that he or she participated in. I managed to bring back this functionality by simplying adding a URL that posts the necessary variables to search.php, except that it puts all stickies (or 'pinned topics') at the beginning, instead of sorting everything based only on date, which is very annoying.

You can go in a forum, and with the drop downs at the bottom of the forum, choose "Topics: I started" or "Topics: I replied" to see all the topics you started or replied to in a given forum. You can track your topics as well. I know the feature you are referring to, and I know it's been requested. It's not currently available by default in the board however (note though that there are mods out there to do this which are quite simple really).

- the ability to edit a private message after it has been sent, but before the recipient has received it

Not currently available, and to be honest I've never seen anyone request this.

- the ability to save a search URL to generate the same results later; IPB seems to use search IDs that expire

Problem is the ever-changing topics and posts, as someone has pointed out. As well, when you do a search, the search is actually saved (the results) so that when you go to page 2, for example, the search doesn't have to run again from scratch. On a site with 2 million posts, it would be horribly resource intensive to have to re-run a search every time you clicked on another page to see the next set of results, don't you think? This is something that won't change probably.

- the topic subscription service is really annoying users because it sends an email after absolutely every reply in one thread; my users want it to just send one email, and then wait for the user to actually view the thread, regardless of whether there is 1 new post or 100. I don't think the "daily digest" option is really the same thing.

This is something of a bug - in 2.2 if you select delayed or digest, just as the email suggests you will only get one email per topic, instead of per reply in a topic.

Anyway, these aren't just my opinions...these are things my users have complained about since installing the trial version of Invision. I realize there isn't a perfect message board solution out there (I did spend 3 years doing custom mods on our old phpBB2 board), but right now I'm looking for the closest solution I can find since I have much less time now than I once did to devote to the board.

I've been told that version 2.2 of IPB will likely have the option of deleting the oldest PM when a user's message box is full, which is great.

Personally, I think the only other thing I don't like is the cryptic messages given when registering if the custom fields are not properly filled in (it doesn't even identify to the user which field has not been properly filled in).

In 2.2 the error messages are a bit more clearer, and are displayed directly above the fields that generated the error, so the user can see which fields caused errors.

Plus, it would be nice to have the option of allowing the user to fill in more of his or her data when registering (like selecting an avatar right away, instead of after the account is created).

There are mods to do this, however some boards might not allow avatars, some don't allow personal photos - it's easier to confine this to the control panel.

I'd also love for topic/post abuse reports to populate a forum instead of being sent via PM to the moderators, so that we can easily handle the situation as a team (that's usually how we moderate the forum), instead of individually.

There is a mod that does this, however this is something we would like to update with 3.0

[whitetigergrowl]

Really? I thought IPB gave me the latest version, IonCube encoded... 2.1.7 isn't the latest? My bad, sorry.

There is no downloadable trial of IPB 2.1.7. If you downloaded it from anywhere other than here, you downloaded an illegal version which could have exploits that could compromise your site.

[icedawg]

In 2.2 you will be able to set groups who can override the 'inbox full' error message. You could in theory set ALL groups to do this (note that the inbox count would continue to rise, messages wouldn't be deleted). However, I don't personally like the idea of just deleting the oldest message - sometimes I delete several pm's but save some. What if the ones I saved were important, and my inbox at some point later got full - those important messages would just be deleted without my knowledge or permission? That seems very very horrible to me.

Allowing users to indefinitely exceed the imposed message box limit isn't what I'd like to see either. Why not just make it an option to allow deleting the oldest message, and those who don't like it simply won't enable it? So far as I can tell it's never caused a big problem on my forum anyway...most users know how to save messages they want to keep in another folder.

You can go in a forum, and with the drop downs at the bottom of the forum, choose "Topics: I started" or "Topics: I replied" to see all the topics you started or replied to in a given forum. You can track your topics as well. I know the feature you are referring to, and I know it's been requested. It's not currently available by default in the board however (note though that there are mods out there to do this which are quite simple really).

Right, but that's on a per-forum basis, so not nearly as convenient. I'm aware of the topic tracking as well, but again it's not the same thing.

- the ability to edit a private message after it has been sent, but before the recipient has received it

Not currently available, and to be honest I've never seen anyone request this.

Really? You've never sent a private message and then wanted to edit it for some reason, perhaps changing your mind on what you said or otherwise amending it? huh.

- the ability to save a search URL to generate the same results later; IPB seems to use search IDs that expire

Problem is the ever-changing topics and posts, as someone has pointed out. As well, when you do a search, the search is actually saved (the results) so that when you go to page 2, for example, the search doesn't have to run again from scratch. On a site with 2 million posts, it would be horribly resource intensive to have to re-run a search every time you clicked on another page to see the next set of results, don't you think? This is something that won't change probably.

Right, I see what you're saying. I was actually talking about saving the query though and not the results, like how one can simply post a URL containing a search string for Google, for example...allows easily providing newbies more help to their common questions, rather than simply saying, "use search." It doesn't look to me like vBulletin allows this either, but the new phpBB (phpBB3) seems to, since the keywords are kept in the search URL. I suppose it may simply temporarily store search results using a hash created by the search keywords for the ID, instead of using an arbitrarily generated search ID. That would probably be pretty easy to implement on Invision as well.


Anyway, thanks a lot for replying bfarber. For the most part I'm enjoying using Invision. I'm curious as to where I can find more information about the next releases of Invision; is there someplace I can read about what is expected in 2.2 and 3.0, along with perhaps expected release dates?

There is no downloadable trial of IPB 2.1.7. If you downloaded it from anywhere other than here, you downloaded an illegal version which could have exploits that could compromise your site.

Trust me, I have a legal trial version of 2.1.7.

[.Cameron]

I'm curious as to where I can find more information about the next releases of Invision; is there someplace I can read about what is expected in 2.2 and 3.0, along with perhaps expected release dates?

IPS hasn't released an official feature list for 2.2 yet (much less an unofficial one) although they may be posted around the internet in various places. IPS hasn't given a release date at all. Not even estimated. I have, however, heard that 2.2 might be released around December/January. :thumbsup:

[Dark Phantom]

Trust me, I have a

legal

trial version of 2.1.7.

Where did you get this legal version exactly?

I am not aware of any trial version, since IPB 2.1.x was released, so please explain where you got this trial.

[Millar]

In 2.2 you will be able to set groups who can override the 'inbox full' error message. You could in theory set ALL groups to do this (note that the inbox count would continue to rise, messages wouldn't be deleted). However, I don't personally like the idea of just deleting the oldest message - sometimes I delete several pm's but save some. What if the ones I saved were important, and my inbox at some point later got full - those important messages would just be deleted without my knowledge or permission? That seems very very horrible to me.

Also, if it deleted oldest message you have the problem of possible spammers sending the amount of PM's that is the limit and wiping out everyones messages...