Three MUST things you are going to get in version 3

[minesota]

For the version 3, 3 must things :

Summery display [ that is, say, first 'n' words of a new post ] when we hover on the topic title in the thread list page
while summary of the last reply is displayed on mouse hover of the last replier's name as well as open a quick reply box on that mouse over.
See this demo at : http://www.planetblur.org/beta/index.php?s...&channel=18
This is a great design where you can click the pencil by the topic title to edit the topic without actually entering the entire page, while clicking the magnifying glass by the last replier you get to see the latest reply as well as quick reply link that also without loading the entire page.
This can be truly web3 as well as ipb3-ish.


Allowing anonymous user to start new thread in their own name, provided the name is not in database ( is it already there?) and allowing them to even edit posted message for 'n' minutes [ as an option, only if the site admin wants]


True Social Groups where the Group Creator is the Group Admin, can transfer editorship to anyone, can determine whether the Group is private, subscription-after-approval, or instant subscription can edit/delete any new post / comment made in a Group and edit/deleteany member of a Group and every Group ESSENTIALLY having its miniforum, event calendar and polls, and an album with ability to add jpgs, audio, video to posts in group forums. That is how social groups are organized in actual sites like orkut, facebook or in php scripts like drupal, joomla, boonex. The basic user expectation about groups is framed this way and anything less than this or in altered form breaks user expectation and user usability and drive them away from using the site.

[Morrigan]

Allowing anonymous user to start new thread in their own name, provided the name is not in database ( is it already there?) and allowing them to even edit posted message for 'n' minutes [ as an option, only if the site admin wants]

I know the latter exists, its even used on this forum. The first I'm sort of confused on. An anonymous member is logged in as themselves and posts as themselves are you talking about guests or something else?

[minesota]

I know the latter exists, its even used on this forum. The first I'm sort of confused on. An anonymous member is logged in as themselves and posts as themselves are you talking about guests or something else?

Sorry, I mean an unregistered user is allowed to post using her own name provided that name is not registered.

Did you see the demo at point 1 of the above post ?
Do your users miss ( or do you think they will need in near future) true social groups ?
[ Many IPB users feel so - " I grew weary of my community site running on IP.Board" - http://community.socialengine.net/blog_ent...logentry_id=114 ] This is only about social groups and not the blogs which are #1 in my opinion.

[TestingSomething]

Like I have said for ages regarding preview on hover, the only way I would want that at all is if it's an option. In other words..... I don't like it. :) Sites I go to which have that (vb) are annoying because first off I usually still don't read them and secondly when trying to click a link to the topic MANY times that stupid preview comes up and makes the click not take effect and I have to keep clicking the title several times or wait for the preview to disappear to click it.

[minesota]

Like I have said for ages regarding preview on hover, the only way I would want that at all is if it's an option. In other words..... I don't like it. :) Sites I go to which have that (vb) are annoying because first off I usually still don't read them and secondly when trying to click a link to the topic MANY times that stupid preview comes up and makes the click not take effect and I have to keep clicking the title several times or wait for the preview to disappear to click it.

Yes that thing happens more in Opera I guess.
How helpful ( or in what ways helpful ) depends on the forum's nature I am visiting - for example when visiting webhostingtalk.com where I want to scan a lot of posts in a short time this feature is A HUGE TIMESAVER. Again in allpoetry site I may like to see just the title and read the whole poem in a fresh page at a leasurely pace. Like emails, I think thing feature can be made an on-off option by the individual users in their preferences page.

I wonder he who comes with a forum with two interfaces like ( yahoo etc ) where there is a classic interface ( as it is now ) and a framed sort of interface where the list always remains inview and the topic opens in a bottom /top/ rt/left side pane, will be a winner :)

[Morrigan]

Oh, I'm an advocate of real Social groups and have made suggestions on how to make them work. ;)

[China J]

I have to say I do love that chart like rating style. This is very much needed for IPB to rate topics and not just the forum. Also editing topic titles without the need to open post is already a feature as well editing the description. Just left click and hold your mouse button on either one as a admin at your site. You can change permissions to allow members to edit their titles if you wish :P


EDIT: I have to say again that rating system is super hot in topic index view and post view. I've always been nauseous of the stars in invision boards and expressed suggestions for the change for a long time now.

[Keith J. Kacin]

True Social Groups where the Group Creator is the Group Admin, can transfer editorship to anyone, can determine whether the Group is private, subscription-after-approval, or instant subscription can edit/delete any new post / comment made in a Group and edit/deleteany member of a Group [b]and[/b] every Group [b]ESSENTIALLY[/b] having its[u] miniforum, event calendar and polls[/u], and an album with ability to add jpgs, audio, video to posts in group forums. That is how social groups are organized in actual sites like orkut, facebook or in php scripts like drupal, joomla, boonex. The basic user expectation about groups is framed this way and anything less than this or in altered form breaks user expectation and user usability and drive them away from using the site.

I personally don't see this as a useful feature on a forum. But it might be something good for a CMS (like drupal, joomla, etc) or social community script.

[Mark H.]

Opinions vary, I guess.

While Basher dislikes the "Summary on Hover", I personally think it's great. Especially when it's a post with a title that says nothing about the contents. If I can tell, at a glance, whether the opening few lines interest me, I can read or skip the post as I wish. It DOES save me time.

[Morrigan]

I personally don't see this as a useful feature on a forum. But it might be something good for a CMS (like drupal, joomla, etc) or social community script.

No offense but I think Social groups are a must, especially for those of us that have the Suite. It is so much easier to share to a group or update a group of specified members when it is a social group. I don't want to have to update one hundred members by myself, keep track of these members as they come and go, update them when new things about the group come up (new pictures or blog entries or whatever) and I especially don't want to have to hassle with keeping track of the groups even more administratively then knowing they exist as a Root Admin.

I can't say I'm with the specific way the Original poster said to do it but I certainly do think IPB needs to make this feature that allows for social groups for people/members that are of similar interests and a way that you can assign people to moderate or use those groups.

I find the "Private Club" feature both difficult to understand and, excuse the bluntness, retarded in its execution. The feature needs to be fully re-worked in every way if you even TRY to make that an excuse for not making truly social groups. If you'd like I can make a big ol' long list of things I think that IPB should do to make it even better for social networking as that is what I use it for, especially using the Suite.

[minesota]

I personally don't see this as a useful feature on a forum. But it might be something good for a CMS (like drupal, joomla, etc) or social community script.

Not just on a forum or for a forum. But thought this place is the best one as there is no other better place to add this feature demand.
Many, indeed MANY, use IPB forum + gallery + blog. What utility did blog and gallery had to go with a forum even five years ago ? But now they are used in conjunction. How is the social profile that is now there useful as forum feature ?

Many, again I repeat many, are turning away from phpfox, dzoic ( or integrating ipb therein but with frustration ) and looking to ipb and vbb [because of their newly added social profile stuff] to set up a social web - which is essentially profile+profile comments AND blogs AND forum AND albums AND true social groups. You cannot imagine once you implement true social groups ( and perhaps a ffmpeg video module ) HOW MUCH THE SALES CAN RISE!!

In addition, this model of time-saver displays as an option in a forum http://www.planetblur.org/beta/index.php?s...&channel=18 can get you another avalanche of fresh customers who are looking into sleek, slim and new-generation way of dispalying or interacting things in a forum.

The script which incoporates all these things first will not just be an early winner but will stay there for at least another twenty years down ( or rather up! ) the line.
Can this post be escalated ( or forwarded ) to the highest authority in IPB ? :)

[minesota]

Also editing topic titles without the need to open post is already a feature as well editing the description. Just left click and hold your mouse button on either one as a admin at your site. You can change permissions to allow members to edit their

I was speaking about editing by clicking the icon by title as a default option for users :) but more than that the thing to NOTE there is that you can see the latest reply and even reply to the latest reply BY JUST HOVERING without the need to load the entire page, particularly when you have been following the thread and there is no need to get the whole page again for you.

Just see that and see the novelty and utility :)

Oh, I'm an advocate of real Social groups and have made suggestions on how to make them wor

I missed that [ pl give the link] . There may be long lists as many people need many things BUT basically the list is very short - any member can start a Group under a categoryy, and have a miniforum, event calendar and group poll, plus may be a group album and the Group creator ( who becomes the Gr Admin also ) can edit / delete any content/comment/member in her Group AND upload a group icon which gets shown in the user profiles ( with a 'more' link) The usual stuffs like whether the Gr is private or approvalbased subscribe or instant subscribe and standard features like invite, import contacts, gr member list, make favorit / share a content etc etc apply. The basic user expectations who are using orkut, facebook etc operate in this way and breaking this or anything lesser than this make the things unacceptable to the users.

[minesota]

Sites I go to which have that (vb) are annoying because first off I usually still don't read them and secondly when trying to click a link to the topic MANY times that stupid preview comes up and makes the click not take effect and I have to keep clicking the title several times or wait for the preview to disappear to click it.

I actually reviewed again the sites/scripts having the hover feature - I find the intelligent ones have the hover indent away from the title ( and its visibility and clickability ) and thus clicking the links is no problem. If the programming is good the feature works fine it seems. Geeklog, for example, is even thinking of making it as an end-user option, that is, if your member wants she can deactivate it. Bad programming can of course do bad things like making several clicks or waiting for the preview to disappear :cool:

Additionally I find IPB does show something [ This topic was started blah blah blah ] on hover on the title :rolleyes: which is a repeat of the info already on the page - so why not allow first 'n' words of the post instead of the current " [ This topic was started blah blah blah ]" on hover ?

BTW, do you like the idea of seeing and replying to the latest reply on hover, sometimes if you need, or do you always like to reload the entire page in its full length ?

[China J]

All honesty, forums is forums and should stay that way... If people are interested in a social type feel, then I would suggest you ask IPS to make a social network script that can be connected to your forums via Converge or as a component such as blog and gallery.

None the less I thought that the group idea was being highly considered for Blog 2.0? It doesn't make sense to add a group feature to every product that IPS has. IMO either a solo stand alone social product or add the requested features to the Blog 2.0 component is where that kind of stuff should take place.

So many suggestions are in these IPB 3.0 forums for pretty much social addon like features... As I said before, forums is a forum and if you want something more social then suggest to IPS to make a social script or to add social like features to the Blog which is currently more geared to social to save yourself the heart-ache of hoping for something that will most likely never happen with a forum :P

I mean seriously so many users are adding mods and whatever to their board trying to create a social feel... Hello McFly! It's a forum lol... However, if you take a look at Blog 1.4 right now you should ask yourself what is it missing compared to the average social script? Groups?, Music Upload?, Send a Crush?, Invite Contacts and a few other misc. features right? My point is requesting features like this for the blog can make it the best blog system on the market and right now blog is only about $50 or so I think(It's been so long since I looked at the price). Just imagine adding in a few things to the script could potentially cost more than a standard IP.Board license if the social network trend continues strongly as it has been. So buy your blog license today & lock it in mate! :P

If done perfectly, the blog can be the social aspect you are looking for if you own the complete suite of products including the board and gallery. Just think about the basics of a social script and you should quickly realize this :)

[Morrigan]

But the part that's missing from that China J is the fact that Board is the script that ties all three components together so essentially having it in Blog should be able to spread it into Board and Gallery relatively easily. Also, everything is already tied into the Board Profile so without the feature being tied in you are asking for LOADS of stuff to be separated instead of altogether and simple like they are trying to make IPB3.

[minesota]

The basics of any social script or social site include, as I said, profile+profile comments AND blogs AND forum AND albums AND true social groups. Blogs cannot give social groups ( see orkut, facebook etc ) for example, in a blog any member cannot start a new thread, add an event or poll etc. Blogs and Groups function in a different way [ but the blog module can be easily tweaked by the able IPB team to make an additional, a new social web module if they want ]
All are basically same, forum or blog or group [== some content, some reply] - its the way they are designed that matters and usual user expectation is that they will look forward separately for blogs and Groups. The younger population expects it that way and unless there's some good reason or some novel thing this normal path cannot be broken.

While I agree forum should be forum, why do we have the social profile then ? What real utility has this new social profile in a forum scenario? - these are demands of the time perhaps. No tight watertight compartments between forum, cms, socialweb - make such tightness and slowly you get diminishing returns.

Yes, its an excellent idea to have it separately.
Now we have BLOG + ALBUM + FORUM
making this BLOG + ALBUM + FORUM + TRUE SOCIAL GROUPS is an excellent idea - so that those who need can purchase/implement it. I agree wholeheartedly with you.

The point of making the post here for IPB 3 is that : asking IPB3 to keep its coding channels open with better hooks and apis and commentations so that such social module becomes easily integrable with forum user hooks and themes etc :)
( minor example - when an user chooses a skin/language it applies globally to forum, blog, social groups) This will also enable IPB's own or thirdparty implementation of gadgets or social apps in future. This is slowly catching up (like openID and openSocial/Facebook api) and already gaining momentum.

That was the social aspect ... about the forum aspect do you appreciate quick last post view and quick reply on hover without the need to load entire pages if you feel like not loading at times ?

[China J]

The basics of any social script or social site include, as I said,[b] profile+profile comments AND blogs AND forum AND albums AND true social groups[/b]. Blogs cannot give social groups ( see orkut, facebook etc ) for example, in a blog a member cannot start a new thread, add an event or poll etc. Blogs and Groups function in a different way [ but the blog module can be easily tweaked by the able IPB team to make an additional, a new social web module if they want ][color="#0000ff"]I think IPS has already said they will consider the groups feature addon to the blog seriously for the 2.0 series Blog. In fact right now I am working on profile comments block for the 1.4 series. If they add it in for 2.0 series that would be awsome.[/color]

[i]While I agree forum should be forum, why do we have the social profile then ? What real utility has this new social profile in a forum scenario? - these are demands of the time perhaps. No tight watertight compartments between forum, cms, socialweb - make such tightness and slowly you get diminishing returns. [/i][color="#0000ff"]What's social about it? You can't customize it so I don't think it's social at all because all profiles are the same. It's more less a standard profile view about a member.[/color]

[b]Yes, its an excellent idea to have it separately.[/b]

Now we have BLOG + ALBUM + FORUM

making this BLOG + ALBUM + FORUM + TRUE SOCIAL GROUPS is an excellent idea - so that those who need can purchase/implement it. I agree wholeheartedly with you. [color="#0000ff"]Yes this would be the idea scenario if we can gather support for it instead of social features being requested in the forums for IPB. I would surely buy it if it was separate or truly appreciate my blog license more so than any license I have if it had more social features to enhance it.[/color]

[b]The point of making the post here for IPB 3 is that[/b] : asking IPB3 to keep its coding channels open with better hooks and apis and commentations so that such social module becomes easily integrable with forum user hooks and themes etc :)

This will also enable their own or thirdparty implementation of gadgets or social apps in future. [color="#0000ff"][color="#000000"]This is slowly catching up {like openID and openSocial/Facebook api) and already gaining momentum.[/color] I think this is what's happening with right now. I suggested previously that IPS implement a feature for 3.0 that would allow forum owners to enable what IPS product would represent the site index beit IP.Portal, Blog, Gallery or Forums([color="#ff0000"]suggested only, not confirmed[/color]).

If for example the blog took on more social features like groups and etc then ideally owning the complete package including forums and gallery will mimick a "Social Network Site" in it's entirety. However with forums being the main landing page and not the portal even makes the concept hard to grasp even if the social aspect is there currently.[/color]

That was the social aspect ... about the forum aspect do you appreciate quick view and quick reply on hover without the need to load entire pages if you feel like not loading at times ? [color="#0000ff"]I am at so so on this because it would only be valuable IMO if you are constantly following that topic. If you don't visit till the next day, week later or something you could be replying blindly to the last post which has nothing to do with the starting post would you agree or am I mistaken about what you will preview ie last post or starting post?[/color]

[minesota]

@ ChinaJ, Thanks for the detailed reply.

The social profile is completely different in its presentation design and features eg. profile comments etc
from the regular ipb profile. Both vbb and ipb has made the profile pages look like and behave like standard
social sites :) You can put it on or off but the fact is that this has been added, not much in keeping with forum scenario, but in keeping with the social web wave. The social thing about profile is not so much so the customization ( a reason for which myspace stinks to many) but the interaction it provides in the form of open comments. Eg. for example in orkut profile pages are hardly customized but transmit huge amount of social and other data in the form of profile comments, known as scraps there.

Thanks a LOT that you agree for a social module and its great to know IPB3 is already or will be working towards code so that hooks and api are easily available for a social web integration I hope they implement true social groups fast as this is the one thing that is really missing.

Regarding the quick last post view and quick reply to this on hover : yes I meant threads like this and I do follow (like many users) some threads closely where this optionable feature can be very helpful :) The demo link I gave above has actually an audio alert so that if you are browsing other windows you will not miss because of the audio alert ( optionable) - you hear it, return from another window, hover, see the reply and add your reply on hover. Things get added as invention continues - IPB to start with, in the free days, never had fast reply - now it has :)

[Mark H.]

I'm curious, minesota, where do you live given the name you chose.

I live in minNesota, in the USA. It's a name for our State derived from a Native American word which described the area.

[minesota]

That will be grossly offtopic :) The name can be changed if its any problem though :)

[3DKiwi]

There was a D2 hover mod kicking around a year or two ago. It may still work. I took it out as many members didn't like it however it was a bit buggy and this could have been the reason. The hover preview at the link does work a lot better and is much smoother.

While some forums may want to let anonymous people / guests make posts I'm not in favour of it. Just inviting the spammers if you ask me. If they want to post they can join. Plus you can have guest posting now if you really want. No control however over their name.

Re social groups etc. Not something I have on my wish list. I'd like to get the basics fixed first like restricting the maximum resolution of images in attachments, signature options etc.

3DKiwi

[Jυra]

I honestly don't like the social group idea. I have a small community and such wouldn't do anything for me.

[minesota]

Its not a compulsion :) Many people will not like a gallery with a forum but the module is there.
Similarly with social modules or features - you are future ready, install it if you need. Do not if you do not need.

Some folks are turning away from ipb just because the lack of the social stuff , for example, http://community.socialengine.net/blog_ent...logentry_id=114 . There are plenty such stories abundant on the net but that will be wrong to give here, and perhaps off-topic too, and perhaps not bother ipb much as their sales is still going strong and perhaps not much of the users also unless they feel the bite of a snw need in another four or five years.

If you are having a small community with not much varied needs forum suffice, however if you want to attract some crowd from the local orkut or facebook some sort of social web features are needed :cool: Even if not that, just like pm and buddylists ( they were not there in '96 ) snw gradually will become 'needed' in the years to come. Early players can be better winners :)

[Jυra]

The ability to leave comments on profiles just makes my forum look more dead. I guess more features from social like sites would be nice, but when I think of a social network...I think spam and lots of it.

[minesota]

More sites have actually come lively after the members were allowed to 'scrap' each other, to have a feel of it open an orkut account ( unless you already have one and do not find it really interesting )
[ on a random click I found a quite lively social profile page in your forum, compared to the dullish ipb profile of the past, it is vibrating and enjoyable - http://animegerad.com/community/index.php?showuser=1]

Regarding spam, profile comments are open to members only, so standard anti-spam measures can be taken, MOREOVER members in a true social web have privacy control that allow only friends or top friends to post or view comments. This is one thing they cannot do to the threads they post in a forum. So spam is out of question :)