Topic Prefixes - Are they coming or not?

[Ikadon]

When did I imply that your ideas weren't worth listening to? You basically just countered your own statement.

Sorry, but to me, as a non-native-speaker, it just seems you want to persuade all of us, which is, in my eyes, not the sense of a discussion. A discussion is there to exchance viewpoints, that's all about it. No "and in the end all thought the same". Maybe I got you wrong, but that's how I felt and especially your "sound" seemed a bit harsh to me, such as you own the ultimate truth and we have to obey.

Well if they aren't reliable then just stop buying from them. People can't make something then for the next 5 years support it. At some point they have to draw the line and move on. Most people here don't spend 24/7 making mods for a living. Some do, most don't.

We don't talk about supporting something for the next 5 years, but if I buy some mods and they are not ported to the next minor version (which was a SECURITY update!) I feel I bit fooled, and this happened a few times, which was why I stopped using mods I didn't program on my own.

I'm yet to dive into IPB. Still, for me, it's a basic feature that every major competitor has built in by default.

Of course you can submit your own feedback, but expecting the entire community to agree with your opinion is pretty high headed. I bought it to, which means I can also input my own feedback, along with everyone else. Its not your own personal software.

No it's not, and I felt attacked that's why I wanted to mirror your own behaviour. I understood that it's worth 20$ for you, still it's not for me and I felt you tried too hard to persuade me with this.

Figures you would be mature enough to go there. I would like to see a conclusive poll showing that more than a small amont of the community really wants this and would actually use it.

"Mature", what and old "argument". It also was quite ironical regarding that the "statistic" about "statistics" was a "statistic" ;)

Polls are never really reflecting the reality, so arguing about it leads us nowhere. (Thanks, I had statistics at university for quite some time, so this is done from my side)

Anyways, it seems that we got each other wrong, which isn't infrequent while communicating by text-only and not in the same mothertongue. I'm sorry if you felt attacked in any way.

I wish you a pleasant sunday!

[openfire]

I bought the mod. It works well and has great support.

If I were a modder, I wouldn't waste my time and skills for free -- would you?

Time is money. You cannot expect great work for peanuts... I would rather pay $20 for a mod that works well and is supported, than $5 for a buggy mod with no support. I don't see what the problem is.

[Ikadon]

I bought the mod. It works well and has great support.

If I were a modder, I wouldn't waste my time and skills for free -- would you?

I don't see it as a waste to help other people, and yes, my mods have always been free :)

Time is money. You cannot expect great work for peanuts... I would rather pay $20 for a mod that works well and is supported, than $5 for a buggy mod with no support. I don't see what the problem is.

"Money rules the world, but it doesn't rule me, nor my heart"

There is no problem with the mod(s) (!!!) and the topic was never meant to be about a mod (!!!). It is a feature-request, as there are dozens and hundreds of others.

You spend your money on mods and we ask for official support. I really don't see what or where the problem is :) We are not telling you you shouldn't buy mods, we simply refuse to do it for that price.

So, there is no "problem" to see ;)

The discussion is in a wheel, so I'm out. Hopefully this will get some attention, would be great :)

[Andrej]

I would like to have Topic Prefixes as a default feature. :)

[Fishfish0001]

Itsfunny how only 1 person is really arguing over this since the topic was made...

[Maxxius]

I would like to have it also as a core feature, there I said it :)

[LeadCrow]

Basing revenue on such basic functionalty is poor risk assessment, as given its (little) complexity, it could be added the retail IPB before you know it. More extensive paid apps/hooks existed before, that didn't prevent them from being implemented (for no extra charge) and reliably supported (none of that 5 years hyperbole merchants seem fond of pulling, or poor support predicament some customers seem to find themselves in either randomly or with specific merchants).

Authors that submit to the IPS Marketplace would be required to keep their submission up to date as we release updates and provide support as needed (those that don't would be delisted)

IPS reserves the right to de-list a file in the Marketplace for any reason including but not limited to: complaints from customers regarding quality of listing, lack of support, lack of updates, copyright infringement, or any other reason that may reflect poorly on IPS or the Marketplace.

For as long as it's charged for/sold, it ought to be supported, whether it's imagined it's too much work or not paying 'enough'. Delisting violators of marketplace TOS should be ok enough to deter but serious offenders.


Summing argument: the prior existence of a hook has no bearing to the relevance of this missing basic feature request. Customers are displaying interest in seeing that feature included in the core package. Merchant perspectives are of little interest here thereby.

[Carl M]

I wouldn't like to see this added just my 2p. :)

[Luke]

Every community has different needs. Some people would benefit from topic prefixes, while others don't. IPS has to carefully choose what features would benefit all it's customers. At least half the people in this topic don't agree whether or not this should be a built in feature or not. When a feature is included usually you see topics about it popup from time to time with overwhelming support. I just don't see that happening here.

I'm not saying your needs are not important, I'm saying that a significant amount of people disagree with you. I'm not saying "only 1% need this" I'm saying a decent amount. Many of IPS's customers don't even use this forum, let alone express their opinions. Quite a few people are happy with the product as it is. These people could be on either side.

As always if you have a need, a mod is made to fill that need. And with the support of the hooks system, these mods can be a lot more reliable than they used to be. I don't think it's too much to ask to spend $20 for a mod that you feel is an important feature. If you don't think it's worth $20, why should it be a default feature if you're not willing to pay for it? With the current license structure you have to pay $25 every six months to extend support and upgrades. So if six or more months down the line if IPS did include it, you'd have to pay for it anyway. By paying someone for their work, it makes them more motivated to continually improve their work and support it.

As far as having to pay $20 for every mod... prioritize. Pay for the mods you absolutely need and buy the ones you don't later... or don't buy them at all.

[LeadCrow]

All dissers would need to do is simply not use it, just like with every feature they don't use either.
Militating to make sure this functionality is not added provides little added value for customers.

[Miss Moiraine]

I too would like this feature. :)

[()Achilles()]

Every community has different needs. Some people would benefit from topic prefixes, while others don't. IPS has to carefully choose what features would benefit all it's customers. At least half the people in this topic don't agree whether or not this should be a built in feature or not. When a feature is included usually you see topics about it popup from time to time with overwhelming support. I just don't see that happening here.

I'm not saying your needs are not important, I'm saying that a significant amount of people disagree with you. I'm not saying "only 1% need this" I'm saying a decent amount. Many of IPS's customers don't even use this forum, let alone express their opinions. Quite a few people are happy with the product as it is. These people could be on either side.

As always if you have a need, a mod is made to fill that need. And with the support of the hooks system, these mods can be a lot more reliable than they used to be. I don't think it's too much to ask to spend $20 for a mod that you feel is an important feature. If you don't think it's worth $20, why should it be a default feature if you're not willing to pay for it? With the current license structure you have to pay $25 every six months to extend support and upgrades. So if six or more months down the line if IPS did include it, you'd have to pay for it anyway. By paying someone for their work, it makes them more motivated to continually improve their work and support it.

As far as having to pay $20 for every mod... prioritize. Pay for the mods you absolutely need and buy the ones you don't later... or don't buy them at all.

I am no coder so, I don't have the right to say this. However, when you say that it is not need by a decent amount of people, then that's foul - and IPS only implement features that are 100& beneficial to everyone - I'd say that not true, I'd even say that's faked. :P. We just wanted it to be default feature, most people actually will need it, in other ways that can organize their forum - if you just see how many people already bought the app, that is just the people who really wants it WITH extra money and the people here are the people who wants it but DOESN'T wanna waste money that it could be a default feature. We are not really arguing about it being expensive and such, we are stating our opinions that it should be a default feature.

As the other people said, I'd rather pay that 20$ or even more to IPS for having additional feature and maybe just donate it --- that I know can be really supported and will be updated in the coming years, at least it is default and we have nothing to worry about in case.

Again this is just a suggestion, rather a feedback, that we want this feature to be a feature in IPS.

-----------------------
EDIT: And yes, I do understand that you guys are developers and you sell your work for some extra cash (For the coding work, support, etc - we do appreciate it!) --- but then again, we're just suggesting. :)

[Fishfish0001]

I don't see why something should be added that is well maintained by a community member and works just fine as it is. Adding prefixes is one more then they have to add documentation to, and then maintain after that.

I don't see any urgency to adding this at all.

[()Achilles()]

I don't see why something should be added that is well maintained by a community member and works just fine as it is. Adding prefixes is one more then they have to add documentation to, and then maintain after that.

I don't see any urgency to adding this at all.

Again, this is not about HIM (the developer who created the app, as far as I know, I do not know him - but I'm really glad that developers, like you & him, give their time and effort to build such app). That's the extra cost for that, there are hundreds, maybe thousands of IPS users, I guess doing that [documentation] wouldn't be such a problem, if they can build other services such as IP.Download, IP.Nexus, IP.Chat and they can heavily document it, why not for a simple app? For all I know, IP.Board has the majority of users (Well, IP.Board is the mainframe of all :P), and they're focusing with those sub-projects they have.

I never said that it is urgent, again it is just a FEEDBACK, a suggestion.

[blair]

I don't see why something should be added that is well maintained by a community member...

Well therein lies the key. I don't know how long you've been using IPB, but I've seen many (if not most) modifications die, or require another developer's involvement to be continued. When you have something like prefixes integrated into your forum, it's not something you want to lose. Especially when there are potentially 1000's of topics involved. Integration into IPB implies a stability you won't get from an independent developer.

Whether desktop, or web, applications will continue to add features. Just because IPS wasn't the first to offer it, doesn't mean it is, or should be off limits. Sometimes partners will see their market diminished, or lost. Microsoft has great partner relations, but their history is littered with partners who have seen their market swallowed by MS.

Again, I have purchased this hook. I have tested it, and made a number of recommendations that were included in the last update. I have not implemented it, mostly because I don't want a temporary solution. I would feel much more secure using it if it were an IPS feature.

Actually, if you look at the blog and download manager, they almost have prefixes. The blog has "feature", and "new" posts. The download manager shows free, or the amount when integrated with IP.Nexus. These prefixes would be more useful if extended (for example to category view). Why not include in all applications? I'm sure the gallery could benefit as well.

[blair]

Oops, dup instead of edit.

[LeadCrow]

Since noone seemed to focus on that, conversions from other software ought to transfer as much data as possible, and for whoever wouldve been using topic prefixes in the original forum software would need it converted as well, not lost. Especially if such a feature was relied on to keep a community organized (like facepunch).

A much overlooked reason why features appear in forum scripts even if 'only 1% people would use it'.

[Luke]

Since noone seemed to focus on that, conversions from other software ought to transfer as much data as possible, and for whoever wouldve been using topic prefixes in the original forum software would need it converted as well, not lost. Especially if such a feature was relied on to keep a community organized (like facepunch).

A much overlooked reason why features appear in forum scripts even if 'only 1% people would use it'.

Now that is something I do somewhat agree with. If you're converting from another platform to IPB, when you convert to IPB that data should be retained, even if that feature doesn't exist. Perhaps an extra column on a table like "convert_extra" that contains a serialized array of data that isn't used. That way if the feature did appear later on, it could be "extracted" and stored the proper way later on.

As I said I don't really think prefixes are in that much demand. But I do think data during conversion should be retained so it can be used by IPS later, or a mod author could make use of it. (Example: If vBulletin had prefixes, that data would be stored on each topic in "convert_extra". If you got a mod that had prefixes, the mod author could "extract" the prefix part and "convert" it to their liking so your old data is used).

[Jeuhen]

Sorry for the bump to a topic from november '10 but i agree.

Topic Prefixes SHOULD be a default feature within the IP.Board software. All people saying that this should not be the case or
that just probably 1% of the active license users would use it, IP.Board could implent it without it being required to be turned on?

Why make a big deal out of an extra feature being added to this already great piece of software? If you would walk into a KFC and you
would buy 1 bucket of hotwings, and the cashier says u get the 2nd bucket for free would you say "No i don't want that"? If there's stuff
that will be added as an extra bonus, most human beings take it, they don't refuse it.

I also think that 20$ was a high price but i recently noticed that Ryan H. has lowered the price to 15$ which is, in my eyes, a reasonable price!
Look at the functionality and stability of his modification, he keeps it up-to-date and it's working like a charm! Maybe Ryan was seeing all these
comments and thought he should be the one creating a mod for this and so he did.

Ofcourse, i would rather have Invision Power Services include it as a core function, but if you have such high demands for it, why not just buy the mod?

Yes, i know i have 2 opinions here.

1. I'd rather have IPB implent it in their software as other forum software do support this (and yes, i'm talking about vB)
2. If there's not going to be such a feature or if it's not going to be here for a while then just buy it.

Just to let you know, i love IPB and i wouldn't want to switch to vBulletin but what if a vB customer thinks about switching to Invision Power Board..
If he would use Prefixes as function in vB i'm sure he would want that data to also be in the IP.Board software as well.

Some users might not like having prefixes and some do and if i would be the one switching from vBulletin to IP.Board then i would want it as a core feature.

[The feature is not here yet]

[Ikadon]

Sorry for the bump to a topic from november '10 but i agree.

Topic Prefixes SHOULD be a default feature within the IP.Board software. All people saying that this should not be the case or

that just probably 1% of the active license users would use it, IP.Board could implent it without it being required to be turned on?

Why make a big deal out of an extra feature being added to this already great piece of software? If you would walk into a KFC and you

would buy 1 bucket of hotwings, and the cashier says u get the 2nd bucket for free would you say "No i don't want that"? If there's stuff

that will be added as an extra bonus, most human beings take it, they don't refuse it.

I also think that 20$ was a high price but i recently noticed that Ryan H. has lowered the price to 15$ which is, in my eyes, a reasonable price!

Look at the functionality and stability of his modification, he keeps it up-to-date and it's working like a charm! Maybe Ryan was seeing all these

comments and thought he should be the one creating a mod for this and so he did.

Ofcourse, i would rather have Invision Power Services include it as a core function, but if you have such high demands for it, why not just buy the mod?

Yes, i know i have 2 opinions here.

1. I'd rather have IPB implent it in their software as other forum software do support this (and yes, i'm talking about vB)

2. If there's not going to be such a feature or if it's not going to be here for a while then just buy it.

Just to let you know, i love IPB and i wouldn't want to switch to vBulletin but what if a vB customer thinks about switching to Invision Power Board..

If he would use Prefixes as function in vB i'm sure he would want that data to also be in the IP.Board software as well.

Some users might not like having prefixes and some do and if i would be the one switching from vBulletin to IP.Board then i would want it as a core feature.

[The feature is not here yet]

Definitely! When I switched from vB to IPB I didn't look up if there are prefixes because every software I had used had it as a basic functionality. So, I thought it's simply not worth mentioning and forgot about asking if it's actually there. Now, my community doesn't revolve around getting problems fixed but still it woult be a great feature for a project I'm currently planning.

[Jeuhen]

Figures you would be mature enough to go there. I would like to see a conclusive poll showing that more than a small amont of the community really wants this and would actually use it.

[Calvin39]

More Bloat, just because you get it in VB and free forums does not mean you should demand it in IPB we have done without it from the inception of IPB, and to be honest why is it that people that have migrated to IPB from VB are the ones demanding all these features, because they had them before. There are other users of this software as well as yourself ,and many of us are getting sick of all these whimsical add ons which we then have to disable. I for one see no need for them, I think they are tacky and do not enhance the board one little bit.

If anyone wants it so bad buy it, at least then you have it from choice, and I am not forced to have it when I don't want it. I am also annoyed at the amount of paid mods that there are in the IP Market place now all made by people I have never heard of, even the Marketplace is now getting bloated and everything spread all over the place.

When IPB 3.2.0 comes out it is going to be a tidier faster and easier interface to use, Facebook is now taking a very large amount of boards down everyday, Xenforo is round the corner, in competion and they will not add any bloat at all, to keep their software clean.

I for one have 5 IPB items costing quite a bit of money, and if IPB don't stop installing peoples whimsical bloat, I will for one be looking elsewhere for my forum. IPB are by far way above the rest, but there seems now we have a lot that want to drag it down.

Come on IPB wake up, if people want these little additions, let them pay for them, I don't want them, and neither do a lot of others, so why should I be forced to install it on my computer when I don't want it. :thumbsup:

[Ryan H.]

I am also annoyed at the amount of paid mods that there are in the IP Marketplace now all made by people I have never heard of, even the Marketplace is now getting bloated and everything spread all over the place.

I don't believe I've ever heard someone complain about there being too many modifications before.

[iJeff]

I am really interested in this mod and willing to fork out $15 however unfortunately i don't have paypal. I can pay with MoneyBookers though. Please let me know Ryan!

[TSilva]

More Bloat, just because you get it in VB and free forums does not mean you should demand it in IPB we have done without it from the inception of IPB, and to be honest why is it that people that have migrated to IPB from VB are the ones demanding all these features, because they had them before. There are other users of this software as well as yourself ,and many of us are getting sick of all these whimsical add ons which we then have to disable. I for one see no need for them, I think they are tacky and do not enhance the board one little bit.

If anyone wants it so bad buy it, at least then you have it from choice, and I am not forced to have it when I don't want it. I am also annoyed at the amount of paid mods that there are in the IP Market place now all made by people I have never heard of, even the Marketplace is now getting bloated and everything spread all over the place.

When IPB 3.2.0 comes out it is going to be a tidier faster and easier interface to use, Facebook is now taking a very large amount of boards down everyday, Xenforo is round the corner, in competion and they will not add any bloat at all, to keep their software clean.

I for one have 5 IPB items costing quite a bit of money, and if IPB don't stop installing peoples whimsical bloat, I will for one be looking elsewhere for my forum. IPB are by far way above the rest, but there seems now we have a lot that want to drag it down.

Come on IPB wake up, if people want these little additions, let them pay for them, I don't want them, and neither do a lot of others, so why should I be forced to install it on my computer when I don't want it. :thumbsup:

If you have such an issue with software bloat then you shouldnt be using IPS suite in the first place, as the developers are constantly adding features or creating new software. Which is a good thing.

Every time I see the developer blogs I get dismayed.... not for the high percetange of features I could care less about, but for the lack of features I COULD USE.
It blows my mind people will actively rant against features just because they have no use for them and tell all the people who do want to just suck it up. If this feature was so unimportant you wouldnt have such a big discussion about it in the first place.
God forbid you have to ignore a setting or at best spend 2 minutes turning it off for the sake of the various people which could have their communities improved by it. A feature which somewhat existed back in IPB 2, mind you.

Like others pointed out, I wouldnt mind buying the mod as it would solve one of my problems. But once support gets discontinued... then what?