Topic Prefixes - Are they coming or not?

[Zhana]

True.

[openfire]

Looks pretty conclusive to me. Users want topic prefixes. :thumbsup:

I bought the mod and it's great... I have no idea why it isn't a core feature.

[Ryan H.]

But once support gets discontinued... then what?

It's impossible for anyone to make guarantees--who knows the future--but for what it's worth, I have no plans to discontinue support. I can say with some certainty it's going to work with 3.2, though, which means at least a year into the future if not significantly more.


It's very unfortunate that so many people view community resources in this light.

[openfire]

It's impossible for anyone to make guarantees--who knows the future--but for what it's worth, I have no plans to discontinue support. I can say with some certainty it's going to work with 3.2, though, which means at least a year into the future if not significantly more.

It's very unfortunate that so many people view community resources in this light.

Ryan, this is a major concern for a lot of admins. I'm organizing a new forum around your mod, so if you stop supporting it, I would be totally screwed. It's a calculated risk, but a risk I'm willing to make because your mod is that important to the structure of my new forum. I must admit, the prospect of relying so heavily on a modification that may or may not be supported or compatible with future forum updates gives me a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.

While I don't feel there is any urgency or immediate need for IPS to add topic prefixes to the core now since it is a well supported existing modification, I would feel a lot better if IPS would announce that topic prefixes will be added to the core product in the event that the modification is abandoned. This way you can continue to develop, sell and support it, but if and when you do move on to other things, IPS would step in and add it to the core. Win win for everyone involved.

[Calvin39]

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?

I see your point, but you must also see mine I should not have to switch it off, I should not be forced to install it in the first place, if someone wants it then they can pay for it and it is always if, if, if they do not stay around, how do you know they wont. You say

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

is that not exactly the same for people who don't want them. Its an either or, at the moment you can buy it and therefore it solves both problems and we don't have to keep installing things just to suit some.

A lot on this forum asked for a drop down menu because there was not enough room on the main nav bar, no matter how much we asked it was a no no, I had to pay a hell of a lot to someone to make the mod for me, and gave him permission to sell it if he wished, he looks after me now everytime there is an update I get it first. There are lots of things we would like, I have been waiting now for 3 years for documentation telling the less blessed forum users how to use IP Content we were promised it and never got it.

I got stung myself on here when I bought 2 mods from the same writer costing me $25.oo each both of the mods did not do what he said they would, he then disappeared, I took it on the chin, there was no point in crying about spilt milk. Its always going to happen. There are also modders on here that would rip you off as fast as they get the money off of you. However there are some good ones I personally buy from 5 because I can trust them, but I wont use any others.

Ryan H

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

I wasn't complaining about the amount mate, I was commenting on the lack of quality mods now for the price being charged, and a lot of skins that are no use to man nor beast and that the whole area needs an overhaul.

[Calvin39]

Looks pretty conclusive to me. Users want topic prefixes. :thumbsup:

I bought the mod and it's great... I have no idea why it isn't a core feature.

What 19 votes :whistle: how many don't want it and cant be bothered to vote

[Ocean West]

Ryan, your not alone - even commercial software ( FileMaker / Adobe / etc ) has a lot of API's for plugins and feature enhancements.

There will always be a group of users ( end users and developers ) who shun the use of them because of a pre-conceived notion that its' not 'official' to the main program and support is only by the third party provider (usually one individual) not the parent company in this case (IPS), what happens if you get hit by a bus, loose interest, etc.

Many just complain about pricing because its an 'out of pocket' un budgeted expense, or feel that it should be part of main features of the primary product
but fail to realize the magnitude to include that in the main solution, and at what impact that poses to product cycle releases and overall pricing, of upgrade or new pricing.

I know its each admin's decision to choose to employ such modifications ( paid or free ) - each must evaluate the needs vs risk assessment,
does this feature make my users happier, more efficient - will it make my site grow? more people can help shoulder the cost burden with a donation or other revenue generating model.

As a developer you become target of attrition when your feature that may earn you a revenue eventually makes its way in to the core feature in the product.
It's an endless cat & mouse game.

[Calvin39]

Ryan, your not alone - even commercial software ( FileMaker / Adobe / etc ) has a lot of API's for plugins and feature enhancements.

There will always be a group of users ( end users and developers ) who shun the use of them because of a pre-conceived notion that its' not 'official' to the main program and support is only by the third party provider (usually one individual) not the parent company in this case (IPS), what happens if you get hit by a bus, loose interest, etc.

Many just complain about pricing because its an 'out of pocket' un budgeted expense, or feel that it should be part of main features of the primary product

but fail to realize the magnitude to include that in the main solution, and at what impact that poses to product cycle releases and overall pricing, of upgrade or new pricing.

I know its each admin's decision to choose to employ such modifications ( paid or free ) - each must evaluate the needs vs risk assessment,

does this feature make my users happier, more efficient - will it make my site grow? more people can help shoulder the cost burden with a donation or other revenue generating model.

As a developer you become target of attrition when your feature that may earn you a revenue eventually makes its way in to the core feature in the product.

Very well said :thumbsup:

[TSilva]

I see your point, but you must also see mine I should not have to switch it off, I should not be forced to install it in the first place,

You wouldn't have to install it. It would be just there in an upgrade. Just like with every new feature they introduce.
It's a non-issue for the people who have no need for it.

It's very unfortunate that so many people view community resources in this light.

Mostly from bad experience, so can you blame us?
But on the other hand, you should feel proud about creating a piece of software so many people are adamant to be integrated into the core.

For me its hardly a financial matter and I agree completely with what openfire posted. It seems all the naysayers are completely unaware of how much difference such a feature can make in a forum. It can downright dictate how threads are made and organized if you wish to implement it. If I were to use the mod and suddenly it drops support, then I would have "painted myself into a corner".
Having IPS at least acknowledge the need would instill some confidence in the purchase.

[Maxxius]

I gonna go offtopic a bit here, but how come there's not a single post of any IPS Team member. Seems to me these guys never miss a thread and now there's none of them here :D I find that suspicious.

[Calvin39]

TSilva

You still keep saying there are loads who want it but there clearly is not, and it is an issue for people, if they dont want it, your saying they don't upgrade why should we not upgrade just so you can have something that is not cost effective to impliment, as far as I can see you have got it in your brain that you are going to convince IPS that they must install it in the core, but believe me no matter how much you moan and rant about it, you are on a losing crusade. Whether you believe me or not, if you don't like it you can always go back to vB we are quite happy with the product the way it is, and I say we as that is the concensus of most people on these forums.

Maxxius

Staff do not visit threads unless they wish to make a comment or close them or someone reports the content, obviously they don't feel this subject deserves a comment, considering its in the wrong place anyway. The title alone Topic Prefixes - Are they coming or not? tells you that it is not customer feedback, it is a software request.

[Ocean West]

I just made a blog proposal here... hopefully some good feedback can come of it.

http://community.invisionpower.com/blog/3423/entry-5771-ips-plan-b-proposal/

[TSilva]

your saying they don't upgrade why should we not upgrade just so you can have something that is not cost effective to impliment,

That made no sense whatsoever.
Since when do they add single features in an upgrade?
Where did I say they shouldnt upgrade?
You are saying people would need to do an unnecessary install. I'm pointing out it would be bundled in a regular upgrade and you wouldnt even notice its there unless you want to use it.

if you don't like it you can always go back to vB we are quite happy with the product the way it is,

I love how you are now jumping into assumptions about me (are we gonna make this personal?) and how you now speak in behalf of everyone.

Are feature proposals about people who dont need it or the ones who do? Why are you demonizing people who are just exercising their rights as paying customers?

If its such an unimportant feature no one wants then how come it generated two threads, one being a poll and this one being 4 pages? And its not even the first time this I seen such a feature mentioned.

How do you know people wouldnt use it if it was integrated? How do you know its not cost-effective? There are many current features I could argue the same thing.

[iJeff]

I badly needed this mod and worst thing is that I made Ryan to sign up for Moneybooker and it turned out they don't support payments to US users as well, Paypal is already not supporting my country. (Pakistan).... is there a way IPB uses their payment gateway for the IPS market as well :/ and then credit to developers!!! I am bit upset over this!!!

[Mat Barrie]

I badly needed this mod and worst thing is that I made Ryan to sign up for Moneybooker and it turned out they don't support payments to US users as well, Paypal is already not supporting my country. (Pakistan).... is there a way IPB uses their payment gateway for the IPS market as well :/ and then credit to developers!!! I am bit upset over this!!!

That's called "factoring", and credit card processors don't allow it without prior permission (which since it makes you higher risk, they charge you higher fees on all your transactions unless you're a gigantic company like eBay or Apple). So I am pretty confident the answer to your question is "no".

You could try AlertPay? They don't exclude Pakistan according to their legal agreements page.

[LeadCrow]

Basing your livelihood on features that easily can join the core featureset any moment is bad risk assesment in the first place.
Even moreso with valuable basic functionalty. IPB still needs to provide a way for users of others scripts to migrate to IPB (not migrating prefixes would count in my book as data loss across migrations). For forums that significantly rely on prefixes, that alone would be a showstopper.

If you hate profixes, by all means dont use them, just as any other feature you dont feel like using (and which still dont constitue "bloat"). Its not like an installer for this mod is being snuck into IPB packages and needing to be separately installed.

Much more valuable functionalty was available as mods (commercial ones, even), and that didnt stop IPS from introducing the same, nor should it have, after all.

[iJeff]

Thanks Kyanar!!! Just signed up for alertpay it would take couple of weeks before my cc get verified!!! Thanks again for your suggestion.

[Jeuhen]

@Gerry:

Simple solution: Develop the feature to be off by default, simple right?

Love the way IPB is or go back to vB is not the way to discuss things Gerry. We
as a community are just throwing ideas to the IPB developers (which i think they appreciate)
about stuff they could implement in their software.

Prefixes might not be important to some and they might be to others. Imagine yourself
a website based on IBP where people are talking about graphics. And they'd have a forum
called "Resources". What if they don't want to create tons of subforums, but instead have
threads prefixed with [PSD] [PNG] [BMP] [PS] [AI] etc. they would need such a feature.

Such a modification would not take tons of filespace and should be fairly easy to make.

No, most people don't care if there were to be such a thing, but it just adds a tiny bit of
functionality to the already great software IP.Board is today.

Have the setting off by default and you won't even notice it Gerry. Expressing your opinion
is fine, but making such a big deal that it should not be a feature is not needed / wanted.

[Calvin39]

Gerry when i saw your reply to this topic i thought you almost were raging.

Simple solution: Develop the feature to be off by default, simple right?

Not raging at all mate, what would I rage about. All I have done is merely pointed out my dislike of prefixes. And as we have had them before and people didn't want them they were removed in version 3.

I personally will not join any community now that I have to give my personal info to gain access, one of the reasons why communities are failing, and are flooding to facebook. And of course the way they are run in some forums, I pay for my software just like everyone else, and therefore I am entitled to my opinion just like everyone else, IPS do not issue separate pieces of software, if they add anything it is added to an update release therefore it is dowloaded on upgrade.

Now yes if it is off by default then yes I could live with that. if it would make you happy. :) :)

[openfire]

I personally will not join any community now that I have to give my personal info to gain access, one of the reasons why communities are failing, and are flooding to facebook.

Not trying to be smart, but what does the above have to do with prefixes?

[Calvin39]

Not trying to be smart, but what does the above have to do with prefixes?

I already gave my answer and finished my point, you say you are not being smart, but I think you are, if you were not you would not have asked the question, you are just trying to get that last little quip in, well guess what I'm not biting. :rolleyes:

[openfire]

I already gave my answer and finished my point, you say you are not being smart, but I think you are, if you were not you would not have asked the question, you are just trying to get that last little quip in, well guess what I'm not biting. :rolleyes:

I asked the question because I didn't and still don't understand what personal information and/or facebook have to do with prefixes. Re-read what you wrote, it makes no sense whatsoever... maybe if you re-word it I would understand what you were trying to get at... or don't -- no big deal.

Does the following make sense to anyone else? Am I having a blond moment here?

... And as we have had them before and people didn't want them they were removed in version 3.

I personally will not join any community now that I have to give my personal info to gain access, one of the reasons why communities are failing, and are flooding to facebook. And of course the way they are run in some forums, I pay for my software just like everyone else, and therefore I am entitled to my opinion just like everyone else, IPS do not issue separate pieces of software, if they add anything it is added to an update release therefore it is dowloaded on upgrade.

[Ryan H.]

Guys, there's no need to bicker.

[Calvin39]

Im not bickering mate, I am treating it with the contempt it deserves, you always get one. I was referring to people going to facebook because of all the crap that is being added to forums all the time. It is killing forum boards every day because people don't want things they are not going to use, it makes the software bigger, longer to load, and takes more disk space which we have to pay for..

I give it another year and there will be no boards, or if there is there would hardly be any members on them to speak of. And I was also referring to the little Hitlers who run them, killing off their own forums with all their stupid little rules.

[optrexnz]

Guys, there's no need to bicker.

agree
the topic is going way off course and a new version has also started here
time to can this one