Jump to content

IPB missing some basic elements of a forum


FXAff

Recommended Posts

Posted

I find it hard to believe that IPB has failed to include some basic forum functionality such as limiting guest views providing a sticky message, automatically send a message when a post has been replied to and so on.

I know its much cheaper than VBulletin but hey shouldn't these be the most basic of requirements?

I'm finding it hard to find a mod that limits the guest views. The one that is available has a $10 price tag + no response from the dev if it is compatible with 3.2.3

Posted

What you consider a basic feature, others may consider bloated/useless functionality. There is only so much IPB can include by default but there are alternatives.

Search the IPS Marketplace for mods/hooks that do what you want. If you can't find a mod, request it in the modification request forum so modders/contributors know about your idea. In some cases a hook may not be able to do what you want but you can add customizations with file/template edits as well.

Posted

Hello.

If you follow a topic then you receive a notification if its been replied to. You can also personalize notifications so you receive one when your post is quoted. You can also set it so that you automatically following topics you reply to.

In my opinion IP.Board is very friendly and non-intrusive towards the end user. The features you want, while nice for administrators, are things I hate to see when browsing a site.

Posted

automatically send a message when a post has been replied to and so on.

I thought it did that already, replies to topics/posts, when your post is quoted etc etc have you checked your settings?

In regards to guests you can set that so guests can see nothing, see all, see just the first topics etc certainly enough guest settings for me but maybe you should expand your needs a bit

Sticky topic, do you mean pinned topics or announcements both of which are standard. If you want to display a message only to guests there is a great one in marketplace
Posted

I find it hard to believe that IPB has failed to include some basic forum functionality such as limiting guest views providing a sticky message, automatically send a message when a post has been replied to and so on.



I know its much cheaper than VBulletin but hey shouldn't these be the most basic of requirements?



I'm finding it hard to find a mod that limits the guest views. The one that is available has a $10 price tag + no response from the dev if it is compatible with 3.2.3




You cannot limit the number of times a guest can view something, but you can limit what guests can view. Perhaps you should clarify what you are attempting to accomplish?

IP.Board supports pinned topics (that "stick" at the top of the listing) as well as announcements (that appear about the topic listings).

IP.Board can notify you when people reply to topics you follow. You just need to toggle some preferences.
Posted

What if I don't want my board to have any of those features? Many things are best left as mods.




Clearly IPS should consult with each new customer and tailor a version of IP.Board specifically to their individual needs, with just the features they need and none of the extra stuff they don't want. What do you say IPS? You can pull that off, right?
Posted

You cannot limit the number of times a guest can view something, but you can limit what guests can view. Perhaps you should clarify what you are attempting to accomplish?



IP.Board supports pinned topics (that "stick" at the top of the listing) as well as announcements (that appear about the topic listings).



IP.Board can notify you when people reply to topics you follow. You just need to toggle some preferences.




From what I gather, IPB leaves a lot of options to the user to select. While this may be good as what you call 'non intrusive' the problem is that not all users are net savvy.. let alone take the time to configure their settings correctly.

It took me a while to come back to this thread because I just couldn't find 'threads I started or replied' or something similar which has a log of all my discussion activity in the forums.

Regarding guest views.. I know that I can make a forum protected and maybe set the access to only users with 5 posts or more (or something similar) However, giving the choice between either total access or no access is a bit too harsh. From a marketing standpoint, i'd want my forum visitors to get a taste of the forum discussions before shutting down the access as prompting them to register.

I am aware of the Mod in the market place about limit guest views. But as mentioned, the dev hasn't replied to my response if it supports 3.2.3
Posted

From what I gather, IPB leaves a lot of options to the user to select. While this may be good as what you call 'non intrusive' the problem is that not all users are net savvy.. let alone take the time to configure their settings correctly.



It took me a while to come back to this thread because I just couldn't find 'threads I started or replied' or something similar which has a log of all my discussion activity in the forums.


[...]


In ACP -> Members -> Notification Defaults the admin is able to decide which and how notifications are sent to a new user.

Click on your name and "My Content", really difficult, I know :wink:
Posted

Thanks. Yep the guest views limit does work finally. And noticed an increase of +2 registrations since yesterday. Its a great hook and a must for every IPB webmaster.

Posted

From what I gather, IPB leaves a lot of options to the user to select. While this may be good as what you call 'non intrusive' the problem is that not all users are net savvy.. let alone take the time to configure their settings correctly.



It took me a while to come back to this thread because I just couldn't find 'threads I started or replied' or something similar which has a log of all my discussion activity in the forums.



Regarding guest views.. I know that I can make a forum protected and maybe set the access to only users with 5 posts or more (or something similar) However, giving the choice between either total access or no access is a bit too harsh. From a marketing standpoint, i'd want my forum visitors to get a taste of the forum discussions before shutting down the access as prompting them to register.



I am aware of the Mod in the market place about limit guest views. But as mentioned, the dev hasn't replied to my response if it supports 3.2.3




Again, Click your username and then "My Content"

This shows all the topics you have participated in.

Like you say, IPB is cheaper than VB by a long way and in my opinion IPB has more than it's fair share of features for the price.
Posted

Thanks. Yep the guest views limit does work finally. And noticed an increase of +2 registrations since yesterday. Its a great hook and a must for every IPB webmaster.




I imagine it would decrease traffic though..?
Posted

I imagine it would decrease traffic though..?




I set it to 4 views + enabled on topics. This way visitors can still see the forum index and full topics (4 times) and after that are prompted to register.

On another note, I guess I was a bit too quick to judge IPB. Its been a few days now and i'm totally loving the system. Kind of similar to wordpress. Love the hooks and the mods. There's a small learning curve but beyond that its a breeze.
Posted

Thanks. Yep the guest views limit does work finally. And noticed an increase of +2 registrations since yesterday. Its a great hook and a must for every IPB webmaster.




A must for every IPB webmaster? I think not, I don't like limiting what my guests can view, especially since Spiders are considered guests and if you limit what they can view, then you don't have a good chance getting a good page rank etc.
Posted

Modification author claims it does not block spiders (bots).




I wasnt talking about the mod, I was talking about if it was to be implemented into the IP.Board core.
Posted

From what I gather, IPB leaves a lot of options to the user to select. While this may be good as what you call 'non intrusive' the problem is that not all users are net savvy.. let alone take the time to configure their settings correctly.



It took me a while to come back to this thread because I just couldn't find 'threads I started or replied' or something similar which has a log of all my discussion activity in the forums.



Regarding guest views.. I know that I can make a forum protected and maybe set the access to only users with 5 posts or more (or something similar) However, giving the choice between either total access or no access is a bit too harsh. From a marketing standpoint, i'd want my forum visitors to get a taste of the forum discussions before shutting down the access as prompting them to register.



I am aware of the Mod in the market place about limit guest views. But as mentioned, the dev hasn't replied to my response if it supports 3.2.3




View New Content:
By time period
  • Content I have not read
  • New since my last visit
  • Past 24 hours
  • Past week
  • Past 2 weeks
  • Past month
  • Past 6 months
  • Past year

Other
  • Just items I follow
  • Items I participated in
  • Items I started
  • Filter by forum

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...