Big Board Subforum for admins of large sites

[CCJD]

IPB is becoming the only viable solution at the moment for Big Board Owners.

Its looks for a good portion IPB is embracing that with respects to responses with the new versions coming out.

Support has been very helpful via ticket, but the advice from other Big Board Owners is invaluable.

Being completely new, and unfamiliar with IPB makes it hard to switch my sites over, so best practices, etc is really going to make the transition easier on me, and the members.

[Alfa1]

One thing I'm not understanding - the argument was put forth that a private big board section would be beneficial, then in the same posts it's pointed out that it would show we care about big boards and their needs. If the section is private, it really doesn't, since only existing (big board) clients would see it. Just wanted to point that out.

It possible to show that that the forums are there and the number of topics/posts, but not show the forum content.
Its also possible to have a big boards category with a few subforums: private forum(s) for security, policy and public forum(s) for technical advise and articles.

[Aiwa]

It possible to show that that the forums are there and the number of topics/posts, but not show the forum content.
Its also possible to have a big boards category with a few subforums: private forum(s) for security, policy and public forum(s) for technical advise and articles.

It is, but another part of Brandon's post explained a key point....

Most big board owners don't visit these forums... They have their own server support staff or use the ticket system exclusively... In that case, those big board owners would never see the forum...

[PTD]

It is, but another part of Brandon's post explained a key point....

Most big board owners don't visit these forums... They have their own server support staff or use the ticket system exclusively... In that case, those big board owners would never see the forum...

That's something you wouldn't really know for sure unless it's given a chance. In fact, the most helpful community of forum admins that I know of is populated by those type who have their own staff, etc., and I know a number of people like myself who are deeply considering moving our forums onto IPB. It would be quite valuable to have a safe place to interact with serious forum owners who have more experience on this system. Whether that happens here, or in the other private admin forum that I'm referring to, I think everyone involved would benefit.

[flowerhornsorg]

IPB is becoming the only viable solution at the moment for Big Board Owners.

Its looks for a good portion IPB is embracing that with respects to responses with the new versions coming out.

Support has been very helpful via ticket, but the advice from other Big Board Owners is invaluable.

Being completely new, and unfamiliar with IPB makes it hard to switch my sites over, so best practices, etc is really going to make the transition easier on me, and the members.

Spot on. I dont think most people out there understand whats going on in the forum world or how it impacts a big board. Most Big Boards are on vb 3.x some took the jump to 4.x which is finally decent but vb5 is a joke. Xenforo is no longer a viable solution because who knows if they will be around and that leaves Invision. Lots of Big Boards are watching ipb closely and while there is private support and tickets that only helps that one individual. If there is no traction then close it down but you wont know unless you try. At worst it will look like Invision is trying to bridge that gap or things can continue like they are and Big Boards will not post publicly and handle a majority of their support privately benefiting just them.

[Makoto]

That's something you wouldn't really know for sure unless it's given a chance. In fact, the most helpful community of forum admins that I know of is populated by those type who have their own staff, etc., and I know a number of people like myself who are deeply considering moving our forums onto IPB. It would be quite valuable to have a safe place to interact with serious forum owners who have more experience on this system. Whether that happens here, or in the other private admin forum that I'm referring to, I think everyone involved would benefit.

That's the point though. You don't need a private forum to do that. To the contrary, you'd have less of a chance to find helpful people to interact with since you're instantaneously shutting off the vast majority of the community here.

This is a safe place. It's full of knowlegeable individuals, not all of which have hugely popular communities. Example, a lot of hook/application developers here do not operate massive communities. A lot of them probably simply don't have the time to manage a large community and work on developing software extensions for IPB at the same time, but that obviously doesn't make them any less knowledgeable or helpful to you.

[PTD]

That's the point though. You don't need a private forum to do that. To the contrary, you'd have less of a chance to find helpful people to interact with since you're instantaneously shutting off the vast majority of the community here.

This is a safe place. It's full of knowlegeable individuals, not all of which have hugely popular communities. Example, a lot of hook/application developers here do not operate massive communities. A lot of them probably simply don't have the time to manage a large community and work on developing software extensions for IPB at the same time, but that obviously doesn't make them any less knowledgeable or helpful to you.

You bring up a couple of things that actually make a private forum very useful, first of all we can avoid the kind of hate and negativity that you've been throwing at me throughout this thread (and really, why are you doing that?). Second, we can discuss and recommend developers we've worked with in the past without fearing that we'll hurt anyone's feelings. With some of the customizations I'd be needing if I'm going to move any of my big boards onto IPB, I'd like to have some real recommendations for developers, and it's hard to get unbiased views on stuff like that in an open forum without it turning into a flame war.

[• Jay •]

You bring up a couple of things that actually make a private forum very useful, first of all we can avoid the kind of hate and negativity that you've been throwing at me throughout this thread (and really, why are you doing that?). Second, we can discuss and recommend developers we've worked with in the past without fearing that we'll hurt anyone's feelings. With some of the customizations I'd be needing if I'm going to move any of my big boards onto IPB, I'd like to have some real recommendations for developers, and it's hard to get unbiased views on stuff like that in an open forum without it turning into a flame war.

Marcher Tech, if he's taking on projects.

Ditto Michael, also a busy guy though.

[Makoto]

You keep saying I'm being hateful when I'm not. My last response to you was entirely neutral toned. I have no clue what your issue is, honestly.

Also, I think it's been established that a "big boards only forum" wouldn't let you escape me, since I could likely apply for membership to such a forum if I wanted. :tongue:

[PTD]

You keep saying I'm being hateful when I'm not. My last response to you was entirely neutral toned. I have no clue what your issue is, honestly.

Also, I think it's been established that a "big boards only forum" wouldn't let you escape me, since I could likely apply for membership to such a forum if I wanted. :tongue:

Well, I guess that depends on how "elitist" the gatekeepers would want to be. But, to be honest, I'm never one to hold a grudge and whenever/wherever you go ahead and drop the hateful approach, I'm happy to talk shop.

[Aiwa]

You bring up a couple of things that actually make a private forum very useful, first of all we can avoid the kind of hate and negativity that you've been throwing at me throughout this thread (and really, why are you doing that?). Second, we can discuss and recommend developers we've worked with in the past without fearing that we'll hurt anyone's feelings. With some of the customizations I'd be needing if I'm going to move any of my big boards onto IPB, I'd like to have some real recommendations for developers, and it's hard to get unbiased views on stuff like that in an open forum without it turning into a flame war.

I don't think any developers would get hurt if they weren't recommended... Just means they need to work a little harder to be the one that does get recommended...

As with any debate, there are those FOR and those AGAINST. Throwing around words such as hate and negativity about someone who is on the other side of the fence is hardly fair.

You're stuck on the idea that the small board owners that are on shared servers that don't know anything about server management would even care what goes on in a big board forum... Realistically, I doubt they would even read a single topic in that forum until they run into an issue that requires that section... I can tell you I've only visited the Server Management and Optimization forum a handful of times...

[Rimi]

You bring up a couple of things that actually make a private forum very useful, first of all we can avoid the kind of hate and negativity that you've been throwing at me throughout this thread (and really, why are you doing that?). Second, we can discuss and recommend developers we've worked with in the past without fearing that we'll hurt anyone's feelings. With some of the customizations I'd be needing if I'm going to move any of my big boards onto IPB, I'd like to have some real recommendations for developers, and it's hard to get unbiased views on stuff like that in an open forum without it turning into a flame war.

You really need to stop victimizing yourself. Just because someone doesn't agree with you doesn't mean they hate you. If anything you're being the negative one here. You're basically saying that people with small boards have inferior opinions. Furthermore you're suggesting that a private board would be beneficial because you can discuss developers without their knowledge and without hurting anyone's feelings which implies that you would actually be having negative discussions. No one has ever, in all my time at IPS, broken out into a flame war over recommending developers.

Well, I guess that depends on how "elitist" the gatekeepers would want to be. But, to be honest, I'm never one to hold a grudge and whenever/wherever you go ahead and drop the hateful approach, I'm happy to talk shop.

He is not being hateful towards you, he's disagreeing with you. If disagreement is the equivalent of hatred then you need to grow up.

[• Jay •]

Bah, IMG tags are borked.

[HeadStand]

Second, we can discuss and recommend developers we've worked with in the past without fearing that we'll hurt anyone's feelings. With some of the customizations I'd be needing if I'm going to move any of my big boards onto IPB, I'd like to have some real recommendations for developers, and it's hard to get unbiased views on stuff like that in an open forum without it turning into a flame war.

Speaking as a developer that wasn't recommended in that post a little further up, I'm not insulted at all (and no, that wasn't meant to be sarcastic). If people want to work with me, great. If they don't, that's fine too. It's their decision.

I've been "insulted" and "complimented" multiple times on these forums. There are plenty of members that like me, and a couple that don't. I'm sure there have been a couple of times that I've even lost my temper - I think you'll see that whenever you have a large number of people in the same place.

But seriously, you're worried about a developer turning it into a flame war? If that's the case, that developer is obviously not a professional, and you probably wouldn't want to work with them. A professional developer will happily provide you with references, a couple of example sites you can take a look at, etc, etc. You can also take a look at their support topics here to see what kind of quality you'd be getting (although you have to keep in mind that private clients usually take precedence over IPS Marketplace support, so minor delays are expected there).

Just my 2 cents. Heading back to my cave now....

[Tarquin]

If you're going to classify a big board by anything, why not just use their Alexa rank?

I've seen people on here who "forge" their forum stats just to give the illusion that their forum is popular and active. It's a shady and stupid tactic that almost never works, but it has been done.

I am not in support of this idea. Why? Because it's pointless. The idea that you need a special forum to cater just to you is silly. What about the members with big boards out there who mainly just lurk the forums and have no idea such a section exists? Or what about the membes with big boards that simply don't want to associate themselves with their personal forums here? How exactly do you audit all of these members to ensure they have communities up to your standards of a "big board?"

You don't need a special forum excluded from the rest of the community.

The notion that you don't want to have to post questions in public because you don't want to have to entertain John Smith's comments, since he only runs a forum with 100 members and 1,000 posts is the very definition of elitism. Sorry if I sound rude, but running a big board doesn't inherently make you automatically more knowledgeable than the rest of the community, though IPS seems to give me the impression they believe it does sometimes.

The last paragraph is perfect.

I just wanted to point out - we don't consider any clients "better" than any others. Badges are merely meant to recognize the efforts some clients make to further this community, not as a status symbol. Carry on.

^ This.

Why seperate everyone? Why do we need to have different levels of clients to cater to the big boys who want a private party zone? We all paid the same amount of money. If we buy addons (Which I happen to have most) then we all paid for them too. We also all pay the same renewal fees. A lot of us pay the same hosting fees, some smaller ones may pay more per member average if you want to look at it like that.

What makes you think that you are more special than anyone else because they havent managed to strike lucky? Or for that matter because someone else did strike lucky while their topic was relevant and now their site is, behind the scenes, virtually at a dead halt while a new member would see it as a booming community.

I work damn hard and deserve access to the resources on offer here, as do each and everyone one of you guys and everyone else who has kept silent on this topic. Although the OP has said he meant to insult, those who have kept petitioning this have, and it is fairly clear to anyone who reads your words. The staff here have created an equal community regardless of community site and it should stay that way unless people want to buy access into a high priority client group that would have access to a private sub section. Mention of money scared most of you off yet? Thought so. Perhaps you can buy a license and create this community yourself if you think that your opinions are worth so much that they be hidden from the general public? Create an exclusive community and offer advice there.

The idea will seperate groups of people in an unfair way. This isnt what IPS is known for, it's not what it should be known for. That is my say as a very very long standing customer.

[Rheddy]

The reason why I'm against a listing of big boards is because it creates an even bigger problem for fighting spammers. I've been using the IPB forum software since 2004 and I had never had a problem with spammers until IPS released the version 3 series. Since then, I've been innundated with registrations from spammers trying to figure out ways to get through the registration so they can spam my community. Since the release of IPB 3.0, I spend more time lookiing for safeguards and multi-level anti-spam features in case they break through some of them.

If such a list of IPB sites were to become made publcly available, it would increase that exposure. While I'm registered at a lot of forum communities, I don't make it a habit to identify my website by posting links to it everywhere ... the various search engines do that for me, by indexing my site. I receive new members due to people from all over the world who are searching for what my website covers. The community is so unique that just by searching for the subject matter of my site, it pops up as one of the top results.

I also try not to find myself in a position where my site is placed among lists with other websites that I might, or that the members of my community, might have objections to. I just don't think that such a directory, if it is to be created, should be made available to the general public perusing through the list. If anything, such a list should only be provided to developers, who are looking for tips or techniques on improving plugins or other developments for the IPS product line, and there are already plenty of communities who offer developer support, such as the official IPS support forums.

[blair]

You might be a big board owner if... You remember Sphinx 0.97 and before it was officially supported. You're familiar with InnoDB and Percona and are fanatical about database backups. You've tested enough CDNs to know that MaxCDN offers little benefit in areas where it could have the most impact, like Asia and Australia/NZ, while Edgecast does. If you have a dedicated server, or know too much about collocation and who has the best remote hands and feet. If you've moved your server(s) to the East coast to better serve your US and European traffic. If you use nginx, Litespeed or alternate web server. You pay a 3rd party to host your DNS. You've tested Cloudflare against Google PageSpeed. Have webpagetest.org in your bookmarks and know your score. Spend too much time worrying about spammers. Been hacked and lived to tell about it...

Big boards do have unique needs. I think a dedicated forum is a great idea. I don't think it needs to be private.

[Sonya*]

One thing I'm not understanding - the argument was put forth that a private big board section would be beneficial, then in the same posts it's pointed out that it would show we care about big boards and their needs. If the section is private, it really doesn't, since only existing (big board) clients would see it. Just wanted to point that out.

I have big board (over 1.3 mio visitors and over 13 Mio. impressions a month). I will not paste a link to my board in any open (or open to IPS Clients only) forum. Everyone can become a customer for small charge and then see the vulnerable information. E. g. we use nginx, we are hosted by ... we are... and so on. It is just a security problem and every big board manager who make his entire income with the board knows it.

Even Facebook is "reading" this forum right now. ;)

The vast majority of our "big board" clients actually do not utilize our forums here.

Yes, because there is no helpful information for us here. 90% of administrators cannot answer my questions. They give tips like "update you board immediately" or "uninstall all hooks and 3rd party modules" or "contact ticket support". Those tips are useless for big board administrator.

They contact us via tickets when they require our support

I do not use you ticket system as my board is NON-English, we have heavy customized skin (you would not believe it is IPS at first glance), we use own modules that are not translated in English, we run on nginx and so on. As I could see it is difficult for your supporters to understand how my community works. Ticket support was not really helpful for me, but I do not complain as it is really difficult to work with such customized solutions.

They ... have server management teams that manage the servers.

I have no team. I have just one freelance administrator. There is a big step between one-man-show and management teams. My freelance administrator still needs tips and advices from other admins.

I'm not sure how much use a big board only section would get, and if it's not used, there's not much point in having it. I would expect there would need to be significant interest from big board clients before we would set up such an area.

barber, as I have wrote above your board is not really helpful for large board administrators. If you create a new section you can see if it is needed. You have a list of all licenses in your system, pick out the large communities by Alexa and invite them to participate. If there is no interest, you can close the section, right?

For me - I eager to participate and to see what problems other large communities have, see how they solve them, give my experience and just discuss technologies (like sphinx, performance test, development environment, daily backup of over 10GB databases and so on) that are not relevant for small or middle-sized communities.

[Hardes Inc.]

Hello, I do not really need a new subforum for "Administrators large sites" because, that's what the forum "Community Administration Tips" ... I explain better:

• You can create a topic in the subforum "Community Administration Tips" which are suggestions and tips for administrators of large communities, and users involved in the discussion thread if you have any ideas or suggestions write and the topic author editing the issue will eventually (but must be a moderator or staff of IPS to create the thread) as if a normal user can not edit the post after x time
• Also, I think it would be easier to find hints and tips for large farms in google.

Sorry for my english, I use a translator.

[Aiwa]

Not quite what they are after Hardes. They want a place to discuss, in detail, server configurations etc. It's not necessarily for community administration tips. It's more for server and resource management.

At least that's what I'm hearing.

[Hardes Inc.]

Not quite what they are after Hardes. They want a place to discuss, in detail, server configurations etc. It's not necessarily for community administration tips. It's more for server and resource management.

At least that's what I'm hearing.

Hearing or reading? lol.

Well, I have not read the topic completely, only page 1 and 2 ... I think we should leave it to the IPS staff to analyze the suggestions and see if you need to place a subforum as applying for ... But users who agree with the subforum, can come together and create a community with forumatic phpBB forums.