Chat Is Back

[Elshara Silverheart]

"It's true. IPS is bringing back the chat feature. Complete with-"

Hang on a second, I'm sorry to disappoint...

"With the switch from IPBoard to IPS community suite, we've decided to skip chat entirely and shut down the service for existing IPBoard V3 account holders."

Thanks but, no thanks. Lets bring chat back!

Five reasons why:

1. Guess who you're paying for integration if IPS has no chat?

1.1. Comet chat. Bad company, terrible support, third party cloud platforms costing more than the highest IPS plan for starters.

Considering that company originated from a VBulletin mod, that's pretty shady.

1.2. Arrow Chat. Better idea, but still flawed.

Besides its bad support, and look alike bar similar to Facebook, that chat app needs a database access detail. Not possible using IPS cloud software. And for good reason.

1.3. custom chat mods. They sound better, but they:

Aren't regularly updated. Usually involve some lesser known company. Usually involve heavy custom cloud fees per server. Usually put more strain on an already over bloated load time for IPS default modules. And aren't exclusive to IPs customers on a license that IPS could be apart of.

2. A non chat module involves more security data risks made by someone other than IPS than IPS themselves, because:

2.1. You never know what logs API requests.

2.2. Other cloud services would charge you for service even if you cancelled IPS.

2.3. Too many third party services have messy installation requirements just to integrate with an IPS database.

3. The same people who took chat away from us, took away the member list and adding people as friends. This made:

3.1. No separation between followers, custom lists, and list benefits distinctions.

3.2. List privacy controls based on user group and member specific options.

3.3. User engagement less of a priority overall. Based on forums which offered such to a limited extent to begin with.

3.4. Existing site owners unsure of much other than SEO placement looking a little neater.

So, the benefits of offering chat is:

1. Users dramatically increase the time they spend on site by talking to each other in real time.

2. Users can convert a chat conversation into an archived post, with user data posts as individual topic threads.

3. Forums could become a live chat conversation, with a key core emphasis on thread display and respecting user ignore options.

4. With custom rules, forums could also become a precursor to bots for easy access to common data types.

Basically, a chat is an auto refreshing Ajax data type. If added as a back bone to IPS suite, any app could turn into a chat solution. All that would need to be refreshed, is an activity stream which acted as a hybrid for posts to appear like a forum, but with the ability to reply to a post when in a group conversation by display controls.

this allows text itself to become a group, with each club or blog itself, having their own membership types.

It also allows nexus to have paid real time content. Something unheard of in the marketplace world.

This allows downloads to become a paid feature, with an exclusive focus on folder organization and file transfer abilities.

Gallery benefits also as a live player for custom media types if audio and documents as well as previews of streams and archived folders exist.

There's no down side to chat. Period. In fact, if IPS streamlined its core product offering into one simple forum with the ability to control how text, files and database structures are displayed in and of itself, chat could power certain parts of this indefinitely. this would also eliminate the need for custom notifications or private messages, if participants were locked to invitation systems already present in clubs now. IPS calendar gets a boost as well, because it would appear as a data type within the chat system to interact with. The same goes for followers on profiles, and the reputation likes system.

The best parts of IPS community suite now, relies on the connection point with the user. to send and receive information, but also to transfer information to other users. Chat is the epicenter focus for doing this in available moments of interaction based real time controls.

With an import system available, especially if it is tied in with custom database records, IPS content could empower itself as a data entry point for interaction based foundation. This way, forums would appear the same way articles do, but the CMS itself is how the data interacts with members, not how members respond to data terminals.

With chat, IPS would become totally limitless. I stand by this decision no matter what version IPS implements it into.

[AmericanRev2]

1. IPS is the company name IC is the software

2. The shout box now has a + edition

3. Anyone who really wanted a chat box has already moved to Discord integration

[Elshara Silverheart]

4 hours ago, fix3r said:

1. IPS is the company name IC is the software

2. The shout box now has a + edition

3. Anyone who really wanted a chat box has already moved to Discord integration

How do I say this without sounding critical?

Discord is for gamers. And shout boxes are for these social sites and making things feel like Facebook.

A good chat app lets you coordinate live on site meetings on sunday nights where you listen to a live stream and hang out with other members.

A good chat app will get you communicating beyond a text editor, and a few emails back and fourth to understand each other.

Chat has always been a staple for active, busy forums. It's a place to meet others who want to be met with. Whereas the forum is a place for people to learn information, and that's it.

They complement each other real well. Besides, we need a replacement for the PM system.

[ImpartialGeek]

On 5/5/2019 at 7:17 PM, Joshua O'Brien said:

Discord is for gamers. And shout boxes are for these social sites and making things feel like Facebook.

Discord is in no way JUST for gamers. We are not gamers and use it, and I know MANY content creators who use Discord for their communities as well. It has everything that you are looking for if you use apps to connect it to your community to bring members in based on their member levels on IPS. You should relook at Discord. 🙂 

[Day_]

5 hours ago, ImpartialGeek said:

Discord is in no way JUST for gamers. We are not gamers and use it, and I know MANY content creators who use Discord for their communities as well. It has everything that you are looking for if you use apps to connect it to your community to bring members in based on their member levels on IPS. You should relook at Discord. 🙂 

Might not be JUST for games, but they advertise it for gamers, even saying in their app blurb it is designed specifically for gamers with no mention of who else this app maybe suitable for.

The logo is also based off a controller.

Many users will see this and say nah, that’s not for me. 

[ImpartialGeek]

3 minutes ago, day_ said:

Might not be JUST for games, but they advertise it for gamers, even saying in their app blurb it is designed specifically for gamers with no mention of who else this app maybe suitable for.

The logo is also based off a controller.

Many users will see this and say nah, that’s not for me. 

Our users haven't had any issues at all, and none of them are gamers. They are all small business owners. Even older people (60+) are using it and liking it. 🙂 

[AmericanRev2]

Yeah i have hardened military veterans and far right wing people using it on my site. When something is superior they recognize that. Looks like there is no convincing someone who mentioned cometchat as an option.