Requesting Help for Invision-Based forum

[Rayfield Lumina]

Greetings.

I recently joined the community in the hope of getting some help. My apologies in advance for my ignorance, I don't understand much about forums, plugins etc.

The community/forum I come from is called Yu-Gi-Oh! Card Maker, and uses the board system provided by Invision

https://www.cardmaker.net/yugioh/

What I'd like to ask is about plugins (if that's the right term for what I'm going to ask). During a discussion in one of our threads, I learned that there are a number of features that can be implemented in the site, but they seem to be unavailable inherently in the configuration, since the admin of the forum mentioned that they'd be willing to implement them should we bring links to the required plugins to do so. I'm talking about specifics such as:

* The addition of User Groups. This includes VIP user groups and the possibility of having your own name appear in the member list with a different color.

* A site shop where you can can purchase things like Pins for your threads, Background Images in your Profile, among others.

* Background music in your profile (perhaps featured itself in the Shop)

* A "marriage system"

* Additional "Reaction" types. I've noticed in this very site there is a "Meow" reaction, while we're limited to the classic Like/Thanks/Haha/Sad/Confused reactions.

I really don't know if the admin has access to any of these features as I'm a normal member, but if such things are possible (many of which were available at some point in the history of the site, but currently aren't) I'd like help to know how or where to obtain them.

Finally, I'm unsure if this is the kind of post I'm expected to do here. I'm sorry if I failed to post this in the right section.

Thanks in advance for any help provided.

[Adriano Faria]

47 minutes ago, Rayfield Lumina said:

A site shop where you can can purchase things like Pins for your threads, Background Images in your Profile, among others

 

48 minutes ago, Rayfield Lumina said:

Background music in your profile

 

49 minutes ago, Rayfield Lumina said:

The addition of User Groups. This includes VIP user groups and the possibility of having your own name appear in the member list with a different color.

Additional "Reaction" types. I've noticed in this very site there is a "Meow" reaction, while we're limited to the classic Like/Thanks/Haha/Sad/Confused reactions.

You don’t need plugins for these. You can do both in your Admin CP.

- Reactions:

 

- Groups:

 

[Chris Anderson]

43 minutes ago, Rayfield Lumina said:

What I'd like to ask is about plugins (if that's the right term for what I'm going to ask).

Plugins and Apps can be found here:

Downloads - Invision Community

Help Guides can be found here:

In addition to reading through the forums you can learn more about the platform by reading the company blogs:

Invision Community Blog - Invision Community

I would also recommend using the search function to see if any questions you may have in the future have already been answered by the IPS staff or other members. Sometimes you might find a thread that answers your question, and sometimes you won't, but it tends to be worth the effort overall.

This suite is highly configurable, but alas not every single option has a tutorial on how to set it up.  Many settings in one section of the ACP may impact other functionality so it's best not to make changes to the default settings without some thought as to the possible consequences.  I would recommend setting up a test server to try out things and when you are confident that a new feature works for your environment you implement it on your live server. 

Also note that some features like "Achievements" and reactions are setup for you on install. These features may or may not work for your community using the default settings so you may have to tweak them to work for you.

Often times admins think they know their community better than they actually do, as such, I would recommend working closely with your community to ensure the platform you develop works well for them.

[Jim M]

As mentioned by others, some of these are available in the core software like member groups and changing the reaction images/names/points to what you want. Outside of that, there are third party applications/plugins in our Marketplace which you can easily install via the ACP which meet your needs to the other questions you had.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

[Rayfield Lumina]

22 hours ago, Adriano Faria said:

 

 

You don’t need plugins for these. You can do both in your Admin CP.

- Reactions:

 

- Groups:

 

This is absolutely amazing, it contains pretty much every single item I mentioned! Thanks you very much, I'll be sure to show this to the admin of my community. I'm starting to understand better how these features work, and I'm delighted to find out that, while some have a fee, some others are included in the Admin CP, ready to be implemented. Very exciting!

22 hours ago, Chris Anderson said:

Plugins and Apps can be found here:

Downloads - Invision Community

Help Guides can be found here:

 

Now, this is something that exceeds my expectations, an entire shop filled with plugins and apps I didn't even know existed. I'm feeling somewhat overwhelmed right now by the possibilities, it's like discovering an entire new world! Sorry if I sound to naive, hehe, I'm too new to all this.

22 hours ago, Chris Anderson said:

In addition to reading through the forums you can learn more about the platform by reading the company blogs:

Invision Community Blog - Invision Community

I would also recommend using the search function to see if any questions you may have in the future have already been answered by the IPS staff or other members. Sometimes you might find a thread that answers your question, and sometimes you won't, but it tends to be worth the effort overall.

I'll be sure to have a look around the blog.

Excellent advice, I should have started by doing using thevsearch function. I must confess our own Search system seems to be a bit off, sometimes results you expect to come by do not, or particularly old content is unavaible. Reason for me not considering using it in the first place n.n''.

22 hours ago, Chris Anderson said:

This suite is highly configurable, but alas not every single option has a tutorial on how to set it up.  Many settings in one section of the ACP may impact other functionality so it's best not to make changes to the default settings without some thought as to the possible consequences.  I would recommend setting up a test server to try out things and when you are confident that a new feature works for your environment you implement it on your live server. 

Also note that some features like "Achievements" and reactions are setup for you on install. These features may or may not work for your community using the default settings so you may have to tweak them to work for you.

Often times admins think they know their community better than they actually do, as such, I would recommend working closely with your community to ensure the platform you develop works well for them.

Mmm... sounds a little concerning, but understandable. I remember the admin mentioning once or twice that their priority was to keep the system running smoothly rather than implementing something that might cause trouble, so we'll have to see step by step what can be done. Trying out configurations on a "dummy" server sounds like the way to go. Thanks a lot for all the help!

13 hours ago, Jim M said:

As mentioned by others, some of these are available in the core software like member groups and changing the reaction images/names/points to what you want. Outside of that, there are third party applications/plugins in our Marketplace which you can easily install via the ACP which meet your needs to the other questions you had.

Please let us know if we can be of further assistance.

Yes, I'm more than happy with the assistance provided so far, I'll report this to the admin in the hope that he finds these news attractive so he decides to implement some of the available features for the bettering of our community, so I'll take up on your offer and keep in contact as we discuss these ideas and any other doubts arise. Thank you!