• "Status Updates - The profile status updates system is a holdover from decades ago and will be removed in Invision Community 5."
  This is the NUMBER 1 feature on my site. It's literally my home page and everyone uses it. It's the only thing that bumps this software close to the age of social media. Most of my Gen Z audience won't touch the forums.

Edited February 2Feb 2 by SJ77

Maybe this app would help people missing status update:

ustatus

 

It should prevent people from joining with fake emails

Yeah, this really doesn't help with sites like:
DisposableMail | Disposable Temp Mail
YOPmail - Disposable Email Address - Anonymous and temporary inbox
Free Temporary Email - EmailOnDeck.com
Temp Mail - Disposable Temporary Email
Maildrop - Free Disposable Email Address

...and I just grabbed 5 from a Bing Search (OMG!!! I just said that, BING? Why Microsoft, just WHYYYYYYY)... Ok back to your regularly scheduled program... Jessica Out!

The main thing is the worry of losing membership, but dedicated and keen members will ensure that they can still take part in a community they belong too. Some might register new accounts, but then as admins we can do our best to merge those accounts - retaining the new details to ensure they can continue but avoid missing their previous content. People do put a lot of effort into their accounts, so I do understand how important it is not to have this side overlooked.

 

I'm sure I have lots of members using dormant emails too, as my forum goes back 20 years with many members from the start still around now

Although Invision's position on this is understandable, and even sensible, I have similar concerns to you. I've been warning members about this for well over a year (via a banner), but I fear many have failed to take action. Further, we have members who return after many years of absence (it is the nature of our community) and a good proportion will not recall the email address they used (and perhaps no longer have access to it anyway). A better approach, I think, would be force this on new accounts and force returning legacy members to check that their email address is current and alert them that, going forwards, they can login using only their email address as their login ID. Alas, I expect a reconsideration by Invision is now too late.

Edited February 2Feb 2 by Como

I'm more upset that we're losing the Q&A section - it generates a lot of traffic, had over 20,000 visits from one question this month!

IPS removed some old grandpa spruce trees that had lost their vitality and planted some young, fresh mahogany trees, which are generally well-received by the community. Imagine living in the Stone Age when the only means of land transport were horse and carriage or horseback. Many of the horseback riders resisted the arrival of motor vehicles. I suppose they preferred riding into town on horseback, despite the mess it created leaving poop everywhere, rather than sitting comfortably in a car.

 

..., rather than sitting comfortably in a car.

Comfort in a car requires energy for speed. The energy is noticeable, but the speed seems to be missing - the engine is clearly idling...🙂

Not if you’re this car…

Of course not everyone is going to be happy with every change we make to the platform. However we do have to move forward. These have been discussed at great length many times, however a very brief set of answers

 

Status updates have been removed in v5.

It pulls people away from topics of conversation, and hides them away in peoples profiles. They simply no longer fit with our vision of what our communuty platform should be

 

Signing in with a Display Name has been removed in v5, email addresses must be used instead.

This has been done for security. We are giving away one part of the login by giving username as a way to log in. A few even in this topic have removed it for that very reason. While I have been the argument "Well, thats what facebook does" many times, I have to answer with "Just because they do, doesnt mean they should".

 

Open tagging has been replaced with a new system in v5.

This is simply a new vision as to what we believe tagging should be about. We have seen people with 1000s of tags, which is no kind of organisation at all, and wasnt really the intended use. We could not build on it in a way which fits our vision for the future of version 5. So this was re-written in that manner.

 

Pages: You are using custom PHP blocks. These will no longer function in v5.

People break things with these and it causes both them issues, and hours of support time through people being able to very easily add things that cause very difficult issues. It also means because of the way they have to be processed, it can slow down sites quite a lot. These are not something that are impossible to add. You can create an application to add them, and that's the way we would like people to add things like this. Simply, if you need to add code to your site and develop things for your own purposes, you should be using the development tools for the job.

In summary, we certainly dont do anything for no reason. These are thought out changes. Some of which we have wanted to do for quite some time, but havent done so as its a major change. Major releases are indeed the time for major changes

 

despite the mess it created leaving poop everywhere, rather than sitting comfortably in a car.

"I want to say it...", "No don't say it...", "I gotta say it....", "NO! don't say it....", "I HAVE TO SAY IT....", "JESSICA, DAMN IT, DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT SAYING IT", "ok, I won't....".

"Cars are messy too... They leave carbon...", ---- "JESSICA!!!! I SAID DON'T SAY IT!"---- "....ummm never mind"

 

Cars are messy too... They leave carbon..

Yes, that's very true. It's coded in our DNA by the almighty creator to evolve. Some things were at a standstill for decades due to a lack of resources and knowledge. But thanks to the Internet, where great minds worldwide can meet and combine knowledge, things are moving much faster. We now have Electric vehicles, which are a step further. Soon, vehicle manufacturers will install solar cell technology in the vehicle's outer shell to charge via the Sun, be self-sufficient, and have less pollution. It's baby steps, but we will get there eventually.

Removing features is never easy and it's something we don't take lightly.

I understand the argument that we could just leave everything the way it is, but that won't help us progress. And progress we must. We have finite development resources, this means that we have to focus on toolsets which are needed for the current age.

We announced the username log-in deprecation in 2022. It's not something new with v5. All we have done is followed up on the deprecation.

Status updates were put into Invision Community during the boom time for social media where we felt we needed to add social tools to remain competitive. However, on most communities these are unloved areas of the community full of throw away comments and unanswered questions. They also drain conversation away from the core of the community forums. I know that a small number of communities thrive on status updates which is why we've kept the data and our considering migration options. In the mean time, the third-party developers have stepped up with different solutions.

Finally, a reminder that v4 will remain a viable platform for quite a while yet so there is no urgent rush to upgrade to v5 if you need more time to plan your upgrade and find solutions to deprecated features.

@Matt

I completely understand that change is necessary, and part of evolving software means retiring outdated features, I get it. But I believe removing status updates isn’t a step forward, it’s actually a step back, especially considering how critical this feature is for communities like mine. I really believe we should consider an upgrade to address your aforementioned specific concerns versus a removal. Perhaps there are ways to tackle the "conversation drain" etc.

Status updates aren’t just a feature on my site, they’re the feature. It’s literally the homepage, the heartbeat of user interaction, and the primary driver of engagement. My Gen Z audience, which makes up a significant portion of my user base, has grown up on platforms where quick, dynamic," feed based" content is the norm. They won’t engage with traditional forums the same way older generations did. For them, status updates aren’t a relic, they’re familiar ground. Removing them strips away the one thing that keeps my community feeling current, vibrant, and aligned with how younger audiences interact online today.

I understand that for some communities, status updates might have become stagnant, but that’s not a flaw of the feature itself, it’s about how it’s integrated and supported. That's why I say, instead of removing it, why not focus on improving it? Imagine status updates with better moderation tools, richer content options, smarter algorithms to surface popular posts, or even tighter integration with forum content to create a more cohesive experience. That’s not looking backward, that’s pushing the software into the future.

Removing status updates aligns Invision Community with the past, not the future. No matter how pretty, and organized we make the forums they, in a sense are still passé. Social media style features are still the standard for online engagement. If the goal is to make Invision Community competitive and relevant for the next generation, enhancing features that mimic successful social platforms should be part of that vision, not something to retire. I'm honestly shocked it's slated for deletion instead of massive improvements and much better integration into all parts of the software. Even options to monetize it, sell rotating ad's etc could be considered. But I would be happy with simply not killing it and preserving the current functionality.

I hope you’ll reconsider. There’s a huge opportunity here to modernize status updates rather than abandon them, or to at least not kill something great.

Thanks for hearing me out.

The new third-party status app by @onlyME works excellently and is probably even better than the original IPS version. The app can also retrieve and insert all previously posted statutes back into members' profiles.

 

Removing status updates aligns Invision Community with the past, not the future

I really do not agree with this. Invision Community is a forum platform at heart, so we must focus on those tools. Status updates are barely used on most sites. I do accept that is not the case for you, but it does not mean we are 'in the past'. Our platform is great at categorising a large number of growing conversations, its primary focus is not on short form content.

 

Status updates aren’t just a feature on my site, they’re the feature. It’s literally the homepage

You might be able to create a custom app, or even a Pages Database to do this.

I'm pretty sure my fellow admin has an out of date email address which he used in 2004 to register with, so he won't be able to log in after upgrading to IPS 5. Of course I can notify him, but I've had the email address confirmation app on my site for over a year now which users just seem to click yes to, I shouldn't be having to tell him to change his email - I can only imagine how many others are in the same position that I won't directly ask

I've not had a single hack in 20+ years, I will never understand making it more difficult for members to log in. It's one of those things like dark mode, online status that you appear 100% against despite my complaints, but those two features are finally here now. Username log in should at least be an option

Edited February 4Feb 4 by marklcfc

 

I'm pretty sure my fellow admin has an out of date email address which he used in 2004 to register with, so he won't be able to log in after upgrading to IPS 5. Of course I can notify him, but I've had the email address confirmation app on my site for over a year now which users just seem to click yes to, I shouldn't be having to tell him to change his email - I can only imagine how many others are in the same position that I won't directly ask

I've not had a single hack in 20+ years, I will never understand making it more difficult for members to log in. It's one of those things like dark mode, online status that you appear 100% against despite my complaints, but those two features are finally here now. Username log in should at least be an option

In fairness, you've had since 2022 to tell that admin. We've not made it more difficult for members to log in at all, we've made it more secure.

 

I'm pretty sure my fellow admin has an out of date email address which he used in 2004 to register with, so he won't be able to log in after upgrading to IPS 5. Of course I can notify him, but I've had the email address confirmation app on my site for over a year now which users just seem to click yes to, I shouldn't be having to tell him to change his email - I can only imagine how many others are in the same position that I won't directly ask

I've not had a single hack in 20+ years, I will never understand making it more difficult for members to log in. It's one of those things like dark mode, online status that you appear 100% against despite my complaints, but those two features are finally here now. Username log in should at least be an option

Any reason you can't just change their email address for them via AdminCP? If they're a fellow admin, you clearly trust them...

[Edit] Just tried editing email of a dummy admin account, absolutely no problems.

Edited February 4Feb 4 by Dreadknux

 

Any reason you can't just change their email address for them via AdminCP? If they're a fellow admin, you clearly trust them...

[Edit] Just tried editing email of a dummy admin account, absolutely no problems.

The reason is its not just the admin, I have lots of active members that registered well over a decade ago using emails no longer in use, and inactive members who may return sometime but won't be able to log in

Edited February 4Feb 4 by marklcfc

 

The reason is its not just the admin, I have lots of active members that registered well over a decade ago using emails no longer in use, and inactive members who may return sometime but won't be able to log in

You probably already understand this but the best way to go about it would be to create an Alert that goes out to everyone, notifying them of the coming change. Give a 30 day window for members to get in compliance. After which, when you do upgrade to 5.x, create a block on your home page (whatever that maybe) for unlogged in members explaining the new process and that they can email you (or another admin you trust) with any troubles. I realize having to manually change their email address for them can be cumbersome but, what ya gonna do.

IPS is not going to change their approach here. Might as well make the best of it.

Edited February 4Feb 4 by My Sharona

 

The reason is its not just the admin, I have lots of active members that registered well over a decade ago using emails no longer in use, and inactive members who may return sometime but won't be able to log in

I think with the amount of time you've wasted on this community over the last couple of years moaning about the change of login, you could have probably written a hand written letter to every one of your members advising them of the change. 🤐

Edited February 4Feb 4 by Dll

 

Finally, a reminder that v4 will remain a viable platform for quite a while yet so there is no urgent rush to upgrade to v5 if you need more time to plan your upgrade and find solutions to deprecated features.

How about letting us stay on V4 indefinitely?
Otherwise this just reads as a ticking bomb for many of us as we eventually won't have a choice but to upgrade.

We understand the reasons but the frustration comes from a lack of choice being offered to us, you're essentially cutting off a part of what is important to us.
Now we have to find ways to pick up the pieces and god knows what else goes missing in a future V6, it is very disheartening and concerning to be frank.

Can anyone please confirm if posting directly with HTML in posts is also being removed? That was a highly used feature too, sigh...

Edited February 4Feb 4 by Aldro

 

The reason is its not just the admin, I have lots of active members that registered well over a decade ago using emails no longer in use, and inactive members who may return sometime but won't be able to log in

So those members would reach out to you with their login issues and you'd provide support adhoc (ie; verify their identity, ask them for their new email addresses, change them via AdminCP). Sounds simple enough to me?

I really understand your frustration with the features mentioned.

When I decided to reactivate my license and help out during the testing period, I was excited about the features that were being announced by the IPS team and I was really excited to get back.

When I installed the beta version and noticed that many things that were in version 4 were missing, I was impressed.

• Being able to create topics using HTML and custom classes.

• Tables

• ipsBadges

And so many other features, in addition to several other plugins that I purchased from developers.

I was shocked to see that despite being a new version, it is literally the beginning of something new, again, and that is what you need to understand.

It is like the features that made me come back, they are attractive and cool but were not made available to me because I am a customer (self-hosted).

Analyzing this entire hierarchy of customers, features and others, I understood that IPS is leading the company into the future.

I am using the service with the certainty that in the future I will have to look for other alternatives.

Paying almost 600 dollars a month to have good resources is not something attractive to hundreds of customers here.

I believe that the customers who enjoyed all these resources are business owners and not communities.

The term community is being gradually removed from the files, and soon it will become a management CMS.

That is my point of view.

A cloud with a monthly fee of almost 600 USD is extremely expensive.

With that amount I can create several virtualized machines with cutting-edge resources and offer a hosting service to my customers.

What I want to say is that it will not change the fact that they are changing the entire mechanics of Invision.

We as customers need to understand that this is the future and that perhaps the future is not suitable for customers (self-hosted).

First of all, I want to make it clear that this is not a discussion or anything like that, it is just my point of view, although it has been discussed in other topics.