We've had a lot of feedback on two areas. First, some members quickly worked out that they could boost their points by repeating the same action over and over, like liking post after post. Second, the tagging system we rebuilt in Invision Community 5.0 keeps your tag list focused and tidy, but it needed more flexibility. Some tags should be reserved for staff, and members have no way to suggest one that's missing.
Invision Community 5.1 gives you more control over both, with point limits and staff boost for Achievements, and restricted tags and tag suggestions.
Keep points fair with limits
Achievements have rewarded members with points, badges and ranks for years, and for most communities they work great. However, every so often a member discovers that reactions earn points, and suddenly every post in the topic has a like from them. Their rank climbs, and the members who've spent months answering questions slip down the leaderboard.
In Invision Community 5.1, you can cap how many points a member earns from any achievement rule within a set number of days. For example, you might allow a maximum of 50 points a day for giving reactions.
This will make the Achievements system fairer and more accurately show who offers the community the most value.
Give staff reactions more weight
A like from a moderator or someone on your team may mean more than most. It tells the author that someone who knows the community well thinks their post is worth reading.
Staff boost lets you recognise that. When a staff member reacts to a member's content, you can award extra points on top of the usual amount.
Control who can use each tag
Since Invision Community 5.0, your team decides which tags are created, which keeps the list clean. However, once a tag exists, any member can apply it, and a tag like "Official" or "Announcement" only means something if the right people are using it.
You can now choose which member groups can apply a specific tag. Want "Official" or "Staff pick" to stay with your team? Restrict it to those groups.
Everyone can still see restricted tags and browse content by them. The tag picker only shows members the tags they're allowed to use.
Let members suggest new tags
Your members often spot what's missing before you do. The trouble is that open tagging lets them instantly add duplicates, misspellings and similar phrasing, and closed tagging leaves them with no way to fix it at all.
With a new group permission, members can suggest a tag straight from the tag field when the one they need doesn't exist yet. Suggestions arrive in the AdminCP with a notification. Approve one and the tag is created and applied to the content in a single step.
In addition, if your community has built up a long list of tags, the tag field now switches to autocomplete once you pass 100, which loads faster and saves members scrolling to find the one they want.
A few ways to use it
Protect official labels. Restrict tags like "Announcement", "Official" or "Staff pick" to your team, so members can filter by them with confidence.
Curb reaction farming. Cap points for giving reactions at a sensible daily amount, so ranks reflect real participation.
Reward great answers. Use staff boost so a reaction from a moderator gives the author a noticeable lift.
Grow your taxonomy with your members. Let trusted groups suggest tags, then review them weekly and approve the ones that stick.
Put together, these changes help your points and tags keep their meaning as your community grows, so the members doing the real work get the credit, and your content stays easy to find.
These features are coming to all package levels, and we're looking forward to seeing how you put them to work in your own community.
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