Oh you foolish boy, you don't know how wordy I can be. ;)
I'll try to keep this short though.
ACP/Skin editor, make the left menu panel collapsible (like on the board index, the items on the right). Also, make the template names a fixed width to make it appear neater, but also can be minimized.
More ideas to come...
Edit: more...
Time controls when posting. By this I mean start and stop times to post a new topic/post or have a topic pinned. When telling when to make a post, the start time would be when to post it, the end time would be a "delete" time.
Also, if a "bump" feature is included, automatic bumping (once every 24 hours after the topic has been bumped or had a post made to it), with a limit on how long it can be bumped after the last post inside the thread. Say 3 days as a default (for a particular forum), someone makes a topic and someone with bump powers enables autobumping, then for 3 days after the last post in that topic, the topic will get bumped every 24 hours.
Edit: Even more...
Be able to backtrack where you got +'s and -'s from (on posts).
Fixed "read" markers. Also, when a subforum of a subforum has a new post, have the green indicator thing of a bob turn on, so people know where to look. The main forum folder is sometimes lit (new posts) but none of the shown subforums are green, so you don't know if it's giving a false indication or not until you click that forum and then see the sub-subforums and see green indicators (unless it's another level deep, then you have to hunt for it).
Be able to have age/gender based criteria. With this, if someone sets their age or gender on the board, then they can choose to have that information hidden but can NOT change information itself. So an "Adults only" forum could be made or some other restriction and someone couldn't change their information to gain access to it.
If someone is a global moderator or is assigned as a moderator for a forum, then they are only affected by permission masks (ie, not age nor gender).
Be able to assign someone (or a group) as a forum owner. Forum owners as given special permissions as the can recruit people to be moderators of that forum (and only that forum). To keep it simple, the difference between owners and moderators is that owners can promote/demote people for that forum. They cannot create their own forum or subforums, that has to be done by someone with ACP access.
Vbulletin has moved all customer feedback threads to a non-public forum so I can't link any threads. But let me tell you what's going on in that private forum - VB users are very angry and are becoming more and more vocal about it. VB staff are becoming very heavy-handed in moderating that forum. Essentially, dissent is no longer tolerated and constructive discussions about customer needs are a thing of the past.
So IPB - keep it up with the great communication, friendly customer support, and great product offerings and you may just see a mass-exodus to your products.
