Chris R

We could do with multiple subscriptions before coupons :(

Multiple subscriptions would be good too I think. Personally I think I'd find the coupons more useful than multiple subscriptions, but it would be nice to see all of these features creep into Subscriptions.

This option could be handy yes :) Maybe its also an idea to add a limit of use on coupon codes?

Yep. That sounds good too. I imagine this coupled with an coupon expiry date would make a pretty powerful system.

Wasn't too sure where to post this...

I have a few ideas that I think would be beneficial for IP.subscriptions though.

Coupon Codes
This would work like coupon codes you see at any major retailer. A code that would take a certain percentage off a package, or knock it down to a certain price. For simplicity sake, you could just enter a set amount the coupon code reduces the price to.

Promotional Things
Perhaps an option where someone could get a subscription free for 30 days, or a coupon code that does this?

Here's the idea behind this idea.
I was thinking about printing out some promotional info on my new site I'm working on to give out at events. These would have code(s) on them for free premium memberships or whatnot. I think it'd be a pain to have unique codes on each one, but it would be nice if something like this could work.

Also, one other correction...

I was recieving the error:
WARNING: no such index 'forums_search_delta', skipping.

forums_search_delta is actually forums_search_topics_delta and forums_search_posts_delta

Ah crap. For those people out there that may have the same problem in the future...
Make sure you check ownership permission stuff!

Sorry about the stupid topic. Hopefully my idiocy helps someone in the future. :whistle:

I followed the guide that was posted regarding the Sphinx search engine setup. All went well, but I keep getting the following email on my machine...not sure what I'm doing wrong or how to fix it. >_<

Subject: Cron <pyro@pegasus> /usr/local/bin/indexer --config /home/pyro/sphinx.conf core_search_delta members_search_delta forums_search_delta --rotate
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ANSI_X3.4-1968
X-Cron-Env: <SHELL=/bin/sh>
X-Cron-Env: <HOME=/home/pyro>
X-Cron-Env: <PATH=/usr/bin:/bin>
X-Cron-Env: <LOGNAME=pyro>

Sphinx 0.9.8.1-release (r1533)
Copyright © 2001-2008, Andrew Aksyonoff

using config file '/home/pyro/sphinx.conf'...
indexing index 'core_search_delta'...
FATAL: failed to open /var/sphinx/core_search_delta.tmp.spl: Permission denied, will not index. Try --rotate option.

If, in the future, some sort of "better" licensing terms became available than the one we had agreed to, it would existing customers be given the option to switch to it (depending on the circumstances, of course?) With multiple products and licensing types and different products hovering around, I think there's probably situations where this may come up (the community suite, for instance).

While logically licensing costs seem to get more expensive with time, if some 'All IPB products for a low $5 with no renewal fees ever' deal came up might be nice to switch to ;)

You are correct, there isn't a built-in way in IP.Board to set it so that a certain group of users (members using a certain permission mask, not necessarily a certain user group) can lock their own threads in a certain forum; the permission system does only let you set those six permissions you mentioned. But there is a reasoning for that: those are the permissions most likely to change on a mask-by-mask and forum-by-forum basis.

There is a resource cost for storing permissions; the more permissions you need to be storing, loading, and checking, the more CPU and memory that is needed to load the page. Multiply that by the number of users hitting the pages where these permissions are checked and you could end up with a significant increase in resource usage. There has to be a balance between resource usage and features, which is why IP.Board only gives you these few options in the permissions matrix.

I'm a bit surprised the vBulletin guys think this is such a weakness, this isn't something that very often gets a lot of attention from customers here saying that it needs any improvement.

Makes sense. I can see why this is done. I can only think of a few strange examples of where such a powerful permission system would come into use (and the resource cost associated with it probably wouldn't be worth it, like you said). It is probably best for the obscure examples to be done on a case-by-case basis :)

I've really been impressed with the IPB community and staff so far. I was initially concerned as IPB doesn't have the sheer volume in it's community that vBulletin has, but size isn't everything it seems. I think it's great to see the Invision Services teams interacting with everyone on the forum. It's nice to know that if I have a feature suggestion or a concern that someone at least reads it. The transparency in development also gives you a warm fuzzy feeling...I can understand why IPS doesn't reveal every secret thing they're up to, but with the blogs and staff comments, you can atleast get a good idea of what's going to be implemented.

I do think there will be a learning curve switching from vBulletin to IPS. It's hard to compare both software packages side by side. You could probably sit around all day and find features that are in one but not the other. It's also hard to evaluate down-and-dirty performance just by reading and looking at the demos, but so far I've been seriously tempted to become an IPB customer :)

Thanks Charles! As a vBulletin user previously, I'm pretty impressed with what I'm seeing in the admin demo. Everything seems pretty smooth and straight forward. A lot of cool little features. :)

Is there anything similar in IPB to vBulletin's 'Notice System'? (ie. you can display a bar at the top based on certain conditionals....hasn't approved email, < 5 posts in 30 days etc.).

I think in hanging out with vBulletin admins, one of the things they've consistently brought up as IPB's weak point is it's permission system. For example, in the admin demo, I only see 6 forum-specific permissions that are setable for usergroups. (Read/Write/Upload/Download etc.). I'm not sure if I'm missing something or not.

What if I wanted a certain usergroup to be able to lock threads they personally created in a certain forum? (Not sure why I'd ever want this, but...)