Tom_K

IPS4 has some areas that really need a little TLC from the devs. While the recent new features in 4.1.17 are great, I believe there are bigger issue to be resolved first. This being one of them.

IPS4 has some areas that really need a little TLC from the devs. While the recent new features in 4.1.17 are great, I believe there are bigger issue to be resolved first. This being one of them.

Hello fellow forum owners, 
I want to share details of my experience with the upgrade process, so that it can help others who might face same problems as I had. My forum has about 90k topics and 1.9M posts, dating from March 2005. till now (https://forum.bjbikers.com). 
About 10 days ago I ran the upgrade process (it took about 9 hrs to finish) and even though I have followed the instructions precisely, I had to rerun it because charser wasn't converted properly. Second time I have ran the db convert utility from the command line and then it worked. Here is that screen and the cli command is the one at the bottom:

Mind you though that this DB conversion utility did not look the same as in the screen above, IPS should update their Running the upgrade instruction page.
After the upgrade process finished for the second time, my community was up, but the problems have just emerged in the form of background rebuilding stuff tasks. It was running those tasks very slowly even though I have used cron tasks. My community runs on a dedicated server with decent hardware (Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-4770 CPU @ 3.40GHz, 16GB RAM, 2x2TB SATA HDD in RAID-1). However, cron tasks were doing very little dent to the background tasks progress, while at the same time my community was extremely unresponsive, with load times over 20 seconds. Progress for rebuilding posts was like 2 hours for just 1%. My sys admin has convered all tables to InnoDB, switched to the latest version of MariaDB, upgraded PHP to v7.0 etc, but very little improvement happened. It seems that Rebuilding Posts task is using disk extensively, which on my server was completelly stalling other db operations. Then we found the mysql setting which improved things significantly. 
The param which improved the background task progress is the innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit, in conjuction with the update of innodb-log-file-size param from 1G to 256M. We changed the innodb_flush_log_at_trx_commit from default value of 1, to 2. It improved write speed significantly, changing the progress from 2hrs for just 1% to 20% done in just 1hr. It did cause one db crash, but overall it was a life saver. Here is the info about that parameter from MySQL documentation.
Now the community is running smoothly, but there are some issues with several users not being able to log in. Hopefully I will resolve this with IPS Support. 
Just one final note. I am quite disappointed with IPS Support during this upgrade process. I have asked for their help in terms of advices, but all I was getting as their response were some generic replies like íts not us, its your server etc'. I understand that it was my server setting, but I was hoping that IPS support engineers could point me in the right direction when it comes to server configuration, especially db server. If I didn't spent like 2-3 days constantly trying to figure out why that db was performing so poorly, while having my community offline, my community would take a significant hit and I would have probably given up on IPS software by now. I think that it is reasonable to expect that IPS support is able and willing to share advices on what are the common settings which can significantly affect the server performance since from what I can see, IPS4.X requires significantly more hardware resources than IP.Board 3.4.x. 
In any case, I hope that my experience can help someone still holding on to the v3.4 and planning to upgrade to v4.x.
 
 
 
 
 

This function was present, and useful, in IPB 3.x. It has been removed in 4.x.
 

I've read a lot of topics criticising the activity stream feature and I find it utterly unuserfriendly as well. What was the logic behind this change? It seems like a case where someone was trying to fix something that already worked and made it worse. Like Microsoft and the whole Windows 8 debacle.
Activity stream may be useful for a low traffic board and works on Facebook where you only get certain "posts" in your stream. But what is the point of having an activity stream on a high traffic board? It's so clumsy at what it should be doing.
Instead of letting you know which topics have new posts so you can get up to date, you face an endless stream of new posts (often from one and the same topic).
Basically what I'm asking si how the h**** should I be using this feature to help me browse the board? It obviously isn't doing its job properly but I'll allow the possibility that I'm just not using it as it was intended.
Can anyone help me understand this thing better? And why we can't simlpy have a choice of both (the old new content list and activity stream)? This way it just seems it was forced onto users.

@Lindy since you asked, I would like to know how I can get a list of topics with new (unread posts). When I come to visit the board, I want to know which topics have new replies since my last visit. I don't care for individual posts and I don't understand why I should even see each specific post that has been made. Busy boards can have 1.000+ new posts each day. Do you really expect a visitor that comes back to the board 24 hours later to go through an endless stream of individual posts to see what is new?
What would you suggest to that user to stop complaining about the loss of overview he had with VNC?

I've read a lot of topics criticising the activity stream feature and I find it utterly unuserfriendly as well. What was the logic behind this change? It seems like a case where someone was trying to fix something that already worked and made it worse. Like Microsoft and the whole Windows 8 debacle.
Activity stream may be useful for a low traffic board and works on Facebook where you only get certain "posts" in your stream. But what is the point of having an activity stream on a high traffic board? It's so clumsy at what it should be doing.
Instead of letting you know which topics have new posts so you can get up to date, you face an endless stream of new posts (often from one and the same topic).
Basically what I'm asking si how the h**** should I be using this feature to help me browse the board? It obviously isn't doing its job properly but I'll allow the possibility that I'm just not using it as it was intended.
Can anyone help me understand this thing better? And why we can't simlpy have a choice of both (the old new content list and activity stream)? This way it just seems it was forced onto users.

I've just mentioned this twice in other topics with reference to the activity streams and search functions, but I'm sticking it up separately as I really do think it's important. 
The use of the reputation system in content discovery seems to be zero. Here we are, our members telling us 'this is a good post' - and we don't seem to be able to use that info. Right off the top of my head here are some ways we could be using that information:
1) Show me posts with 10 or more likes - instantly you're getting a 'best of the board' feed
2) Search for posts in topics with '4.1 upgrade failed', rank by likes - you get solutions or explanations of the problem
3) Show me posts by users with over 1,000 likes - find out what our most valuable users are saying
4) Blocks of most popular posts over the last 7/28/365 days - showcase to new members of our  best content; stuff to highlight in the newsletter
5) Show me my highest rated posts - the ultimate ego-search. What do people love most about you?
6) People who liked this post also liked...
7) Loads of others, I bet
I find it remarkable that the time was taken to let us filter by number of replies or views, but not by how GOOD something has been judged to be. Major missed opportunity, IMHO. 
Now, it is traditional at this point for someone to point out that actually all of these things are possible, I just haven't noticed how. Do go ahead...
 

The only drawback regarding the discussion topic is that it is not visible when you visit the advert. I wish it would be like Pages articles where comments from the discussion topic are also visible on the article page and you can comment directly on the article page or in this case on the advert page.
That would make Classifieds perfect.

The only drawback regarding the discussion topic is that it is not visible when you visit the advert. I wish it would be like Pages articles where comments from the discussion topic are also visible on the article page and you can comment directly on the article page or in this case on the advert page.
That would make Classifieds perfect.

IPS4 has some areas that really need a little TLC from the devs. While the recent new features in 4.1.17 are great, I believe there are bigger issue to be resolved first. This being one of them.

IPS4 has some areas that really need a little TLC from the devs. While the recent new features in 4.1.17 are great, I believe there are bigger issue to be resolved first. This being one of them.

I'm sensing a pattern in recent posts, and that pattern is: IPS Search could definitely use a major upgrade.

I got an extra field in Downloads, for example (this is a model, happens in any app), with option to search:

 
 
Then I got a file with this field filled:

 
 But when I search for something or here, I got nothing:

 
Also tried to search for:
here "something here" something here something+ here+  
How it should be?
Exactly like PROFILE FIELDS on Members search:

 
Those two (yelllow) fields are profile fields, so the user can search for them.
That doesn't happen on Extra Fields model. My Extra Field do not appear in the Advanced Search form:

No sign of the Extra Field there.
What's the point in allow the user to add a bunch of extra fields and do not retrieve records based on them?
I would like to request the addition of Extra Fields in the Advanced Search form, when the app uses it.
Thank you.

There used to be a "go to first unread post" link within a topic.
Let's say there's a topic with 5 pages and I read the topic when it was two and a half pages long.
When I see the topic I click its title which brings me to the first page. I have no link to go to the first unread post within that topic.
It makes sense to show the user there are unread posts especially if he came to the topic from search results pointing to page 1 which he has already read.
Why was the link removed?

Hi,
One feature that would improve a lot the moderation process would be the option to "quick edit" the topic title from inside the topic itself, i.e. by clicking and holding the title with the mouse.
Thanks.

I've read a lot of topics criticising the activity stream feature and I find it utterly unuserfriendly as well. What was the logic behind this change? It seems like a case where someone was trying to fix something that already worked and made it worse. Like Microsoft and the whole Windows 8 debacle.
Activity stream may be useful for a low traffic board and works on Facebook where you only get certain "posts" in your stream. But what is the point of having an activity stream on a high traffic board? It's so clumsy at what it should be doing.
Instead of letting you know which topics have new posts so you can get up to date, you face an endless stream of new posts (often from one and the same topic).
Basically what I'm asking si how the h**** should I be using this feature to help me browse the board? It obviously isn't doing its job properly but I'll allow the possibility that I'm just not using it as it was intended.
Can anyone help me understand this thing better? And why we can't simlpy have a choice of both (the old new content list and activity stream)? This way it just seems it was forced onto users.

I've read a lot of topics criticising the activity stream feature and I find it utterly unuserfriendly as well. What was the logic behind this change? It seems like a case where someone was trying to fix something that already worked and made it worse. Like Microsoft and the whole Windows 8 debacle.
Activity stream may be useful for a low traffic board and works on Facebook where you only get certain "posts" in your stream. But what is the point of having an activity stream on a high traffic board? It's so clumsy at what it should be doing.
Instead of letting you know which topics have new posts so you can get up to date, you face an endless stream of new posts (often from one and the same topic).
Basically what I'm asking si how the h**** should I be using this feature to help me browse the board? It obviously isn't doing its job properly but I'll allow the possibility that I'm just not using it as it was intended.
Can anyone help me understand this thing better? And why we can't simlpy have a choice of both (the old new content list and activity stream)? This way it just seems it was forced onto users.

I've read a lot of topics criticising the activity stream feature and I find it utterly unuserfriendly as well. What was the logic behind this change? It seems like a case where someone was trying to fix something that already worked and made it worse. Like Microsoft and the whole Windows 8 debacle.
Activity stream may be useful for a low traffic board and works on Facebook where you only get certain "posts" in your stream. But what is the point of having an activity stream on a high traffic board? It's so clumsy at what it should be doing.
Instead of letting you know which topics have new posts so you can get up to date, you face an endless stream of new posts (often from one and the same topic).
Basically what I'm asking si how the h**** should I be using this feature to help me browse the board? It obviously isn't doing its job properly but I'll allow the possibility that I'm just not using it as it was intended.
Can anyone help me understand this thing better? And why we can't simlpy have a choice of both (the old new content list and activity stream)? This way it just seems it was forced onto users.

I've read a lot of topics criticising the activity stream feature and I find it utterly unuserfriendly as well. What was the logic behind this change? It seems like a case where someone was trying to fix something that already worked and made it worse. Like Microsoft and the whole Windows 8 debacle.
Activity stream may be useful for a low traffic board and works on Facebook where you only get certain "posts" in your stream. But what is the point of having an activity stream on a high traffic board? It's so clumsy at what it should be doing.
Instead of letting you know which topics have new posts so you can get up to date, you face an endless stream of new posts (often from one and the same topic).
Basically what I'm asking si how the h**** should I be using this feature to help me browse the board? It obviously isn't doing its job properly but I'll allow the possibility that I'm just not using it as it was intended.
Can anyone help me understand this thing better? And why we can't simlpy have a choice of both (the old new content list and activity stream)? This way it just seems it was forced onto users.

@Lindy since you asked, I would like to know how I can get a list of topics with new (unread posts). When I come to visit the board, I want to know which topics have new replies since my last visit. I don't care for individual posts and I don't understand why I should even see each specific post that has been made. Busy boards can have 1.000+ new posts each day. Do you really expect a visitor that comes back to the board 24 hours later to go through an endless stream of individual posts to see what is new?
What would you suggest to that user to stop complaining about the loss of overview he had with VNC?

I've read a lot of topics criticising the activity stream feature and I find it utterly unuserfriendly as well. What was the logic behind this change? It seems like a case where someone was trying to fix something that already worked and made it worse. Like Microsoft and the whole Windows 8 debacle.
Activity stream may be useful for a low traffic board and works on Facebook where you only get certain "posts" in your stream. But what is the point of having an activity stream on a high traffic board? It's so clumsy at what it should be doing.
Instead of letting you know which topics have new posts so you can get up to date, you face an endless stream of new posts (often from one and the same topic).
Basically what I'm asking si how the h**** should I be using this feature to help me browse the board? It obviously isn't doing its job properly but I'll allow the possibility that I'm just not using it as it was intended.
Can anyone help me understand this thing better? And why we can't simlpy have a choice of both (the old new content list and activity stream)? This way it just seems it was forced onto users.

@Lindy since you asked, I would like to know how I can get a list of topics with new (unread posts). When I come to visit the board, I want to know which topics have new replies since my last visit. I don't care for individual posts and I don't understand why I should even see each specific post that has been made. Busy boards can have 1.000+ new posts each day. Do you really expect a visitor that comes back to the board 24 hours later to go through an endless stream of individual posts to see what is new?
What would you suggest to that user to stop complaining about the loss of overview he had with VNC?

I've read a lot of topics criticising the activity stream feature and I find it utterly unuserfriendly as well. What was the logic behind this change? It seems like a case where someone was trying to fix something that already worked and made it worse. Like Microsoft and the whole Windows 8 debacle.
Activity stream may be useful for a low traffic board and works on Facebook where you only get certain "posts" in your stream. But what is the point of having an activity stream on a high traffic board? It's so clumsy at what it should be doing.
Instead of letting you know which topics have new posts so you can get up to date, you face an endless stream of new posts (often from one and the same topic).
Basically what I'm asking si how the h**** should I be using this feature to help me browse the board? It obviously isn't doing its job properly but I'll allow the possibility that I'm just not using it as it was intended.
Can anyone help me understand this thing better? And why we can't simlpy have a choice of both (the old new content list and activity stream)? This way it just seems it was forced onto users.

@Lindy since you asked, I would like to know how I can get a list of topics with new (unread posts). When I come to visit the board, I want to know which topics have new replies since my last visit. I don't care for individual posts and I don't understand why I should even see each specific post that has been made. Busy boards can have 1.000+ new posts each day. Do you really expect a visitor that comes back to the board 24 hours later to go through an endless stream of individual posts to see what is new?
What would you suggest to that user to stop complaining about the loss of overview he had with VNC?