The Old Man

Oh gawd   its all so so confusing isn't it?
GDPR... don't collect data unless they opt in and make it so they can then ask you to delete all trace of them... and EU Vat law on sales says collect at least two pieces of information that says who they are  and keep the records for 10 years.

All the innovations listed in this article on my test site version 4.2.7 beta 4 work perfectly.

I too really appreciate this blog post and the concerted efforts you have taken in introducing tools and links to relevant information help us with GDPR compliance in 4.2.7.  I chose the community software as it is top class and actively enhanced, has professional support and takes security seriously. Now it benefits from support for first rate privacy and data protection tools to the list.
 
GDPR is I believe a much needed step forward for privacy and the assertion that individuals own the rights to their data is increasingly vital in this age of social media and big data analysis. I hope and believe GDPR may well become the de facto world privacy standard and should not be feared but embraced to provide true transparency and protection to our community members in the best way.
One area as highlighted also by the @The Old Man that may still need to be addressed  in relation to the right to be informed and a subjects access requests. I am not concerned particularly about content such as posts, articles, blogs etc however member data, store customer data and to IP & device data is collected and is accessible and there needs to be a mechanism to provide this data in response to subject access requests in an easily readable electronic form.  This data is accessible via the ACP but it is not easily captured or exported e.g. in CSV or PDF, the only real method currently is screen capture which is laborious.
 
 

Yes, the "Sign me up" box can be opt in with Invision Community 4.2.7, which satisfies the consent requirement.

Great wrap to the end of the year! 
Thanks to all IPS Staffers for your talent and hard work, and our awesome, community/modding heroes.
This year has had a great positive feel within the IPS community, Not just a place for tech support but a fun, helpful community that it's a pleasure to visit every day. I've actually been ill since January 2017, still waiting for an operation, lost my job of 22 years end of September due to UK austerity cuts, and at times this place has really cheered me up throughout all the anxiety and stress.
Honestly, who could forget Joel's humour-soaked coverage during the 4.2 build and release? Brilliant!
Or the way the community got behind the Black Friday initiative? 
So here's wishing you all a well deserved, peaceful Christmas. 
☃️ ⛄️ ? ? ??
 

Great wrap to the end of the year! 
Thanks to all IPS Staffers for your talent and hard work, and our awesome, community/modding heroes.
This year has had a great positive feel within the IPS community, Not just a place for tech support but a fun, helpful community that it's a pleasure to visit every day. I've actually been ill since January 2017, still waiting for an operation, lost my job of 22 years end of September due to UK austerity cuts, and at times this place has really cheered me up throughout all the anxiety and stress.
Honestly, who could forget Joel's humour-soaked coverage during the 4.2 build and release? Brilliant!
Or the way the community got behind the Black Friday initiative? 
So here's wishing you all a well deserved, peaceful Christmas. 
☃️ ⛄️ ? ? ??
 

Great wrap to the end of the year! 
Thanks to all IPS Staffers for your talent and hard work, and our awesome, community/modding heroes.
This year has had a great positive feel within the IPS community, Not just a place for tech support but a fun, helpful community that it's a pleasure to visit every day. I've actually been ill since January 2017, still waiting for an operation, lost my job of 22 years end of September due to UK austerity cuts, and at times this place has really cheered me up throughout all the anxiety and stress.
Honestly, who could forget Joel's humour-soaked coverage during the 4.2 build and release? Brilliant!
Or the way the community got behind the Black Friday initiative? 
So here's wishing you all a well deserved, peaceful Christmas. 
☃️ ⛄️ ? ? ??
 

Great entry Team IPS and thanks for sharing!
Perhaps it's too much sleeping tablet kickin in, but I'm starting to get 4.3 fever.
Imagining how good it will look, even that almost like, new car fresh smell of just the branding and theme, seeing it for the first time. Moving my cursor over it. The need to click on the logo.... what could it look like 4️⃣⏺? 
IPS 4:3, yes, that looks good. Bit 1980's TV ratio tech though. 4point3. Oo, oo, are you ready for this? Visualise it... Four .3 
Did I say just 4.3? What, someone said that already? Alexa, tell me about IPS 4.3? Ikon Board? Shut up Alexa, wish you'd start using Google more.
Say, haven't you heard? That 4.3 is the word? Okay, okay, 4 point three... 4Point3. Four... .3. For3.
4:Three ... Wanders off, muttering into the misty, moon-lit night. 4-three. 4==3. 4^3. No. Four-Point-Three. 4.3. 4.Three. IV.III IV.3 
??? Hey! What about retro v4.3? Did we do 4~3? Can you increase font size when using an iPad? Coming in 4.3. Ah, enough already... 
TL;DR - 4.3, It's coming. Next year. 2018. Not this year. ? Looking forward to it. Gonna be good. Just say'in.
 
 

Great wrap to the end of the year! 
Thanks to all IPS Staffers for your talent and hard work, and our awesome, community/modding heroes.
This year has had a great positive feel within the IPS community, Not just a place for tech support but a fun, helpful community that it's a pleasure to visit every day. I've actually been ill since January 2017, still waiting for an operation, lost my job of 22 years end of September due to UK austerity cuts, and at times this place has really cheered me up throughout all the anxiety and stress.
Honestly, who could forget Joel's humour-soaked coverage during the 4.2 build and release? Brilliant!
Or the way the community got behind the Black Friday initiative? 
So here's wishing you all a well deserved, peaceful Christmas. 
☃️ ⛄️ ? ? ??
 

He is so snarky.

The editor commentary is the best! 

Really appreciate this article and the efforts in general to provide us with the necessary tools to help us with compliance in 4.2.7, and of course the point about trying to be helpful and supportive whilst not suggesting that you are pertaining to be lawyers or providing legal advice is well taken. As I've said before, it's a good potential selling point for software companies too. 
I much prefer this more helpful customer service stance which is much more supportive than when back when the cookie consent thing became a thing.
Whilst hopefully most of us won't ever have to formally demonstrate compliance with GDPR as part of an official review, ICO complaint or audit, it's just having the reassurance that our members know we take our responsibilities seriously, and the reassurance that also comes with knowing we have the tools available when needed to show general compliance or if necessary, for administrators to easily run off a log report detailing, not war and peace, but the basics of when a member's consent was provided, acceptance of terms was agreed (when they registered, accepted an updated privacy policy etc, or in fact removed consent). The data is there in the database, it's just a matter of being able to run a 'member GDPR' report, perhaps one that can be exported as a convenient pdf, txt, csv or .docx file. Perhaps even having a list of these tools and relevant AdminCP pages in a small but handy 'GDPR' section of the AdminCP menu would be helpful?
Great to also see a basic cookie acceptance tool built-in tied into the system and the ability to edit accompanying text as needed without giving admins the potential to get it wrong by pre-checking opt-ins. Not only removes the need to use third party cookie compliance software but also makes the whole experience more natural, streamlined and seemingly less disjointed to the end user/potential new member.
The boundaries of the Internet have never been straightforward! I'm in the UK, but I have multiple IPS licences for both UK and US based websites. When I say US based site, its more a case of having switched my original .UK monickered site to being more international themed .net site many years ago, and although the majority of its forum members are US based, we have a lesser proportion of international members (Finland, France, Germany, UK) and whilst I use a cloud-based VPS from a US based service provider for all of these sites, I know I still have to show regard to GDPR if we want to provide a service to people within European countries.
I bet hardly any UK based hobby admins are actually registered with the ICO if they don't own a full businesses or organisation already registered as a Data Controller, even though they are making the decision to store and process personal information. GDPR seems to remove that convenience loophole.
I recall someone saying that an IP address is not personal information back when the cookie debate was going on, but now GDPR clearly defines it as such.
Like you say, the UK's ICO website has some good info and guidance, although at times it can seem overwhelming.
If in doubt, get some legal advice is the key thing from a potential confused admin's perspective, look for online presentations or perhaps check out the business support section of your local council, business association, college, library to see if they are providing 1 or 2 hour free sessions in the area.

Really appreciate this article and the efforts in general to provide us with the necessary tools to help us with compliance in 4.2.7, and of course the point about trying to be helpful and supportive whilst not suggesting that you are pertaining to be lawyers or providing legal advice is well taken. As I've said before, it's a good potential selling point for software companies too. 
I much prefer this more helpful customer service stance which is much more supportive than when back when the cookie consent thing became a thing.
Whilst hopefully most of us won't ever have to formally demonstrate compliance with GDPR as part of an official review, ICO complaint or audit, it's just having the reassurance that our members know we take our responsibilities seriously, and the reassurance that also comes with knowing we have the tools available when needed to show general compliance or if necessary, for administrators to easily run off a log report detailing, not war and peace, but the basics of when a member's consent was provided, acceptance of terms was agreed (when they registered, accepted an updated privacy policy etc, or in fact removed consent). The data is there in the database, it's just a matter of being able to run a 'member GDPR' report, perhaps one that can be exported as a convenient pdf, txt, csv or .docx file. Perhaps even having a list of these tools and relevant AdminCP pages in a small but handy 'GDPR' section of the AdminCP menu would be helpful?
Great to also see a basic cookie acceptance tool built-in tied into the system and the ability to edit accompanying text as needed without giving admins the potential to get it wrong by pre-checking opt-ins. Not only removes the need to use third party cookie compliance software but also makes the whole experience more natural, streamlined and seemingly less disjointed to the end user/potential new member.
The boundaries of the Internet have never been straightforward! I'm in the UK, but I have multiple IPS licences for both UK and US based websites. When I say US based site, its more a case of having switched my original .UK monickered site to being more international themed .net site many years ago, and although the majority of its forum members are US based, we have a lesser proportion of international members (Finland, France, Germany, UK) and whilst I use a cloud-based VPS from a US based service provider for all of these sites, I know I still have to show regard to GDPR if we want to provide a service to people within European countries.
I bet hardly any UK based hobby admins are actually registered with the ICO if they don't own a full businesses or organisation already registered as a Data Controller, even though they are making the decision to store and process personal information. GDPR seems to remove that convenience loophole.
I recall someone saying that an IP address is not personal information back when the cookie debate was going on, but now GDPR clearly defines it as such.
Like you say, the UK's ICO website has some good info and guidance, although at times it can seem overwhelming.
If in doubt, get some legal advice is the key thing from a potential confused admin's perspective, look for online presentations or perhaps check out the business support section of your local council, business association, college, library to see if they are providing 1 or 2 hour free sessions in the area.

Really appreciate this article and the efforts in general to provide us with the necessary tools to help us with compliance in 4.2.7, and of course the point about trying to be helpful and supportive whilst not suggesting that you are pertaining to be lawyers or providing legal advice is well taken. As I've said before, it's a good potential selling point for software companies too. 
I much prefer this more helpful customer service stance which is much more supportive than when back when the cookie consent thing became a thing.
Whilst hopefully most of us won't ever have to formally demonstrate compliance with GDPR as part of an official review, ICO complaint or audit, it's just having the reassurance that our members know we take our responsibilities seriously, and the reassurance that also comes with knowing we have the tools available when needed to show general compliance or if necessary, for administrators to easily run off a log report detailing, not war and peace, but the basics of when a member's consent was provided, acceptance of terms was agreed (when they registered, accepted an updated privacy policy etc, or in fact removed consent). The data is there in the database, it's just a matter of being able to run a 'member GDPR' report, perhaps one that can be exported as a convenient pdf, txt, csv or .docx file. Perhaps even having a list of these tools and relevant AdminCP pages in a small but handy 'GDPR' section of the AdminCP menu would be helpful?
Great to also see a basic cookie acceptance tool built-in tied into the system and the ability to edit accompanying text as needed without giving admins the potential to get it wrong by pre-checking opt-ins. Not only removes the need to use third party cookie compliance software but also makes the whole experience more natural, streamlined and seemingly less disjointed to the end user/potential new member.
The boundaries of the Internet have never been straightforward! I'm in the UK, but I have multiple IPS licences for both UK and US based websites. When I say US based site, its more a case of having switched my original .UK monickered site to being more international themed .net site many years ago, and although the majority of its forum members are US based, we have a lesser proportion of international members (Finland, France, Germany, UK) and whilst I use a cloud-based VPS from a US based service provider for all of these sites, I know I still have to show regard to GDPR if we want to provide a service to people within European countries.
I bet hardly any UK based hobby admins are actually registered with the ICO if they don't own a full businesses or organisation already registered as a Data Controller, even though they are making the decision to store and process personal information. GDPR seems to remove that convenience loophole.
I recall someone saying that an IP address is not personal information back when the cookie debate was going on, but now GDPR clearly defines it as such.
Like you say, the UK's ICO website has some good info and guidance, although at times it can seem overwhelming.
If in doubt, get some legal advice is the key thing from a potential confused admin's perspective, look for online presentations or perhaps check out the business support section of your local council, business association, college, library to see if they are providing 1 or 2 hour free sessions in the area.

You can change the language for this, but if you wish to be GDPR compliant, you cannot pre-check that, It must be opt-in.

Hi, thanks for the reply.
I've modified the article to be a little clearer.
If you use our cloud hosting, then you are using a US service. However, if you collect data from EU citizens (as in allow them to register and use the site) then you may want to research what your responsibilities are there. You might choose to follow compliance just to be on the safe side. It's really not that hard and there's a good bit of data out there already.
Take a look at this article, for instance.

Some good, practical advice here. Definitely food for thought!

4.2.6

I've recently started re-watching Hannibal because, well, it is one of the most brilliant and underrated series I've ever seen.

What a superb implementation of social groups. Clearly a lot of thought has gone into this. You promised member engagement and you are delivering. Nice work IPS, it looks great!

By the way, I finally got exactly what I needed. Maybe this will help others trying to get the same insight.
Using an image that is 1280 X 853, the viewable parts of the image would look like this:

ah yes

I think you misunderstood what he said.  He was saying you can't do it, UNLIKE with event cover images and profile images.

Thanks for working this out!
This is what bugs me about IPS, trying to find out what should be basic information like this or for that matter the recommended header background image dimensions (that bizarrely in 2017, we admin's still can't upload from the front end unlike a calendar event cover image or profile image!), is often like extracting blood from a stone. 
It should be in the guidance section or FAQ for heaven's sake! Companies for instance like Twitter do it for their recommended header image sizes, because they know users will benefit from getting it right, and their product looks better as a result. 
I'm having a bad day, ignore me.

Not automatic, and no G+