Davyc

Updates to the Pages app to add a more flexible approach to layouts and not be restricted to 1,2,3 columns and to be able to mix rows with different columns - I've been asking about this for almost 2 years and nothing has been done to give Pages more vavavoom. That would be a nice event 🙂

If they are a 'genuine' troll only there to make trouble, kick them out; take whatever steps are necessary to prevent them signing in again. If it's a 'genuine' member who is getting out of their collar for whatever reason, then take them to one side and attempt to discover what motivates them in to being obtuse. It could be something simple, or complex, but regardless of what it is, if it's leading to toxicity in the forum then it needs to be stopped, sooner rather than later. How either of these is handled is entirely up to the site owner, using whatever people skills or technical skills at their disposal. Everyone will be different.

A huge thanks to @Rikki for everything he has done to help bring IPS to where it stands now. It's always sad to lose a valuable member of the development team, but the man has to go where he believes he can do the most with his talents and to secure his and his family's future. All good wishes and a fond farewell to this amazing talent. Bon Voyage 🙂

I like the new search bar, however there is a small issue with it. It will default to searching whichever app is set as default rather than starting with everywhere. I first noticed this when I updated to 4.7.1 as I have my default app set as Pages because my home page is a Pages page and the search was defaulting to Pages. Now, I'm not currently using Pages for anything other than my home page, so anyone who does not notice this change and tries to search for something that is anywhere but on a Pages page, they will get a 'Not Found' message. I had to install @Adriano Faria remove pages from search app to allow people to search the site.

A most welcome, useful and positive update which I'm sure users will appreciate 🙂

I don't personally use subscriptions, but an associate of mine, who I recommend IPS to and maintain his site for him, does use subscriptions. In fact they are at the heart of his site; I won't say community because a lot of people subscribe, but they don't actually contribute to the site. That's not a bad thing where his ambitions lie as it's more of a business model than a community model, but the subs work really well in conjunction with Stripe. So I would wholeheartedly advocate the use of the subscriptions feature for anyone who believes they may have a use for it. It's not for everyone, but if you can use it I can say that it's a great tool 🙂

This is the mindset of the SM crowd - I just don't get it either, it's banality gone mad. But it is what it is. I've just started to use the Clubs feature again but I've modified the look as it wasn't really appealing. My site is currently offline as I'm making some major adjustments to it, but this is what a club looks like: Directory: And when in the club: It's basically three template changes and a lot of CSS, but they look a lot cleaner.

You basically made my point that I was trying to convey. The whole point of opening a forum site is so that people can join up and start talking to each other, but why would they when they can do that on SM and more easily? Unless you are selling something unique (or even mainstream as better prices than your competitor) or offering something that adds a perceived value to your site, then the only other reason is to attract people and get them talking about your offerings. If they can do that on SM media then you're in the wrong game and will lose every time unless you have a ready-made audience in the form of friends, or social group that are interested in helping you out. Going in cold is not a good idea. I do what I do because I enjoy the creation process, the challenge that each site opens up depending on what I am using. It's for my benefit first and if someone else can benefit from my efforts that's great. I have no expectations. My whole point, and the reasoning behind it, is that SM is the main competitor against forums. If some make something of it then good on them for their efforts, but I fear the majority come into the game with high expectations and then end up being disappointed. I'm a member of several forums and the numbers on all of them, other than those few offering something tangible other than just being a place to hang out, have dismal numbers of registrants and of those who managed to get past the 100 registrations mark, only a handful now post. It's sad but it's a fact that can't be ignored. So thank you for your very honest and precise insight. Never said it was the fault of IPS, nor any other forum platform developers. It is what it is. It's not just about young people not wanting to get involved with the creation of a site and everything that goes hand in hand with that creation process. They just can't be bothered with forums per-se. They're too cumbersome on mobile devices, and that's what the young of today use more than any other device, and that's why SM is so successful because it works great on mobiles and is easy to use, that last point being the most pertinent. I love forums, I was brought up on the old BBB's the forerunner to forums and have seen them become very successful points of entry for meaningful debates and discussions. Those days are, sadly, over - but that doesn't mean I am against forums. I love them, that's why I take the time to be here because it's one of the few places left that I can have meaningful discussions and debates with likeminded people. There's no way in hell that we could do this on SM, and even less likely to happen using a mobile device. I don't knock forums, but I do understand that they are not the first or even last bastion of social interaction as they once were. Anyhow, we digging a hole here that has already been dug long ago. My point in responding was that there are still a lot of hobbyists out there using IPS software and it would be nice to leave out the 'business' only references and be more inclusive of everyone because we all share in the pot and we all contribute to the pot. I would also hazard a guess that more hobbyists visit this site than businesses 🙂 That's about the only place I am young these days. This getting old lark has nothing good going for it, it's an uphill struggle all the way downhill lol.

I agree that they are a great source of potential users, but they are less likely to leave a platform where they have hundred, thousands, tens of thousands or even 100K followers to a site that has a handful. I suppose it depends on whether what you are offering is devoid of interest on SM and you can corner a niche, but then that's the magic bullet in finding a niche that isn't covered on SM. Basically, you need an audience to capture an audience. To ignore SM media as a competitor and try to spin it as a source for your own site is a bit of a misnomer. Of course it's a competitor and a hugely successful and popular one, that's why they have millions of users and for someone wanting to capture their attention it's a ready-made platform. To entice them away from that multitude you have to offer them something they can't find there. I'm not saying that it's pointless trying, we have to try, but we also have to admit that it's an uphill struggle and not one that will resolve itself in a short space of time. If you can find a niche that's not already covered (good luck on that one) in this day and age, then you may have something to work with. Back in the day, before the rise of SM, opening a site would instantly attract registrations, which would quickly follow by more as the word spread. I remember my first site, using the then free version of Invisionboard, I had hundred of members within a week. Sadly, those days are gone. I take my hat off to anyone opening up their own site now. My advice to them would be to make sure you have acquired a small audience that are ready to join up and help you build something, hopefully, magnificent. If you are starting up and have found a niche that no one else has yet cornered and there is a ready-made audience gagging to join up, then good on you. But if you are starting up on your own no one has your back and you're treading on territory already well covered, then I feel for you. Business models are a different breed from hobbyist models and if they are well-established with a good solid customer base then they may benefit from using the IPS suite. Startups are less likely to do this, unless they are an online business and need a shopping site, as they will be spending all of their time, money and energy getting their business off the ground. Perhaps this is why IPS are geared towards Corporates as they are already established. I don't blame IPS and I don't lay any blame at the software - it's just the way of the world and it is ever evolving and businesses need to evolve with it or they will soon be left behind. I would like to see the hobbyist market be more inclusive in communications as it is still a big part of IPS, probably more in numbers than in monetary terms, but we do like to be notice for our small contributions 🙂

@Jordan Miller You raise some interesting and valid points in your posts, but you always refer your attention to 'business' and forget that there are thousands of hobbyist clients who tend to get left out. It may not be your intention to do so, but whenever you post something it always includes the word 'business'. This may seem like nitpicking and IPS may be more focussed on business clients, but there are others who contribute to the IPS coffers. It may be prudent to be more inclusive so those who created the foundation for IPS are not left feeling out. To the point of your post. As a hobbyist and someone who enjoys the experience of a forum based site (at present I get more of a kick from the creation aspect rather that the using thereafter) the drag of SM is the sore point when it comes to generating interest and contributors. It's not that what we hobbyists do that may appear uninteresting, it's getting people off the SM wagon into a new environment. There are probably numerous contributing factors that may lie at the root cause for this lack of interest, but that is the big issue for hobbyists. Finding a niche that has not been covered already and has sufficient interest from a large number of people to get the ball rolling is really tough, and it doesn't matter what software is employed in a new venture; WordPress, IPS, Xenforo, Simple Machines, MyBB the list goes on. Using SM to generate interest is a non-starter. I use Twitter to promote my site and my Tweets drive traffic because what I post is apparently of interest, but it's a one way ticket because the people consume the content and then return to Twitter to comment on it rather than register and comment directly at the source. I doubt that I'm alone in this parody of high interest on SM but low interest in registering at the source of the interest. It's a symptom of the way people engage in this day-and-age. It seems as though it's an effort to go through the short process of registering. The other factor could also be that they are not interested in spending time learning how to use a system that may appear to be cumbersome to use on their mobile devices. Sign of the times perhaps.

I believe when it comes to quoting the GDPR it can be considered a matter of interpretation; the downside to this is that your interpretation may not be the same as the governing body responsible in your country for implementing the GDPR. I also believe that if there is any doubt in your mind you should not proceed with whatever you are doing that may bring you into a situation where you could be breaking the law and so check with the governing body if what you are proposing is actually legitimate. The risks of non-compliance can be weighty depending on how your governing body perceives your misdemeanour. The bottom line is that if you are unsure ask for consent; it's simple enough to do and could save a lot of pain further down the line. We've already witnessed in this community people who have been ravaged by uncertainty when some unscrupulous member puts them through the mill when quoting the GDPR. And while the rest of world outside of the scope of the GDPR may shrug, there is a substantial number of countries where millions of people can't just shrug. The GDPR is a monster that has been unleashed and it's bite can be fatal.

I believe new members should be made aware of the Newsletter option and it should (if it's something you're keen to provide) be made more prominent with an explanation as to what it is and what it contains, along with informing the member that there is an unsubscribe link in every email should they wish to stop receiving them. Members join a site for many different reasons and I doubt that one of them is to receive loads of emails from the site admin without their consent. It may be seen by some as a way of 'onboarding' but conversely it can also chase people away if they feel they are being cajoled into something they did not sign up for. A well compiled welcome message highlighting the benefits of using the site and the features it offers will be more welcomed than a load of follow-up emails. When someone new joins up there will always be an element of trepidation and they should be allowed to go at their own pace. If they find your site appealing they will, hopefully, contribute; if they find that it's not what they expected then let them leave peacefully.

One of the plus points of @ehren. themes is that they are very easy to customise and if help is needed then it's there without hesitation and always with a solution. Fantastic themer with first class support. Highly recommended 🙂

I use two of @ehren. themes one dark (Titan) one light (Novus) both heavily customised to work around the apps I use by @Adriano Faria My current (and probably my last) site can be seen at https://musicandmoviebuffs.com I use to have two sites, one for movies and one for music, on different platforms, so it made sense to merge the two and just have one site and one platform (IPS). I have to admit that I actually get more of a kick out of designing the sites than I do actually using them. I promote on Twitter, but that's all I do there, movie of the day and album of the day with links to the site. Examples shown below:

Speed reading, as @opentype stated doesn't mean comprehension of what is being read. I would prefer to read slowly and fully understand what is being presented, rather than flash through it and miss important factors. One of the big issues of today is that everything must be faster, and in reality speed isn't always the be all and end all of everything. Everyone is different and everyone reads and comprehends at different speeds. Personally, I just think it makes the text look ugly and malformed. If this were introduced to the IPS system then I would hope that it would be optional.