whitetigergrowl

@Morrigan Thank you!

I'd like to not show the subforums on the grid. How do I make those now show? Been looking everywhere with no luck. I'm rather surprised there is not an option to turn this off or on or make it so you can determine how you want them to be shown, if at all.

This is a complaint I made about IPB before the release of IPB 4.5. It's really unacceptable in this day and age to have so much wasted space. Things really need to be pulled together tighter with more purpose served to those blank areas. So if there is no description then the white area for example shouldn't be there. I hate how the postbit also can make empty signatures into a ton of white space if there is a short response. Again, there's no reason for that to happen. Personally I would prefer a more uniform postbit. 4.5 is an improvement, but I think more attention really needs to be paid to the things that stick out. Like how useless profiles have generally become, and all of that white space. As well as the removal of space below a post that is made with too much empty space.

Wrong. I've done it before changing the domain url. Running it on a different domain isn't a problem. You just get an error saying the license in use is not valid for that site, at worst usually that only admins see. You should be able to reset it, with some precautions, without having to pay anything extra. There simply is no tangible benefit to paying for a domain change. Period. It puts more money in IPBs pockets, and doesn't protect you from anything any more than if there was no fee. On top of that. if it really helps control piracy and running multiple copies on different domains, then why aren't the other forums doing it. It's not like they don't have a piracy problem too. The irony is I did a quick google search and found pirated copies of the current software and other plug-ins. So clearly someone wanting to change their domain once, twice, or multiple times in 6 months had zero benefit to stopping that from happening. Again wrong. Not everyone is you. Everyone has different reasons, purposes, and desires. I can sit down and think of what I want to accomplish and still have it go bust numerous times in less than 6 months. The forum market right now isn't very lucrative and it's hard to compete against social media. So putting up reasons for people to NOT use them, or to price yourself out of the market isn't very smart either. It doesn't matter what their reasons are. What matters is the blatant nickel and dimeing for something that simply put has no reason to cost money. Period. All I have to do is look at the long list of forums people have promoted on this site in the last 6 months that are no longer there. That should tell you everything you need to know. Heck one recently promoted his IPB forum, and when I visited it, it had switched to Xenforo. Literally less than a week or so later. As well, if I wanted to download a nulled version of the current software and various plug-ins, while it's not encouraged, it completely bypasses all fees and costs. Including the domain change fee which is utterly pointless and useless. Again, why is IPB the ONLY one doing it in regards to forums and they aren't even as popular right now as say something like Xenforo? I prefer IPB, but there are times with things like this it's rather hindering and literally pricing me out of their market. I could go to Xenforo, which I know has less in the terms of features right now, but pay 1 fee per year for upgrades and access to downloads (rather than twice with IPB) and change my domain name multiple times if I wanted to, with no extra cost. And it protected them and me just as much from piracy as paying for it with IPB has. When was the last time you paid for a domain name change with another forum provider like Xenforo, VB, Vanilla, Burning Board, etc.? Think about it. I've seen literally zero benefit for paying for a domain name change. None. Unless someone can give some examples that have happened to them where paying that $15 domain name change fee benefited them?

It literally doesn't prevent anything. I can still have the one forum software using the one domain on several different domains if I wanted. The only thing it shows me is an error about the license. It doesn't cripple the forum or anything to any extent that makes it unusable. And for those smart enough, they could get rid of the error message too if they so wanted. It's not like there aren't pirated copies of it out there regardless. Or they could just leave the message about the license and not care. It's literally almost no different than if you let your license right out. And like I mentioned, no other forum software creator I've seen does this. Not VB. Not Xenforo. Not even the free ones. You can't tell me things are better for those forum makes in terms of piracy or preventing multiple installs because they don't charge that $15 fee. It's not. I have. And all you have to do is look at the list of forums people have posted here that have started then stopped and they started something new. As everyone knows the forum market is a b*tch to get into right now and actually have your forum go anywhere or do anything. So people try different things. Different names, themes, ideas, etc. in hopes of capturing something. Anything. I don't know of many people either that are willing to pay for a web host then keep a dead forum but keep paying for something no one is interested in using. So they change it up. Sometimes simply changing the domain and name of the site. And just because something doesn't apply to you, doesn't mean it doesn't apply to others. And the fact you think it's a preventative measure in piracy concerns, you're wrong. It's literally had ZERO effect on piracy. None. Period. No clue why you think it changes anything in regards to piracy. It doesn't. I can still easily find the latest versions of IPB on pirated forums. Although I have a legit license, I still look to see. And it's out there. Things like this hinder people wanting to use forum software. They literally dump more money into it than they will ever get out of it. Literally almost nickel and dimed to death. IPB charges you twice a year to be able to download and use certain forum functions. Sure you don't have to pay to renew, then you lose the ability to download plug-ins and certain forum features on your forum on top of that. This is one reason social media has taken over. Very low overhead costs. Very low long term costs. With forums costs seem to be going up just to keep using the same software you used 20 years ago except now with a new coat of paint and a few new features. Then if you decide to change the domain because you found a better name, or want to try something different, within 6 months that's another $15. Let alone all of the money you may have to spend on plug-ins if you want to have a forum that has more features and functions. And let's not forget the cost of web hosting amongst other things. Only to have 5 people show up on your forum and if you're lucky 1 person even says much of anything. No matter how much work you put into it. This is literally one of the most pointless charges by IPB. Literally. Explain how piracy is so bad with IPB they have to charge you to change your url if you want to change it for any reason in 6 months. But NO other forum software does that and has any less of a problem with piracy than IPB. The fact piracy is used as an excuse for the charge is laughable at best. It's literally had zero effect. So explain to me exactly how it's stopped IPB piracy. It hasn't. Explain to me how it does anything other than cost the forum owner more money if they choose to change the url for any reason in 6 months. Because until you can show me it's stopped piracy with IPB, the charge is a nickel and dime and serves zero benefit to the consumer. And until you can show me how it's made things better for the forum owner versus not getting charged for it on Xenforo, VB, and well, pretty much every other forum software maker and not getting charged for it on them has made things worse for the forum owner, your argument is no longer valid. I'll be waiting for you to show me the benefit of it. Show actual examples of how it's better to be charged for it with IPB, and not any other forum software. It's nothing more than a domain change that's tied to that one domain. Not multiple ones. I can still download the software for that domain and use it across multiple domains. How did that stop piracy. How did that change anything? It didn't. Period. So the latest version is still pirated, nulled, etc. I've seen it out there. But I get charged to change a domain name within 6 months. Weird how for years there was no problem not charging for it. But then you're told it's for your benefit and you go along with it. 🤦‍♂️

I don't understand why there is a $15 domain name change fee and why you can only change it once every 6 months free. It doesn't cost IPB anything for me to change my domain name. To me this is the equivalent of an ATM fee when you withdraw money, except in this case from your own bank. For those worrying about fraud or anything else, as long as only one domain is tied to that license it shouldn't change anything. So yeah, this is one thing I don't understand, see it as nothing more than a money grab from IPB, and serves no real benefit to the consumer and serves no benefit to IPB other than financially. IPB is the only forum software that I see that does this. I may be missing one, but most don't charge to change the domain. Charging twice a year if you want to keep downloading things and keep certain features of your forum going is expensive enough. But if you decide to change your domain for any reason, now it costs you an extra $15 for literally no reason other than for the sake of changing it. If some are still worried about potential fraud or hijacking or something, other things could be put into place to prevent it. This I think is probably one reason people go more to Xenforo and others is because of this. Some people change domain names often while they struggle to find something that works for them. With them you don't get charged to change a domain. Period. You can renew today, then in 5 days or a month or 3 months if you choose to change your domain you simply change it. You don't get charged $15 every time you change it. This is a hindrance. It serves no tangible benefit other than to make money. IPB never did it for years with no problems. But in recent years started to. And considering how much people already pay for renewals, I don't think it's too much to ask to remove the $15 fee. Period. It's literally one of the most pointless fees I've seen on here. I love IPB, but that is one thing that absolutely needs to go. No one is handling the domain change other than the consumer. Unless customer service needs to handle it, there should be no fee for it. I'm literally getting charged just to change my domain. Absolutely insanity. And like I said prior, if some think it's a way to prevent fraudulent actions, there are plenty of other ways to do that. As well, after the 6 months your domain would be open to be changed anyways which changes nothing in regards to possible fraud. So yeah, it's really gotta go. It's just a pure money grab and is something no one else does. So what's the logical reason for it here? Costs keep going up, as forum popularity keeps going down. I don't think those 2 will go hand in hand very well. So we need to be mindful of things like that this are really pointless fees and serve to benefit no one other than IPB.

This is a carryover from the invisionalpha thread I made on this matter. Check there first before commenting here as there was a bit more added there and I don't want to have to re-cover everything unless it's a copy and paste from there. IPB 4.5 is looking great! I'm stoked for it for sure. However even with all of the improvements I was surprised to see profiles are still as stagnant as ever. While I understand not everything could be covered in 4.5, not seeing some sort of profile update was a bit of a surprise. We've all see the threads and posts about social media and forums. That while forums still serve a purpose, they seem to be losing the war to social media. A lot of ideas are floated around about how to change that such as you can log-in using social media, share stuff to social media, post links from social media, maybe gain a few social media type of features. But still it's just a bandaid. So where does the real problem lie? It lies with how forums are still stuck in an old way of thinking, as well as the fear of just becoming a social media knock off. VB, IPB, and Xenforo profiles are generally pretty blah. Most people tend not to really do much with them or pay attention to them in general. When people come to a forum, they are generally limited to just what they see. The key is to engage them. Not just with content, but with each other. It's not always an easy task, but it can be done. Members should do more than just come to a forum for content or to share content. They should be able to engage with members on the forum, but also much more efficiently through the profile on a more personal level rather than just a basic one. So how do you encourage members to do something with their profiles, while also getting other members to engage with them on their profiles. Part of this I believe lies in the postbit. It's being used wrong. Right now even with 4.5 when you hover on their username you get a generic popup with any header they have posted (which for many forums isn't often it seems), last visited, content count, joined, Message, Find, and Ignore User. All pretty generic and useless content overall. Then you go to their profile and it's generally still pretty generic. Sure admins can make some uneven adjustments, but generally it's still not enough to engage the members to engage more directly with other members. Sure you can add a widget to the homepage showing latest statuses, posts, etc., but how many really pay attention to those? The profile page and postbit could be used to better enhance member engagement on the forum, but also with each other. Content on the profiles should be more front and center rather than clicking a bunch of tabs. It should want to engage the other members that visit it. Forum owners could have the ability to drag and drop profile specific widgets similar to how Pages works, into specific blocks. The post bit should be a window into that profile. Rather than hovering on the name to see a generic useless profile info, why not click on the name that would bring that profile page into the current page? It could take up maybe 25% of the bottom part of the screen (though would be adjustable by owners), pushes the current page up or pops up over that bottom part, then when you are done you can click on the current page you are on and the profile page will drop back down. You're not leaving the page you're on, you're engaging not just in the existing thread but also that members profile. The postbit could also be used to share statuses and status updates on the fly. Remember, the profile is to reflect who the member is. Not that they are just a random name with no face. These are suggestions and ideas that should be looked at. Social Media is meant to bring people closer together, even if they disagree. Forums easily should be able to be that and more. And while some things could be done by CSS changes or what not to fix the profile issue, it will take some re-imagination on how to make it more than just a static page most people ignore and the closest they get to knowing other members are some random posts on forums. Just like with Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and others, you have a profile. You use that profile to share content but also to have others come to your profile and engage with you. Forums should be doing the same thing rather than just seeing profiles as a generic thing. Involve them. Bring them more front and center. I think it's time to take a closer look at them and how members can become more excited and engaged to use them. It benefits the forum as it not only keeps people on the forum a bit longer, but also helps create a more personal and social atmosphere. What are forums? Are they just a place for the faceless and rely on content posted by random members most will never get to really know? Are they meant to just be anonymous sources of info? Or do they help broaden the social aspect by engaging content AND social aspects of members? Time to start asking some of those questions. What is the purpose of the profile page? How can it be used to better motivate members and help create a more social atmosphere? Etc Etc. It's absolutely time to re-evaluate their role on forums. I see tons of potential with them and member engagement on the forums but also amongst each other.

Looks much better! The movie one seems to work great now on all themes. The description is the only thing left on the music one as you can see from the images from 2 different themes. I'm not sure if that only happens on longer descriptions since the movie descriptions were short and didn't give that same effect. But as you can tell music one the description is filled in with color and it overpowers the text. * Update. Regardless of text amount its still doing this.

Is there a way to darken the text or put the content in it's own box or themes that may be like mine? The text is light and the background is transparent on my theme so the movie description content isn't visible much of the time. I've attached an image. The product itself is working great though. Any ideas or recommendations? I have the same issue with the music version of this too. Also if the database doesn't have their image on file, the image comes across as broken when retrieved. Not sure about the music one yet, but the movie one for sure is doing this.

How do I do a complete uninstall. I screwed up with my forum and now I can't uninstall it without giving a 500 error. It's affected anything I try to uninstall in applications. Is there an SQL command so I can remove all traces of videobox from the database in hopes it resolves the problem? The issue wasn't caused by videobox, but it seems I can't uninstall anything without it being because of Videobox from my screw up in the file folder (not the SQL).

1. I knew of what was coming. Many did. Problem is, many also tried giving the benefit of the doubt because they were doing damage control on the official forums. But beyond that, there are also many forum owners that aren't paying attention to such things because they aren't uber nerds like many of us, or are pre-occupied with many other things and don't care about it. I still see people on their official forums that when this is brought up say they had no clue about it. Many are just out of the loop. Oct. was that tipping point. I think they were very ignorant about their communities intelligence. Remember in that leaked message what they said about the vocal members and how they would do damage control. This tells me they knew this was coming too. Which is sad. If you know this is coming on such a scale, then maybe you should re-think your strategy or risk alienating your members. Which is what they are doing. 2. Thanks. :P

I've been a customer of IPS's for quite awhile now (I believe close to 5-6 years). And usually a pretty vocal (but civil) member. They (and you) may not always agree with me, and sometimes I admit I seem to run in circles like a dog before getting the point I'm trying to make across. But the staff has always been patient with me. And if I get out of hand on that rare chance, they let me know. They have been fair. They have been civil. And they have been partial. Now I don't always agree with how some things have been done. But much of that was in the past. And they have overall improved in many of those areas. While I was vocal about things like the mod community not long ago, I think sometimes it takes certain events like the VB member mass exodus to IPB where they are asking for 'mod this' and 'mod that' to help move some things along or to re-awaken my arguments. (Which I'm sure they cringe at, at this point. lol) But in the end, IPS has pulled through. Some things I admit seemed slow to improve. But they HAVE improved on them. I understand some admin/owner frustrations. They want to move to IPB, but are stuck on VB because that's what their members want. And sometimes it's not an easy decision. And in some cases an impossible one because thats what the members are accustomed to. I think this mass exodus to IPB from VB will help IPS in the long run. More active members, more input, more opinions, and so on. (Of course there is only 1 me! :P) Long story short, I hope to not see the day IPS turns as anti-customer as VB has. VB never used to be this way. But since Oct., many of the fears that VB users had (mainly because of that leaked posting from the admin area on their forums), has come to pass. The changes seem to be due to the new mgmt and owners of Vbulletin. It's no longer the VB many knew. I have supported IPS and will continue to do so. What's ironic for me is when I complained about their new pricing structure awhile back. I wasn't happy with it. Then VB comes out with theirs last month and made the IPB pricing changes look sane in scope. VB essentially made an ass out of me. Go figure. But at least it made me and others realize how good IPB really is in comparison. Hopefully now we will see more positive changes. And hopefully that while they will continue to innovate, they will also add useful features members frequently request. Thank you IPS for 'keeping it real' and for not sending some of us to the poor house any faster than you have to. ;) As well as acting 'normal' while also running a business. Too many times businesses become so business like, they lose touch with what the customer really wants, and instead THINK they know what the customer wants. (Big difference.) So thanks for everything! Although I can see this as a day at the office. :P

I'm personally impressed by the large number of long standing Vbulletin members moving to and supporting IPB. I'm very happy to see that and to acknowledge the overall quality of the IPB3 software.

Yeah those types of websites, blogs and articles are popping up everywhere. And IMO, most are valid.

:whistle: