Matt Finger

My oh my, how exciting

31 minutes ago, Matt said:

@Matt Finger is working hard on it as we speak. I don't want to say too much but we did a lot of research and picked the best solution in terms of development, stability and future functionality. More news soon. It's probably one most have never heard of but it is used widely. If anyone is worried about us using Froalo or TinyMCE, don't be. 😅

3 hours ago, The Old Man said:

Lovely work as always! Thanks all.

Are classic animated smilies still available for members to use when posting?

 

If you are referring to the classic and custom emojis, yes they are still supported in the editor 

We didn't include them in the Icon Creator however as those images can get quite large and it can make the SVG too large after embedding them.

1 hour ago, Chris59 said:

Was look around more closely . I know it's an early stage but I wonder if there will be a slider for the size of icon . especially when you want to use them as badges for ranks as example 😇

No plans for a size option because the generated icons are in fact dimensionless SVGs, meaning they are rendered at whatever size is specified in your community theme's CSS.

Thanks for reporting this issue, we believe it should be resolved now, let us know if you are still having issues.

On 5/29/2023 at 3:17 PM, sadams101 said:

I was wondering if this is how the events should look after setting them up? For example, here are Google's field names on the left, and on the right my input:

Custom event name = content_area

Parameter = content_area

Operator = equals

Value = Area of the content

So a few notes

• That appears to be the Google Analytics Console, but to setup custom events this would be handled via Tag Manager. Google has some pretty good support articles on the topic; These 2 may be helpful https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/12229021 https://support.google.com/analytics/answer/10075209. You actually don't even need to create the event it's implicit in the GA4 tag.
• Those are all properties, not events. The properties should be available on many different events, so you probably don't want to track them individually.

Hope this helps! We don't want to take an authoritative "right or wrong" stance as the Data Layer integration is designed to be as flexible as possible.

49 minutes ago, Clover13 said:

Thanks @Randy Calvert and @Matt Finger

So it sounds like the strongest differentiator is in the listing and landing page, and a large gap between page_view and content_view could indicate visitors simply refreshing/reloading the main landing page for updates but not actually diving into the content (or at least diving into content far less than 1:1).  Probably an expected pattern overall, as not ever landing page load will have content every user in that moment wants to or has time to dive into right then and there.  But too large of a gap could indicate your site's content isn't appealing to the larger audience enough, thereby not promoting clicking into content to view it deeper.

Hopefully I'm interpreting that correctly based on the implementation.  In any event, appreciate the feedback! 👍

Happy to help, and well said! These metrics are for understanding user behavior not a good/bad indicator; like you said this one property can mean many things. While few of the provided properties are actionable on their own, looking at them together should give you a sense of the bigger picture.

Yes, page_view is every page while content_view only triggers when viewing a specific content item (e.g. topics, blog entries, etc). The listings and your landing page, however, do not count.

Just due to the nature of site navigation, clicking around several times before finding a piece of content is quite common, so the page_view is usually quite a bit larger than content_view.

Comparing the two can actually be a good metric to observe (especially if you can get the trend over time). It tells you, of your total traffic, who's browsing and who's just reading content.

Our May update brings Email Bounce Management to our Invision Community cloud platform. In this blog entry, I'll go over what it is, why it's important, and how you can use it when needed.

What is it?

For those who may not know, an email bounce occurs when an email message is sent and the recipient either doesn't exist (hard bounce) or they have blocked the sender (you!) in a spam complaint (soft bounce).

When an email message bounces we block that address at the cloud level so it cannot receive new messages from any community. This is considered good practice for email service providers, and ensures that we maintain a low bounce rate when sending emails on behalf of all the communities on our platform.

Please note this pertains to the Invision Community Cloud platform email service. If you use SMTP or SendGrid, email bounces are managed externally and may enforce different policies.

What Bounce Management Tools are we providing?

We're giving you the ability to see which members have blocked email addresses, and to unblock emails known to be safe.

Seeing which emails are blocked

In the AdminCP Members table (AdminCP > Members > Members), on cloud you will see a new filter: "Email Undeliverable". These are any member accounts that have emails blocked due to soft or hard bounces.

Additionally, on the front end, if a Member's email is blocked, they will see a warning indicator in the Nav/User Bar prompting them to change their email in their account settings.

Lifting Email Blocks

As stated earlier, when an email is blocked, it is blocked on the cloud platform level. If the block is not locked (which can happen if it's unblocked too many times), you will see a warning the Member's AdminCP Profile page.

Clicking into it you will see an option to unblock.

One final note on the Email Block Policy

If a situation occurs when an email is unblocked and gets blocked again a certain number of times, the block becomes permanent. In these cases, you will be able to see that the email is blocked but there won't be an option to unblock, and the member will have to change their email to resume receiving your Community's messages through us. This ensures that the Invision Community cloud platform retains a good email sending reputation.

Thanks for reading and as always stay tuned to for the latest and greatest upcoming features and insights!

The features discussed in this announcement are not available for Invision Community Classic. Click here to learn more about switching to our platform to get this and other benefits.

View full blog entry

PWAs was recently added in the last release. Has it changed you started interacting with the site? What are you thinking about next for this front?

(Jump to the answer in the video)

Same. I actually read notifications now instead of pretend I didn't see emails

On 3/25/2023 at 2:14 AM, LIVIO said:

Hi,

Very good news, thank you.

So, only Youtube currently for live streaming, right ?

Vimeo Live not possible (yet) ?

Thanks for the confirmation

Yes, that is correct for now. We're planning support for more streaming platforms (including Vimeo Live) coming up soon.

@Randy Calvert In this first go, the non-admin UI is minimal. It's just the nag Charles showed above, and yeah behind the scenes it will catch any email from being sent to them.

The Admins will be able to filter via the ACP to view all members with blocked emails

Additionally, these block records are saved so no one can use that email in the future (new accounts or existing) while it's blocked.

Wow, shout out to Randy for being such an expert enthusiast before we even release! I've said this before but this was lots of work over the past months and I am so excited for everyone to use it and provide valuable feedback to prioritize next features.

I am excited to officially announce the first release of Live Topics coming in our April release of Invision Community for selected cloud plans!

Live Topics is a hosted live chat and question-and-answer event that is converted into a forum topic upon completion. It combines the fun and togetherness of a live event with the permanence of a forum topic allowing you to continue the conversation long after the event has ended.

Recap: The first look at Live Topics including a video showing the main features.

I know many of you on our community have already had sneak peeks and have been patiently waiting, so without further ado, let's get into it.

Who is Live Topics for?

Live Topics is a great way to bring people together for a live chat event. We have been using Live Topics for our monthly release chat webinars. In the past we have used Zoom to host the live stream and take some questions. This approach is fine, however once the Zoom finishes, the chat history isn't available on our community. We upload a video for those who missed the event, but it doesn't feel interactive.

Live Topics automatically converts the questions and answers to a regular forum topic which allows the discussion to continue. Furthermore, the questions are separated from the general chat during the event making it easier for hosts to find and answer questions raised during the event.

Live Topics is perfect for anything from product release events to monthly bookclub discussions and everything in between.

How does it work?

Live Topics are live virtual events within a community. The process to creating a live topic is simple:

1. Schedule your Live Topic from the ModeratorCP.
2. When it's time to start, a host starts the live session. This is the bread and butter of the system; attendees can answer your questions and post chat messages all in realtime.
3. All done? End the topic. It will be converted to a regular forum topic for further discussion and reference.

Scheduling and Managing Live Topics

Live topics are managed from the ModeratorCP.

When scheduling a live topic, you can configure the following options:

• Duration - This is the scheduled duration that attendees will see before the event. This sets expectations of time for your community.
• Add To Events - This option creates a new Calendar Event in your Community. This allows the live topic to be searched, viewed, and promoted like other event within your community.
• Live Video URL - This is the url of a YouTube embed. You can also add this after starting the live session. (Support for platforms other than YouTube coming soon 🙂). We stream Zoom straight to a live Youtube video currently.
• Attendees - This option specifies who can attend the live topic. Leaving as "Recommended" allows any registered member to join.
• Staff - The staff are responsible for moderating user generated content as it comes in. The default setting will add all groups that are allowed to moderate live topics. You can adjust this default in the AdminCP.
• Additional Hosts - The hosts have the highest level of permission in the live topic. They create questions, update the video url, and guide the discussion. By scheduling the Live Topic, you are automatically a host but you can add more hands to help. All hosts get a reminder notification close to when the event is due to start.
• Require Approval for question replies/chat messages - During the live session, you will likely want to control the rate of incoming content (especially questions). Chat Message creation can be locked during the live session.

Hosting the Live Topic

To start a live topic, you need to click into it from the ModeratorCP. Alternatively, if it was added to an Event you can click into it from there. Then just click start, it's as simple as that. Your attendees will see a waiting page with a count down.

It is worth mentioning that the live topic cannot

• Run without any hosts in attendance. When hosts abandon a live session, it will automatically end within a few minutes
• Run longer than 6 hours. The aim of Live Topics is to accompany a live event and to be short term compared to regular forum topics. The live session will also end automatically in this case

Once it's started, the UI is divided into have 2 main areas: One for Main Questions and another for Chat. Any video streams you embed are show in the top right and automatically started.

Main Questions (and Replies)

• Main Questions and their replies are what will be preserved when the topic is converted into a forum topic. Only staff can create main questions in order to ensure smooth topic flow. 
• For each question, you can also configure if the replies are "locked". A main question can be unlocked, locked to all members, or locked to non-staff. When a question is locked, new replies cannot be created.

Chat Channels

• For each Live Topic, there is a General Chat and a Staff Chat Channel. If a member is non-staff, instead of the Channel selector tabs, they will see only "Chat".
• When a non-staff attendee creates a chat message, it can be marked as a "question". This lets the host know that the question was intended for others to respond to. Optionally, the host can even convert the message into a question so it's integrated into the standard topic post-conversion

Live Stream Tools

• Hosts can select a time in the live feed a main question was answered.
• The video embed can also optionally be changed mid session. This is useful if you don't know the live stream URL before hand.

Moderation Tools

• Staff can hide or delete questions, chat messages and replies. The reply and chat feeds can also be set to automatically hide new items on creation.
• Non-staff attendees can report content. Reports show in the staff chat channel.
• Last but not least, staff members can silence attendees. This takes away their privileges to reply and create chat messages.

The Converted Topic

When the live session completes, our Cloud platform gets to work converting all that data into a regular forum topic. Converted Live Topics feature a questions box which allows you to drill down to specific questions within the topic.

The questions can be browsed individually, or even split into separate topics!

Lastly, new replies come with the option to select an originating question.

That's a wrap (for now)

We look forward to seeing all of you use live topics on your communities. As we've hinted elsewhere there are many more features coming soon, so keep your eyes peeled!

The features discussed in this announcement are not available for Invision Community Classic. Click here to learn more about switching to our platform to get this and other benefits.

View full blog entry

How long does it technically take to convert to topic? Is it a quick process?

Almost instant

When are you going to add ChatGPT bots - seems like all the rage.

(Jump to the answer in the video)

ChatGPT wrote half the code before we fixed it

2 minutes ago, Randy Calvert said:

Is there some sort of way to flag which posts were questions vs which were just chat?  

Currently chat is not converted into posts or anything, but the data is preserved in the database so you can expect a transcript in a very early update. Hope that answers your question 🙂

Why would someone ask a question versus just type it into the chat?

After it's over, all the questions and replies get converted into a permanent topic.

When creating a live event with video, what platforms are supported? (Zoom, Webex, Google video, Facebook live?)

Real easy to expand there

As the other Matt who headed up the development of this system, I can state for a fact that finding a way to incorporate this into self-hosting is too hard. There are simply too many systems involved, and though it wouldn't be our fault when people have incorrectly setup their environment, it certainly would be our problem when almost nobody can use the product they paid for.

Beyond this, there are many assumptions we can make when building on our existing cloud platform which ensure security and reliability. To make something like this shippable to any existing environment, we'd need a substantially larger dev team and much more time, all of which would result in a final price tag too high to expect to sell.

I understand the frustration, but just because it's "possible" to create doesn't mean it's a feasible idea for a product.

@My Sharona, Start at tagmanager.google.com. When you have your container setup, you should see a page like this where you can click the container ID in the top right

A popup opens with the head and body snippets

Hi aXenDev,

Good find, we're in the process of pushing a patch for this issue. Sorry for any inconveniences this may have caused.

Thanks!

Hi Paweł,

We are in the process of migrating to a minimum PHP version of PHP8, and this means that one or more 3rd party add ons contain code that can break on PHP8. For more info see our August Developer Blog.

Cheers!

Hi @JohnCourt!

I'm reaching out to let you know we have confirmed the issue to be a minor bug where we call a now deprecated endpoint in Twitter. I have submitted a pull request with a solution so this should be resolved in the next upcoming release.

Thanks for reaching out!

Hi Steve!

Don't worry, coincidentally Approval Queue UI updates are currently in the works and hopefully will be included in one of the next 4.7 releases! Among other enhancements, exposing the reason content is held for approval is on the list so stay tuned.

Thanks!

That is correct, to my knowledge, creating one event for each is the only way.