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That's because not all forums are same. Some forums are really tech-savvy and users know exactly how to use a public forum for sharing something with everyone vs private chat limited to just a couple of users. Site admins could have the option to turn off the chat app at any time.

But Live Topics are scheduled right?

Maybe a developer could host NodeJS somewhere and use it in their chat app in some way but I'm not sure. For self-hosted sites, no worries as they can use the Chatbox+ app. The good news is (as per Matt), they already have the functionality (in Live Topics, live/instant notifications, Who else is here, Who is typing, etc) and could implement it quickly and easily reusing the same functionality. It's just a matter of convincing the team with the pros of Chat module. My other comment that is still in moderation (trying again without the google search link as the link appears to have hit the link filters and got highlighted in red) - Actually, I found this sentence somewhere decades ago (it's not mine 😀) - "When a user expects a feature in a software and s/he finds it in the software, that makes it a successful software" Now doing an online search for it still finds it in Gen AI on the top of Google search - "Yes, when a user expects a feature in a software and actually finds it implemented within the software, it significantly contributes to the software being considered successful, as it demonstrates that the developers accurately understood and addressed the user's needs and expectations, fulfilling a key aspect of usability and functionality."

On IC Cloud (CiC), apps using AJAX chat will have the site crashing frequently due to “number of requests per minute limitation” on CiC - it happened on our site frequently and we had to uninstall the app (a built-in solution reusing the same NodeJS continuous bidirectional communication would not have issues). If you are self hosted, 3rd party Chat apps should work fine. You can use Chatbox+ app which has great features.

Not sure what happened but my new comment went into moderation 😀 - Posted just now · Hidden - This content must be approved before it can be edited.

Actually, I found this sentence somewhere decades ago (it's not mine 😀) - "When a user expects a feature in a software and s/he finds it in the software, that makes it a successful software" Now doing an online search for it still finds it in Gen AI on the top of Google search - "Yes, when a user expects a feature in a software and actually finds it implemented within the software, it significantly contributes to the software being considered successful, as it demonstrates that the developers accurately understood and addressed the user's needs and expectations, fulfilling a key aspect of usability and functionality." https://www.google.com/search?q=When+a+user+expects+a+feature+in+a+software+and+s%2Fhe+finds+it+in+the+software%2C+that+makes+it+a+successful+software

Agree with you on some of these points. Chat content is private data between 2 people, should not be exposed to search engines for indexing and hence not valuable to the site in any way. Here are some validations in Chat's favor - Chat is chat and does have its uses and value. Otherwise, Teams, Zoom, WebEx and other conference apps won't be having chat modules built-in. Chat is used for quick, back-n-forth messages (mostly insignificant, unimportant small talk) and not suited for PMs or Topics and not meant for being catalogued or indexed for searches later. PM on an IC site is like "email" and cannot considered as chat. Users know when something is worth sharing with the entire forum, they would rather post it as a Topic for everyone to see than chat with just one or two people. But when the matter is relevant only between a couple of people, chat is more ideal - when both users are available simultaneously (which is less frequent), otherwise it becomes like a PM (email). At times, people ask another user in a topic irrelevant things like, "Hey, how did your trip to Mexico go?" and the topic get side-tracked that could have occurred ideally inside a private Chat between them. They know it is irrelevant to the topic but they also don't know how else to communicate with the other person privately and quickly in the absence of Chat module. Chat is more useful on sites with more users but Chat module will also attract more new users! Live Topics has its uses and value too. However, some of the small talk clutter during Live Topics like "Hi", "Thanks", "Ok", etc. would get posted as individual comment records which are insignificant (I haven't used Live Topics yet but assume this is how it gets converted into a topic). Chat app can be offered as an app like many other apps inside IC that can be deployed with its switch turned OFF and site operators could turn it on/off as they see fit after monitoring its effectiveness. More time spent by users on the site is better for analytics reducing the Bounce Rate rather than driving them to an external site like Discord, WhatsApp, etc. for chat and losing that activity to another site. I don't know anybody's WhatsApp or SnapChat ID on this forum as users are mostly anonymous on online forums and not all forums are same. At the end of the day, Chat is just an extra convenience for users and it will keep them on the site much longer. Since Chat data is private, not indexed and not valuable to the site, it needs to be purged periodically at least once a month or based on a setting in ACP to also keep it performant optimally. When a user expects a feature in a software and s/he finds it in the software, that makes it a successful software. You can scroll down in our article for Chat communication method - https://www.telugus.com/articles/effective-communication-methods

I just wanted to add 2 links and remove 1 link which cannot be done precisely. Is there any documentation on how to remove existing links? I suggested 10 footer link slots for any other sites' requirements who might need so many just in case as unused slots shouldn't be rendered anyway.

Please consider this at least for v5 and it would serve as a Value Proposition to sell more cloud subscriptions -

Currently, there is no way to precisely position new links or remove existing links in the footer without modifying templates because there are only 4 positions for newly added hooks (before/after opening tag and before/after closing tag). For instance, some sites incorporate Cookie Policy into Privacy Policy page and there is no need for the Cookies link in the footer and no way to remove it without modifying templates or using JS. Please add 10 slots to add links in the footer so admins can add/remove/position links in those slots that you could render in the footer. Most sites would 5-6 link slots.

Software vendors offer beta versions to try out for free until the GA is out. This way, it gets quicker to reach GA as it follows, "demo/try early, fail early, report early, fix early" instead of waiting too long. The current trial accounts are valid for only a month. If we try Beta 2 for a month, then there is Beta 3 and 4 and... and no way to try those later versions. Please consider keeping the trial accounts active until IC v5 goes live so users can try out the frontend and backend and help you get there sooner.

Got an email on this new issue - A configuration issue has been detected on your community which requires your attention. Locked Task: clearUnconfirmed One of the routine maintenance tasks which run in the background has failed several times, which may indicate a configuration issue. In the ACP Notifications - Running the task gave this (NOTE: Hive is disabled on our site) - 2C124/7 There was an issue running this task, please refer to the system log for further information. DELETE FROM `core_hive_subscribers` WHERE subscribe_confirmed=0 AND subscribe_date<=1728412431 IPS\Db\Exception: Table 'h328096.core_hive_subscribers' doesn't exist (1146) #0 /var/www/html/107774/system/Db/Db.php(1300): IPS\_Db->preparedQuery('/*h328096::h328...', Array) #1 /var/www/html/107774/applications/core/tasks/clearUnconfirmed.php(41): IPS\_Db->delete('core_hive_subsc...', Array) #2 /var/www/html/107774/system/Task/Task.php(283): IPS\core\tasks\_clearUnconfirmed->execute() #3 /var/www/html/107774/applications/core/modules/admin/settings/advanced.php(751): IPS\_Task->run() #4 /var/www/html/107774/system/Dispatcher/Controller.php(107): IPS\core\modules\admin\settings\_advanced->runTask() #5 /var/www/html/107774/applications/core/modules/admin/settings/advanced.php(38): IPS\Dispatcher\_Controller->execute() #6 /var/www/html/107774/system/Dispatcher/Dispatcher.php(153): IPS\core\modules\admin\settings\_advanced->execute() #7 /var/www/html/107774/admin/index.php(13): IPS\_Dispatcher->run() #8 {main} Oops! I see this was already reported by others

It may be due to an old version you are using

You may be using self-hosted and not up-to-date? In my Dashboard on IC Cloud, it says "Invision Community v5.0.0 Beta 3"

When you select Hook Application dropdown > System, it is 4th item in the System dropdown -