VR Forum Upgrade

[AdminLB]

Hello All,

 

As you can see we are undergoing an upgrade to a newer version of Invision Power Board. Obviously, every time we make upgrades there are little changes in look and functionality. I also understand that once people get used to something, they do not like change.

 

Unfortunately, in the web world, things are constantly changing and there are hazards to NOT performing upgrades. For example, social media sharing is a huge part of the landscape now and we need to be operating a version with that in mind. This newer version offers us that capability, along with many other new functionalities.

 

If you have questions about the new version or see something not working please report it here or email me at info@verticalreference.com.

[TomPPL]

I own and operate a very busy site (not heli related), we've been using IPB for years and the new version since the day it was released - it's excellent:

http://www.rigg-access.com/forum/index.php?/index

 

We've had a lot of feedback from our user base, most of it (90%+) has been very positive, admin is also correct, it is way more secure than any other version. The anti-spam service is also fantastic, the whole package is probably one of the best available for users and for admins.

[r22butters]

Well, so far, I don't like the new format. Its harder to navigate, and it seems I may be here for a while, since I cannot find a way to log out?

[AdminLB]

Well, so far, I don't like the new format. Its harder to navigate, and it seems I may be here for a while, since I cannot find a way to log out?

At the very top of the board you will see your login username with a drop down arrow. There you will see MY PROFILE, MY SETTINGS (very useful stuff), MESSENGER, and SIGN OUT.

[adam32]

Not a big fan so far, but like everything, I'll get used to it.

[Gomer Pylot]

Everything takes some getting used to, and this version will take some time to become familiar. Very little about it seems to be intuitive, but once we find the stuff we're used to seeing elsewhere, it will become a lot easier.

[AdminLB]

Thanks for the feedback!

 

As I indicated earlier, we HAD to do this upgrade to a newer version. The 3 main reasons were SUPPORT, SECURITY, and SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATION. If you keep running older versions you eventually lose technical support from the IPB developers and hosting companies. I hope that everyone can understand that it was also critical that we keep up with social media integration like Facebook, Twitter as well as new avatar and login technologies. The older versions did nothing of the sort. Here is a list of features for the latest versions:

 

What's New

 

Link Sharing

Easily share links from your community to Facebook, Twitter, and more. Great way to drive traffic to your community!

 

Status Updates

Enhancements to the existing member status system in IP.Board to include the ability to reply and more.

 

Topic Preview

Preview the first few lines of a topic without loading the entire topic.

 

View Reputation

Optionally allow your members to see who gave reputation points on their posts.

 

Twitter Integration

Your members can now link their account with their Twitter account!

 

Improved Facebook Integration

Further enhance the link between your community and Facebook to drive traffic.

 

Profile Customizations: Part 1 and Part 2 Allow your members to customize the look and feel of their profile page.

 

Skin Upgrader

Upgrading your skin between versions of IP.Board just became a lot easier.

 

Soft Delete Posts and Topics

Rather than actually deleting a post or topic you can now hide it from view to easily restore it later.

 

Notification System

An easier way to be notified of all the various events that happen in your community.

 

Modification Development Enhancements

Great tools for those that create modifications for IP.Board

 

Hook System Improvements

Improvements to the IP.Board hook system to make it easier for modification developers to expand the functions in the software.

 

Search Engine Optimization: Part 1 and Part 2 Allow search engines to better index and rank your community in results.

 

Search Engine Overhaul

Search engine rebuilt from the ground up introducing more flexibility and power.

[67november]

change is inevitable and this is looking good, the navigation is not to difficult just need to get used to it thats all.

[67november]

Lyn a heads up for ya we've lost the chatroom. have your gurus check that

[heligirl03]

Less clunky in appearance, everything still seems to be here. I gave the new layout a once-through to find things (no prob), changed a few of the new settings to my preferences (make sure I'm not surprised), and overall I think it feels good! No problems here so far, thanks for keeping us current Lyn!

[Gomer Pylot]

Perhaps this will sort itself out, but the itty-bitty button for "Go the the first unread post" always goes to the first post in the thread. The board seems to have forgotten what I've read.

[mechanic]

Chat Room, INOP...

[AdminLB]

Chat Room, INOP...

Oooooh! Sorry. 67N did bring that up with me. I forgot to pass that onto my upgrade developer guy. I am on it.

[RkyMtnHI]

Hey everybody..

 

I finally got time to take a look at the new face of VR.. i too appreciate Lyn keeping up with the upgrades and look forward to learning how the facebook stuff works as we have been doing a lot with fb. As some of you know i used to always post photos here and have slowed down on that so as to be more "politically correct" since i now have my own shop.. i do however post photos on our fb page almost every day so i hope there is a way to post a link once in a while.. trouble is that you have to be a fb member to log on i think???

 

anyway, if anyone want's to follow the link is here;

 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Broomfield-CO/Colorado-HeliOps/115198276024?ref=ts

 

if the link doesn't work just go to fb and search Colorado Heli-Ops..

 

thanks Lyn....

 

aloha,

 

dp

 

ps, just went in to settings and messed around a little.. easy to find my way around.. even for an old guy!! looks like there are some pretty cool options there as well...

[500E]

Just checking, Blog still has print over photo small photos, photo over photo, a real mess.

Why O why dont people leave things that work alone.

It worked real well before few glitches but the basics usualy worked, now realy clunky no flow if 1 move was ok now requires 3.

If people want face book etc a link was easy.

I also now have 1.5 inch blue vertical border both sides2 +inch + white border on right side WHY not fill the screen, also smaler text

Go look at PPRUNE real simple no fancy bits easy to use without thinking

[AdminLB]

500e, We made the upgrade in the middle of the night this past Saturday. On Sunday in an email, you totally blasted me about your disdain for the upgrade. I apologized profusely for the inconvenience, made my case for the need to upgrade, asked for your patience while we tweek it, and even gave you my cell phone number to call me and indicated that I would go through the forum with you if it would help. I even followed up with another email on Monday asking if I could help.

 

You totally blew me off with no reply. Honestly, I do not appreciate the hit and run style complaint process that you have taken with me.

 

I have indicated (both here and in email) that I have my IPB developer working through each bug we can identify. Right now, mainly fine tuning the blogs and getting chat back to par.

 

But to address each of your concerns:

 

"Just checking, Blog still has print over photo small photos, photo over photo, a real mess."

 

Answer: I do see a few of your blog posts have the photos in the wrong position. As indicated, I have my guy working on that.

 

"Why O why dont people leave things that work alone."

 

Answer: Because as technology progresses, if you do not make upgrades to operating system platforms and "leave things alone" they will eventually stop working all together when your web host tells you they will not support your message board any longer.

 

 

"It worked real well before few glitches but the basics usualy worked, now realy clunky no flow if 1 move was ok now requires 3."

 

Answer: Works well now and has even more functionality to keep up with changes in the web world. The look and feel is just slightly different and with any website change, we will adapt in short order to the small nuances.

 

Show me one function that took 1 move before and now takes 3.

 

"If people want face book etc a link was easy."

 

Answer: We are not just talking about a link to facebook. There are several new login technologies with this new board and one is facebook. Please realize that facebook has over 400,000,000 (that's MILLION) subscribers, I think it would behoove any internet community administrator (me) to make sure it's social media is integrated into the platform if it is available. Resisting change/technology in the internet world is certain death.

 

"PS the avatar is so small I thought it was a 22"

 

Answer: I am looking at your avatar in your post now and it is now twice the size it was, so not sure what you are referring to.

 

Once again, I ask your patience as we tweek the little bugs as they pop up and my offer still stands if you wish to call me on my cell. I appreciate you visiting, but I hoped you would show me just a smidgen of patience and grace.

[kodoz]

Not sure if anybody else has noticed, but I like the vote up/vote down buttons at the bottom of each post. I was furiously hitting the vote-down button on a post concerning some flawed statistical analyses of R22 crashes, but got a warning that I'd exceeded my limit without even registering a single ding, much less the half-dozen that I'd intended to inflict! I thought this might be some way to manage the self-esteem of members, so, after much searching, I grudgingly found a post that I thought merited a vote-up: my generous nod was also rebuffed without even a single vote-up (not that I was planning on using more than one)!

 

Seriously Lyn, this is a cool feature of the upgrade. I'm sure it's not a priority, but since it's there it'd be nice to get to use it. Even better, any way to tie that to a filter that screens out low-rated posts (like what YouTube uses)? That'd be a great way to screen out the trolls, off-topic posts, flames, counter-flames....

[67november]

Lyn, as long as the changes are being done. I'd like to see the time stamps on the posts changed to a 24 hour clock instead of a 12 hour am/pm stamp.

 

thanks

 

67N

[Vindicated0721]

Hardly had anytime to get use to the old format, but the new format seems cool to me.

[500E]

Sorry you think it is hit & run I try not to supply things that have fairly obvious problems.

I do not have compleat distain for new format, but if things dont work do the tweaks first, run it in the background see if there are problems.

The avatar seems to have changed size from aprox 25 mm square to its present (origional)size, but now covering text on new format

I still do not know why the margins\backgrounds blue & white are so large and the script smaller?.

I am not a heavy user of phones, why do you think I should phone you. from the UK to US.

Not interested in cool just things that work.

[DanceswithCyclic]

Sure, it's a little different. I like it. I can still get tons of good info and it doesn't cost me a dime.

Kevin M.

[67november]

I see that your 'puter guru's are making progress, the post time stamps are now on a 24 hour clock.

thanks

 

67n

[kodoz]

I see that your 'puter guru's are making progress, the post time stamps are now on a 24 hour clock.

thanks

 

67n

 

+1 too!

[67november]

+1 too!

 

thx at least I'm not the only one.

[AdminLB]

Just another UPDATE to this thread:

 

1. Post Reputation - Vote Up/Down + and - buttons now work.

2. Blog layout fixed. There were some misplaced pics.

3. Avatars should all be fine now.

4. Chat works now.

5. Time stamp changed to 24 hour format.

6. After completing a search the buttons that allow you to navigate between pages of threads was not functioning properly - fixed.

 

Thanks for the bug notifications. If you see any other little things as you move through the forum functionality, please let me know.