vpsboard software getting even more annoying

[willie]

Seems like the IPB software was downgraded to a newer version recently.  The activity feed https://vpsboard.com/activity/ stopped working although there's now https://vpsboard.com/discover/ which is similar but different and more JS dependent. The editing box has a bug where it doesn't stop underlining after you paste a link, unless you type a newline and back up over it.  The much more useful "show which threads have been updated recently" function is long gone in favor of the pseudo-Facebook feeds.  Meanwhile posts to the site seem to have slowed down a lot in the past few weeks, to the point where I'm even resorting to looking at LET (the real dregs, man) to get my fix of VPS news.  I can't help wondering if the software degradations have something to do with that.  I decided to post when someone completely independent of me griped on the IRC channel about how IPB is getting worse and worse.  LET has a far worse community but its board software is a lot cleaner and less annoying in my opinion. 


Is there some chance of turning off some of the IPB bells and whistles, or switching to simpler software, or at least stopping installing the latest downgrades when they are released?


Thanks.  (Not sure which subforum to put this in, but "industry news" seems as good as any).

 

[MannDude]

I've reported the bug to IPB, I imagine it'll be fixed shortly.


Regarding the link change, I honestly do prefer the new content discovery setup than the old one but do wish the URL structure would have remained the same. The old URL is nowhere present on the forum and I would imagine only those who notice that it is gone are those who have the old one bookmarked. You may wish to bookmark the new URL if that is the case.


I update the forum software when it is recommended to do so, I don't wish to run an outdated forum with known security flaws. I understand that changes made aren't always well received but it is what it is. I've reviewed other platforms in the past and honestly am not certain any of them would be 'better' for vpsB than IPB is. Switching platforms is a guaranteed method of aggravating even more members who have new URL structures to deal with, new features, old features missing that they are used to using and a headache for myself as well.


As far as performance goes, 4.1.X actually had noticeable performance increases for me. Site seems to certainly be faster and snappier on my end. Some common annoyances I had in 4.0.X seemed to be gone as well.


Full list of updates here:

The next major release for IPS Community Suite 4 is now in the final stages of development. We have added dozens of new features, enhancements to existing features, fixed the majority of 4.0 bugs, and made large performance gains. See our blog entry for full information.


Changes and New Features Include:

• New menu structure and drag-and-drop menu manager
  
  Ability to have two menu levels
  
• Option to create both custom-link menu items and embed preconfigured menus
  
• Preview before publishing
  
• All menu items support group permissions
  

[*]Discovery system that allows for both admin and user created Activity Streams

• 
  Admin-defined streams always visible to users. Users can edit and save admin streams to create their own, custom copy.
  
• The main show-all stream automatically tells you when there is new activity
  
• Users can create custom streams
  
• User streams can be shared but viewer will only see content based on their permissions
  
• Filter options include:
  
  All content or specific apps. Some apps support further refinement into categories or content-type.
  
• Unread content
  
• Ownership
  
  Content I posted in
  
• Content I started
  
• Content by specific members (user can create a list)
  

[*]Content I follow

• 
  Areas I follow
  
• Specific content I follow
  
• Posted by members I follow
  

[*] Time Period

• 
  Any time
  
• Since my last visit
  
• Specified number of days
  
• Specific date range
  

[*]Activity Streams that reference features not available to Guests such as unread tracking and follow system will auto-hide


[*]Option to serve images via a local proxy script (useful for SSL sites)

[*]Option to globally disallow remote images in posts

[*]Ability to preview email template wrapper

[*]Version number in AdminCP header

[*]Selective quoting to highlight a bit of a post and quote just that

[*]Pages application enhancements

• 
  Now installs with better default content to help new users
  
• Pages menu manager removed in favor of Suite-wide menu manager. Upgrade system will attempt to preserve menu items.
  
• Blocks
  
  New blocks
  
• Members block, Blog comments, Blog List, Download comments, Download reviews, Poll block
  
• commentFeed/itemFeed based widgets have date limit (today, 7 days, etc)
  
• RecordFeed has a customisable title
  
• Calendar widget has a calendar selector to restrict events to specific calendar(s)
  
• Better selectors for open/pinned/featured selection
  
• External Widgets: Ability to add blocks to other websites via generated iFrame code
  

[*]Pages

• 
  Larger editor box when editing/creating pages
  
• More tags in sidebar when editing/creating pages
  
• Custom error page configurable
  

[*]Fields

• 
  Simple relational field added
  
• Ability to place fields above or below record content
  
• Simple Name: Value display format added
  

[*]Media Manager

• 
  Ability to upload media for use within Pages pages, CSS, templates and blocks
  
• Compatible with designers mode
  

[*]Templates

• 
  New templates for when viewing the record homepage as 'articles'
  
• Ability to export and import templates to share with other IPS4 communities
  

[*]Gallery application enhancements

• 
  New upload image process
  
• Images and movies are submitted to the same upload field
  
• Image reviews
  

[*]Editor updates

• 
  Uses div-mode which is much faster and more reliable. Clicking into the editor is now pretty much instant.
  
• Auto-linking and member mentions to use new APIs for better reliability
  
• Quotes, code boxes, and spoilers can be dragged and moved and there is no more "red line"
  
• When cmd/ctrl right-clicking: options to remove or break-out of quotes, edit links and edit image properties
  
• Pasting asks if you want to convert to plain text
  
• Totally new code plugin with syntax highlighting as you type
  
• Option to make enter behave as a new line rather than with spacing
  
• Editor is responsive, and ability to have small editor show in areas with less space
  
• Member @mentions in posts can now be selected by tab key
  

[*]Upgrade process

• 
  New upgrade process where new files are downloaded and installed automatically when possible.
  
• Option to set email address for notifications when an upgrade is available
  
• Banner shown to admins on the front end when an upgrade is available. It can be dismissed except for security updates.
  

[*]Design and interface enhancements

• 
  Improve typography for titles
  
• Better contrast for user-entered text (posts/comments/etc)
  
• Brighten background colors
  
• Pre-select text in when share popup is opened
  
• Make positive/negative colors consistent across all uses
  
• Better hover highlighting of 'blended' links
  
• Better styling of mentions in posts (both the username, and the menu to select a user)
  
• Better contrast for ipsAreaBackground
  
• Flatten the default photo image
  
• Checkbox/radio buttons now use custom styling, giving themers more control of their style
  
• Improve popular/selected post styles
  
• Change popular post icon to heart for consistency with likes
  
• Make date a permalink for sharing
  
• Improve sidebar contrast and block styles
  
• Remove tab bar 'stretch' option and use CSS approach
  
• Improve attachments dialog
  
• Add more IDs to the user bar template for hook use
  
• Add X to close mobile nav menu
  
• Upgrade FontAwesome to 4.4
  
• Select messages for multiple deleting in messenger
  
• Make leaving a conversation clearer
  
• Improve warning panel in user profiles
  
• Move content status icons (pinned, hidden etc.) to start of row
  
• Improve cover photo so it automatically puts it into position mode after uploading
  
• Android title bar inherits theme header color
  
• Added date uploaded to Downloads version dropdown
  

[*]Browser notifications for completed actions (such as large file uploads)

[*]Option to prompt users to re-consent to Terms and Conditions and/or Privacy Policy when you change them in AdminCP

[*]Search

• 
  The main search box defaults to the app you are currently browsing unless you are on home page where it searches all
  
• New default interface
  
• Results now highlight and skip to search term in preview
  

[*]Retina emoticons

[*]Ability to uncheck all when adding Moderators in AdminCP

[*]Instant Notifications

• 
  Receive notifications via your Browser Notifications of new Personal Messages and anything in the notifications menu
  
• Intelligent auto-polling that only polls when needed to reduce server traffic
  
• Browser local storage used, to allow for cross-communication if you have multiple tabs open to further reduce resource use
  

[*]We now require a minimum PHP version of 5.4 though we do suggest at least 5.6. Version 5.4 will be supported for a short period of time as it is also EOL.




No Longer Included

• Areas such as View New Content, My Content, My Followed Content, Status page and so on are replaced by the new Activity Streams
  
• Sphinx is no longer supported as an alternative search engine. We are evaluating alternative search technology for a future release.
  
• Changes to the eAccelerator made it incompatible with IPS Community Suite so support has been removed.
  

•  
  

 

[coreyman]

Tried to use vpsboard to reply to some pms on mobile the other day, was pretty much unusable.

 

[joepie91]

I've reported the bug to IPB, I imagine it'll be fixed shortly.


Regarding the link change, I honestly do prefer the new content discovery setup than the old one but do wish the URL structure would have remained the same. The old URL is nowhere present on the forum and I would imagine only those who notice that it is gone are those who have the old one bookmarked. You may wish to bookmark the new URL if that is the case.


I update the forum software when it is recommended to do so, I don't wish to run an outdated forum with known security flaws. I understand that changes made aren't always well received but it is what it is. I've reviewed other platforms in the past and honestly am not certain any of them would be 'better' for vpsB than IPB is. Switching platforms is a guaranteed method of aggravating even more members who have new URL structures to deal with, new features, old features missing that they are used to using and a headache for myself as well.


As far as performance goes, 4.1.X actually had noticeable performance increases for me. Site seems to certainly be faster and snappier on my end. Some common annoyances I had in 4.0.X seemed to be gone as well.


Full list of updates here:

•  
  

I honestly can't stand the new "Unread content" view. Complete information overload. Near impossible to keep track of what I've looked at, and what interests me.

 

[KuJoe]

It would be really nice if forum developers released security patches separate from their design updates to let their clients remain secure without changing the user experience. Requiring forum owners to change the design/layout in order to be secure is kind of messed up but I think this mentality is limited to the paid forum options from what I've seen (Vanilla and MyBB rarely change the user experience except for maybe major releases every few years). IPB seems to make changes more frequently than vB in that sense also.


EDIT: What's funny is this thread wasn't listed under "Unread Content", I found it under "vpsBoard Discussions" instead so if new threads like this aren't appearing on the "Discover" page I foresee much less activity because threads will get missed by a lot of us who use it.

 

[eva2000]

took me like 20 seconds to load this thread via the discover page listing !


edit: and 35 seconds for the post to go through !

 

[drmike]

took me like 20 seconds to load this thread via the discover page listing !


edit: and 35 seconds for the post to go through !

I'll bet you a cheesburger it was :00-02 of the hour.


I think something fires on the start of the hour that locks up tables or eats up disk IO... been a long term issue I often get punted by and laugh at the reminder....

 

[MannDude]

took me like 20 seconds to load this thread via the discover page listing !

I'll bet you a cheesburger it was :00-02 of the hour.

Backups run at the top of the hour and I've never figured out how to get them to run without impacting site performance for a few minutes... Looking at the time of his post would line up with the time backups ran.


The site performs better for me than it did last week.

 

[drmike]

Willing to chip in on that backup job to get it behaving and cap it to play friendly... Others probably have a bunch of ideas too... We should kick its ass once and for all

 

[TheLinuxBug]

My problem is the 'Unread content' link is not intuitive at all, it may look pretty, but it makes skimming what has been happening in the forum quite hard.  Previously you could just scan down the page as you go, now  its all in bubbles and originally only display part of the content.. and it doesn't provide the flow you would want when reviewing topics.  To be blunt, to me it seems cheesy and doesn't provide as much usability as the old setup did, by far.  Sadly it makes the whole Vpsboard experience pretty much crap for me.


Don't get me wrong, usually I am pretty happy to adapt and work with new stuff, the problem is this isn't even the same thing.  It doesn't provide information in a way that can be easily consumed.  One thing it may do is cause people to linger longer on the page and those who don't block ads may get more exposure to the ads, but from a usability point of view its a huge downgrade.


Edit: I only now looked at it on mobile and actually it looks better on mobile than it does on a computer.  Mobile is almost usable.  On a computer with a 27"+ screen, it looks like crap.


my 2 cents.


Cheers!

 

[willie]

Thanks, MannDude.  I don't mean to be giving you a hard time about this, just IPB.  Agreed, I have no idea how switching software would go over with other users.  I just know I prefer very simple, old-school designs like Craigslist or Hacker News if it's up to me.


Re the backup slowdown: I thought the usual way to do this was have ongoing database replication to another server, and then run the backups (and occasional long running queries) from the secondary server.  I think the db for this site would be small and low-traffic enough to run the secondary on a cheap VPS, maybe a donated one.

 

[HalfEatenPie]

Honestly, It's a love-hate relationship for me.  I'd like to think most of us realized how difficult IPB is to work with after we've already invested so much time and resources into working with it.  The same thing could happen with another system such as Xenforo, vBulletin, Vanilla, etc.  I know for a fact I wouldn't touch Discourse with a thousand foot pole. 


With the uncertainty of how many people would like moving from IPB to another forum software vs the amount of time and risk it'd take to move from one forum software to another might not be the most optimal solution.  


For those people who requests we use an open source software, I have some worries about that as well.  Open Source softwares are great, but when support is needed most of the time it isn't there/available.  Either that or you get people who just say "code this".  Or you get (and I'm looking at you zPanel/Sentora) developers who are absolutely arrogant and tell you to "code it yourself and contribute to the software".  In the end, when all you want is a working piece of software with as little hassle as possible, going with a paid solution gives us an easier solution of handing over the risks and needs to the company we paid for the software to fix.  


In the end, I'd suggest we give the new update a chance.  Who knows, there has to be a purpose the developers phased out the old system and implemented the new one.  I'm fairly certain no-one really wakes up to say "muahahah.  I'm going to code something that people will absolutely hate!"  Especially since this piece of software is the livelihood of those developers.  

 

[HalfEatenPie]

As a PSA, remember to edit the Stream on the Unread Contents page (filter available right under the "Unread Contents" on the top left) to show all content, not just unread content.  The default configuration has it set to hide threads that you have read.  For those of you who may have suggested its missing threads, please double check to make sure your configuration isn't set to do this.


Thanks!

 

[Hxxx]

HEY look at that! the unread content menu IS BACK , now the forum will be useful again. Thank you... ""

 

[Dylan]

I'm not entirely sold on the new unread content page either, though it's much more tolerable if you switch it to condensed view (see the pic).


@MannDude I don't know if you can make condensed the default but that might stem a lot of complaints.

 

[joepie91]

Who knows, there has to be a purpose the developers phased out the old system and implemented the new one.  I'm fairly certain no-one really wakes up to say "muahahah.  I'm going to code something that people will absolutely hate!"  Especially since this piece of software is the livelihood of those developers.  

That's not a hard one to answer: hype. Making everything "mobile first" and looking like Facebook is a great way to market and sell your product, even if the end result is utterly unusable.


There's a reason that "building the next Facebook" is a running gag on freelancing sites.

 

[wlanboy]

Some format option are missing if you create a new post. E.g. the cite and tabbed text are missing.

 

[HalfEatenPie]

I'm not entirely sold on the new unread content page either, though it's much more tolerable if you switch it to condensed view (see the pic).


@MannDude I don't know if you can make condensed the default but that might stem a lot of complaints.

Heya man.  Do you happen to know how you did the mention right there?  I've been using the (member="Dylan") for a while (replace parenthesis with brackets), but how did you get it all blue and cushy and all like that?  


It's not because I don't know.  pfft get out of here.  I'm simply asking for a friend.  

 

[bauhaus]

@HalfEatenPie Your friend can use the @ [at]+[username] with super cow powers to do that.

 

[HalfEatenPie]

@bauhaus.  WTF.  THIS WASN'T WORKING EARLIER FOR ME.  NOW IT DOES.


Thanks @bauhaus.  My friend is very thankful for your help.  He wishes you well and hopes you win the lottery very soon.