Upgrades to Invision

[goodeats]

It's interesting that people are having blips of problems - I've avoided upgrading to IPB 3.0 just because I didn't want to have unstable software. Dave, do you really think it's an incipient <i>hardware</i> failure? I can't imagine. Hardware failures are generally like light switches, and tend not to be fault-tolerant for very long.

Keep reporting things, please, as you encounter them.

Was an upgrade just done? I feel like I have bubble vision with the new format. Anyone else?

[hillvalley]

It's not you-there was an upgrade.

Who's going to figure all the changes out and teach the rest of us?

[cheezepowder]

Was an upgrade just done? I feel like I have bubble vision with the new format. Anyone else?

I'm trying to figure out how to get around too.

[goodeats]

It's not you-there was an upgrade.

The upgrade erased all my messages. I did figure out enough that it you click on "new content" it's equivalent to the old "What's new," but couldn't get to the "last post" equivalent of it. *sigh* I am liking this as much as I like the new FB. Somehow, I am in Willy Wonka world, Tim Burton style.

[DonRocks]

The upgrade erased all my messages. I did figure out enough that it you click on "new content" it's equivalent to the old "What's new," but couldn't get to the "last post" equivalent of it. *sigh* I am liking this as much as I like the new FB. Somehow, I am in Willy Wonka world, Tim Burton style.

patience... content is being rebuilt... you won't lose any messages. this new "look" is unsettling to me, too, but there should be no change in functionality; only additions and improvements. this is the new Invision 3.0.0, and the version that they're going to be supporting in the future. I can see right now the logo might need to be tweaked.

[bookluvingbabe]

The upgrade is not Blackberry friendly at all. I can't see what threads have new messages, I can't jump immediately to new messages, etc... Sigh. I spend a LOT of time on the site via my BB.

The upgrade erased all my messages. I did figure out enough that it you click on "new content" it's equivalent to the old "What's new," but couldn't get to the "last post" equivalent of it. *sigh* I am liking this as much as I like the new FB. Somehow, I am in Willy Wonka world, Tim Burton style.

[goodeats]

but couldn't get to the "last post" equivalent of it. *sigh* I am liking this as much as I like the new FB.

Ok, FWIW, the "top" button is now at the way bottom to go back to the top of the page, and on the main page, if you click on the "time" link (e.g. "a minute ago"), you can get to the last post.

[hillvalley]

What's with voting posts up and down?

[DonRocks]

What's with voting posts up and down?

i'll disable that when i figure out how

[goodeats]

What's with voting posts up and down?

Popularity contest? I think it's like the "how helpful did you find this" type of thing. I just voted! Same question with the Profile section, voting-wise.

[DonRocks]

Fear not... they'll be back shortly...

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Today, 04:11 PM

DonRocks@DonRockwell.com

My users are holding a mutiny because all their PMs are gone!

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Today, 05:01 PM

Staff: Larry Walansky

Hello,

Sorry about that, we'll get those PM's back for you as soon as possible. A script needs to be run that converts them from the old style to the new style. The old PM's are still in the database. Due to the amount of PM's on your forum, this step was skipped during the initial upgrade as to not cause extended downtime for your forum.

Regards,

Larry Walansky

Invision Power Services

[Anna Blume]

I got a sex change during the upgrade. How to leave gender out of on-board content is something I haven't quite grasped.

[porcupine]

The "remember me" function on the login page really ought to be opt-in rather than opt-out. Y' think maybe Invision would get with the times and change that already?

[brettashley01]

WHAT IS THIS?! Am I the only one who really doesn't like the upgrade?

[bookluvingbabe]

WHAT IS THIS?! Am I the only one who really doesn't like the upgrade?

Nope. I'm trying to give it time. I don't like change--I'd still be using Wordperfect 5.1 for DOS if I could get away with it. I never upgrade unless I have to. (I still miss Netscape...) Etc. So I'm not the best person to judge. But it's making me nuts so far.

[Heather]

I got a sex change during the upgrade. How to leave gender out of on-board content is something I haven't quite grasped.

I changed mine to female, but it wouldn't take.

[Scott Johnston]

Well I like it so far! Then again I had a great dinner and bottle of wine at Proof and nothing could interupt this high

[hillvalley]

I got a sex change during the upgrade. How to leave gender out of on-board content is something I haven't quite grasped.

I changed mine to female, but it wouldn't take.

Gave me a sex change too. Tried to set it back to blank but there was no default. Stuck with "Not Telling."

[DonRocks]

I don't like the upgrade either right now, but it is what it is. I'll report the problems as they come in - Invision seems to be pretty responsive about fixing things, but I'm not optimistic about anything being ironed out in the next 24-48 hours. Worst-case scenarios are either rolling back to the old version (which I don't want to do, because it won't be supported going forward), or taking the board offline for awhile and working out the problems - I'm hoping to do neither.

Remember also that I'm winging this whole thing in my "spare time," and I'm not prepared to take on massive changes quickly, so please be patient.

[Waitman]

I'll ask two stupid questions. First, how does one access "today's posts" or whatever they used to call it?" Second, how does one jump to the most recent post in a thread?

[DanielK]

I'll ask two stupid questions. First, how does one access "today's posts" or whatever they used to call it?" Second, how does one jump to the most recent post in a thread?

I clicked "View New Content" in the upper right corner, which gives me a list of topics that have new posts since my last logon.

Oddly, the display has two lines for each topic. If you click anywhere in the first line, it takes you to the first page of the topic. If you click the second line in the topic name, it takes you to the first new post in the topic.

[goodeats]

I don't like change--I'd still be using Wordperfect 5.1 for DOS if I could get away with it.

Best. Ever.

[lackadaisi]

It is almost impossible to find new posts on an iphone, and certainly not easy on a computer. I still haven't figured out how I can see just those posts that are new since the last time I logged in. If I push the view new content button, not only do I get those two annoying and confusing lines, but it still shows all of the things I ignored previously. Do I have to read every single thread to make them go away? This is a really bad "upgrade".

[dcs]

Do I have to read every single thread to make them go away?

After clicking View New Content in the upper right, I clicked Mark Board As Read on the bottom of the page and that caught me up on all of the old posts. Now clicking on View New Content only shows me threads with new posts.

[ol_ironstomach]

Ugh, what a busy and hard-to-read "skin". I see that the talent for good UI design continues to be an elusive commodity. Nevertheless, maintainabilty must take precedence over convenience.

Will the data tracking each user's last-read-posts will get restored at the same time they convert PM's? Or must I mark all forums read and start fresh?

Not that it's a big deal, but the handy click+hold-to-edit-topic feature for moderators is gone now too.

[DonRocks]

Ugh, what a busy and hard-to-read "skin". I see that the talent for good UI design continues to be an elusive commodity. Nevertheless, maintainabilty must take precedence over convenience.

Will the data tracking each user's last-read-posts will get restored at the same time they convert PM's? Or must I mark all forums read and start fresh?

Not that it's a big deal, but the handy click+hold-to-edit-topic feature for moderators is gone now too.

I'll reiterate that I'm a bit "unsettled" by the new version, but ugliness aside, I'm pretty sure there's no loss of existing functionality; it's just a matter of figuring out how to make things work.

Here's a little brochure I found listing some features: click.

If anyone wants to help me figure out how to make the skin look better (after four years, I'm still not really sure what a "skin" is), I'm accepting any-and-all help.

[comestibles]

Where is the edit function? Also, is the 'friends system' supposed to imitate Facebook or My Space? The 'personal conversations' feature seems similar to Yahoo and Gmail. UGH!!!

[bookluvingbabe]

One other comment--links now open in same page, rather than in a new tab or new window. Going to go read the handbook/flyer now.

[hungry prof]

One other comment--links now open in same page, rather than in a new tab or new window. Going to go read the handbook/flyer now.

At least in Firefox, CTRL+Click will open the page in a new tab.

[DonRocks]

One other comment--links now open in same page, rather than in a new tab or new window. Going to go read the handbook/flyer now.

At least in Firefox, CTRL+Click will open the page in a new tab.

Thanks for this. I poked around, and there's a setting that says:

"Open posted links in a new window?

Forces links to open in a new window, if javascript is available."

I just now set it to Yes (it was set to No), but it still doesn't work on my MacBook. Maybe something will kick in overnight to make it happen.

Me ... all I want to do is share my artistic passion and write like a poet, but here I am again, scrubbing toilets. Grrrr!

[edenman]

RSS feeds. Praise be to Invision, despite all the other issues folks are having. And I'll add some wood to the fire:

I'd love to be able to disable the "attachments" section by default. I so rarely use this feature, and it takes up a bunch of screen real estate (especially annoying on this POS laptop I'm stuck using until I get my home desktop working again).

Also, as to comestibles' questions:

You can still edit posts. The button is next to "Reply" and "Multiquote" in the bottom right.

The friends feature has been there forever, it was just buried in the profile stuff before. You can disable it.

I don't see the "personal conversations" feature, but I don't really see a problem with having more real-time conversations off-forum, if that's what the feature is.

Edit: I take it back. RSS feeds are all chronological rather than reverse-chron. Hopefully that gets fixed soon.

[DonRocks]

I changed mine to female, but it wouldn't take.

I think there are two gender settings (for whatever reason). Try each one twice, consecutively, and see if they take. I also don't like the "Not Telling" being the default; it should simply be blank.

[rbh]

Hey Don - fyi, the 2nd post of your Virginia dining guide didn't seem to translate well to the new invision. Just a lot of html code posted now.

[Heather]

I think there are two gender settings (for whatever reason). Try each one twice, consecutively, and see if they take. I also don't like the "Not Telling" being the default; it should simply be blank.

Yes, if I go to "Edit My Profile" there are duplicate fields asking my Yahoo, Skype, Jabber, etc., IDs, and duplicate fields for gender and location. I set both to "female"and will see if that does the trick. Maybe it works like chromasomes?

[lackadaisi]

It looks a lot better today (although I haven't checked the iphone yet). And, if this post goes through, I applaud the upgrade as I previously had not been able to post from this computer.

[comestibles]

. . . . . . . . . ..

Also, as to comestibles' questions:

You can still edit posts. The button is next to "Reply" and "Multiquote" in the bottom right.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..

Thanks. I see it now in my first post in the New Invision. But earlier I was exploring the new engine and did not and do not see that option for posts made pre-Invision 3.0.0.

[goodeats]

I set both to "female"and will see if that does the trick. Maybe it works like chromasomes?

Well, it worked. On the left, your profile now says "female." Strange that you have to set both. I tried the demo site and it wasn't anymore helpful as a tutorial than just playing around. Am still curious as to this new layout, so I have been doing some sleuthing. Will definitely share results if productive.

ETA: It appears the second pull-down sets the gender.

ETA2: I think if you haven't played around with the Profile then your sex won't appear at all, but once you've changed some settings, then it'll start appearing. Any way to disable the display in the left profile altogether??

[goodeats]

Now, something is funky with the tags. Sizes, colors, links have all been disabled, apparently. Sorry to cause trouble...

[DonRocks]

Now, something is funky with the tags. Sizes, colors, links have all been disabled, apparently. Sorry to cause trouble...

This should be fixed now. Note also that the gender no longer shows up on the left side of each post.

Invision is really good about responding to problems quickly.

[Anna Blume]

Thanks to he or she who managed to rid posts of gender information.

What I don't understand about the new system for sending PM's is that it doesn't seem private. Perhaps it's in conversation mode? At any rate, there is a subject line above a series of messages Goodeats and I have been exchanging about the whole gender thing. To the left, I see Nadya's name. As a participant?

[bonaire]

One other quick note, is anyone else noticing that posts migrate progressively closer to the right side of the screen as you move down through the topic? Has the forum become hierarchical, with responses/replies moving the posts right-ward? It just makes them look squooshed as you get further into a topic...Perhaps it's just my antiquated computer though. And it certainly doesn't take away from the entertaining discussions!

[bookluvingbabe]

One other quick note, is anyone else noticing that posts migrate progressively closer to the right side of the screen as you move down through the topic? Has the forum become hierarchical, with responses/replies moving the posts right-ward? It just makes them look squooshed as you get further into a topic...Perhaps it's just my antiquated computer though. And it certainly doesn't take away from the entertaining discussions!

I'm not noticing that at all.

I am however unable to click on go to new posts or the new version of that on my Blackberry at all. I am simply getting a list of topics that I can open and page through, slowly...

[DonRocks]

Thanks to he or she who managed to rid posts of gender information.

What I don't understand about the new system for sending PM's is that it doesn't seem private. Perhaps it's in conversation mode? At any rate, there is a subject line above a series of messages Goodeats and I have been exchanging about the whole gender thing. To the left, I see Nadya's name. As a participant?

Yeah, I don't understand that list on the left either. I'll make this the next thing I look into.

This issue aside, I want to reassure everyone that PMs sent on Invision boards really ARE private. It is technically impossible for the site administrator (i.e., me) to view them; the only thing available is an aggregate, system-wide counter, indicating how many total PMs are sent each day, week, month, etc.

Cheers,

Rocks.

[goodeats]

I am however unable to click on go to new posts or the new version of that on my Blackberry at all. I am simply getting a list of topics that I can open and page through, slowly...

BLB - is your setting on "IP Board Lo-Fi?" It's a new option on the bottom left of the page, next to the language setting. That's the appearance when I tested that setting, which is why I was curious if somehow yours ended up that way...

[Michael Landrum]

Hey Don--

Just a quick question out of curiosity: How much does the hosting and other services on Invision cost?

[DonRocks]

My PMs have been restored - BUT, I lost all the ones I sent during the past two days. A small price to pay, I suppose, considering I have over 10,000 that were restored. Anyone else?

[RWBooneJr]

My PMs have been restored - BUT, I lost all the ones I sent during the past two days. A small price to pay, I suppose, considering I have over 10,000 that were restored. Anyone else?

Has anyone yet thanked you today for running this board? If not, thank you. And, may I suggest that the next event involve us buying you a drink? And, if that's not your style, might I do so privately?

[DonRocks]

And, may I suggest that the next event involve us buying you a drink? And, if that's not your style, might I do so privately?

Hell yes you can buy me a drink - you can buy me two of 'em! And thanks for even thinking to mention it, truly.

Cheers,

Rocks

[Pool Boy]

I am really not a fan of this new incarnation from Invision. <sigh>

[DonRocks]

Has anyone not gotten their PMs restored? If so, would a few people report the situation here?

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Also, please report problems here as you find them. Please give as much supporting detail as you can, and an example, if possible. I'll cut/paste the problems and open a ticket for each one with Invision, and report on their resolution as things are fixed.

WIth its various shades of blues and green, I think the top of the webpage is really ugly (not that it was every any great thing of beauty), and that will change in the future; just not this week. I'm worried about functionality over form right now.