BradSmith

My two cents:

Obviously the ignore feature doesn't really make sense to begin with considering the purpose of a forum is to contribute in a conversation with other users. In chat, it may cause confusion if you place someone on ignore and they are having a conversation with someone else. I understand that aspect but I will explain why it is still a good option to at least have available for users, and why the ignore feature is essential in maintaining a fluid, active, and growing community.

The thing is, with a sports forum, fan debates can get heated and I'd rather not moderate but accommodate to all users. To us, we pretty much want to accept any type of opinion, some people can't handle others opinions and want us to moderate, some want to leave the censorship alone... so considering that conflict it would just make sense to allow users to block the content they don't want instead of remaining silent because they find no enjoyment in interacting with a specific user, giving the user full control of their experience instead of making the staff choosing sides. Not to mention, it takes some heat off the moderation staff and provides a clear cut rule: place the user in conflict on ignore or we will warn you. It's not about ignoring someone as much as it is about personalizing the users experience--this is how users will learn to respect the website and most-likely become a returning user knowing that they have control over their account, can block users that they define as "trolls" and can avoid these types of conflicts that will only grow with the size of the community. Right now we only have one sports team, so it's not too bad, but if we ever wanted to expand to harboring all 30 NHL teams, it would be best to have a fully functional ignore feature across all platforms.

This should not be limited in the chat (meaning public chats should be included in the ignore function), although it would not be completely convenient to have a well-thought conversation with someone (that's what the message board is for anyway, eh?) it would make the chat a perfect place for high-paced user interaction. For example, for us we use the chat on game days, so during the game users interact with small thoughts and reactions, rarely do people have a deep conversation with each other as they do that on the message boards. Sometimes other users are agitated with others in chat and simply do not join in because "so and so" is chatting.

Without a fully functional ignore feature, it actually hurts the health of a community because users find less enjoyment in using some features because other people ruin it for them. These members (the experience ruin-er) are still valuable even if they conflict with other users, because they still contribute to the conversation and some users do appreciate their insight.

Therefore, I suggest that this is added in the next IP.Chat installment, and also consider implementation for other apps such as Content, Gallery, etc.. etc..

We are (extremely) pleased to announce the first release candidate of Invision Power Board 3.0.0 is now available.

This is the first release candidate release so please take a moment and read this entire announcement before downloading. Everyone here at IPS is very excited to reach this milestone of development and we look forward to working with everyone to sort out any remaining issues that crop up during the RC stage so we can quickly move to the final release.

The release candidates for IP.Blog, IP.Gallery, and IP.Downloads will be available in about a week.


What is a Release Candidate?

A release candidate is a version of the software between the beta phase and a final release. With the first release candidate of IP.Board 3.0.0 you can safely assume that we consider the software stable enough to use on your live community. There will be bugs and issues but it is our belief that any issues that come up should not impact your overall ability to manage your community. Keep this in mind as you make your decision to upgrade to IP.Board 3.0.0 RC1 and only upgrade if you are comfortable working around any possible issues that are present. We will of course fix any issues that come up in IP.Board 3.0.0's final release.


Technical Support and Service

IP.Board 3.0.0 RC 1 can be considered safe to use on a live site but it is not quite the final version of the software just yet. We want to give those comfortable upgrading to an RC release the chance to do so and report issues before we encourage everyone to upgrade. Technical support and service is not offered during the RC stage but of course will be available when the final version is announced.




Download IP.Board 3.0.0 RC 1

To download, log in to your client area. You will see the RC download information by clicking into your downloads. As stated above, technical support is not available so please only download if you are comfortable testing software.

IPS Hosting clients: a build of RC 1 for your use will appear in the client area soon. Sorry about the delay there.