Lindy

Fair enough, I'll offer my apologies for the confusion and miscommunication here and we'll agree to move forward.

Matt posted a general idea -- it was not an announcement, blog entry, or anything that should have been construed as an official representation of IPS' permanent view.

From my perspective, if we were to do a cookie list/map - IPS then becomes liable for full compliance with the law. It would be quite easy for us to do a complete list of current cookies and how they are used. The moment a change is made, you install a modification that generates cookies, or similar - the list is inaccurate and we find ourselves in a position of having provided a false sense of security to our customer base.

Thus, we've decided to provide the user with a method of indicating their policies, but we are not incorporating any specific compliance directives into the software itself. Doing so starts us down the slippery slope of keeping track of all off-the-wall laws around the globe that ultimately, users are responsible for adhering to.

As a final point, nobody fully understands the law. That's why the deadline for compliance was extended a year. It's not even clear if the policy applies to Google, for which, as I understand it, the policy was written for to begin with.

CheersnGears, on 09 May 2012 - 09:19 PM, said:

You should be able to accomplish that using htaccess. We'll confirm.

rbiss, on 09 May 2012 - 09:34 PM, said:

I understand your concern, but it should not be seen as a "feature." It is an independent application that is not developed solely for your community, but rather, all IPS powered communities. We are selling, providing and supporting the app to IPS community users, not specifically your members. Again, many community admins started as members on one or more other communities.

There are many opportunities to expand the app that are not limited to a specific community that we're not yet prepared to discuss, but suffice to say, we cannot develop, price or provide the app strictly with single-community users in mind. The white label app will provide an avenue for those with a strong need for branding and creating a static environment for users. Again, we don't feel it's prudent to incorporate an on/off switch, but you should be able to easily accomplish your goal with a simple htaccess edit.

I'm sorry for your frustration. Unfortunately, Apple does not make ... anything, very easy in this regard. There is actually an update that has been sitting in the queue for approval that resolves many of the concerns. It takes days and days to get an app approved through the app store.

I would agree the beta cycle could have been more extensive and for that, I apologize. Again, it's not something we can just stick up for download, so there are considerations. We will review our options to ensure more smooth releases in the future. It's worth noting, the app is a one-time purchase. I realize that doesn't lessen your frustration, but you've not lost anything by purchasing now vs later. The app will evolve, provide increased stability, added features, better integration and so on.

Once again, I'm sorry for your frustration. I'm not sure there's much we can offer if your position is that of "I know what things are wrong, but I'm not telling you!" - but you're certainly entitled to stand by that.

Thank you for your business. I hope and trust that the app will prove to be beneficial and worthwhile to you.

We do very much understand your point of view, believe me. We've had lengthy discussions internally and weighed various options. Ultimately, if you don't want people accessing your site via the mobile app, you're free to disable it -- you can even plop a line in htaccess to block it... very easy. We're not, at this time, prepared to add a setting to willfully block our customers' ability to use other sites. Please keep in mind, there are a good number of people that use multiple IP sites. How did many of you come about creating your community? My guess is, for many, you were users on others' communities.

I believe the root of the issue is, you feel we're targeting your users. I could certainly understand that perception, but please understand we see every app user as independent of a specific site. They may have come through your site. They may have come through one of the other hundreds of thousands of communities we've powered over the years. Regardless, there's a common goal: to give all users the best possible experience.

We do hear and understand your concerns. Just because we do not immediately act upon them does not mean we're not listening or that we don't care. Sometimes, there's a bigger picture method to our madness.

Again, blocking the app is something that's easy enough to do if you desire. A quick edit to htaccess should do it based on useragent.