7 replies to this topic

[Diego]

As we received many attacks from malicious users and spammers, we've been forced to update the Forum management software a bit earlier than expected. Now the forum is back online, but we noticed that not everything is working 100%. Namely, there are some problems with new posts - the side panel and the BB Code help buttons don't work, and we are looking for a short-term solution.

Please let us know if you notice any other problem while browsing and using the Forum.

Thanks for your patience!

[Diego]

Well, now it seems we succeeded in fixing almost everything. For the ones who are wondering what are the new client-side features, here is the (veeeery long) list:

Invision Power Board 2.2 contains a huge selection of new features ranging from low-end code improvements to new features designed to enhance your community involvement. New features include:

Personal Profile Portal
Invision Power Board 2.2.0 has a totally redesigned portal page with the following features:

    * Friends list - manage your friends for easier PMing, to see if your friends are currently online and display your friends on your profile
    * Profile comments - allow visitors to leave comments on your profile. You can set to moderate all new comments before they're shown.
    * Recent visitors - recent visitors are shown on your profile.
    * Your content - show your recent posts / blog entries / gallery uploads on your profile
    * Personal statement - add a short bio for others to read
    * Member rating - rate other members
    * Set your gender
    * Easy access to edit your location, age and IM details

New Text Editor
New Style - The text editors, both standard and rich text (WYSIWYG) have been completely rewritten to make them more intuitive and faster to load. Clutter has been reduced with the new dynamic menus.
Switch - You can now switch between the rich text editor and the standard editor without the need to reload the page or visit your User Control Panel.

New Attachment System
Upload without the reload - IPB 2.2 has a new attachment system that enables one to upload attachments without having to reload the post screen. The new attachment area is directly below the text editor.
New Style - The attachment system has had a complete overhaul and is now styled along side the new text editor
Monthly Directories - IPB now saves uploads in a monthly folder, making FTP directory listings much easier.
Extensible - The new system is extensible via the attachments plug-in system. There is now one central attachments repository and plug in modules define space allowance and rendering options.
New Thumbnail Design - Attached image thumbnail previews now have information above and below the thumbnail offering original file size and original dimensions.

Inline message system
Invision Power Board has an on-the-fly message system to confirm actions taken place. This is an important new part to the user interface especially when using ajax when it's not always apparent that an action has taken place.

Updated CAPTCHA
Due to the increasing rise of spam bots flooding forums that allow guest posting, and the increasing capabilities of scripts to bypass CAPTCHA protection by parsing the image for the registration code, our CAPTHA output has been updated to make it harder for scripts to read the CAPTCHA code IPB generates (when using GD2).

Per-Forum Capability to remember sort options
There is now a checkbox under the forum sorting options in each forum allowing you to select your preferred sort options, and have these options be remembered when you leave the forum and come back (or when you read a topic and return to the forum, for example). This option uses a cookie to remember your individual selections.

Minor Requested Enhancements/Changes
The following are not necessarily new features or bug fixes, but are changes commonly requested by members implemented in 2.2:

1. The category a setting is in is now indicated in the search results when searching for settings in the ACP
2. Guests are blocked from viewing poll results when members are required to vote before being able to see the results of a poll
3. The setting "prune registrations after [x] days" now operates from the task manager (as opposed to being kicked off only as new members register on the board).
4. The calendar you are viewing is now included in the breadcrumb (navigation) bar
5. The link to "Manage validating users" was added back to the admin page providing quick/easy access to the validation queue
6. IP addresses for users in the validation queue are now clickable, performing an IP lookup for you
7. Some rewording of the permission mask area has been done to help clarify what permission masks do and what their functions are
8. Multi-check boxes have been added to the permission ask area (just as they are in the per-forum global permissions) to make managing permission masks easier
9. Better reporting when saving template changes - if the template saves but cannot be written to disk you will be notified, for example.
10. The "Merge concurrent posts" setting is now set to 0 by default (disabled) - this is to avoid confusion by many new users as to why their posts are merging.
11. The query to pull cache stores now included in the SQL debugger output.
12. Per-member setting "open quick reply automatically in settings that allow it" now saves in the database instead of in a cookie to remain persistent
13. Subscript, superscript BBCODE added (with clickable buttons), and "unlink" button added to the RTE to easily allow you to unlink a link
14. Ability to globally enable/disable group signatures (useful for debugging purposes)
15. Added some additional debugging capabilities for the Subscription Manager
16. Only one email will be sent for topic notifications until you visit again, unless you have your email setting set to send the full post in your topic notifications (in which case you will get a notification for each new post)
17. Forum warn notification emails now will appear to come from the board outgoing email address instead of the individual member's email address
18. Forum read markers now updated via AJAX
19. Added a do_delete database driver method
20. Added group by support to database driver files.
21. Search link now has a context sensitive drop down box. If you're in a forum you can search directly in that forum otherwise you can perform a global search.
22. Modified top navigation area with subtle separators to break up the links into cleaner sections
23. Enhanced 'mini-profile' drop down when clicking on an author's name in topic view or when reading a PM. This drop down includes the member's photo and current rating

Topic Rating via AJAX
When rating a topic your submitted rating will be sent to the server via AJAX allowing you to save your rating without having to refresh the page. Additionally, you will now be able to see two more pieces of information when viewing the rating menu drop down: total number of ratings, and your individual rating.

Auto resizing of large linked images
Posted images are automatically resized on-the-fly if they are larger than the available screen width of the browser. Clicking the image displays it full size in a pop-up window. Each reduced image has information above stating how much reduction has taken place and the dimensions of the original image.

[Diego]

Today we updated the Forum software to version 2.2.1, to clear up a series of bugs.
For the techies, below are the bugs corrected with the new version:

IP.Board 2.2.0 to 2.2.1 Bugs Fixed

PM Block list upgrade error
Unserializing cache values is broken if using local cache
PM error in 2.2.0 final
Login Auth
[2.2.0]Bug with insert special items
Using pagination where field of the input is not st
HTML in reported post pm
2.2 Enabling Portal Breaks Announcements
Subs Manager: First transaction fails with dupe ID...
2.2.0 Search Bug?
Rebuild forum's posts
Who's Online In Chat
[2.2.0] IE7: Large pictures expand middle column in Profile Portal
IPB 2.2 Parachat/Chat Live bridge broken (even on this site)
Screenshots in profile tabs not resized
[2.2] Classic mode profiles: no photo
PM error
smilies problem
IPS Driver Error on search.
Auto-resize photos off
[2.2] Permission masks aren't sorted in any order
v2.1.x ACP Ban Finter > Email Address
Captcha code Case Sensitivity not explained
Typo in Security Center
TYPO in root admin group
skin_bugtracker templates?
2.2.0 Advanced CSS Tool Still Reversed
IP address tool issue?
Bug with custom profile fields on IPB 2.2 final
[2.2] using pecl-apc is causing warnings
2.2 CSS/Board Header & Footer Editor Bug
Help & Support tab
Quick Edit first post in a topic
Create New Skin Set
Quotes in "Reason for edit"

[Diego]

Today we updated the forum software to version 2.3.1. This release focuses on performance improvements for IP.Board running on sites with heavy traffic and fixes a huge series of minor bugs.

We hope you will enjoy a speedier forum and a more pleasant experience!

Diego

[shiny]

Much faster.

[Diego]

Again, this forum was under attack recently by a series of spammers who made fake registrations but fortunately they didn't harm our users or subscribers in any way. However, we decided to upgrade the forum software to its latest version, so that spammers will certainly have hard times from now on - at least around here.

The forum was closed for a few hours, but now it's back online. Thanks for your patience and understanding!

Diego

[Pete G]

Good job Diego.
I wondered who all these new names were that were not posting.
Is it possible to delete all the names that have never posted anything?
PeteG

[Diego]

Pete G, on 10 October 2008, 18:52, said:

Is it possible to delete all the names that have never posted anything?

In theory yes, but as you surely know, many legitimate users just got registered and never posted - they are called "lurkers" in the online jargon... I can tell you that they are more than half the total number of registered users. So, this time I have checked and deleted manually all the suspect addresses and nicknames. As you can imagine, it's a long and tedious task - And with my free time always set to zero, this is really a nuisance. Thanks a lot for the heads up anyway. This forum is safe with a "Guardian of the Stones" like you!