VB 4.2.0 Upgrade

[Darren]

Just discovered a new glich, when I click on my name at the top, "welcome jeri" it logs out, the other selections still work.

The "my profile" logs out as well. So only notifications and controls is staying logged in. Gremlins in the system.

Hmm. I can't repeat that myself. Do you by any chance have Visitor Messages disabled on your profile settings?

I can change my tweak back to the old header profile links, but that will return to the My Activity tab as the default.

Everyone: We can't remove the Activity Stream and we can't revert to an older version of the software. It seems as though the vB developers put their efforts into creating the feature for this round; maybe next round they will add in a way to turn it off. If not, then as I said, I am looking at a plug-in that might add that control to your profile.

Till then, we can only recommend that you ignore it. The off-switch has not been built yet.

[Girlbot]

About the only way to stay clutter-free would be to not have any friends or contacts.

Sad that it may be the only option to have a modicum of privacy here. I think I'll be using the PM system more often now.

[aretood2]

Hmm. I can't repeat that myself. Do you by any chance have Visitor Messages disabled on your profile settings?

I can change my tweak back to the old header profile links, but that will return to the My Activity tab as the default.

Everyone: We can't remove the Activity Stream and we can't revert to an older version of the software. It seems as though the vB developers put their efforts into creating the feature for this round; maybe next round they will add in a way to turn it off. If not, then as I said, I am looking at a plug-in that might add that control to your profile.

Till then, we can only recommend that you ignore it. The off-switch has not been built yet.

Is there a way to petition them to add it in their next update? Maybe just have the option of displaying VM's alone.

[fems]

My Controls > Profile Privacy (down the list on left) choose from the drop-down menus who you would like to be able to see your activity, including visitor messages. Again, you can't filter by much, but you can restrict to just your friends.

But doesn't that also mean non-friends can't post visitor messages on your profile? Every now and then I'll post visitor messages on profiles of non-friends for various reasons (e.g. congratulations, commenting/complimenting a post because your fridge is locked, thanking someone for greening/agreeing with you, to ask something) and occasionally non-friends leave me one too.

I don't want to restrict it to just friends if that also means friends are the only ones who can post something, but I don't want everyone to see my, my friends' and my friends' friends' visitor messages via 'my activity'.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Okay, this post is aimed primarily at Darren & company on the admin side, although everyone else might find it interesting for the sake of an inside look at what site owners and administrators wind up having to deal with on rollouts like this. I used to run a discussion board of my own that used vBulletin, and changes sometimes drove me crazy. I wasn't myself in any position then to play with the controls because my board was just one of many all hosted by another site, and their folks were the people with the keys. But I digress..

Anyway, I went poking around just now on the vBulletin site itself, and elsewhere, to see how many people might be complaining about this on other forum sites. Apparently we aren't the only unhappy people. (No surprise there.) But it also looks like there might be a potential fix available by altering the time parameter of this variable, provided it will accept "0" as its input. IF it will accept that, I should think that would result in 0 days worth of activity showing up in the "My Activity" stream forum-wide, effectively short-circuiting the issue everyone is complaining about.

I have a hard time imagining that the folks responsible for vBulletin won't include an on/off switch in the next upgrade if there's enough complaint about the feature... though I wish I were having a somewhat harder time imagining it...

Just trying to help,
SF&C

[UhSir]

Assuming that would work, it's an option that really only should be done if every member here didn't want the Activity Stream. I'll bet if we took a vote we'd see a big number that likes it or doesn't care either way. So turning it off for all wouldn't be fair.

I'm setting my hopes that VB 4.2.1 will be released soon and there will be a way for each member to set a control on their own Activity Stream.

[maneth]

Yeah, with the proviso that if you turn off own activity stream, that also makes sure nobody else will see your activity. It's easy enough for me to ignore the activity stream on my own profile, but I can do zilch about my posts not showing up on everybody else's... Except deleting my entire friend list and I don't want to do that. This board got along fine for years without the feature.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Assuming that would work, it's an option that really only should be done if every member here didn't want the Activity Stream. I'll bet if we took a vote we'd see a big number that likes it or doesn't care either way. So turning it off for all wouldn't be fair.

I'm setting my hopes that VB 4.2.1 will be released soon and there will be a way for each member to set a control on their own Activity Stream.

We never had it up until now, and didn't miss it. Frankly, I think there's already been enough complaint about it that turning it off wouldn't upset as many people as having it on does. I know what my decision would be if this were my site. Then again, I'm sensitive to issues of online privacy, so that probably skews my thinking in favor of doing what protects privacy the most.

Yeah, with the proviso that if you turn off own activity stream, that also makes sure nobody else will see your activity. It's easy enough for me to ignore the activity stream on my own profile, but I can do zilch about my posts not showing up on everybody else's... Except deleting my entire friend list and I don't want to do that. This board got along fine for years without the feature.

Maneth has accurately and completely summed up the issue for me -- and, I suspect, for most.

[Darren]

I wouldn't want to disable the Activity Stream site-wide. Some people like it. Those who don't ... it really seems easy to ignore now that I've changed the Profile links so that the Activity tab doesn't show by default.

For what it's worth, I tested the 0 value for that field, and it took it but changed nothing. Either it doesn't work or the forum has to run its nightly updates before it takes effect.

I really do think it's only a matter of time before vBulletin lets users turn it off or otherwise customize it on an individual basis.

[SF_and_Coffee]

It would be easy to ignore by its not being the default tab... EXCEPT for the fact that some of us really still don't want to have our every VM and post broadcast site-wide nor even necessarily to all of our Friends or Contacts. I can ignore the incoming stream just fine, but I worry that the generalized broadcast will have a chilling effect on back-channel (VM and the like) conversations as well as possibly causing some people to either delete their friend connections to achieve privacy, or even abandon the forum altogether.

If vBulletin were to roll out a patch that allowed individuals to opt out of the outgoing stream function, that would be ideal. I just wonder what it would take to make them do so, and how long before they'd make it available. Until then, having the function temporarily disabled might be preferable.

Obviously this is just all my own opinion and I'm not in charge here. But the privacy aspect does bother me, and has already caused me to reconsider three posts and two VMs that I otherwise might have made in the past 24 hours. And I'm nowhere near as big of a privacy nut as some people here, as a glance at my "About Me" tab will tell you.

[jeri]

Hmm. I can't repeat that myself. Do you by any chance have Visitor Messages disabled on your profile settings?

I can change my tweak back to the old header profile links, but that will return to the My Activity tab as the default.

Everyone: We can't remove the Activity Stream and we can't revert to an older version of the software. It seems as though the vB developers put their efforts into creating the feature for this round; maybe next round they will add in a way to turn it off. If not, then as I said, I am looking at a plug-in that might add that control to your profile.

Till then, we can only recommend that you ignore it. The off-switch has not been built yet.

When I click on "jeri" or "my profile" it takes me to the page that says I am not logged in and my name and password are there already in the spaces, so I click the "log in" button at the bottom then it takes me directly to what I had selected.

No, I don't have anything disabled.

If we change the privacy setting for visitor messages, would that still allow a non-friend to leave a message? I often get messages from those who I have not friended.

[fems]

Just wanted to say that I do appreciate the new notification when receiving green. At least, I assume it's due to this update since I've never gotten a notification for it before.

[jeri]

Obviously this is just all my own opinion and I'm not in charge here. But the privacy aspect does bother me, and has already caused me to reconsider three posts and two VMs that I otherwise might have made in the past 24 hours. And I'm nowhere near as big of a privacy nut as some people here, as a glance at my "About Me" tab will tell you.

Yup, that's my hesitation as well.

And BTW Darren, I clicked on SF_and_Coffee's "view profile" (she made me curious) and I'm thrown back to the "you are not logged in page!!!

[jeri]

I'm looking for something that tells me what all is new with this upgrade, for instance, what does the color coding on these new envelopes at the left of thread title lists mean? etc.

[maneth]

The envelopes are just the default board symbols for threads with new posts, without new posts, polls, hot topics etc.

Oh, and will blocking an user prevent them getting updates on your VM posts etc? I know blocking will prevent me seeing someone else's, but that's not the problem here.

[jeri]

The envelopes are just the default board symbols for threads with new posts, without new posts, polls, hot topics etc.

I understand that's what they are for, but I don't know what all the symbols mean. I'm wondering if there is a guide that has been posted somewhere about ALL the new features and changes included in this upgrade.

[maneth]

Scroll to the bottom of the forum, the legend is there. The icons are a bit smaller though.

[dragongirl]

No, b/c it would require hacking the core files, which I won't be doing. I was eying a plug-in today that would add more controls to what vB is calling the Activity Stream.


It's always kinda creeped me out in a stalkerish way, but if people find it useful I'll turn it back on.

So the "Who is viewing this thread" is creepy and stalkerish but the "My Activity" where you have no clue who is looking at it and apparently EVERYONE can see it because there is no security to it is not at all stalkerish and creepy?

I'm looking but I can't seem to find a privacy option for My Activity. If I could limit it to myself that'd be nice since I don't know if people would be interested in following the activity my own friends would be doing.

I wouldn't remove it entirely though, there may be a small niche who likes this feature.

I agree I love to have the security to control the "My Activity" like I can the other things in my Profile.

[Bagpuss]

When I click on "jeri" or "my profile" it takes me to the page that says I am not logged in and my name and password are there already in the spaces, so I click the "log in" button at the bottom then it takes me directly to what I had selected.

No, I don't have anything disabled.

If we change the privacy setting for visitor messages, would that still allow a non-friend to leave a message? I often get messages from those who I have not friended.

Is your computer able to retain the GW Cookies?
Take a look in Internet Options ->Internet Properties-> Privacy->"Select a setting for the Internet Zone" and see if it's been set to High.If you lower that to Medium,that could cure the problem.
Also check GateWorld isn't blocked under the "Sites" option in that section.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Privacy settings for non-friends :
In our general settings ( my controls)

Visitor Messaging

Visitor Messaging:
Visitor Messaging on
Visitor Messaging off

This forum features a visitor messaging system that allows members to send messages to one another publicly. If you do not want to receive visitor messages, you may disable the visitor messaging system.
Visitor Messages Limit:
Limit usage of Visitor Messages to Contacts and Moderators
Don't limit usage of Visitor Messages

You may limit the usage of your visitor messages to just moderators and your contacts.

If you set it to Contacts and Mods,Members who are neither won't be able to VM you.

[SF_and_Coffee]

Privacy settings for non-friends :
In our general settings ( my controls)


If you set it to Contacts and Mods,Members who are neither won't be able to VM you.

Yeah, but that isn't what most of us want to have. We're fine with people VMing us. We just don't want the VMs made to us and by us be broadcast for all and sundry to view whenever they click on the "Activity" tab. Same with posts we've made. "Creepy and stalkerish" doesn't begin to cover it...