ProBoards BetaZone Starting Soon!

[moonbeam]

samr, they have already said you DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE FACEBOOK. Your board will not be passing info to facebook, or vice versa. The facebook "like" was only to sign up for the betazone. And even that is not required, as after the initial launch of betazone, they plan to offer a non-facebook method of requesting copies of boards on v5.

[Omio]

Moonbeam, it's best to quote for people that are withdrawn like that. =P

samr: This quote, from page 6 (which needs a link in the OP), says everything you should need to know - I'll even highlight the one you care about:

Oct 8, 2012 8:59:16 GMT -8 Ryan Roos said:

So just to clarify a few points of confusion I read in this thread and to explain some other things about BetaZone and v5.

• v5 and Facebook have nothing to do with each other. Neither requires the other.
  
• For the initial batch of BetaZone signups we require that you like ProBoards on Facebook. We're giving an advanced signup to people that like us. It's an exchange of rewards. Many companies give advanced bonuses, extra benifits or even coupons and discounts for FB likes.
  
• After BetaZone starts we will accept signups from admins who don't use Facebook. These admins will get added to the invite list.
  
• Admins that like us on Facebook will be added to an invite list.
  
• When BetaZone starts we will send out invites to admins on the list in batches.
  
• The order you are invited is based on when you signed up. The number of invites per batch is up to us. We will start small and gradually ramp up.
  
• The email you provide on Facebook does not need to be your admin email or your facebook email. We just need an email we can contact you at.
  
• You CAN test multiple forums if you are the admin of multiple forums.
  
• Your BetaZone forum is a TEMPORARY copy. It is for you to test things. That means for us, by reporting bugs. And for you, by practicing what you will need to do to your actual forum come conversion.
  
• Only admins can copy their forums. But members and staff can access the copied forums if the admins give them the URL. Just remember it's a temporary copy. Content posted on it will be lost.
  
• Admins will be able to save and export themes and plugins they make. They can import these to their real forum after conversion.
  
• There will be a board in the beta board, here on Support, for plugin discussion, requests and creation.
  
• BetaZone will be launching soon. I can't say any more than that.
  

I hope this alleviates any concerns regarding BetaZone.

[moonbeam]

Perhaps, Omio. But I'm sure he's already left in a snit anyway and won't see either of our responses.

[Omio]

Oct 27, 2012 8:23:21 GMT -8 moonbeam said:

Perhaps, Omio. But I'm sure he's already left in a snit anyway and won't see either of our responses.

That's when you don't care. Doin' it like a honey badger is best if nothin' happens. =3

[samr]

Oct 27, 2012 6:49:23 GMT -8 moonbeam said:

samr, they have already said you DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE FACEBOOK. Your board will not be passing info to facebook, or vice versa. The facebook "like" was only to sign up for the betazone. And even that is not required, as after the initial launch of betazone, they plan to offer a non-facebook method of requesting copies of boards on v5.

In trying to be fair and objective, as stated, for some time ... years? I have participated in this move. I have suffered through each new revision just to test. I have followed the pros and cons on the support boards, and I tried to follow the last carrot proboards dangled. It led me to a point where I could not proceed unless I 'liked' facebook. There was no other option on that page.

I have also followed the apparent disregard for all those who have been faithful yet do not want to go through the same process and have been told that 'sometime in the future' there may be a way to keep our present board. That is neither reassuring or acceptable for the members who visit my board daily. How long will the board be static? No one is able to say.

As for the folks here (in this thread) who are offering to help, I have read the material offered. I have also PM'd admin asking for help with understanding the beta sign up ... I never received a reply.

Oh and I wouldn't call making a decision based on my personal experience with this 'upgrade' a snit. It was a decision made by my membership. I was very open with them. I posted a link to the support boards here so that they could read for themselves. I offered the options to change, wait and see or close the board and go with another host. The decision was unanimous. I support that decision.

I do, as I said, still maintain a couple of junk boards with proboards. I will continue to monitor the upgrade.

[Omio]

Oct 31, 2012 1:58:06 GMT -8 samr said:

I have followed the pros and cons on the support boards, and I tried to follow the last carrot proboards dangled. It led me to a point where I could not proceed unless I 'liked' facebook. There was no other option on that page.

The current carrot is geared to FB, yes, but it's a very small one. If you had the ability to view all the bugs, you'd see just how bad the current BetaZone really is, for the time being (people have been reporting a lot of bugs).

If you wait until later, there will be a lot more basic, fundamental kinks worked out, and you can actually spend time enjoying something much closer to a finished product.

Also, I'd like to note that only 18 people have BetaZone invites, out of hundreds, or even thousands, so that's also part of the consideration at the moment: the target audience must be reduced in some way, and Facebook was the most reliable.

[samr]

Oz;

Sincere thanks for your informative response. Facebook is an issue but only one. I've followed most of the discussion regarding V5. While Facebook is my memberships primary concern, there is also the apprehension about global accounts. We have a general statement on how they are 'supposed' to work under proboards, but I have actual, realtime experience with global accounts with both ezboards and yuku, either of which I can google for a message board and then login to that board (never having been there or registering there previously) to find that my profile is there even to include my avatar, signature etc.
But again thank you for your well intentioned response. My board, though small, is member driven and will always be directed by the majority of the active members.
I wish everyone operating a proboard message board well. They were my first choice of free message boards until the push to v5. I am aware that Proboards staff and many of their account holders will welcome the move as progress.

[moonbeam]

samr, How many times do people have to say that your forum and facebook WILL NOT BE LINKED? Facebook is NOT REQUIRED. If you don't wish to like the page in order to get in on the first wave of betazone invites, that's fine! They will offer another way to request a copy of you forum in the future.


And they've also said that the global login does not mean you have access to every other PB out there. Only the board(s) you already have accounts on. ezboards and yuku do things differently, obviously and it's not fair for you to assume that PB will automatically be the same just because the word "global" is being used.

[Ryan Roos]

Hi samr,

You seem to make lots of assumptions, many of which are incorrect, and get upset about them. Let me try to clarify a few of the things I've read above.

I already explained in great detail that Facebook is in no way required for v5. We offered an advanced signup for BetaZone to admins who liked us on Facebook. This was a promotional event. Many companies offer discounts, coupons or special offers in exchange for Likes. Facebook even provides companies with a feature called Like Gates in order to accommodate such promotions. Everyone else who wants to sign up for BetaZone has the ability to sign up once we start BetaZone. This was strictly a promotion, an advanced reward.

Global Accounts. Global accounts do not automatically make you members of every forum on ProBoards. You still have to register on forums when and if you discover them. Your Global Account is simply a way for you to manage any forum accounts you may have by tying them to a single email address. The Global Account system also increases forum security. Sign up and Login are now on a secure server. You now use an email address and password which nobody knows to login. No one even knows what email you are using to login. In v4 I could try to brute force your account by guessing your password, because I know your username. In v5 I don't even know what your login is. I wouldn't even have anywhere to start. Global Accounts let you manage multiple forum accounts on the same or many forums and do not automatically sign you up everywhere. They are a security tool that allows you to more easily access forums.

If you are fed up with ProBoards and are going to make negative assumptions without asking for clarification then there is nothing we can do. We would love if you would use our forums. But if you have made up your mind that you don't like us then we are sorry for that. We only ask that you stop making assumptions about our service and features. We often have members from forums who arrive to ask questions and they have heard horrible rumors about what v5 is and what it means. These spawn from the posts like yours above that are full of incorrect and often very negative statements.

I hope that in the coming year you do come back and try v5. It is amazing and better than any other forum software out there. That's not an opinion. We have worked with members to develop the software. We've added features they've wanted and removed things that we unanimously disliked. We've put years of development into v5 and it's so very close to launch. To see someone like yourself get so upset and leave right when we're at the finish line saddens us. I hope that you'll give it a shot.

Thank you for your time. If you do have further questions please post them in the BetaZone board, where we answer any questions people have about v5.

[VS Admin]

Oct 31, 2012 1:58:06 GMT -8 samr said:

I have also followed the apparent disregard for all those who have been faithful yet do not want to go through the same process and have been told that 'sometime in the future' there may be a way to keep our present board. That is neither reassuring or acceptable for the members who visit my board daily. How long will the board be static? No one is able to say.

What you are saying does not make sense to me; I think you have a misconception here. Facebook has absolutely nothing to do with v5. You will get v5 regardless of doing anything on Facebook. Do you need to like ProBoards on Facebook to get v5? No. Do you need Facebook to upgrade your forum to v5? No.

As for the folks here (in this thread) who are offering to help, I have read the material offered. I have also PM'd admin asking for help with understanding the beta sign up ... I never received a reply.

If you sent me a PM directly for support, you would have received an alert that says I do not respond to PMs. We have paid support staff here that are happy to assist you, however I run the entire ProBoards business. I don't have time to respond to every message someone sends to me.

Patrick

[Omio]

samr: My name is supposed to be the chemical representation of "Oxygen", or "O₂". It seems like it doesn't render correctly when bolded.

[samr]

O'2';
I regret the font error that led to my misinterpretation of your user name. I meant no disrespect. I do not know how to display it correctly in text.

[Omio]

Oct 31, 2012 14:19:37 GMT -8 samr said:

O'2';
I regret the font error that led to my misinterpretation of your user name. I meant no disrespect. I do not know how to display it correctly in text.

Code: O[sub]2[/sub]

Result: O₂

It's all good, nonetheless.

Just want to sum up earlier:
1) Facebook was being used to give uber-early BetaZone tests.
2) There is now a way to get BetaZone normally, and it doesn't even touch FB.

[samr]

I received the invitation to participate on Oct. 3 via board PM. The link went to facebook and there was a requirement to 'like' proboards in order to sign up. If other alternatives are becoming available, as I've stated, I will continue to monitor. I do have one proboard message board that I have put on standby. I would like to keep it and populate it when v5 is available.

[Former Member]

I won't hate on the Facebook thing -- I see enough people have done that already. While I won't be creating a Facebook account after my experience with it, I don't mind waiting a little longer. I tried talking an admin on one of my forums to start up the Beta and let me at it, but he's on FB-haterade, too. Just my luck. ._. Oh well. I've waited this long! What's another month? I've got NaNo to keep me entertained for a while... So long as I'm not waiting longer than a month, it's all good. (Don't make me wait longer than that. I will cry. REAL TEARS. And YouTube it. Don't make me cry, PB.)

Hope all you Facebookers are enjoying your v5. /envy