topic Re: Community Update - Changes are coming! in Community Announcements

Community Update - Changes are coming!

Chris — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 13:05:55 GMT

I’m very, very excited to finally announce that over the next few weeks, we’ll be migrating the Plusnet Community to a brand new home. Whilst community.plus.net will remain its home, we’re starting again with a new platform, new design & some very exciting new features. Better still, we’ve been working really closely with a group of customers (you know who you are!) to make sure we capture as many requirements as possible & do some rigorous user testing before we go live.
The cut over date has yet to be confirmed, however, we’re aiming for some time in March. When we have a definite date, we’ll share. However, before then, here’s a run down of what will be happening.

FAQs
What’s changing?
There’ll be a number of things but to name just a few:

All pages will be optimised for mobile so a brand new, fresh look and feel to community

We’ll be introducing ‘thanks’ and ‘fixes’, making it easier to show your appreciation but also make it clearer to other customers which post fixed the original topic

We’ll be removing the need to be a Plusnet customer to post on our Community – it will be open to all

Some customers will have their username automatically changed if it is more than 15 characters or includes a space.

What’s not changing?
As ever, this Community will continue to be managed and moderated by Plusnet customers. This is something that is very unique and something we are immensely proud of. We’ll also be keeping the community.plus.net domain.

Are you taking all data from the old community to the new one?
Most, yes, but not all. See below for lists of what is coming over & what’s not
Moving over:

All posts

All blogs

MOST usernames will be unchanged (see below)

Avatars

Personal Messages

Library posts

Not moving over:

Signatures

Polls

How do I keep my username on the new Community?
It’s really important before the date of migration that you check your email address is up to date within Community. This is because when we do move over, we’ll force all customers to do a password reset which will need to be done via the email address we have on file.
To do that, simply click ‘Profile’ from the top bar, then ‘Account Related Settings’ & update the Email field.

Is it the Username or display name that will be migrated?
It will only be the Username that you registered with. As we know some customers used their Plusnet account name to register with we’re giving all customers the opportunity for the first month to change their username, however, they’ll need to login with the current one first.

***Please note***
Limits on the platform mean that customers with the following usernames will have theirs automatically changed:

Any that is above 15 characters will be reduced to the first 15. For example, PlusnetLiamCommunity will become PlusnetLiamComm. You’ll be able to change it whatever you like when you’ve logged back in.

If your username has a space, that character will be replaced with an underscore. So, Plusnet Liam will become Plusnet_Liam

Who will be hosting my data?
We’re really proud to be working with a company called Lithium – they’re a world leader, best in class Community vendor and work with some of the biggest companies in the world. Whilst we’ve done extensive audits to ensure we’re happy with the security of your information, we wanted to make you aware that your email address & username will be hosted by them directly.
There will no doubt be other questions and we’re happy to answer them, however, we’ll also be documenting the key platform differences over the coming weeks so it’s not too much of a shock. We’ll post again on here when we have a firm launch date but for now, just make sure your email address is up to date & get ready!

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

Anonymous — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 13:12:03 GMT

Sounds exciting, looking forward to the move, so good luck with it.

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

pwatson — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 13:18:31 GMT

Quote from: Chris
We’re really proud to be working with a company called Lithium

Lithium also host the community forums for BT Retail (conspiracy theorists are not invited to comment!), Virgin and Sky...

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

avatastic — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 13:34:14 GMT

Will the new site automatically report that images are borken in posts, or is that still up to us?
(You've got a borken image Chris)

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

Chris — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 13:37:42 GMT

Should be sorted now, thanks for pointing out
It is *a lot* easier to upload images on the new site

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

w23 — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 14:13:00 GMT

Quote from: Chris
It is *a lot* ~~easier~~ more difficult to upload images on ~~the new~~ this site

Still Broken!

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

Oldjim — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 14:18:36 GMT

until you posted my question was - What Image - as I can't see anything in the post

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

Chris — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 14:21:15 GMT

Dunno what you mean, it's working perfectly.

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

w23 — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 14:22:39 GMT

When I read 'avatastic's post I must admit my first reaction was 'what image?', that's why I added the screenshot!

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

bobpullen — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 14:23:08 GMT

Quote from: Oldjim
until you posted my question was - What Image - as I can't see anything in the post

Ditto.

Quote from: pwatson
Lithium also host the community forums for BT Retail (conspiracy theorists are not invited to comment!), Virgin and Sky...

And Spotify, and Vodafone and Barclays and a wealth of other companies

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

w23 — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 14:25:41 GMT

Quote from: Chris
Dunno what you mean, it's working perfectly.

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

Anotherone — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 14:49:35 GMT

The "ease" of uploading images is "debatable"

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

Strat — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 14:50:06 GMT

Quote from: Chris
You’ll be able to change (your username) to whatever you like when you’ve logged back in.

As long as it doesn't break forum rules

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

jelv — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 15:32:35 GMT

Quote from: Anotherone
The "ease" of uploading images is "debatable"

Embedding images in to posts in-line is a LOT easier! (it's what happens immediately after that can be a bit strange)

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

billnotben — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 15:55:00 GMT

Quote from: Chris
All pages will be optimised for mobile

Not another site going west.
Plusnet will just become another one to avoid on the PC.
Why do some (misguided) companies think this is a good idea.
Don't tell me, all the board members are in their twenties and sit around playing on their phones all day.
I see "optimised for mobile" as a backwards step.
Some of these "optimised" pages look like the ones on my PC when I had windows 95 and visited bulletin boards.

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

chillypenguin — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 16:09:11 GMT

Quote from: Chris
What’s changing?
There’ll be a number of things but to name just a few:
...
We’ll be removing the need to be a Plusnet customer to post on our Community – it will be open to all

...

It will be interesting to see how this will change the forums. Will non PlusNet customers be interested in joining the forums, and what will their motives be.

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

Oldjim — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 16:11:13 GMT

I can think of a few over at TBB who would jump at the chance to create absolute havoc

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

jelv — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 16:45:02 GMT

Quote from: billnotben
Quote from: Chris
All pages will be optimised for mobile

Not another site going west.
Plusnet will just become another one to avoid on the PC.

Don't worry - some of the testers (me for one) don't even possess such a device and while it is a bit different to what we have now it is fine on a PC.
It's not optimised for mobile such that on a real PC it's trashed - it adapts according to the device.

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

billnotben — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 17:16:24 GMT

Then why not say it's optimised for a range of formats?
Instead of the more than suggestion of low res devices.

Re: Community Update - Changes are coming!

chillypenguin — Thu, 18 Feb 2016 17:50:31 GMT

Quote from: Oldjim
I can think of a few over at TBB who would jump at the chance to create absolute havoc

That was my concern. Glad I am not a moderator any more!