# TiVo Community Forum change in ownership



## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

On behalf of David Bott who is on the road today...

Today marks a special day for TiVo Community Forum. We are announcing to the community a change in the site ownership company structure. As of October 1st, TCF will be owned and operated by the good folks at VerticalScope. We will continue to run the site as it's always run, and we'll try to be innovative in delivering high quality content and a great forum community experience as it always has been since its founding.

Other than some new admins doing the behind the scenes work, and some very necessary software updates, very little else will change. 

We are all incredibly excited about this new direction as it will allow us to focus on what we do best, which is content and community; while securing the community with a world-class organization that excels in running forums and keeping their platforms safe, secure, and stable.

If you have any questions, comments or concerns please feel free to let us know.

Thanks!


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## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

As (bad) luck would have it, I'm traveling myself tomorrow morning through Monday to visit our daughter in grad school so I may be a bit slow to follow up on questions here during that time as I'll be in planes and driving a lot. 

I promise I'm not ignoring you.


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## jay_man2 (Sep 15, 2003)

Thanks for the update. Thanks to David, and wishing him well in his future endeavors.


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## VSPlatform (Oct 1, 2021)

Hello everyone!

On behalf of the Community Management team, we'd like to offer you the warmest of welcomes to the VerticalScope family of forums! Our team helps manage the site administration and maintenance duties of keeping TivoCommunity.com operational, and we wanted to take the opportunity to not only say hello, but also to share a little bit about what to expect.

*Who Are We?*

VerticalScope is a network of forum communities around the internet. The community management staff on our team help make the work of the forum moderators and administrators easier.

*What Do We Do?*

Community means a great deal to us - we're all community people, and so continuity and stability are our primary aim. We bring reliability, support, and the infrastructure required to ensure that this community will be able to thrive for many years to come. It is our goal to work with the volunteer moderators/administrators to provide the resources required to increase reach, attract new members, increase engagement, and better the community experience overall.

*What Will Change?*

From a cultural side, next to nothing, you will eventually see our TOS and Privacy Policies in place but you'll find they're the same as you already work with. From a technical standpoint in the coming months you will see some necessary software updates and a change in the look and feel as we have a platform we've built up that should improve performance. Apart from that you'll now have access to better resources as well as community management staff for support and forum-related technical issues. Community is the focus here, and we know that the members of every forum work to keep things going awesomely. You're a huge part of that success, and we're here to ensure that the lights stay on, upkeep is tended to, and the infrastructure gets the attention it needs.

If you have any questions, ask away!

We're looking forward to working with the members, mods and admins here, and we're incredibly happy to be with you.

Warm Regards,

The VerticalScope Community Team


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## Hoffer (Jun 1, 2001)

Hopefully the software updates brings better search functionality.


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## Gregor (Feb 18, 2002)

Thanks for the update.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

VSPlatform said:


> a change in the look and feel as we have a platform we've built up that should improve performance.


Can you point us to an existing example of your platform look and feel?


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## danm628 (May 14, 2002)

pdhenry said:


> Can you point us to an existing example of your platform look and feel?


They own AVSForum. They have a list of what they own on their website.


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## pdhenry (Feb 28, 2005)

danm628 said:


> They own AVSForum. They have a list of what they own on their website.


Thanks.


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## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

It's a Xenforo based platform which is what we're using here now so much of it will be familiar but it's newer and instead of relying on third party plugins, the dev team codes in all the updates themselves.

Third party plugins lose support or flat out don't work at all when you try to upgrade which is part of the reason we're still on and old version. There are currently like 30 of those plugins holding TCF together. 

That means instead of being stagnant for years, the platform gets weekly or biweekly updates that address things like improved security and feature updates based largely on user feedback.


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## VSPlatform (Oct 1, 2021)

Dang Mike, said it better than Me

Kyle


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Welcome to our new corporate overlords! 

My only concern is losing the community feel and the moderators that are so much a part of why we succeed here when so many forums fail.
I say that because VerticalScope is just so darn big, it seems every other forum I'm a member of is owned by VS.


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## Pokemon_Dad (Jan 19, 2008)

dianebrat said:


> My only concern is losing the community feel and the moderators that are so much a part of why we succeed here when so many forums fail.


The look-and-feel will change - and I for one have often wished I could change the TiVo Community Orange default - but apparently the mods and admins will remain the same, at least for now:


VSPlatform said:


> It is our goal to work with the volunteer moderators/administrators to provide the resources required to increase reach, attract new members, increase engagement, and better the community experience overall.


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## dianebrat (Jul 6, 2002)

Pokemon_Dad said:


> The look-and-feel will change - and I for one have often wished I could change the TiVo Community Orange default - but apparently the mods and admins will remain the same, at least for now:


It's changable, I have green and I think there's a purple, but it may need TCF Club.
I'm not saying that I expect wholesale changes with new ownership, but I have moderated forums before and the admins and owners can make it more or less difficult, when they make it more difficult moderators leave, the usual impetus is related to forcing more ads into the stream.


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

VSPlatform said:


> ...If you have any questions, ask away!
> 
> We're looking forward to working with the members, mods and admins here, and we're incredibly happy to be with you...


*Subject:* 'Alerts' and 'Following' vs 'Subscribed' and 'Watching'

Cricket and Kyle,

I joined both AVSForum and TiVo Community on July 9, 2001 and visit both daily so I'm familiar with the upgrade of AVSForum to VerticalScope. I have a problem with 'Alerts' vs 'Following' though.

On the old AVSForum software (and current TiVo Community software), I could 'Subscribe to' / 'Watch' a thread without having to actually post in it. Then, whenever new posts were added, I'd see both (threads I've replied to and threads I've simply subscribed to) in one place. 'Alerts' and 'Following' seems to have broken that 'link' - yes, if I post to a thread, I then get notified, via a red number, whenever there are new posts but if I simply 'Follow' a thread I have to manually click on 'Following' (via the Account Details Box in the top right corner) each day to check two places now instead of just one.

Am I missing an important step here (to get 'Following' threads, that I simply follow, to appear WITH 'Alerts' threads, where I've posted, in ONE place)?

Thanks!


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## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

You can subscribe to a thread without posting to it as well as optionally auto-subscribing to all threads you participate in and/or create.

Followed threads as well as participated threads are both located on the Following page along with followed forums and threads you've started divided into 4 tabs like this...


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

@Mike Lang ,

As I previously stated, 'Following' does not work as well as 'Alerts' (and the combo doesn't work as well as 'Subscribed' / 'Watch' previously did / currently do):
When you post to a thread in VerticalScope, you are automatically 'Subscribed' and the 'Account Details Box' in the top right corner of the AVSForum screen 'lights up' with a little red dot to tell you when there are new posts in your 'Subscribed' threads.
.
When you 'Follow' a thread in VerticalScope, NOTHING happens when there are new posts in that thread. No red dot on the 'Account Details Box', no red number (like exponents and powers) next to 'Following', Nada...
I hope that I made that clearer for you, and VerticalScope, to understand the problem...

NOTE: Even though I've used the word 'Subscribed' when referring to threads on the new AVSForum VerticalScope software, there is actually no mention of the word, IIRC. I'd have to reply to an 'Unsubscribed' thread to check, but there is definitely a separation between 'Alerts' and 'Following' which makes following threads that I'm 'Following' more cumbersome.


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## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

ClearToLand said:


> When you post to a thread in VerticalScope, you are automatically 'Subscribed'


Not necessarily. You'd need to have the optional "Automatically watch content you interact with" box checked.



ClearToLand said:


> When you 'Follow' a thread in VerticalScope, NOTHING happens when there are new posts in that thread. No red dot on the 'Account Details Box', no red number (like exponents and powers) next to 'Following', Nada...


Actually yes, when there's a new post in a thread I'm following, a red dot (blue dot in light mode) appears next to my avatar at the top right of the forum with an alert that will specify something like:
"UserX replied to the thread XXXXX Thread. There may be more posts after this."


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

Mike Lang said:


> Not necessarily. You'd need to have the optional "Automatically watch content you interact with" box checked...


I don't post on AVSForum as frequently as I post on TiVo Community so I don't remember the exact process, but basically whenever I reply to a post on AVSForum, it's a simple process to get 'notified' via the 'Account Details Box' with red dots and red numbers. So maybe yes I have to click a radio button or maybe I set a default in my User Profile. I can't remember everything anymore like I used to when I was younger...


Mike Lang said:


> ...Actually yes, *when there's a new post in a thread I'm following, a red dot (blue dot in light mode) appears next to my avatar at the top right of the forum*...


THAT does not happen for me and, if it is possible to set it to happen, I would like to know how to enable it. I only see red dots when there are new 'Alerts' posts - nothing for new 'Following' posts.


Mike Lang said:


> ...*with an alert* that will specify something like:
> "UserX replied to the thread XXXXX Thread. There may be more posts after this."
> View attachment 66531


I hope that you're not confusing 'Alerts' with 'Following' because what you're describing is what happens for me with an 'Alert' for a new post in a thread that I've posted in. In a thread that I simply 'Follow' (old software 'Subscribe to' / 'Watch'), nothing happens and I have to manually click on 'Following' to check for activity.


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## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

There's no difference in how you're notified for a new post in a subscribed thread whether you posted in it with auto-sub or simply subscribed to it.

We did have a few members who needed to unsub/resub to some content after migration to reset the notifications but I belong to at least a dozen VS sites and get notified for subbed threads all day long so I'm very familiar with how it works.

Just subscribe to a very busy thread on AVS & you'll get a dot on your avatar quick enough.


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

Mike Lang said:


> There's no difference in how you're notified for a new post in a subscribed thread whether you posted in it with auto-sub or simply subscribed to it.
> 
> We did have a few members who needed to unsub/resub to some content after migration to reset the notifications but I belong to at least a dozen VS sites and get notified for subbed threads all day long so I'm very familiar with how it works.
> 
> Just subscribe to a very busy thread on AVS & you'll get a dot on your avatar quick enough.


I just:

'Unfollowed' / 'Followed' the top 11 threads that I was 'Following'
.
'Unfollowed' / 'Followed' all 5 forums that I was 'Following'
.
'Followed': Owner's Thread for the Sony X900H (No Price Talk)
32K Posts / 5M Views
I'll see what happens over the next few days.

Thanks.


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## Mike Lang (Nov 17, 1999)

ClearToLand said:


> 'Followed': Owner's Thread for the Sony X900H (No Price Talk)


After you posted that, I followed the same thread and just got the red dot with: 
"WarpedTrekker replied to the thread Owner's Thread for the Sony X900H (No Price Talk). There may be more posts after this."


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

Mike Lang said:


> After you posted that, I followed the same thread and just got the red dot with:
> "WarpedTrekker replied to the thread Owner's Thread for the Sony X900H (No Price Talk). There may be more posts after this."


I too got an 'Alert' / red dot for this newly 'Followed' Sony X900H thread.

Good in one respect - but sad that I have 22 pages of 'Followed' threads, at 35 threads per page, that don't currently generate 'Alerts' so it's going to take a *LOT* of clicks to fix that VerticalScope "BUG".  

I've 'Followed' a few new threads since the initial implementation of VerticalScope at AVSForum, in addition to the 100s that 'carried over', so this "BUG" must have been fixed sometime between then and now. As a Lurker, I've searched several times for a solution but never came across your remedy. Perhaps you should post it somewhere prominent where other Lurkers might easily see it and end their 'suffering'...


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## ClearToLand (Jul 10, 2001)

Mike Lang said:


> ...*We did have a few members who needed to unsub/resub to some content after migration to reset the notifications* but I belong to at least a dozen VS sites and get notified for subbed threads all day long so I'm very familiar with how it works...





ClearToLand said:


> I just:
> 
> 'Unfollowed' / 'Followed' the top 11 threads that I was 'Following'
> .
> ...


I added '*Jump to Latest*' to my steps above (for both the highlighted AND the un-highlighted threads) and my Alerts are now getting more active for the 35 threads that I updated on my 'Following' page. :thumbsup:

Thanks!


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