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I'm going to make a bold claim and say that this topic has the most redactions in the history of IPS https://invisioncommunity.com/forums/topic/481831-you-forced-my-bill-from-80-a-year-to-200-a-year-wtf/ This topic has given me faith that forum drama is alive and well, and filled with fiery [REDACTED] 🤣 Also, ironically, the post has earned IPS several 5 star Trustpilot reviews so ... All's well that ends well?

This is something that I struggle with. I may have done an amazing thing with my community. Maybe we hit a new milestone. Maybe we hit a major achievement. Maybe we've been quietly building one of the world's largest dictionaries contextualized for online communities: https://invisioneer.org/index.php?/cmxdictionary/ In my head, I have already acknowledged those milestones as another step in my community journey, so nothing more is needed. It's one of many achievements laying before me. But if it's not communicated out to the membership or to the public, is it worth anything? What does it matter if you hit that milestone if no one else acknowledges, celebrates, or shares in that success? Perception is everything. And if there is nothing to perceive because you're not communicating your wins, it's a lost opportunity to shape and share in your community story. People derive part of their self-concept from their membership in social groups. Celebrating shared wins strengthens the "we" feeling, reinforcing a positive social identity and bolstering a sense of belonging. Members feel more connected when they perceive the group as effective and successful, increasing their commitment and engagement. Even if you - as the community manager or forum admin - did all of the heavy lifting, letting members share a part of the win builds their tribal identity. The "norm of reciprocity" is a powerful social principle that dictates that people feel obligated to return favors and acts of kindness. Sharing successes and acknowledging contributions triggers this norm, prompting members to "pay it forward" by contributing their own time and expertise. This creates a positive cycle of prosocial behavior. Stories shape our understanding of ourselves and the world. By sharing stories of success, you provide members with a shared narrative that reinforces the community's values and goals. So go ahead. Post an extra term in our CMX Dictionary and help us build the world's largest database of dictionary terms for community management 😉. You'll feel better, I'll feel better, and all the other people who didn't do anything will also feel better because ultimately we all win.

As a developer on this platform, I want to know your opinions of the members of this platform. Are you willing to buy new 3rd-party apps? Considering that quality apps/themes are produced that really improve your community and meet your needs. Before the market was closed, I had a big plan to develop each part of this platform. I also decided to produce new things needed by every community. For example, LMS has been completed and is being developed, as well as other apps that I don't know if I should start. Are you waiting for version 5 to think about 3rd-party apps? Would you consider them if new apps are released for version 4.*?

Valentine's Day is coming up this weekend, which is a perfect excuse to host a "Love Your Members" theme, contest, or event. There are plenty of fun celebrations throughout the year, anchored by big seasonal ones such as Valentine's and Christmas. These are "easy" themes. The dates and context behind these holidays are well-known, well-understood, and easily adoptable. But it's also heavily overused and generic. Every forum tries to do a Christmas thing. Every forum tries to do a Valentine's thing. When your credit card company tries to send you a Christmas celebratory introductory rate on a new credit card, you know the holiday has become a bit overdone. What I encourage you to do is come up with events that are tribal. These are events or contests that uniquely resonate with your community or within your industry, so it's much more specific, smaller, and therefore more special. Your industry might already have some events that you can build on, or you can come up with your own events that are unique to your community. Some thoughts: Hosting tribal events versus generic events isn't any harder or any easier. You're still hosting an event, one way or another. You may need to design different branding, images, or marketing artwork to put a unique spin on the event, but going through the motions of hosting the event is the same. It gets better as time goes on. The first year, you may need to do more communication and more awareness around what the event means. In future years, you've already built the template and cultural legacy. It's okay to still fall back to the generic events. If you're in a rush, it's forgivable to quickly throw together a Valentine's "Love Your Members" or a Christmas "Secret Santa" forum post exchange, so don't beat yourself up if you didn't do all of the ideas that you wanted. Supplement and incorporate tribal events when you can. So this Valentine's day, you will not celebrating any membership loves and kisses with Invisioneer. What I do care about on this Valentine's day is helping you think about building a deeper, more meaningful and special relationship with your members in a way that can't be replicated.

I referenced the reason in my announcement topic but it came down to cost. It is so much cheaper to self host, and given that Invisioneer is a site that's offered for free and I want to make this sustainable for several years, I needed to lower my ongoing costs as much as possible. For full disclosure, last year IPS did give me a courtesy upgrade to one higher tier than what I was paying for on the cloud, for which I'm thankful. But ultimately, I can lower the ongoing expenses (not just a little, but a lot) and make sure Invisioneer keeps going for several years.