Envolve Chat Integration Module

[andrew.lee]

About the Envolve Chat Plugin
This module will connect your vBulletin forum to Envolve chat. Envolve is a chat toolbar similar to Facebook's chat bar that allows your users to have group and one-on-one chats with each other while browsing your forums.

This mod requires an API key from Envolve in order to function. Visit http://www.envolve.com (https://www.envolve.com/?utm_source=vBulletinDir40&utm_medium=info&utm_campaign=vBulletinPlugin&install_type=vbulletin) to get one. A free version is available that provides a full feature set for up to 25 concurrent users. Higher numbers of chatters require a paid account.

This mod integrates your forum's account system with Envolve so that when users are logged into your vBulletin site it also logs them into the chat. In addition, it integrates your profile pictures / avatars and profile information. With the 2.0 release of the mod, other users can now view your profile information and get a link to your profile simply by placing their mouse over your name.

The Envolve chat system is a rich solution for community chat. Some of its features include group chat (both public and private), one-on-one chat, the ability to pop chats out into their own windows, moderation controls (boot / block / ban / timed ban), chat message translation, resizable chat windows, chat sharing, and drag-and-drop chat invitations. As a hosted solution, all chat traffic is handled by Envolve's servers and will not place any additional load on your server.

Installation:
Detailed installation instructions can be found here:
https://www.envolve.com/docs/vbulletin-chat-plugin.html (https://www.envolve.com/docs/vbulletin-chat-plugin.html?utm_source=vBulletinDir40&utm_medium=info&utm_campaign=vBulletinPlugin&install_type=vbulletin). They are also provided in the Readme.txt file.
You can see and try out the chat at http://www.envolve.com (https://www.envolve.com/?utm_source=vBulletinDir40&utm_medium=info&utm_campaign=vBulletinPlugin&install_type=vbulletin).

This version of the mod will work for both vBulletin 4.x and vBulletin 3.8.x.

Screenshots:
Here the "People List" can be seen open in the lower right hand corner of the page. This shows all users who are currently viewing the forum. This site owner has chosen to only allow logged-in users to chat.
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/

Here a public group chat has been opened, and the user has moused-over another user to see his profile information.
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/

Here a user is creating a new group chat that will be shown to the other users on the site. He has also "popped-out" the "General" chat into its own window.
https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/

[SwollenCranium]

I signed up to take a look around and have a question:

Q: Nothing is free, so when you offer a "free" use what are YOU getting out of it?


Q: What do you mean BY "We reserve the right to display this public information to other people, save it, index it, share it, etc."

Just WHO are you sharing this data with?


Q: And this "We reserve the right to use private chat transcripts, private messages, and other usage data anonymously for statistics, user experience improvements, marketing, etc.

^ I suppose THAT answers the "free" question.

[Hornstar]

You mentioned phpBB but this is vbulletin

"This module will connect your vBulletin forum to Envolve chat. This mod allows Envolve to securely use the usernames of your phpBB users"

[andrew.lee]

Hornstar: Thanks for catching this. Fixed. That's what I get for writing two plugins at the same time : )

Swollen Cranium - happy to answer any questions! We're trying to start a business, so the goal is to have people upgrade to our paid products. The free version is our way of letting people try it out on their communities and see if it's a fit. It's also free advertising for us, since we have a "powered by Envolve" message in several places on the chat. Having a free dumbed-down version is pretty common these days for SaaS companies.

In regards to the privacy policy, the *public* chats are intended to be made searchable by the general public at some point (just like most vBulletin forums can be indexed by Google). So who are we going to be sharing this data with? Potentially everyone! Currently that data is only being provided to site owners, however. If you notice, when you create a new chat it says "This is a Public Chat". We're trying to be clear about what we are doing here.

The private chat transcripts will never be shared with anyone but the people you invite to them. We may use statistical data from them in the future to improve our product, or potentially to customize the experience for you (Gmail does a similar sort of thing). Currently we aren't doing any of this.

[ProFifaLeagues]

Andrew is there a demo running anywhere we can look at?

[TheLastSuperman]

Andrew is there a demo running anywhere we can look at?

The info page has the script at the bottom, similar to Facebook style and or Cometchat although I see some key differences.

http://www.envolve.com/plugins/vbulletin-chat-plugin.html

Although I would update the first post to reflect the version members here are actually receiving i.e.

Free = Restricted to 25 simultaneous chatters.
Free = No single login although it's noted above?
Free = No skinning although it's noted above?
Everything else = you must have an upgraded version/account.

This way it's not umm "False Advertising" as some would call it :D.

[andrew.lee]

Thanks Superman for answering that questions! As he mentioned you can see the chat running on the instructions page at http://www.envolve.com/plugins/vbulletin-chat-plugin.html

I've updated the listing to describe what is available for free and what requires a paid account. I mentioned that the plugin allows single sign-on, since you can install the free version without a plugin at all by just cutting and pasting some code... so the plugin is specifically for those users that want to use the single sign-on features. Hopefully that's a little more clear in the posting now.

[onehost]

andrew,

I was looking at your site...

This appears to be really tiny chat...is this how it would
look on a VB forum?

Thanks

[onehost]

Click on "Settings" in the sidebar on the left. Then click "Options".

Im about to uninstall this - i see nothing that says "options"
I see nothing about getting an "API" key.

[onehost]

uninstalled

[andrew.lee]

OneHost: The chat windows are resizeable (just drag to resize in the upper left corner). You can also pop the chats out into a separate window if you want them even bigger.

You can get an API Key at www.envolve.com. Just click the big green "Try it for free". It should be pretty straightforward. The "Settings" tab is in your vBulletin Admin Control Panel. It should be the top button on the sidebar on the left. The "Options" button will appear directly below that when you click on Settings. Here's what it looks like:
http://www.envolve.com/plugins/vBulletin/pic2.png

Hope that helps!

[8thos]

The single install idea is awesome but there should be a template edits option for us more advanced users that way we can choose which skin we want to use the Envolve Chat Module. For instance, I have Meebo in one of my forum skins. I'd put Envolve in another skin. Hold up... $49 a month? NVM.

[ProFifaLeagues]

What sort of usage will this cause on the server using the free system?

[andrew.lee]

It's a completely hosted chat solution, so it will have no impact on your server at all. All traffic is routed through the Envolve servers. This is true of all the version, including the free and paid versions.

[ProFifaLeagues]

Cheers Andrew for the Quick reply!

[rajubd]

if a user log in my forum they able to see other friend online or not?

[andrew.lee]

Of course! You should give it a try! I think you'll really like it. I'm new to the vBulletin community, but we've been working on this chat for more than a year-and-a-half. I think we've got something pretty slick here! If you want to play with it it's running live on our website.

[andrew.lee]

@rajubd - We don't have a "friends list" at the moment. We actually show all the users who are active in chat to everyone. So yes they'll be able to see their friends, but they won't see only their friends. We've built this with a special focus on group conversations (though it does private 1-on-1 chats well too).

[oedipean]

It is exactly what I was looking for, but unfortunately it hosted in your site .

[andrew.lee]

So there was a long discussion thread here about other chat systems such as Comet Chat, Arrow Chat, and some others that you can install yourself. https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=176924

The Envolve chat is hosted because we can provide better service for large sites this way (apache + php doesn't do real-time stuff very well), and because this way we can update everyone immediately when we fix bugs / add features / etc. Did you try it out? Any feedback other than the hosting issue? Why is us hosting the service a negative for you?

[onehost]

This is really unclear...I see nothing that is even similar to "my sites"
I am unable to find the API key....

There is no "My Sites" on the entire screen....

First, Get Your Envolve API Key
1. Log in to your Envolve account

2. Click the "My Sites" tab at the top of the screen and select your site.

3. Open the "Setup" tab on the left. Copy the code in the "Your API Key" box.

found it, was not exactly named "my sites" you should fix it to be less confusing...

===========

I have a question, if i get the paid, will the powered by be removed? and will there
be any indication that any members can tell this would be a host chat? I think it
is great ressource saver, but I can not have members thinking that I am cheap
and can not host my own scripts...so there can be no links or anything pointing
back to your site.

suggestion: I can resize like you said, but I am unable to move the chat box
just anywhere, like out of my way...it would be nice to be able to move
it around anywhere then goes back into place if i choose to minimize.
I may want it bigger and some place else on the screen, not just stuck
in one place, big or small...

You should also take some after thought from flash chat...you have no color,
no font sizes, no faces, almost nothing expect for plain joe chat...or
am I missing something here? hopefully I am not seeing the good
stuff because I am using the free version....?

Thanks

[andrew.lee]

To get your API key you can log into your account here:
http://www.envolve.com/admin/

"My Sites" is a tab in the upper right hand corner after you log in. If you haven't already registered your site you will need to do so in order to get an API key. You can do that here:
http://www.envolve.com/sign-up-and-price

We know branding is important to any serious site. We call our unbranded versions "White Label". If you get any Premium or larger package there will be no indication that you are using a hosted service. Your users won't know the difference, and they won't see our brand.

You actually can move the windows around. You can pop them out into a separate window and then put them wherever you like. Just click the little arrow button in the upper right corner of the chat box.

In regards to the reduced feature set as compared to some other chat services... we do have skinning options and analytics available with paid accounts. We don't currently do emoticons or colored text, however. We've been trying to keep everything super-simple. We figured people who wanted the those features would just use the forum threads. Are these features important to you? Which ones are the most important?

I really suggest you just give it a try and see what you think. Install is super simple, and the system will make a whole lot more sense after you've played with it for a bit.

Hope that helps! Cheers.

[onehost]

I am afraid your branding is a little steep for me, no need to pay that much
when I do not have bbut a few users, and I feel if I buy anything, then
I owe you nothing...I buy to many mods where coders think I still owe
them something, even after I have bought it...its why I have uninstalled
most of my mods....if you had white label for the smallest account
I would signup right now, if not, no worries...I do not loose
sleep at night over mods that I decide not to go with....

[andrew.lee]

Ok. Understood. You might still want to give the free version a try. The "powered by Envolve" stuff is pretty small.

[Cort]

This chat is working really well on our Forums. We were with another chat - which in some ways is more sophisticated but this one is so visible (yet really unobtrusive) down at the bottom of the page - and its been used much more....The ability to easily spin off private chats is really nice as well. Install took 10 minutes... We like it!

[Kaelon]

This chat is working really well on our Forums. We were with another chat - which in some ways is more sophisticated but this one is so visible (yet really unobtrusive) down at the bottom of the page - and its been used much more....The ability to easily spin off private chats is really nice as well. Install took 10 minutes... We like it!
Has anyone tried this in vBulletin 3.8.x? I tried to give this a shot myself, but it seems that the chat did not appear at all.

[andrew.lee]

Thanks for the note. I'll take a look at using the plugin for vBulletin 3.8 and see what's going wrong. Stay tuned.

[MagiKelly]

Installed on a basic package. I thought I was getting the first 15 days free but seem to have been charged straight off.

Intallation was easy and it seems to be working straight away. For some reason my Mods show as Admin as do I but the other Admin shows as a normal member. The pop a chat out to a new window does not work for me either but does for some users. I am using IE as a browser.

[Kaelon]

Installed on a basic package. I thought I was getting the first 15 days free but seem to have been charged straight off.

Intallation was easy and it seems to be working straight away. For some reason my Mods show as Admin as do I but the other Admin shows as a normal member. The pop a chat out to a new window does not work for me either but does for some users. I am using IE as a browser.
Are you using multiple usergroups for your admins/mods? I think this script can be improved if there were a setting for "Chat Admin" usergroups -- might be something to consider, Andrew. Thanks!

[MagiKelly]

Another thing. On an iPad this does not stay at e bottom of the screen. It appears at the bottom of the page as when it loads but when you scroll down it moves up and out the top of the screen with the rest of the content.

Not tried but I guess you will get the same issue on an iPhone.

[andrew.lee]

@Kaelon - Thanks for the suggestion! Right now we're setting all Moderators and Admins as chat admins. I've heard similar feedback from other people that a separate "chat admins" group would be desirable. I'll look into doing that.

@MagiKelly - Your signup came through as an upgrade rather than as a new customer which is why it charged you. I refunded that and gave you the 15 day trial. Also - could you shoot me an email so we can get that popout issue resolved? I'm not aware of any problems with popouts in IE. What version are you running? Perhaps you have a popup blocker running?

[carlreed]

I just bought the Pro version of this app and I'm really impressed. Here's what I've done with it:

Customized the skin to match my forums theme and it blends in really nice.
Integrated it with my forum so users sign into chat automatically.
I got rid of the public chat option.

And now I have my own Facebook style chat on my forum :)

[MagiKelly]

I've had this installed for a few days now so here are my thoughts.

I have the paid version so can have up to 25 people logged in at a time. For the money is is not enough. I have a fairly small forum but still the chat is full even when no one is actually chatting. Either the number of logged in members needs to be increased (probably doubled to 50) or there needs to be an admin option to have the chat turned off as the default for members so that only members who actually want to chat will turn it on and not fill up the available spaces. Another option would be to allow up to 25 people actually in the chat and chatting not just logged in automatically. Once 25 people are in general chat or private chats it could give a full notice.

I do not want to sound too negative as the the mod itself is very good it is just priced too high. To upgrade another level to get 75 members logged in would be a cost that I could get hosting for and probably more than VBulletin costs me for a year. In fact it is already probably close to that cost and this is for only one or two people to actually be chatting. The chat being full is very misleading as it is only an indication of how busy the forum is with members not how busy the chat is.

[andrew.lee]

Thanks for the feedback MagiKelly! Are you displaying the chat to everyone or just to logged-in users or admins? Would it be helpful if we provided more granular controls over got to see the chat and who didn't?

[MagiKelly]

I have the chat set to be only visible to logged in members. My forum has a little over 8000 members but probably only about 1200 active members (members logged in in a month). The norm would be for between 20 to 70 ish members logged in depending on time of day, however, I will be amazed if I ever have even as many as 10 in total in active chats at ny time. Generally there will be no one chatting with only a few people using it each day, that is why I would not consider an upgraded account.

Even in the short time I have had this runnig I have had the situation where 25 members have been allocated to chat but none want to and another member wants to chat but can't as they are getting the full message. This is really annoying to have a full message when in truth no one is actually using the option.

Being able to restrict it to fewer groups would not really be of any use to me as the people who use the chat are going to be few but spread over the range of groups. The changes that would work for me are having the chat set to off as default with the people willing to chat switchg it on.

The other option is for the limit to be set for the people actually in chat. So all members show up as available but once a set number are in chat rooms no one can enter an existing room or create a new chat. With this set up I would still pay the same money as I do now for a much lesser total, say 10 users active as a maximum.

[andrew.lee]

Thanks for the thorough feedback @MagiKelly!

[ahmedipa]

so nice thank you very much

[dprice]

Great add-on. Still havent decided on whether or not to move to the paid version. Few questions for you:

1. Don't see a way to turn this ON/OFF from the admincp. Coming in the future?
2. Is it possible to force individuals to SIGN IN either as a guest or through FB/TWITTER etc before the chat window becomes active? I have noticed that users will have a GUEST WILL or GUEST NINA etc etc. Does this rectify itself in the paid version via single sign on?
3. I have noticed that the previous chats window on the far left will show old chats that are no longer active even if the chat window is closed out. Is that controlled on your server and does it eventually time out and disappear?

Thanks in advance...so far, I like it..

[andrew.lee]

Dprice - Thanks for getting in touch! Let me answer your questions:

1) We don't have an enable / disable checkbox from the admincp at the moment. You can restrict who it gets displayed to though (admins, logged-in users, or everyone) using a dropdown in the Envolve Chat settings. An enable / disable feature could be added in the future though if it would be helpful.

2) Yes! We allow you to display the chat to everyone but require users to login to actually participate. We even allow you to set a "grace period" for guest users so they can start chatting a little bit before signing in. We can then direct those users to *your* sign-in page so that they can register for a new account. This way we can help you get more registered users. We also provide single sign-on so that the chat automatically picks up your vBulletin usernames and your users don't have to sign in seperately. Both of these features require a paid account.

3) That list shows chats that you have closed that are still "active" on the site. These chats will time out eventually, or if you are an admin (and logged into envolve as such... again, you'll need single sign on to do this automatically) then you'll have the option of removing the chat entirely when you close it. It will then not be shown publicly anymore.

You might want to poke around our admin panel to see all the options. www.envolve.com/admin (click on "My Sites" to edit your site's options)
There's also a dropdown in the vBulletin options (where you entered the API key) where you can select who to display the chat to.

Hope that helps!

[Pvtiste]

Installed and 5 stars!
Really nice customer service aswell :)
Thanks Andrew!

Just a quick question, when I try to upload a file there is a popup opened and your toolbar hide the buttons "insert inline" and "close" :(

Thanks again!

[andrew.lee]

@Pvtiste - Glad you like it! Can you email me a screenshot? http://www.envolve.com/contact.html

[SwollenCranium]

I have the paid version so can have up to 25 people logged in at a time. For the money is is not enough. .

Agreed. ^

Also not taking PAYPAL as a pay option is a no go as well.



http://www.envolve.com/contact.html

On your site the TOS returns a 404 page. ( when accessed from the sign-up page) Are you aware of this?

[andrew.lee]

Uh oh! You're right. We'll fix that link ASAP.

[SwollenCranium]

.....

You asked me to review the product, and I will do so now:

The Pro:

Easy installation, small footprint, private chats, chat logs.

The Con:

I installed and used the paid (basic) version for 5 days. I initially was going to test it for 30 but after 5 I had already determined my choice. I uninstalled it today because:

1. @ basic level I am charged $9.95/ month for next to NO administrator ability.

a. I am unable to set by user group ( A MAJOR requirement to most forums owners) who can use the IM.

b. The IM session time does not match my forum session time and I am given NO admin settings for session control. The is CRUCIAL as your basic plan sets me at 25 max connections. Oft time users will log out of my forum and STILL be shown as active in the IM sessions. And as far as I can tell this effects users waiting to join. I of course can not check this as there is virtually no admin back end.

c. No ability to define landing pages for the IM client (with out editing the API) . It follows the user everywhere. this is a NOGO when a user is trying to use VB pop up control windows such as 'add pictures' and others. Again .. NO ADMIN settings to change this.

Bottom line:

The PRICE is prohibitive. The Mod section of VB.org has several chat mods that store chats, sound notify, private chat .. etc. None of them charge a monthly hosting fee. A forum using a shared hosted service is likely only paying ~ 15/month for the entire host solution. Adding another monthly fee for a service that essentially mimics similar products found for free or for a one time product fee is a likely to return you a small number of customers.

The Next echelon on your pay scale is $24/month and you give no admin controls to adjust the items I outlined in A-C. (No control that I can see by your instruction on your web site)


I support the market economy and your right to charge what ever it is you decide is fair.

My recommendation to you is to reevaluate your price and/or add more usability at the basic level.

Good luck !!

[seite7]

Really nice tool, but the pricing doesn't feel right at all. What I would expect from such kind of addons:
Free - basic functionality, but with branding
Paid - basic functionality without branding and no(!) limitations for the chat users
Premium - like paid, but with additional bells and whistles

At the moment, the free version is useless for VBulletin sites. (no single sign on)
Basic and Pro are way too expensive and limited. I would pay you every month, year after year and still make advertising for you. Additionally my users would start hating this function because they couldn't use it when the simultaneous chatters limit is reached.

[andrew.lee]

Thanks for the feedback! We know there are cheaper and free options out there, such as CometChat, ArrowChat, AddOnChat, Chatroll, etc. We're aiming to provide a really high-end service aimed mainly at larger / professional sites. For these sites the hosted nature of our service is actually a big bonus, as it allows them to scale well beyond what their servers could otherwise support. We're always very interested in working with smaller sites too so we can help them grow into those big sites, so we appreciate your honesty here.

[MagiKelly]

I would have thought that the server load would be due to people actually chatting. This was why I would be willing to pay the current rate to have up to 25 members actually chatting. But as I have said what is currently happening is the chat is showing as full and no one is actually chatting. Just 25 members or more browsing the forum using my bandwidth on my server and not on yours.

I have not uninstalled this yet as I am so sure the pricing is wrong I am waiting for the upgrade, however, that wait will only be till this months subscription runs out.

A fault I have noticed is when viewing the forum on an iPad or iPhone the chat does not stay docked to the bottom of the screen but scrolls up as you scroll the page.

[andrew.lee]

The issue on iPhone / iPad is a known issue. Apple "broke" toolbars (specifically fixed positioning) with mobile versions of their browser because the pinch-to-zoom concept didn't make sense with them. We are working on a better solution here since iPad / iPhone is becoming such a big market, and we want those people to have a premium experience too.

The load from a chat application like ours is mostly from detecting the presence of users. Our chat has to load / unload every time you transition between pages. This means we have to alert you of who is on the page as well as alert everyone else about your status. The actually chat messages are a pretty small part of the load, hence us structuring the pricing this way.

[MagiKelly]

If that is the way it needs to work then it is not for me to argue. I'll cancel my subscription now and uninstall once this months cover expires.

It is simply not worth me paying this for the very few chats going on. Worse the few people who actually want to chat could well be locked out and unable to. So this is actually a step backward for the small number of members who wanted the functionality.

[MagiKelly]

Just checking before I change my account settings. I am assuming I will still get the balance of the account at the Basic setting since I have paid for it even if I downgrade to the Free level now. Is this correct or does it perform the switch straight away?

[skol]

With respect,it's a chat mod.Translations 59 languages very impressive but what do you use to translate.To expensive at the moment and don't really see the benefits.Can't see web cam availabilty...At those prices you should at least have that feature available..

[jamiedolan]

I know this is kind of a Me Too comment, but here is some more feedback.

I think you have a nice looking product. I'd really be interested in it for my new VB forum; but, and do correct me if I am wrong, basically your system counts everyone that is logged into VB as a user?

My other forum, which is a tiny niche site has had up to 77 people on it at one time, so I would have needed to be on a $49 a month plan to avoid showing users errors.

I understand the technical requirements of this app and why it can be resource intensive. It would not fair well on most shared hosting accounts for all but just a few users.

That said, many many of use here that has any kind of sizable site are already on a VPS, dedicated, or cloud type of services with substantial resources at our disposal, often sitting idle.

If this was also sold as a self-hosted (and not just a SAAS) I'd be very interested in it. I feel it would be worth $200 a year for self-hosted up to maybe 300-500 people online.

The other option would be to only count the people that are actually chatting, now I understand why this don't really make sense from a technical stand point because you have to basically be "pinging" all the users all the time to keep the chat available and communicating with them, but it would make the current pricing structure much more reasonable.

Based upon the demos for this product, I would love to use it. However, thinking about the lunch of my new site in the next 30-60 days, I can easily see a launch day that brings in 205 visitors. I sure don't want those people seeing any kind of error message. I just can't possibly justify a $119 a month plan.

I do see where you have a potential market, with doing this SAAS chat, to the larger boards, but I feel far and away, it is going to only be the top few hundred largest boards that are going to be interested at these prices.

Do please let me know if you decide to sell the software for self-hosting or even if you change your pricing structure so it is more reasonable for smaller forums.

[andrew.lee]

@jamiedolan - Thanks for the feedback, and the compliments!

One thing you should probably keep in mind is that our customers almost universally substantially overestimate how many online users they have at any given time. I think this is largely due to forum software (including vBulletin) estimating the number of online users very poorly. It is usually off by a factor of 2 or 3 or more. Here's a forum, for example, that vBulletin claims peaked at 3417 users online, but I've never seen it over 400... http://www.w8baby.com/forums/forum.php

500 simultaneous users is a truly enormous site. The vast majority of our customers use and are happy with our Free or Basic plans. I'd encourage you to give one of our paid packages a (free) try and see what kind of usage you actually need. I suspect you'll find that you need a much cheaper plan than you realized. (We had a customer sign up the other day *convinced* he needed 3000 simultaneous. In reality he needed about 75...)

As far as self-hosting goes. It's not as simple as it sounds. I'm guessing your server runs apache -- if so, it wouldn't be able to handle 100 chatters much less 500. Apache just isn't built to handle that type of usage. This isn't to say you couldn't run a different server and learn how to set up real-time software up -- just that we've decided the support and usability costs of having a do-it-yourself version just aren't worth it.

[jamiedolan]

@jamiedolan - Thanks for the feedback, and the compliments!

One thing you should probably keep in mind is that our customers almost universally substantially overestimate how many online users they have at any given time. I think this is largely due to forum software (including vBulletin) estimating the number of online users very poorly. It is usually off by a factor of 2 or 3 or more. Here's a forum, for example, that vBulletin claims peaked at 3417 users online, but I've never seen it over 400... http://www.w8baby.com/forums/forum.php

I've seen that before where the VB counter does appear to be quite high.


500 simultaneous users is a truly enormous site. The vast majority of our customers use and are happy with our Free or Basic plans. I'd encourage you to give one of our paid packages a (free) try and see what kind of usage you actually need. I suspect you'll find that you need a much cheaper plan than you realized. (We had a customer sign up the other day *convinced* he needed 3000 simultaneous. In reality he needed about 75...)

That's a pretty big difference. So how does it count the connections? If people are just leaving the forum window open in the background, does that count as a user? The numbers I threw out where high. I wasn't thinking of simultaneous chatters at all. However, I can see a moderately popular forum, say a 1000 visitors a day, end up with a couple hundred people with browsers windows open, even if they were not actively browsing, If I understand correctly, these would each use up a connection?

As far as self-hosting goes. It's not as simple as it sounds. I'm guessing your server runs apache -- if so, it wouldn't be able to handle 100 chatters much less 500. Apache just isn't built to handle that type of usage. This isn't to say you couldn't run a different server and learn how to set up real-time software up -- just that we've decided the support and usability costs of having a do-it-yourself version just aren't worth it.

Yes, I can understand and respect that the support load would indeed be very high for the majority of users. I forget how many people can barely manage to edit a php file. What are you running on LightSpeed? Lighttpd?

I'll be installing VBSEO's Gravity Insights this afternoon, which should give a very accurate accounting of who is really online.

I'm interested to know though; is the pricing really simultaneous chatters or people who have a browser open on your site? There is a huge difference there, and I was assuming the large number of connections I mentioned based on the latter.

Thank You for your response;

Jamie Dolan

[andrew.lee]

So we count everyone who currently has a tab open on our page. In our experience, 1 simultaneous user on average equates to roughly 1000 unique visitors per month on the "average" website. This number is often higher for forums, and higher still for really tight-knit forums. On *our* website, you'll notice we tend to average about 15-20 people at a time, and our website has pretty typical stats. If you have 1000 visitors per day I think it unlikely you'll have hundreds at any given time -- unless you are holding scheduled events of some kind. Most people tend to sleep, have jobs, eat meals, browse other websites, etc : )

I don't know the details of how vBulletin estimates usage. I think they just guess based on how many requests have occurred recently. They tend to guess quite high in our experience.

We're actually running a pretty complicated setup with multiple different servers each serving up a different piece of our service. The real-time webserver portion is built on top of a server called Jetty which is specifically designed for this type of usage.

As I said, we have free trials on all our plans, so you can try it out and see how many simultaneous users you have. If it's too many you wont pay a cent.

[jamiedolan]

Most people tend to sleep, have jobs, eat meals, browse other websites, etc : )


:eek: Sleep, eat, gosh who's got time for that when you have forums!


As I said, we have free trials on all our plans, so you can try it out and see how many simultaneous users you have. If it's too many you wont pay a cent.

Sounds good, I'll give it a try and see how it goes.

Thanks again for the answers;

Jamie

[andrew.lee]

Great! Feel free to reach out to us over email if you have any troubles.

[MagiKelly]

I'm afraid your assumptions are way off. My forum has just under 9000 registered users with about 1500 at most visiting during any month. So not a big forum in the scale of things and with the basic package allowing 25 chatters I was seeing the chat full about half the time and during most of these no one was actually chatting at all.

[ahmedipa]

nice one I hope that will work well thank you very much

[onehost]

Andrew,

I have been trying to find out for some time why my site was loading so slowly. I was
blaming comcast for the longest time as I have outages with them sometimes...then
in my testing process, I removed your free chat mod that I am using, wow, what
a difference, my site is loading a lot quicker the very second I uninstalled your mod.

is there anything you can do about this. If not, then I can not give up
site speed over a chat mod that pretty much slows the site to a drag...

[MagiKelly]

It does not seem to consistently slow the site but I have noticed times where there is quite a delay in the pages loading and you get a message flashing up about waiting for an evolve page or the like.

[onehost]

It does not seem to consistently slow the site but I have noticed times where there is quite a delay in the pages loading and you get a message flashing up about waiting for an evolve page or the like.

It has been constantly slow for my page loading as I thought maybe
I had an ISP connection problem until I removed the mod, then zoom,
the home page loaded very fast...I have never gotten any flashing messages.
I am considered to be a new forum, and I am on a VPS...If I had a load
of members online then I guess I could understand slow loading, but when
I have 1-5 members online and it takes a few seconds to reload, then
that starts to become a real problem, and makes the site slow...and I
should not have a slow loading site with just a few members online.

[ICThawk]

The cost is a HUGE detriment to using this service. I am currently running the 15 day trial of the Pro version. I like the software, but the cost worries me.

HOWEVER my users have a few issues. No emoticons, no ability to post pictures, etc. Most other chat programs allow some level of user/image usage, however this one is text only.

Also, what is the point to having an Admin/Mod (which I can't seem to add more) if you cant actually delete individual messages?

[andrew.lee]

@onehost - We did have some performance issues over the weekend causing it to load slowly sometimes. That should now be resolved. Let me know if you're still having trouble.

@ICTHawk - emoticon support is coming. I don't know about picture / file support at this point. Admins / mods can clear the chat to remove offensive messages (go to the menu in the upper right). You can also remove chat boxes by clicking the "x" and choosing "for everyone".

[MagiKelly]

Uninstalled for the moment but I will keep watching to see if there is a change in pricing or the number of chatters allowed.

[ICThawk]

Andrew, I am happy to hear emoticon support is on the way. Any time table as to when it will be ready?

Also, is it the "Moderator" group that gets Mod status in chat? I currently only have 2 admins but a handful of Super Mods, however the supermods are simply regular users in your chat. Any ideas?

[onehost]

@onehost - We did have some performance issues over the weekend causing it to load slowly sometimes. That should now be resolved. Let me know if you're still having trouble.

@ICTHawk - emoticon support is coming. I don't know about picture / file support at this point. Admins / mods can clear the chat to remove offensive messages (go to the menu in the upper right). You can also remove chat boxes by clicking the "x" and choosing "for everyone".

No more worries.

and this was just not a weekend slow down.

I have uninstalled, and bought a one-time fee chat mod
which seems to be working really, really good.

Thanks anyway,

[andrew.lee]

We should have emoticons ready to go in a month or so. The VB plugin should be pulling in admins and moderators as chat admins. We are planning to add some easy ways for vB users to customize who is a chat admin and who is not. That will hopefully be available around the time we have smilies ready.

[samiro]

this is a nice one - but i really dont know where this is hosted. its make my site slower.

i want to know - how can i translate some text in the chat !!
thank you.

[samiro]

i loged into my site as "admin" but i can't see myself of my friend that is online and i am talking to with the phone...

i choose that only loged in users will see that chat...
and there is more that 10 loged in users and i see only strange nickname that is even dont logged in..

whats wrong ?

[samiro]

this chat gives random names for guests !!!!??!?!?!?

its stupid.

i choose that only loged in users chan chat - so why i see guests ?

[andrew.lee]

Our servers are currently located in the San Francisco, CA area. We have plans to expand to multiple sites, however, to provide better performance around the world.

The option to translate text will be shown after we detect that two users have different browser language settings. If your browser is set correctly to your native language you will be prompted if another user with another language shows up.

Yes - we provide random names for our "Guest" users. This is to facilitate more 'human' conversation. (It's easier to talk to 'Guest Joe' than to 'User5'). If you disabled the chat for guests, keep in mind that Guests who already had entered the chat system will still be there until they refresh their pages, so it might take a while for all guest users to disappear from the chat.

[samiro]

I'm sorry to disagree with your opinion in most things, but that's not true.
the Chat is in my site for 3 days and still have lots of "guests". (and I selected only registered users can view the chat!?!?!?!)

* I did not understand also why you decide to call me BILL or any other name, it's much more comfortable talking with a "guest" and ask him for his name!!! Believe me, you can't speak to "JHON" calling him "BILL" ... It's very surreal. (y don't give us the abbility to choose if we want to disable this?).


another thing, all users are connected to my forum but they are not listed automatickni with there usernames... Why is this?
Only those who log in via facebook or Twitter appears in the list...

About the translation, this is must !!!, why do not you make the sentences built in VB so we can translate what we need. (i am using hebrew.)

about the servers it is really slow. (ping is 300-400ms)

[samiro]

my english is not so good - so to be clear - see this photo (attachment)

[andrew.lee]

I'm happy to let you know we are releasing translations as well as text customization options tomorrow night! I believe we will be supporting Hebrew with the initial release.

Are you using a paid version of Envolve? The free version does not support Single Sign On and will not pull in the names of the users in your forum.

I appreciate some feedback on the names. We intend to add more customization options in the future.

Regarding the servers -- if you're in Israel it doesn't surprise me too much you have high ping times. We will be adding servers on the east coast of the USA soon. That should help somewhat. We have plans to add other servers around the world in the future as well.

[samiro]

ohhh - yes i am using the free one. but i want to try it before i pay for this. can i ?
about the servers - thank you alot !!!
about the names - man - you must relly give the ability to disable this !!!

[samiro]

and please tell me - whay i see geusts if i just select the only registerd users can see the chat !

[andrew.lee]

If you upgrade to the paid one, it will automatically pull in all of your users names into the chat. You won't have any more "Guest" users and people wont be required to login using Facebook or Twitter.

We have 15 day free trials on all the paid plans! Check it out:
http://www.envolve.com/sign-up-and-price

Hope that helps!

[samiro]

thank you :) its expencive

[andrew.lee]

You're welcome! We know we're not the cheapest chat product out there, but we are working hard to be the best.

[samiro]

can i pay - one time ?
like here in VB - i dont want monthly payment

[andrew.lee]

The service is hosted - meaning we handle all of the load on our servers. This is why we charge a monthly fee. We don't have a downloadable version. Sorry.

[samiro]

ok - now i go to the free 15 days try. i need to put cradit card there.

how can i cancle the billing after 10 days for example
what is the link to cancle this ?
and - can i pay with paypal ?

[andrew.lee]

Unfortunately, no, we don't accept paypal. You can cancel your free trial at any time by logging into:
http://www.envolve.com/admin/

Click "My Sites", and the "Subscriptions". There is a "delete this site" button in the lower right hand corner.

[samiro]

thank you !

[steve71]

deleted.

[MagiKelly]

I have just re-activated this as I see the free version now allows for up to 25 users with a single sign in. The price being the addition of text adverts in the chat. this seems fair to me and is enough for me to come back to this.

I still think the pricing for the 75 user option is high but the free version is now enough for the meantime.

[andrew.lee]

@MagiKelly - Thanks so much for reactivating us. We really appreciate it.

[dang3rzon3]

there is a possibily to translate in italian language?
I selected the italian language in my area non Envolve site but the chat is display in english.
For example:

Chat with people on this site
This is you
4 people here..

etc..

And i have another question: How to use the vbulletin avatar o profile pics for the chat?

[andrew.lee]

Hello - we have not yet translated the chat into Italian unfortunately. However, if you would like to help us translate the interface, please send us an email at support [at] envolve dot com.

[S3Ponline]

Hello - we have not yet translated the chat into Italian unfortunately. However, if you would like to help us translate the interface, please send us an email at support [at] envolve dot com.


Hey Andrew. I like the product but I have my own server that can handle hosting it.

Any way for a one time fee ?

[andrew.lee]

Sorry no, we're a hosted only solution. We do have a free version though for up to 25 concurrent users.

[S3Ponline]

Sorry no, we're a hosted only solution. We do have a free version though for up to 25 concurrent users.

It looks good so far; however,

A.) I dont? like that it shows the Location of the users. A lot of our users wish to remain anonymous as much as possible and don?t want people knowing their general location.

B.) I like the guest feature functionality; however, I can?t use it because the registration doesn?t get them registered to our forum.

Is any of this possible in the paid version?

[andrew.lee]

Both of these are possible in both the free and paid versions! Check out the Options tab on our backend. Go to: http://www.envolve.com/admin (login, then click on your site)

[S3Ponline]

Both of these are possible in both the free and paid versions! Check out the Options tab on our backend. Go to: http://www.envolve.com/admin (login, then click on your site)

Ah. I?m really liking it!

One last thing I don?t see. Members are asking for an ?invisible? feature that allows them to see who is online, but not let others see.

Is this possible?

[andrew.lee]

Unfortunately no, not at this time. User's can "turn off" the chat if they like though by using the options menu in the lower right.

[andrew.lee]

And we'd appreciate a rating / review once you've had a chance to play with it for a bit! Thanks

[S3Ponline]

And we'd appreciate a rating / review once you've had a chance to play with it for a bit! Thanks

I love it so far. I wish there was a cheaper option though for a small forum. I?d like to keep 25 members, but remove the advertisement and be able to upgrade later as needed.

[marksimon]

I used the Envolve Chat for 3 month and liked it so far.
But there is ONE BIG PROBLEM with the chat...

If a new user registers and is not verified, he is able to connect to the chat.
The user does not have to verify per eMail and even if I moderate new users they can chat altough they are not activated by moderators or admin.
So the option in Envolve admin panel "guests have to register after 0 chatposts" is irrelevant, because after a registration they are no guests anymore.

So we can block or ban the user but if he opens the forum in a new tab or new browser he is able to chat again.

I have the vBulletion version 3.8.1. perhaps this could be the problem.

Does anybody of you has the same issue or a hint how I can fix it?
The Envolve support cannot help in this issue.

thanks,
Mark

[S3Ponline]

I used the Envolve Chat for 3 month and liked it so far.
But there is ONE BIG PROBLEM with the chat...

If a new user registers and is not verified, he is able to connect to the chat.
The user does not have to verify per eMail and even if I moderate new users they can chat altough they are not activated by moderators or admin.
So the option in Envolve admin panel "guests have to register after 0 chatposts" is irrelevant, because after a registration they are no guests anymore.

So we can block or ban the user but if he opens the forum in a new tab or new browser he is able to chat again.

I have the vBulletion version 3.8.1. perhaps this could be the problem.

Does anybody of you has the same issue or a hint how I can fix it?
The Envolve support cannot help in this issue.

thanks,
Mark

That?s interesting. That would certainly detract me from purchasing the product.

[akoj]

We are playing with this. Our users are really liking it.

I solved the issue of adding our supermods to the admin group by setting them as a secondary user of mods. The plugin really needs to add supermods as automatic admins.

Most importantly to our site though would be the ability to only allow users in the registered members group to chat. What are your plans on that?

[sticky]

I used the Envolve Chat for 3 month and liked it so far.
But there is ONE BIG PROBLEM with the chat...

If a new user registers and is not verified, he is able to connect to the chat.
The user does not have to verify per eMail and even if I moderate new users they can chat altough they are not activated by moderators or admin.
So the option in Envolve admin panel "guests have to register after 0 chatposts" is irrelevant, because after a registration they are no guests anymore.

So we can block or ban the user but if he opens the forum in a new tab or new browser he is able to chat again.

I have the vBulletion version 3.8.1. perhaps this could be the problem.

Does anybody of you has the same issue or a hint how I can fix it?
The Envolve support cannot help in this issue.

thanks,
Mark

That is a major issue.

I like this product, the way it functions and looks, but it is simply way too expensive.

There also do not seem to be enough options.

I'll wait until someone reproduces something similar with a one time fee.

[akoj]

OK, I am NOT in anyway shape or form a coder but by changing the integration xml to this code I was able to add Supermods in as an admin and block out newly registered, not approved members this way. It seems to have worked for me

changed this:
{
$env_userInf = $vbulletin->userinfo;
$env_isLoggedIn = $vbulletin->userinfo['userid'] > 0;
$env_isAdmin = ($vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==6 || $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==7);
$env_displayChat = ($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'everyone') ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'admins') && $env_isLoggedIn && $env_isAdmin);

To this:
{
$env_userInf = $vbulletin->userinfo;
$env_isLoggedIn = $vbulletin->userinfo['userid'] > 0;
$env_isAdmin = ($vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==6 || $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==7 || $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==5);
$env_displayChat = ($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'everyone') ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn && $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==2) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn && $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==6) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn && $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==5) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn && $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==16) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn && $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==14) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn && $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==10) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn && $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==7) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'admins') && $env_isLoggedIn && $env_isAdmin);

You will probably want to define your own user groups in there. So far this seems to have done that trick

[andrew.lee]

Thanks for the enhancement Akoj! We're aiming to bring many, many more enhancements to the plugin as soon as we can, including the change you just made.

[emailapphost]

It looks good, and it worked instantly on our site creating instant chat-community. So I paid the USD 24 for a month.
However, not taking PayPal for a subscription service like that says scam all over. I feel uncomfortable having given you my cc details (fortunately on my secondary non-important cc).
But, the seriousness of your sincerity in this tread won me over.
Let us hope this works out for the best. :)

[andrew.lee]

Thanks for the vote of confidence : ) We don't accept paypal as the hassle of billing with Paypal is a pain and we haven't yet set up an automated system for it yet. We intend to add it in the future though.

[S3Ponline]

OK, I am NOT in anyway shape or form a coder but by changing the integration xml to this code I was able to add Supermods in as an admin and block out newly registered, not approved members this way. It seems to have worked for me

changed this:
{
$env_userInf = $vbulletin->userinfo;
$env_isLoggedIn = $vbulletin->userinfo['userid'] > 0;
$env_isAdmin = ($vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==6 || $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==7);
$env_displayChat = ($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'everyone') ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'admins') && $env_isLoggedIn && $env_isAdmin);

To this:
{
$env_userInf = $vbulletin->userinfo;
$env_isLoggedIn = $vbulletin->userinfo['userid'] > 0;
$env_isAdmin = ($vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==6 || $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==7 || $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==5);
$env_displayChat = ($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'everyone') ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn && $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==2) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn && $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==6) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn && $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==5) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn && $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==16) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn && $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==14) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn && $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==10) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'loggedin') && $env_isLoggedIn && $vbulletin->userinfo['usergroupid']==7) ||
(($vbulletin->options['envolve_display_to'] == 'admins') && $env_isLoggedIn && $env_isAdmin);

You will probably want to define your own user groups in there. So far this seems to have done that trick

Ok, Neat. I?ll try this out. If this works then I may upgrade and pay :D

I also do not like that you guys don?t have auto withdraw from paypal

[emailapphost]

It looks good, and I much appreciate that Envolve contacted me personally to ensure me they are the real thing.

The issues I have now are:
- I want users for MY own forum, I do not like adding users to Envolve...
I want the sign-in to be tied to my forum, so I get more users.
- I also want the singup more viral, post to users Facebook wall and Twitter etc.
- I have 20+ subforums on my forum and will eventually want to have one chat for each forum, I assume this is possible? :)
- The price is to high, especially the high volume stuff. So I am still looking for alternatives.
But I might stick with Envolve if things work out well (and they look good for now).

Thanks.

Regards,
Hans

[andrew.lee]

Hi Hans -

Envolve is designed to let you have people sign into *your* forum and not into Envolve. You can turn this on very easily from our backend at http://www.envolve.com/admin. Just click on your site after you log in, and then click on "Options". Then choose "Redirect sign-in attempts to URL" and enter the URL of your sign-in page. (then click Save).

You can absolutely have subforums through Envolve. You just need to use our "grouping" feature:
http://www.envolve.com/api/user-grouping.html

We understand we are an expensive option. We are working hard to make sure we are the *best* option though and are worth the price.

Thanks for trying us out!

[andrew.lee]

Hi All -

We just updated our plugin to version 2.0. The new plugin is a major update from the previous version and addresses many of the complaints in this thread (as well as adds a number of new features).

Enhancements include:
-Support for Avatars / profile pictures
-Support for custom profile rollovers (we now link directly to your profile and have stats right in the rollovers)
-Ability to restrict chats to certain groups only
-Ability to grant administrator privileges to specific groups
-Ability to enable / disable chat on mobile site
-Ability to restrict chat to only certain sections of the site
-SSL support
-Search feature in list of people
-Vastly improved moderation controls -- timed banning, ban management

Bugs that were fixed:
-Chat no longer appears in manage attachments screen or other popups.
-Major speed improvements for large sites
-Chat does not (by default) display to users who have not been verified.

I'd encourage people who are already using Envolve to upgrade, and people who have used it and uninstalled to give it another shot. Feedback would be appreciated!

Note that we've increased the number of users allowed in our free plan to 25 users, and we've now given all site owners access to all of our futures, including, skinning, analytics, ssl, and all of our customization options.

[Pvtiste]

Hi All -

We just updated our plugin to version 2.0. The new plugin is a major update from the previous version and addresses many of the complaints in this thread (as well as adds a number of new features).

Enhancements include:
-Support for Avatars / profile pictures
-Support for custom profile rollovers (we now link directly to your profile and have stats right in the rollovers)
-Ability to restrict chats to certain groups only
-Ability to grant administrator privileges to specific groups
-Ability to enable / disable chat on mobile site
-Ability to restrict chat to only certain sections of the site
-SSL support
-Search feature in list of people
-Vastly improved moderation controls -- timed banning, ban management

Bugs that were fixed:
-Chat no longer appears in manage attachments screen or other popups.
-Major speed improvements for large sites
-Chat does not (by default) display to users who have not been verified.

I'd encourage people who are already using Envolve to upgrade, and people who have used it and uninstalled to give it another shot. Feedback would be appreciated!

Note that we've increased the number of users allowed in our free plan to 25 users, and we've now given all site owners access to all of our futures, including, skinning, analytics, ssl, and all of our customization options.

Excellent news!!!

[S S0DEN]

Very good company here guys, we have been using them for months now. It is the b est virtual product we own and our community loves it.

Keep up the good work guys!

[silpher]

how to translate it?

[S3Ponline]

Not working on my site. I had the older version and it worked fine, but now it’s not showing up :(


EDIT: Nevermind. Got it. My error.

EDIT: Needs one more tweak. Right now I have it set where nobody can access it unless a member joins a public usergroup. Unfortunately, it seems that the default permissions override the new usergroup permissions. Can you tweak to fix this?

[Pvtiste]

how to translate it?

+1 needed :)

About the chat : I am really happy !! I m using only for my staff and that's an amazing tool :)

[andrew.lee]

@SPOnline - I'm not sure I understand. Could you explain a bit more the problem you're having?

@PvTiste - We have translations already for a bunch of different languages. If we don't we also have an easy way for you to customize strings. Unfortunately that documentation isn't up on our website yet. Can you shoot an email to support@envolve.com and we'll send that info over?

[S3Ponline]

@SPOnline - I'm not sure I understand. Could you explain a bit more the problem you're having?

@PvTiste - We have translations already for a bunch of different languages. If we don't we also have an easy way for you to customize strings. Unfortunately that documentation isn't up on our website yet. Can you shoot an email to support@envolve.com and we'll send that info over?

I have it so that the chat is not accessible by any usergroup, BUT a public joinable usergroup.

So people who want to the chat can access it. (I wish it was by user permission instead of the way it?s currently set).

When they join the usergroup that does have access, the usergroup doesn?t override the the default permission.

Let?s say we have a Usergroup called ?Registered Member? and a Usergroup called ?Envolve Chat?

The registered member doesn?t have access to the chat by default. They can click the public joinable custom group that ?should? enable them to now see the chat; however, it doesn?t.

Make sense?

thanks for looking it over!

[Poppet]

Installed and like it, so do the members.

[andrew.lee]

@s3ponline - I understand! I'll add a way to address this to our "wish list".

@Poppet - Happy to hear that! Could you give us a rating / review once you've had a chance to play with it a bit more?

[S3Ponline]

Well hopefully you can get it worked out soon :)

[FernandoFG]

Not working on my forum.

Installed it following step by step the instructions and doesn't shows up.

This product seems to be what I need.

Please help.

[Alfa1]

Too bad that this is hosted only. It looks nice and I would consider it for my big board. I have around 200 chatters simultaneously. But there is no way that I would use hosted chat.

[hackerz5]

Perfect one :)..... Have bought it..... Great

[andrew.lee]

Thanks for signing up hackerz5! Glad you like it!

[andrew.lee]

@FernandoFG -- Can you shoot us an email at support@envolve.com with details and we'll help you out? Please include the URL of your site and the steps you took to install it. Any error messages you see (in the apache logs or otherwise) would be very helpful!

[starman?]

Installed - excellent and many thanks.

[Ocean-Wonders]

Installed and it seems to be working well on my site.

www.ocean-wonders.co.uk

Will try the free one for a bit then look at upgrading later

Thanks :)

[karlm]

If you can do something about the pricing, I might be tempted - but at a minimal $24p/m it's too - too - too steep. I paid twice that for a full year with cometchat and from what I can see (at a quick glance) CC offers more flexibility (e.g. minimal package allows skinning, adding buttons, etc. )

[andrew.lee]

Hi Karlm - unlike cometchat we are a hosted solution, so we actually handle all the server load for you. So you're really paying for the service, not jus the software. Also, our free package is plenty big enough for most sites, so you might want to check that out.

[socialteenz]

Installed & rated *****

[ProFifaLeagues]

Installed and tested for a few days now,Users love the system and all have said they prefer this to any of the chat systems we have used in the past.
Prices are the only drawback for us at the min. :(

But great for any forums with under 25 chatters as a free mod Superb work thank you

[socialteenz]

Also is there any options for the admins to hide their country displayed during the chat?

It's quite annoying :/

[andrew.lee]

yes there is! We have a whole bunch of cool options like that. Check them out on our backend at http://www.envolve.com/admin

[andrew.lee]

Hey All - I just posted an update that makes the install process a little easier. Now everything is contained in the plugin xml file rather than requiring files to be uploaded seperately. If you had troubles before, please give it another shot!

[Rideharder]

I will try it now and put feedback.

[Rideharder]

Took 1 min to install.
All is working with Version 4.1.4

I will put feedback in a week.

One thing I would like to know, is it safe for vBSEO?

[grey_goose]

ewwwww text ads in the free one?

[andrew.lee]

@RideHarder -- Thanks! I'm not familiar with vBSEO. It should work fine with other vB plugins though, and it shouldn't affect your search results.

[Poker Face]

Installed 4.1.4

Free version doesn't seem to recognize all primary usergroups...

Picks up primary usergroup "registered users", but the created primary groups are not being recognized as being logged in.

Also curious what the Chat Admins are.

[andrew.lee]

Could you be a little more specific? I'm not sure I understand. Are some of the usernames getting logged in, but others are not? Are those other groups still able to chat as guests or can they just not see the chat at all?

Chat Admins have the ability to boot / block / ban unruly users and to remove chats from the page.

[MagiKelly]

I've disabled this again. As a chat add on it is great but it was really slowing down the page speed of the site and I was getting way to many complaints. since disabling it the forum is running much faster.

[andrew.lee]

Hi MagiKelly - If you can shoot me a PM with info about your site we can take a look at it. It should be very fast. Also let me know where your users are physically located. Currently our servers are on the West Coast of the US, so if you're far from there that might be having an impact. Regardless though it shouldn't affect the load times on your site, as we are carefully to always load the chat data *last* after everything else on the page has loaded.

[x3n]

Ohh NICE Job it works!

[andrew.lee]

Great! We'd appreciate a rating / review when you have a chance.

[Poker Face]

Could you be a little more specific? I'm not sure I understand. Are some of the usernames getting logged in, but others are not? Are those other groups still able to chat as guests or can they just not see the chat at all?

Logged in on the site and not showing in the "People Here" block...

As far as I can tell, everyone is able to see the Chat blocks.

I'm going to send you a PM with site link... Thank-You in advance!

Chat Admins have the ability to boot / block / ban unruly users and to remove chats from the page.

Ok, Thanks!

[clubvr4]

Hi,

This has potential good work so far! - but, i see several hurdles before this becomes 1 stop chat feature.

1. The costs, it's very expensive.
2. Hosted, this causes delay - we must compare to facebook as they are leading this field - There you can surf whilst the chat stays in place, with this it goes away, re-appearing only once the webpage has loaded - in some cases i found that when i start typing the title before the chat appears, at which point the chat grabs my curser attention and i type the thread title into the last chat window i had open. Very frustrating this.
3. It appears that a public chat still requires people to be invited? Why is this? Also, if they X the tab, it disappears for a while, a public chat should remain indefinitely in my opinion especially if I have configured it at the back end.
4. allow for far more customisation of colours and css styles, it is important to have it look like the site - im sure others will agree.
5. less is more, there is to much info everywhere, minimise information - allow options to disable the extra info for users (when you hover over name) its very messy and worthless for our site.

Thanks

[Parture]

How do I fix this blue circle error with the line through it? See pic. It started a couple days ago and never goes away.

[andrew.lee]

@Parture - THat is the result of a user's image not loading properly. Once that user leaves / returns to your site it should go away.

[Parture]

@Parture - THat is the result of a user's image not loading properly. Once that user leaves / returns to your site it should go away.
That's not correct in this case because it's been there approaching a week now. It's never gone away even once. I don't think that person has been online the whole time.

And if you go to the envolve.com page you will see they have two blue circles in their "Ask a Question" general chat which have been unchangeed for nearly a week now.

I got an email from the staff and they say they are working on it trying to fix it.

[Parture]

It looks like envolve solved the above mentioned problem, but I discovered a new problem. See pic.


The little torso admin icon is not shown up, just for admins for some reason.

This may be related because as soon as the above problem was fixed this new problem arose.

[Bonjax]

Andrew, you have people on your website that are listed as using your chat system but they are no longer use it. You list Lacuna Expanse on your home page as using envolve but when I go to your site they aren't using your product.

Then when checking out your blog where you have an article on how Envolve has been upgraded for vBulletin you have StarHawkCenter who tried out your system but when I go to their site they aren't using envolve.

Another concern is that there are no links to vBulletin installations on your vBulletin blog article.

In fact, I can't find any successful forum installations on your web page. Perhaps you have been busy and haven't updated your web page but I'd be interested to see links to successful vBulletin instllations.

Btw, we are migrating to vBulletin are interested in purchasing the product but would like to see installations that have been working and have some longevity. I don't want to be adding and subtracting features to the site as they isn't fair to our members. I want to find something that works and stay with it.

Thank You

[andrew.lee]

Bonjax - the majority of our customers use our chat inside their login walls, so you won't see the chat unless you have an account (in many cases for vBulletin, you not only need an account, but you have to be in certain user groups to have it active).

Both the sites you listed actually are still using it and are quite happy. Here are some examples:
1) http://www.gatheringstatic.com/forums/ (does not require login)
2) Lacuna Expanse: http://us1.lacunaexpanse.com/ (does not require login)
3) StarHawkCenter: http://www.starhawkcenter.net/ (requires login)
4) http://www.benzoexodus.com/forum/ (requires login)
5) http://forums.phoenixrising.me/ (requires login)

You can take a look at many of the forums in people from this thread as well, as a good chunk of them are using it on their sites.

[Bonjax]

Andrew, thanks for the reply on your user base.

You may want to update your website to reflect that information as it looks like you are touting users that you either don't have or have tried your product and left. Just a thought..

I'm surprised that folks are using Envolve behind a user wall. What is the thinking and or the positives in not letting guests see the chat? It seems like one of the best features of your product is that folks can see it and when they want to join in they have to register on your site which results in new members.

I'm interested to hear your feedback as well as anyone who is using the product in that manner.

Keep up the good work Andrew, I look forward to ordering your product soon for our launch on August 1.

[BirdOPrey5]

Andrew, thanks for the reply on your user base.

You may want to update your website to reflect that information as it looks like you are touting users that you either don't have or have tried your product and left. Just a thought..

I'm surprised that folks are using Envolve behind a user wall. What is the thinking and or the positives in not letting guests see the chat? It seems like one of the best features of your product is that folks can see it and when they want to join in they have to register on your site which results in new members.

I'm interested to hear your feedback as well as anyone who is using the product in that manner.

Keep up the good work Andrew, I look forward to ordering your product soon for our launch on August 1.


We use envolve as an "opt-in" system from the User CP- the reason being many members complain any chat software on the site will get the whole site blocked at their jobs that have firewalls in to detect and block real-time chat sites.

[Bonjax]

We use envolve as an "opt-in" system from the User CP- the reason being many members complain any chat software on the site will get the whole site blocked at their jobs that have firewalls in to detect and block real-time chat sites.
Thanks for that feedback, wasn't aware of that. That would be a concern although I wonder how many new members are gained by having an open system. Would they more than offset the current users that can't access the site?

If the chat box is enabled for everybody some now may be blocked at work but many have cellphones and they can access the forum when not at work.

Wish I had more data to make the call, guess it would be trial and error.

How do you make it an "opt-in" system? is there a page where people can click on something to "opt in"? Or do you use another method?

Appreciate your feedback.

[BirdOPrey5]

Thanks for that feedback, wasn't aware of that. That would be a concern although I wonder how many new members are gained by having an open system. Would they more than offset the current users that can't access the site?

If the chat box is enabled for everybody some now may be blocked at work but many have cellphones and they can access the forum when not at work.

Wish I had more data to make the call, guess it would be trial and error.

How do you make it an "opt-in" system? is there a page where people can click on something to "opt in"? Or do you use another method?

Appreciate your feedback.

I made a custom user profile field in the Admin CP, User Profile Field Manager.

Make a single selection radio box.

Options:
Yes
No

Not required.

Then edit this plugin in Plugin Manager...

Put the ENTIRE code of the plugin inside a conditional like:


if ($vbulletin->userinfo['field5'] == "Yes")
{

// all original code here

}


where "field5" is whatever field number vbulletin assigns to your new field:
field5, field6, field7, whatever...

Note: Check carefully because the field number is not always the same as the display order- you don't care about the display order, just the field number.

[Bonjax]

I made a custom user profile field in the Admin CP, User Profile Field Manager.

Make a single selection radio box.

Options:
Yes
No

Not required.

Then edit this plugin in Plugin Manager...

Put the ENTIRE code of the plugin inside a conditional like:


if ($vbulletin->userinfo['field5'] == "Yes")
{

// all original code here

}


where "field5" is whatever field number vbulletin assigns to your new field:
field5, field6, field7, whatever...

Note: Check carefully because the field number is not always the same as the display order- you don't care about the display order, just the field number.

BOP, thanks for the feedback! Is it easy to turn Envolve off and on? Looking at the user panel I can't see where there's an on/off button. Is there another way? What would probably work for me is to have it on before 8 AM and after 6 PM. That is when 95% of folks are at work in offices and are in front of computers.

Thanks again for your great feedback.

[BirdOPrey5]

BOP, thanks for the feedback! Is it easy to turn Envolve off and on? Looking at the user panel I can't see where there's an on/off button. Is there another way? What would probably work for me is to have it on before 8 AM and after 6 PM. That is when 95% of folks are at work in offices and are in front of computers.

Thanks again for your great feedback.

The Single Selection Radio Box, you name the options. I use "Yes" and "No" because my question is: Enable Real-time chat?

But if you want to ask "Turn chat on or off" you could name your options on and off.

All the work turning it on and off is done by the conditional in the plugin code. That chat only uses 1 plugin so it's just 1 edit to turn it on and off.

Doing it by time would be a lot harder (relatively speaking) plus you'd have to account for timezones- assuming you have users all around the country or even the world.

Much better IMO to let users turn it on or off. Plus many might be on home/school networks who don't care.

[Bonjax]

Thanks for the input, BOP. I've decided keep the chat up all day long. For those folks who have sites with chat on them blocked at work, that is what cellphones are for. :D

Speaking of cellphones, does Envolve work with the vBulletin Apps or TapaTalk?

[andrew.lee]

Thanks so much BirdOfPrey for all the info. Bonjax, you might also want to try adding this to the footer of your page:

<script type="text/javascript">
envoOptions={defaultToOff: true};
</script>

This will turn it off by default as well, but allow your users an easy way to turn it back on (it'll put a little button in the corner.

Unfortunately I'm not familiar with TapaTalk, but please do give it a shot and let us know how it goes!

[BirdOPrey5]

There is no way this will work with tapatalk, tapatalk doesn't run the "hooks" that this mod uses. It's also not a web browser so javascript just won't work in it.

[tidus78]

It works on my forum,great!

[vividbreeze]

I purchased this plugin awhile ago but only thing I dont like is that I cant block members from typing in certain urls of competing boards or other things. Has Evolve changed so that I can get a list of banned words I dont want to show up in chat?

[andrew.lee]

Thanks for the purchase vividbreeze! We don't yet have a way to block URLs from the chat. I don't know when that will be available, but we'll let you know when it is!.

[Voeltz]

FANTASTIC mod, however it is wayyyy too pricing. $24/mo?? Seriously? That's more than half of my whole phone bill of my iPhone.

[andrew.lee]

Hi Voeltz - we have a free version which is large enough for most forums! The $24 / month one is for larger forums that need up to 75 concurrent users (that equates roughly to 100,000 visits per month on the average forum). So keep in mind it might be half your phone bill, but split 100,000 ways it's not so bad : )

[hsoen]

Awesome mod!:eek: Thank you.:)

Installed and testing now.....

If the price can be made more affordable, it would be great and you will win the game of being the best chat.:D

[hsoen]

When viewing on iPhone, the chat bar is not correctly placed at the footer but somewhere floating at the middle of the page.

However, when using iPhone to view the Envolve's website, the demo chat bar is correctly located at the footer. So, I don't think this problem is due to iPhone. I suspect this could be due to integration problem with vbulletin.

Any plan to release an updated version for fixing this problem?

Thank you.

[suneka]

great, 5 stars, installed.

[ludachris]

Can you disable this for certain usergroups? This way, you can control how many people access it.

[belowthebelt]

Box background where you type text is so dark, it's pretty much identical to the color of the text making it super hard to see what is being typed.....

Any idea on how to fix this?

[vividbreeze]

I want to ban a couple website urls in the chat so when someone types it in it will turn it into **** is this possible!? because i have fake signups recommending the other forums and i dont want this, ill need to cancel my monthly payment if i cant thx

[PWillard]

I have vBSEO 3.6.0 installed and its not working..

[oedipean]

Its nice,
How to disable general chat ?

[andrew.lee]

You can disable the general chat in your Envolve backend.

http://envolve.com/admin

Just hit 'remove' next to general chat after you've logged in.

[Bonjax]

Andrew, been using envolve the past few months in our community and the members are very happy with its performance.

One feature I think would be beneficial is if the admin could be stealth like the option that comes with vBulletin standard.

[sa3eka.com]

can support Arabic site

[mofeu]

i want the register member can view chat for example after 20 posts .
Is that possible?

[marccap]

Many thanks

[ywwz]

cooooool，can I use another language version?

[SBlueman]

Just installed this on a 3.8.6 site, going with the free option for now. So far so good over at gridironfans.com (http://gridironfans.com/forums/).

[blackcat123]

Hello,

the Envolve Chat is not displayed on VBAdvanced? Why?

[GhostHunter2010]

hi how can u hide the new chat an general chat i wanna leave just person here.. please any idea thx

[GhostHunter2010]

never mind dont like it unistalled not safe for me dont like it

[MagiKelly]

I enabled this again to see if it had improved. immediately slowed the site down to a snails pace. Is it really only me that gets this experiance?

[chowder]

Very very nice! Wish it wasn't so expensive for 25 users though.

[saadessa]

very nice!thank you

[fahris]

hi am having an error on the site as the site administrator

Page transitions that error:

you have been from banned that chat

[kylek]

Anyone have issues with the chat disappearing on the forum main page? At times you go to the site and hit the forum main page, the envolve chat doesn't show. Then I go to another section of the site, like arcade for example, it shows. Then go back to forum main page and its there. Another admin on our site using google says to get it to show to her on the forum main page, she logs out, then back on, then she can see the envolve chat.

[smgxtreme]

After messing with the codes I figured out how to change the "dark" text input box for custom skins.

Go to: -> AdminCP -> Style Manager -> Edit Template (select custom template) -> CSS Templates and edit "additional.css"

Add the following code to the bottom of additional.css
.GF3XLO3BES * textarea, .GF3XLO3BES * textbox {
background:#ffffff;
background-color: #ffffff !important;
color: #000000;
border: 1px solid #0c0c0c;
}

.GF3XLO3BAO {
background:#ffffff;
background-color: #ffffff !important;
width: 130px;
}

[CAG CheechDogg]

I enabled this again to see if it had improved. immediately slowed the site down to a snails pace. Is it really only me that gets this experiance?

I have not noticed any slowing down at all, it shouldn't slow your site down at all since it is hosted by them.

[CAG CheechDogg]

Too bad that this is hosted only. It looks nice and I would consider it for my big board. I have around 200 chatters simultaneously. But there is no way that I would use hosted chat.

I know this is an old post, but having a hosted chat solution is much better than having the chat system hosted on your own servers.

[Domenico]

So can we only enable it for people with more than XXX posts?

[friendlymela]

Hey Friends my friend have some issue to got API key from their website. currently they are facing the following issue

This site is currently restricted to 25 concurrent users. You must upgrade to increase this limit or to remove Envolve's branding from your site.

anyone guide us about this please?

can't see ozzy here? can u help me dear?

[ozzy47]

As stated in the first post:

This mod requires an API key from Envolve in order to function. Visit http://www.envolve.com to get one. A free version is available that provides a full feature set for up to 25 concurrent users. Higher numbers of chatters require a paid account.

[S S0DEN]

Still no support for emoticons?

[del Drago]

Lately Envolve has been having a lot of technical problems. The chat will freeze for long periods of time, unexpectedly. My members have started to complain about this.

Based on what's happening (or not happening) on the Envolve website, it looks like there is little to no innovation with this project, and that the creators have largely moved on to something else.

[CAG CheechDogg]

Lately Envolve has been having a lot of technical problems. The chat will freeze for long periods of time, unexpectedly. My members have started to complain about this.

Based on what's happening (or not happening) on the Envolve website, it looks like there is little to no innovation with this project, and that the creators have largely moved on to something else.

It sucks because my site's members and I really like this chat system but it does freeze a lot and I see no updated files or anything to fix this ..

[visageiii]

just a quick note, while I love envolve chat, their webpage now says they aren't accepting new users, and their facebook page hasn't been updated since 2013.

[CAG CheechDogg]

just a quick note, while I love envolve chat, their webpage now says they aren't accepting new users, and their facebook page hasn't been updated since 2013.

Yes, very disappointing because the last few months it has really gotten bad, their servers are always going down and there is no support at all ...

[Disco_Dave]

I got this email from them this morning:

Dear Envolve Customer -

I'm writing to inform you that the Envolve chat service will be shutting down on September 30th. Read on for details and what replacements for Envolve are available.

We’ve chosen to sunset Envolve in order to focus entirely on Firebase, our developer platform. Over the last 3 years, Firebase has grown tremendously and is now the focus of our engineering team and business. As a result, we haven't been able to give enough attention and maintainance to Envolve.

After some careful deliberation, we reached the conclusion that our Envolve customers will be better served by switching to another chat service. This was a difficult decision for us, but we believe it is the best outcome for everyone. Other chat services are now more full-featured, are better maintained, and have support on more platforms.

Therefore, on September 30th, 2014, all Envolve services will be discontinued. The chat widget will no longer load, and you will no longer be able to log in to the Envolve.com website. To ensure your continued privacy, we will be deleting all account information and chat histories at this time as well.
If you've been happy with Envolve and want to continue with a drop-in chat solution for your site, we recommend switching to ChatCat (Live Demo). ChatCat is a new service designed to replace Envolve. It's currently in beta and you can sign up immediately on the ChatCat website. Email support@chatcat.io for detailed instructions on how to get started. The beta will be opening to the public on September 22nd.
We think you'll find ChatCat a great replacement that provides the same easy installation and a similar interface to Envolve. Note that ChatCat is operated independently and is not affiliated with our company.

If you’re a software engineer and would prefer a fully custom chat solution, we recommend trying FireChat, our Firebase-powered open-source chat module, or using Firebase directly to build your own chat solution.

If you're a paying customer, you should have already received another email from us at the end of August notifying you that your subscription was canceled and your credit card would not be charged again.

Thank you for being a loyal user! We sincerely appreciate your support and feedback over the last 4 years. We want to make this transition as smooth as possible, so please email us at support@envolve.com if you have any questions.

Happy chatting,

Andrew, James and the Envolve Team

[CAG CheechDogg]

I got it too Dave lol ... sucks ..oh well ...

[Disco_Dave]

Sure all great things come to an end :D

[mofeu]

ChatCat is also available for vbulletin 4?

[letsjoy]

ChatCat is also available for vbulletin 4?

+1 :erm:

[Kesha]

I prefer to use ArrowChat, it works well for what we use it for. :)

[RichieBoy67]

I prefer to use ArrowChat, it works well for what we use it for. :)
Is there a Vbulletin plug in and does it integrate well? We need Vbulletin user integration, a chatbox in the footer and usergroup tie in.