Two weeks after our last major update, more changes to the Crowdstack platform are rolling out. Look for these changes sometime tomorrow (October 8, 2020).
Let's run through the changes.
2-Step Email Verification
We've improved the security of your member accounts by implementing 2-step verification when a member tries to change their account email address, if you have made email verification a requirement for your Crowdstack. Now, when that happens, we'll send an email to the old and (proposed) new email address, with the option to cancel the request (via the notification sent to the old/existing email address). This way, if your login is somehow compromised, the attacker will not be able to easily change your account email address. If that happens, you can simply cancel the request via the email sent to your existing email address.
The change will go through automatically, however, after 72 hours, if it is not cancelled via the email notification. (And you can have it go into effect immediately by verifying the change via the links in the notification emails.)
Death to the Activity Stream
As I mentioned in a previous topic, we are deprecating the Activity Stream. I went over the reasons in the referenced post, but the bottom line is that the Activity Stream will no longer exist as a standalone page. In addition, the Activity Stream widget for Version 1 sites will now only include content items.
New Automation Rule Triggers for Premium Memberships
We've added some new, very useful "triggers" to help sites using premium memberships on their Crowdstacks. The following new triggers were added:
- Premium Membership Started
- Premium Membership Renewed
- Premium Membership Canceled (disabling Auto-Renew)
- Premium Membership Re-activated (re-enabling Auto-Renew)
- Premium Membership Expired
This way, you can create workflows to help welcome and retain your premium members. For instance, you could create an automation rule that notifies your admins when someone cancels their premium membership so you can contact them to get feedback. Or you could issue additional activity points each time someone renews their membership.
Improved Interface for Topics
We've updated the design of the Topic List page (as well as the list of forums, if applicable for you Crowdstack). These pages now have a smart widget column, with the topics listed as a feed -- changes that mirror the improvements we made to the Home page in our last update.
If you have more than one forum, then the list of forums will be displayed as a widget on the topic list page, as well.
In addition, admins can determine the level of detail to show for each post in the topic list feed. By default, for each post, we display the topic subject and byline, plus the most recent three interactions. However, you can customize this in your Topics Settings to also display the post body (including title image), if you prefer.
Finally, we also now support an optional Top Banner for Topic List pages.
Note: these changes do not apply to Version 1 sites.
More Flexible Comments Widget (v1 Only)
For Version 1 sites, the "Comments" widget now also supports including reactions in the list. We also call the widget an "Interactions" widget now to reflect the broader scope. However, we have not changed any settings for your existing widgets, so you will need to edit your "Comments" widget if you wish to include reactions.
As usual, we made many other minor improvements and bug fixes. If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know via:
Happy 'stacking!
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