Opinions on the forum from a new member
Oct 23, 2011 07:09:30 #
I may have only just joined a week ago, but I'd like to give a bit of a critique and some suggestions regarding the forum. Please don't take offense to anything that I am saying, and if anybody else has any comments, feel free to add them.
The forum is very active, I've yet to see a time with less then 50 members online. This is a good thing, however, I personally think the forum software itself is lacking.
1. Appearance. the forum looks quite plain and drab. Being that it's run by a publishing company, I'd expect it to be pretty nice looking. Why not add some color to it? Like a banner along the top, maybe some nice looking icons for the forum categories and topics etc.
2. Organization. There are over 6000 members that have posted over 12000 topics in 5 categories. The phrase 'sardines in a can' comes to mind. Every day there are dozens of topics with new posts. This makes it hard for people to not only help others, but also to get help and find their own topic.
Between the physical size and appearance of the forum, it makes me think of a kid who is just learning how to program and made their first forum, and didn't really care about how it turned out.
Why not add subforums to better organize all the topics of discussion?
-The Photography forum could be divided into: Insects & Animals, Landscapes, Buildings, People, Vehicles, Objects, Misc Stuff.
-The Main Photography Discussion is good for general questions.
-What about adding forums for specific camera and lens discussion though? How about adding a Camera forum and a Lens forum, both with subforums for popular brands?
-How about a forum for photo editing?
If your homemade forum code can't really do any of this easily, then why use it at all? I was surprised when I saw the forum wasn't using a professional software like vbullitin with a beautiful skin and graphics.
The forum is very active, I've yet to see a time with less then 50 members online. This is a good thing, however, I personally think the forum software itself is lacking.
1. Appearance. the forum looks quite plain and drab. Being that it's run by a publishing company, I'd expect it to be pretty nice looking. Why not add some color to it? Like a banner along the top, maybe some nice looking icons for the forum categories and topics etc.
2. Organization. There are over 6000 members that have posted over 12000 topics in 5 categories. The phrase 'sardines in a can' comes to mind. Every day there are dozens of topics with new posts. This makes it hard for people to not only help others, but also to get help and find their own topic.
Between the physical size and appearance of the forum, it makes me think of a kid who is just learning how to program and made their first forum, and didn't really care about how it turned out.
Why not add subforums to better organize all the topics of discussion?
-The Photography forum could be divided into: Insects & Animals, Landscapes, Buildings, People, Vehicles, Objects, Misc Stuff.
-The Main Photography Discussion is good for general questions.
-What about adding forums for specific camera and lens discussion though? How about adding a Camera forum and a Lens forum, both with subforums for popular brands?
-How about a forum for photo editing?
If your homemade forum code can't really do any of this easily, then why use it at all? I was surprised when I saw the forum wasn't using a professional software like vbullitin with a beautiful skin and graphics.
Oct 23, 2011 09:11:59 #
Can't say I disagree with a thing you have written but by your own numbers I see little reason why any thing will change. It may be the old - if it ain't broke don't fix it. If a system works by being simple and requires little work or effort to set up and run, why go to the effort to enhance? What I have seen are several sites that have much slicker graphics, lots more ads, and many more jerks - maybe just maybe, good enough should be good enough. On the otherhand good luck on your quest.
Oct 23, 2011 09:14:24 #
I tend to agree-the forum s/w is lacking when compared to other solutions out there - phpBB and vBulletin, as you noted. I'm not sure what kind of resources the admin has, have a feeling that the click-through revenue might a big concern. Most open source forum software like the above does not rely on ad revenue, so far as I've seen. I've found that the more revenue-driven the site, the more obtrusive and less user-friendly is the software used.
Oct 23, 2011 10:48:46 #
Sub-forums is a very good idea. It would make the site much easier to navigate to a specific subject.
Oct 23, 2011 10:57:18 #
Oct 23, 2011 12:59:36 #
Trust me, they have been suggested. Without knowing any details about the innards of the forum software in use here, it maybe very difficult to implement. There's gotta be some database engine underneath everything here,holding the posts and all, but it may not be as easy to get to as something like phpBB and mySQL stuff.
Oct 23, 2011 17:22:23 #
My opinion ... I'm happy with it the way it is. Sure, there areas where it could be improved, but I've seen a lot worse.
Colors, multiple categories, and fancy doo-dads won't add to the importance of the words we all contribute. Any time we want to add some color, just upload a favorite photo.
Colors, multiple categories, and fancy doo-dads won't add to the importance of the words we all contribute. Any time we want to add some color, just upload a favorite photo.
Oct 25, 2011 03:34:26 #
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