It is time to change the way forums work.

[Patrick W.]

Very interesting ideas Ghost. I will be watching your forum to see how it goes. 🙂

 

[Ghost]

Thank you Patrick, I hope I see you over there sometime!

 

[iPhonefreak]

Very good ideas! Way to be innovative!

 

[Ghost]

I'm merging two separate hosting accounts at the moment so please do not worry, GF will be up soon. 🙂

 

[Azareal]

-Thread form above the thread listing on forum pages. This means that users can post a thread from the forum display, instead of clicking a 'new thread' button. This makes it easy to make a new thread and will encourage thread creation as it seems simple and quick!
> Furthermore, users are not taken to their thread after posting a thread, they just go straight back to their thread.
> Soon you will go back to the forum you were looking at after replying as in most cases if you are replying; you have already read the thread. Also, with the removal of bbcode (see below) there's no need to see if your post came out correctly, as it will show just like it does in the reply form.

Convienient as it's much faster to create posts.

-Removal of post count. This encourages users to focus on quality instead of the number of posts they have. However, it does not discourage them to post! We use a level system. To reach the next level you may have to have a certain amount of posts, but for higher levels you need referrals, reputation (which we call 'Credit'), and X posts. Levels bring you extra privileges.

Post count aren't really too particularly useful asides from showing off about having loads of posts.

-Removal of log out button. What's the point? Most users these days have their own computer. It's also uncommon for a whole family to be on one forum, using the same computer. This also means they are always logged in, unless they clear their cache or something and this means they can just start browsing/posting without having to log in each time! (Users are not logged out after a short period of inactivity)

Schools, colleges, hotels, etc. to name a few places and it's pretty inconvienient to go out of your way to clear the cookies.

-Removal of thread stats, and individual forum stats. Who cares!? A forum is based on new content coming in each day, not old stuff that could be sitting their idle for weeks. Stats can't portray that. We have overall forum stats, but eventually those will go away too. At the moment you can see your individual post count in the sidebar (the user dashboard), but that will go away as well soon and be replaced by your current Level.

The staff could probably make use of statistics to analyse areas which aren't doing as well as others and to create ways to improve them.

-Private messaging is currently enabled, but soon that will disappear. This will be a change that will piss many people off. However, it will bring their focus to the forums. We will replace the private messaging with contact forms for the staff if users have questions. However, we want all of our content to be public so anybody can reply.

It could always be personal or private matters which people aren't comfortable with sharing with everyone on the forums and it's generally faster to go directly to admins when a staff member is acting up.

-Staff and Users are on equal levels. There's no need for bolded usernames, colored usernames, etc. Staff have a job to do and yes they put in hard work. But being staff isn't about being in a constant parade where everyone knows you're staff because of your username color. We are all equal, but the staff just have some extra permissions. If all goes right, staff will be treated just as any member is treated; equal.

That's great to have a staff contact form and all but, if it's a staff member who's acting up then, you'd have to specifically find a staff member who is higher ranking than them to deal with it.