What's one plugin or feature you removed from your forum that benefited it?

[Eclipse]

Whether it's a shoutbox, excessive forums/subforums, signature limitations, hidden content/forums, etc.

I remember when shoutboxes were a huge thing several years ago. I think disabling/removing it was proven to be beneficial since it shifted discussions into threads/replies instead of in the chatbox. The forums were not used as much since conversations and questions could be asked directly in the chat.

Another thing I removed as well was a Home/Landing page for my forum. This just added a layer/buffer to actually access the forums and may have drawn people away.

 

[Shawn Gossman]

Most of them.

I used to install any plugin I could install to make the forum more interactive and featured.

However, all that really does is take away from the forum. A shout box makes it easier to chat live than to post a message on the forum.

I think the fewer plugins you have, the better off your forum will be.

Obviously, my recommendation here will be frowned upon by the plugin makers of the forum 😛

 

[Ashley]

Most of them.

I used to install any plugin I could install to make the forum more interactive and featured.

However, all that really does is take away from the forum. A shout box makes it easier to chat live than to post a message on the forum.

I think the fewer plugins you have, the better off your forum will be.

Obviously, my recommendation here will be frowned upon by the plugin makers of the forum 😛

I've had shoutboxes on my forums before, but more people used these than the main forums so I haven't bothered to add one in recent years. Even if there's a demand for it, my answer remains the same. You can't have decent conversations in those things anyway

 

[Shawn Gossman]

I've had shoutboxes on my forums before, but more people used these than the main forums so I haven't bothered to add one in recent years. Even if there's a demand for it, my answer remains the same. You can't have decent conversations in those things anyway

I try to avoid them these days.

They just take attention away from an already dying engagement platform.

 

[Ashley]

I try to avoid them these days.

They just take attention away from an already dying engagement platform.

Exactly and aren't they kind of hard to moderate to begin with? I'm probably thinking of earlier makes, but aren't the ones where you only have so much time to answer a post before it deletes automatically?