2011-12-04, 05:32 AM
I feel kinda bad making suggestions, being a new member, but I do feel it's for the betterment of the site 
1/
The titles in MYBB support are non-existent. People are posting "please help" "SOS" "My forum has been taken over by alien slugs". Ok maybe not the last one
The point is, these titles are rubbish for finding anything, and for the search engines finding anything. I think it's more than appropriate, to make people be specific in their support thread titles, and if they aren't - refuse to help them until they change the title. It's not a big thing, and I don't see how anyone could reasonably object. Forumotion *spit* have a similar policy, and as horrible as they are, you can type "forumotion SEARCH_TERM" into your preferred search engine and you will generally get good results. As fantastic as everyone is here at answering questions, it still takes time, and it causes people work.
2/
There's money to be made from hosting providers. PHPBB do it, and so should you. Not only does it bring in a little bit of income for conversions, it's really helpful having a trusted list. MYBB is very easy to use, which is a great strength. I would go so far as to say, you don't even need to know even basic HTML to start using it. That does mean, however, that you are attracting a lot of green customers. My first forum that had paid hosting, I chose someone off the PHPBB list of reputable sites. I liked what they stood for, and I trusted them. I think this would be the case for all your customers as well. Hosting is scary, and being burned puts people off. Furthermore, you all have more than enough experience to know who is good, and who isn't.
3/
Your wiki sucks and it looks bad. It is mainly because it's out of date and you don't have a dedicated team. Your wiki is pretty much your user manual, and as such it's important to keep it up to date. I know it's an arduous task, but in the long run it saves time. Especially, if members are encouraged to search for solutions. I think leaving it up to members to update is fine to an extent, but it is rather off-putting - plus people are selfish.
4/
Your plugins aren't advertised well enough. I know they are community created, but there are some that are absolutely solid, and are must haves for any forum owner. These need to be easier to find, perhaps put in packs, certainly reviewed somewhere. Putting things in packs that get a bit more advertising, encourages people to try a bit harder. Furthermore, encouraging mod developers to use a url service that gives them a little back, and that you can get accurate stats from would be good. Services like adf.ly will show family friendly ads, have decent stats, and don't muck about on payments.
You may argue that your mod section is easy to traverse. That people have the opportunity to review, and you're right. However, I want to know what someone I can trust thinks. I want packs that make my admin life easier, and I want to read about new things coming out. I also want prompted to review my addons.
5/
Still on addons, but slightly different. As far as I can tell there are no security tests that addons have to pass before they are listed. There have been mods like "advanced forum signatures" that have security holes that put your forum at risk. Fair enough, addons should be installed at the users risk, and I can accept that. However, I think it's something that's very off-putting to newer users, and it may put them onto other software like PHPBB - as it has stringent guidelines before a plugin can be considered "released".
Your plugin system is awesome, your plugin developers are awesome, but I think a set of guidelines that every plugin you display has to adhere to, would build a huge amount of trust, I also think it will create better plugins in the long run. I do understand that it would create more work, but it also creates opportunities for people who want to improve their skills and help the community.
6/
Guides need to be highlighted more, and the useful ones tweaked to keep them up-to-date. There's some excellent stuff there, but it's tricky to find. Also, some of the guides look great but are not up-to-date/functioning. Perhaps an award system, being highlighted in your blog, or a nice little banner would encourage people to stay on top of it. A lot of people will find value in being a respected member of this community. It also has benefits for their own sites. I'm sure I'm not the only one who clicks through on sig links, on members that are a highly regarded/produce high quality content/ have a nice banner under their name. Forum advertising is a slow way to go about increasing site traffic, but a really good way to network.
7/
Get yourself some affiliates and pimp them out, so to speak. Not everyone can make a donation, or will be bothered to, as it takes effort. However, an affiliate banner on their site can generate a decent amount of revenue. You would have to make sure their sites wouldn't breach your affiliates ToS, but that can be done fairly quickly. Furthermore, speaking to your affiliates about your proposals will give you more leeway, if someone was to breach said ToS. It is pretty much taking how free forums monetize themselves, only you're making it broader. Obviously, keep your donations page up, but you could also offer a small ads widget if people want to support you. It could even be packaged in a snazzy easy to use addon to give people even more benefit. It has the potential to be much more solid than donations. Moreover, as your network grows you have the potential to levy quite a high price to advertisers.
Thanks for reading
1/
The titles in MYBB support are non-existent. People are posting "please help" "SOS" "My forum has been taken over by alien slugs". Ok maybe not the last one
The point is, these titles are rubbish for finding anything, and for the search engines finding anything. I think it's more than appropriate, to make people be specific in their support thread titles, and if they aren't - refuse to help them until they change the title. It's not a big thing, and I don't see how anyone could reasonably object. Forumotion *spit* have a similar policy, and as horrible as they are, you can type "forumotion SEARCH_TERM" into your preferred search engine and you will generally get good results. As fantastic as everyone is here at answering questions, it still takes time, and it causes people work.2/
There's money to be made from hosting providers. PHPBB do it, and so should you. Not only does it bring in a little bit of income for conversions, it's really helpful having a trusted list. MYBB is very easy to use, which is a great strength. I would go so far as to say, you don't even need to know even basic HTML to start using it. That does mean, however, that you are attracting a lot of green customers. My first forum that had paid hosting, I chose someone off the PHPBB list of reputable sites. I liked what they stood for, and I trusted them. I think this would be the case for all your customers as well. Hosting is scary, and being burned puts people off. Furthermore, you all have more than enough experience to know who is good, and who isn't.
3/
Your wiki sucks and it looks bad. It is mainly because it's out of date and you don't have a dedicated team. Your wiki is pretty much your user manual, and as such it's important to keep it up to date. I know it's an arduous task, but in the long run it saves time. Especially, if members are encouraged to search for solutions. I think leaving it up to members to update is fine to an extent, but it is rather off-putting - plus people are selfish.
4/
Your plugins aren't advertised well enough. I know they are community created, but there are some that are absolutely solid, and are must haves for any forum owner. These need to be easier to find, perhaps put in packs, certainly reviewed somewhere. Putting things in packs that get a bit more advertising, encourages people to try a bit harder. Furthermore, encouraging mod developers to use a url service that gives them a little back, and that you can get accurate stats from would be good. Services like adf.ly will show family friendly ads, have decent stats, and don't muck about on payments.
You may argue that your mod section is easy to traverse. That people have the opportunity to review, and you're right. However, I want to know what someone I can trust thinks. I want packs that make my admin life easier, and I want to read about new things coming out. I also want prompted to review my addons.
5/
Still on addons, but slightly different. As far as I can tell there are no security tests that addons have to pass before they are listed. There have been mods like "advanced forum signatures" that have security holes that put your forum at risk. Fair enough, addons should be installed at the users risk, and I can accept that. However, I think it's something that's very off-putting to newer users, and it may put them onto other software like PHPBB - as it has stringent guidelines before a plugin can be considered "released".
Your plugin system is awesome, your plugin developers are awesome, but I think a set of guidelines that every plugin you display has to adhere to, would build a huge amount of trust, I also think it will create better plugins in the long run. I do understand that it would create more work, but it also creates opportunities for people who want to improve their skills and help the community.
6/
Guides need to be highlighted more, and the useful ones tweaked to keep them up-to-date. There's some excellent stuff there, but it's tricky to find. Also, some of the guides look great but are not up-to-date/functioning. Perhaps an award system, being highlighted in your blog, or a nice little banner would encourage people to stay on top of it. A lot of people will find value in being a respected member of this community. It also has benefits for their own sites. I'm sure I'm not the only one who clicks through on sig links, on members that are a highly regarded/produce high quality content/ have a nice banner under their name. Forum advertising is a slow way to go about increasing site traffic, but a really good way to network.
7/
Get yourself some affiliates and pimp them out, so to speak. Not everyone can make a donation, or will be bothered to, as it takes effort. However, an affiliate banner on their site can generate a decent amount of revenue. You would have to make sure their sites wouldn't breach your affiliates ToS, but that can be done fairly quickly. Furthermore, speaking to your affiliates about your proposals will give you more leeway, if someone was to breach said ToS. It is pretty much taking how free forums monetize themselves, only you're making it broader. Obviously, keep your donations page up, but you could also offer a small ads widget if people want to support you. It could even be packaged in a snazzy easy to use addon to give people even more benefit. It has the potential to be much more solid than donations. Moreover, as your network grows you have the potential to levy quite a high price to advertisers.
Thanks for reading