MyBB Community Forums

Geret made a post the other day questioning MYBB's popularity. I started to write a reply to that thread, the reply grew in terms of matter, so I decided to make it into a post instead.

You can use Google Trends as a metric for the web's interest on MYBB.



As we can see above, the demand for the query "MYBB" is slowly decaying over time. It's prime age seems to have passed. However, this could reflect the software's release cycle.

It might also be a good idea to look at the popularity of searching for 'Forum', so we can attempt to answer the question whether MYBB is on a decline or the entire forum segment is...



As we can see from the above graph, queries related with 'forum' are also on a slight decline. In fact both curves seem to follow the same general shape.

This begs the questions: How can we force that curve back up? Are discussion boards starting to outdate themselves as mediums of online communication?

In time, A feature that allows posts to link to each other could be valuable. Especially for a recommendation engine of sorts! Keep in mind for 2.0!

Forums are well-suited to people who are technologically savvy or intensely interested in single subjects – these types of people would have been searching for discussions online earlier than the "general" internet population that has boomed over the past half-decade.

(2013-07-03, 01:26 AM)Violation Wrote: [ -> ]Are discussion boards starting to outdate themselves as mediums of online communication?

Forums are still appropriate for many things, but not for "generalist" users.

Quote:In time, A feature that allows posts to link to each other could be valuable. Especially for a recommendation engine of sorts! Keep in mind for 2.0!

I have no idea what this means.

Not sure what about your post is so big that it couldn't have gone in the other thread.

(2013-07-03, 03:42 AM)brad-t Wrote: [ -> ]Not sure what about your post is so big that it couldn't have gone in the other thread.

I thought it'd spark interesting conversation so deserved a thread on its own. Seems I was wrong.

My guess is that the rise of social networking sites has diminished the overall need for people to have their own domain or website when they can have pages at Facebook and feeds at Twitter. Also forum software has become more competitive with a few new entries into the market like XF. I think no matter what MyBB does there won't be any explosion of the use of the software.

(2013-07-03, 09:43 PM)labrocca Wrote: [ -> ]I think no matter what MyBB does there won't be any explosion of the use of the software.

And that's where you're wrong We have amazing things lined up for 2.0.

(2013-07-03, 10:03 PM)Paul H. Wrote: [ -> ]

(2013-07-03, 09:43 PM)labrocca Wrote: [ -> ]I think no matter what MyBB does there won't be any explosion of the use of the software.

And that's where you're wrong We have amazing things lined up for 2.0.

There are lots of great products in the world that nobody uses. It's too early to tell, but I'd bet on Labrocca's assessment. The potential market for people who want to run forums is not growing.

For me forums, and therefore MyBB, will always have a place. The reason is because currently the one way to have a discussion on a specific subject is to use a forum. Google+ Forums, and even Facebook Groups, may take a decent chunk of market share, but both of these platforms are a bit more limited than a self-hosted software such as MyBB. There is a low upper-bound on customization, whereas technically there is no upper-bound (reasonably speaking) on your own forum software with your own files and features.

The age of forums is long gone and will not return. But I think forums will still live on, just never attain the same level of popularity.

On a side note, maybe forum software should not just be "forum software" but rather "web software". After all, the difference between a blog, a forum, and a web page differ only by hiding and showing specific functionality and displaying in a certain way.

Bingo. The future is in enabling the interactive sharing of information, building communities, not "forums".

(2013-07-03, 10:03 PM)Paul H. Wrote: [ -> ]And that's where you're wrong We have amazing things lined up for 2.0.

Great, but think how many other explosions there may be before you release 2.0. Taking a quick look at the confirmed features thread, all those promising/amazing thing are available in paid forum scripts. So as I said in other topics - the competition won't sit and watch, waiting till you reach the 2.0 branch.

Most of what's in the confirmed features thread are features we know will be implemented. When we develop 2.0 we won't just be adding things other forums have but things which other forums don't have. It will be an incremental process, adding and adapting to what the future brings. In reality there's very little public information about 2.0.

It seems many people think we'll be trying to copy paid software such as Xenforo and that we're just trying to catch up with other forum software. That isn't the case. MyBB 2.0 will be something special. We've promised that in the past, and that hasn't changed. All I can ask is that you trust us - we know exactly what we're doing.