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Full Version: Noob Mode. Because forums are dying.
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Hi everybody!

Right now internet is getting simpler and simpler. An that's why many people now prefer to have a facebook page than a blog.

We've seen the humanization project by one of our forum members, and I'm trying to do something reeeeally simple at my forum, just for those who just CANT understand how a forum works.

Could there be an included theme or a mode that the users could select to leave the forum as simple as it can be ? I mean: Open threads, leave replys and PM. NOTHING more. Well, maybe polls.

this is a kind of an approach tried by me:



I mean, something REALLY simple.
Disagree. What we see is less huge forums and more small niche site. Forget facebook - worry about tumblr.

Brad's project is a nice start point for a more modern approach though.
And people use Facebook for thier pages versus a blog or small forum because there is zero hosting involved, zero setup required, no knowledge required.

Networking is also way easier to get your page out there
Mobile is key.
It all can be edited with templates.

Default view really has a lot of unused thrash and it looks like old software. 70% of ui can be deleted for good for noob mode. All options are still here, just not thrown in your face.
(2014-05-21, 07:58 PM)Majes Wrote: [ -> ]Hi everybody!

Right now internet is getting simpler and simpler. An that's why many people now prefer to have a facebook page than a blog.

We've seen the humanization project by one of our forum members, and I'm trying to do something reeeeally simple at my forum, just for those who just CANT understand how a forum works.

Could there be an included theme or a mode that the users could select to leave the forum as simple as it can be ? I mean: Open threads, leave replys and PM. NOTHING more. Well, maybe polls.

this is a kind of an approach tried by me:



I mean, something REALLY simple.

You can easily achieve that by creating new themes from the default MyBB theme.

MyBB's theme layout should stay the way it looks now, because it caters for both sides of the plate. Those who want a simple forum layout can make it themselves, and those who want the complex default forum layout already have it with MyBB 1.6.

If you want it simpler, customize it yourself, it isn't difficult. HTML/CSS isn't difficult, programming is.
You can simplify MyBB as much as you like by just removing stuff from the menus and templates. I don't see a reason why development should start dumbing down.
(2014-05-21, 08:16 PM)Leefish Wrote: [ -> ]Forget facebook - worry about tumblr.

Haha, this is perfect.

The solution is not to remove functionality, but to hide complexity. MyBB 2.0 should be both noob and expert-ready out of the box.
I don't think there should be a "noob" mode. More and more wannabe administrators are picking up forums and then expect everything on a silver platter. If the administrators want to add a "noob" mode, they can create a template for themselves. Call me whatever you want, but I started out as a noob to PHP and if I wanted to create something, I learned PHP by looking at the code of forums and using PHP.net for references. At the time I was learning PHP, I was using Woltlab Burning Board 1.2 (or WBB 1.2 for short) and this was well before WBB 2.x and WBB Lite, which most of it was German (after all, Woltlab is a Germany-based company). They didn't have "plugins" that "magically did the work" like they do these days, so you had to have a very basic understanding of code or a good enough reading skill to follow the instructions, if it was provided, especially if you wanted to customize anything. I personally think that some coding knowledge should be required to run a forum, that way administrators can check it out themselves, THEN ask for support if they can't figure it out, instead of being lazy and asking for support and then asking for support on the supporting post because the administrator has no idea what the supporting poster is talking about. I bet 50% of the people asking for support (in the support section), don't even know basic HTML. We as humans are regressing in intelligence because these new generation of "administrators" want everything on a silver platter instead of working to understand the software they are downloading so they can be self-dependent instead of hoping someone will hold their hand and basically be a surrogate administrator. Hell, there are even new "administrators" that even want a free domain, free hosting AND free software and expect to start out big and yet they know nothing of programming.

tl;dr: No noob mode and if you were too lazy to read the entire post, you probably should skip out on being an administrator. That title is definitely not for you.
(2014-05-21, 07:58 PM)Majes Wrote: [ -> ]Hi everybody!

Right now internet is getting simpler and simpler. An that's why many people now prefer to have a facebook page than a blog.

We've seen the humanization project by one of our forum members, and I'm trying to do something reeeeally simple at my forum, just for those who just CANT understand how a forum works.

Could there be an included theme or a mode that the users could select to leave the forum as simple as it can be ? I mean: Open threads, leave replys and PM. NOTHING more. Well, maybe polls.

this is a kind of an approach tried by me:



I mean, something REALLY simple.

That's not true.

People confuse a forum with a social network, or related things.

My own opinion is: Forums are sites where you share all kind of information and you can discuss anything.

If you want something simple... you can always try alternatives... you can have a webpage, a blog, etc. And now, you can even create groups in Facebook, or use Twitter.

Forums aren't simple. You need to have a minimum of knowledge to understand the correct functionality.

As Vashnik says:

(2014-08-07, 06:08 AM)Vashnik Wrote: [ -> ]We as humans are regressing in intelligence because these new generation of "administrators" want everything on a silver platter instead of working to understand the software they are downloading so they can be self-dependent instead of hoping someone will hold their hand and basically be a surrogate administrator.
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