Are we doing Forums the wrong way?

[WiBu]

I'm going to keep this short and sweet (and open ended) as I wouldn't want my opinions to sway any discussion right off of the bat.

However, I've been thinking recently about how forums are designed from a user perspective. For the most part they're highly segmented, things being tucked away in separate categories, it doesn't really promote exploration or spontaneous discussion. Why is it like this? Could we do better?

Obviously, I have my own ideas, but as said in the opening, I'll save them for later.

actually, each software is designed based on the conceptor ideas... vB is british minded with the ideas of the authors, developed further more with the clients requests... but clients are requesting enhancements, not changes of ideas.. so the vB core is not changed, you have the segments like you call them, and it's not something that will change, or it would not be called vBulletin anymore...

[WiBu]

Originally Posted by nexialys

actually, each software is designed based on the conceptor ideas... vB is british minded with the ideas of the authors, developed further more with the clients requests... but clients are requesting enhancements, not changes of ideas.. so the vB core is not changed, you have the segments like you call them, and it's not something that will change, or it would not be called vBulletin anymore...

I wasn't really talking about the recent feature bloat of vB, or vB in particular. It's just a thought that forums haven't really changed in a decade or so (random number, but it feels right) and I'm personally just thinking of ways of how you could enhance forums as a useful platform for active discussion rather than being more like archives.

I know, forums like they are now are like the wheel, pretty good at what they do and no *need* to reinvent it, but even the wheel can be enhanced with a bit of rubber to make a tire.

Blogs are coming to that end too, they permit comments on each new post, you can categorize your posts, tag them to make them listed with keywords, etc... similar to forums, but with a more organic way... just a way as it's possible to make them more efficient by merging a blog and a forum...

[PrincessFiona]

I used to feel the way that you do....It seemed almost silly to start new forums for the discussion of different topics....but ultimately, having more forums on my ...ummm....forum....has made it more active. Instead of just logging on and posting a thread or two in the general forums, someone might log in, post about something in the general forums, go to the parenting forum and ask a question, go to the marriage matters forum and discuss something important that just happened and before logging off...add a book review in the library forum. Adding private forums is even better because it allows for more private discussions outside of the public eye.

Segmenting things makes it easier for people to organize conversations.

I went from having a forum with one or two major forums as a part of it to having many...and my experience has truly been "if you build it, they will come".

I only have about 800 users and at any given time, we have ~100 active users....


Just my .02


Kris

www.medicalspouse.com/forums

[Reeve of shinra]

I think the classic view is something that everyone is used to and it will likely stick around for a while but I feel there are better ways of displaying the content to users.

For instance, on the forum home page, do your regular users really need to see the forum description every day? Probably not. That can be a hover over like thread preview. And why limit it to the last post, why not the last 10 or 20 so users can see whats going on in each forum?

I will leave it at that for the moment but simple things can really enchance the end user experience I think.

can we rate posts ?! 5X for Reeve's comment!

[MrEyes]

Originally Posted by WiBu

......For the most part they're highly segmented, things being tucked away in separate categories, it doesn't really promote exploration or spontaneous discussion.....

When I originally set up my site one of the most frequent comments was "there are too many forums". Like most forums the structure of the site was designed to segregate subjects into specific areas, for example the sites subject is motorbikes so we have a forums for Mechanics, Riding Techniques, General Bike Chat, Off Topic Chat, Days Out etc, Motorbike Media, Off Topic Media.

Like any filing system, this segregation allows users to find threads on specific subjects easily. However I soon realised that a good portion of my active members would use some/all these areas and they found it annoying to have to click in/out of these.

So I found myself with a decision to make, go against internet tradition and mash everything together or leave the traditional segregated set up. Then I realised there there were problems with both these solutions, the biggest ones being:

• Lets say UserX is interested in subjects A, B & C - but UserY is only interested in subjects A & B. If I mash everything then UserY will be annoyed as there are loads of subject C threads clogging up there view.
• I would have to use tags/thread prefixes to allow at least some semblance of organisation, however these are user defined and we all know that you cannot rely on a user to do anything.
• Leaving things segregated would continue to annoying forum members that just wanted to see things in one place.
• Mashing together would annoy forum members that preferred everything in its own section.

These problems of course left me with something of a headache, so I was still at square one with a traditional segregated forum.

Then I found a perfect solution, that allows me to keep a segregated forum for those that want it at the same time as allowing members to mash together the subject that they want mashed together.

In summary I created a mod that allows users to select their preferred forums and then view all threads from their selected forums on a single page. This means that UserX can see all A, B & C threads in one place at the same time as UserY only see A & B threads, and UserZ can continue to use a traditional segregated forum.

This mod is available here:

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=191770

This mod has been on my site for almost a year, and every single user loves it.

[Reeve of shinra]

Mr Eyes, very nice mod and a great idea.

i was thinking of something along similar lines -- how do I show the meat and potatoes (the social group threads, the forum topics, the new galleries and blog entries) to my users without getting lost in inrelevant information. User finds site, see main page with some articles, clicks forums, see forum listing, has to click the forum to see thread titles. Thats at least three to four levels deep and thats not even counting sub-forums and stuff.

I will have to give your mod a try!

[Princeton]

Originally Posted by WiBu

I'm going to keep this short and sweet (and open ended) as I wouldn't want my opinions to sway any discussion right off of the bat.

However, I've been thinking recently about how forums are designed from a user perspective. For the most part they're highly segmented, things being tucked away in separate categories, it doesn't really promote exploration or spontaneous discussion. Why is it like this? Could we do better?

Obviously, I have my own ideas, but as said in the opening, I'll save them for later.

I agree that "exploration or spontaneous discussion" is lacking. Which is the reason why a forum interface shouldn't be the first thing you see when visiting a site. (ie. domain.com/)

What you can do to help your readers "take action"...

1)__ Set thread subscription to INSTANT EMAIL NOTIFICATION by default - those who don't like it can disable.

2)__ Increase LAST POST TITLE characters. On many sites the title is trimmed to small. Thus, decreasing the value of the "last post title". (the longer-complete the title is the more "action" will take place)

3)__ Make it easy for readers to scan page. (remove some clutter; show more white-space; etc)


If you don't have one create your own portal...

A page with the latest threads will definitely increase "action" by the visitor. Threads could be from a specific forum, globally, hottest, etc - anything that will help visitors take action. This will also improve your SEO.