Implemented Replace Members Page with...

[Princeton]

vBulletin users, check your memberlist.php stats (pageviews, visits, etc). The same applies to those who operate other forum software - go check your member listing page stats.

You'll find that the numbers are really low.

The Members page on xenForo is no different. Isn't this a waste of valuable space? Are we missing out on an opportunity here?

The #1 rule when placing a link on the main navigation is to add links to sections that the visitor frequently visits. In other words, sections that have a lot of traffic. More than likely these are sections that you want people to visit - sections that have fresh content.

What if the Members page was a central hub for member activity such as Groups, Photos, News Feed, Online Members, etc? How much more valuable would this space become?

We currently don't have a Groups or Gallery addon but these are features that will definitely come either by 3rd party or by xenForo themselves. Wouldn't it be cool if we can add these features to the Members page via hooks?

Another issue I have with the Members page is that it lists all members by default. In time, everyone will be introduced to members with funny looking names - all starting with non-alphanumeric names. 99.9% of the time these members are not even active.

With a central hub, I recommend listing Online Members (avatars). The thinking behind this is that we promote those who are currently active - the more active you are the more exposure you get.

For those who are visual learners, here's a mockup of what I described above...

Remember the goal is to create a section (page) that is "valuable" to us (individually). The central hub can be different for everyone.

I call it Community Central ) I didn't know what to call it)

 

[Dean]

No... I definitely want to be able to get to an alphabetical list of people. I have used that many times as a moderator, even if the site has 300k members. Someone sends a message about someone else and they typed the name wrong. I realize that there will be an auto fill in field for searching members, but that will not be as thorough as actually scanning a list, especially if there are periods and other things in users names.

It would really be nice to sort the entire list for trophies, number of posts, likes, etc for other reasons. I know on another forum I was on people keep checking how far they are from the top of those lists and see if they are moving up or down. A person might be #44 from the top, and next month they might be #40 with regards to rep for instance.

That said, it could be buried far deeper than it is, and the current location could be something really nice as suggested in post #1 (eventually).

 

[erich37]

Princeton,

absolutely great mockup !

I agree with you 100% of what you have said in this Thread.

It shows that you are perfectly thinking "out-of-the-box" and that you are not trapped in the VBulletin-box way of thinking.

Again: This is it !

 

[erich37]

ha, I just discovered in your mockup that you even implemented the "Mini-Me"-Avatars into the photo-gallery.
Cool stuff !

 

[kmike]

Really? I think the A-Z list is more useful in a larger community.

I just checked our A-Z list. The list of usernames starting with for example "K" is 9813 entries long. What is useful about it? Who in their sane mind will click through all 328 pages of this list?

I agree that it's only really useful for a tiny community where the list for each letter is no more than two-three pages long.

 

[Markos]

I agree with Princeton, i like his mockup!

 

[Peggy]

I just checked our A-Z list. The list of usernames starting with for example "K" is 9813 entries long. What is useful about it? Who in their sane mind will click through all 328 pages of this list?

I agree that it's only really useful for a tiny community where the list for each letter is no more than two-three pages long.

omg noooooo I can't imagine clicking through that many pages, lol.

Actually I've changed my mind on the a-z list after a discussion with a couple of friends. I rather like the member search feature here at XF.

 

[KURTZ]

Joe, this is definitely an interesting proposal ...

 

[Kim]

Love it!!!

 

[Princeton]

ha, I just discovered in your mockup that you even implemented the "Mini-Me"-Avatars into the photo-gallery.
Cool stuff !

I was wondering when someone was going to mention that.

I hope the mini-me feature can be reused (added) easily elsewhere.

 

[Forsaken]

I was wondering when someone was going to mention that.

I hope the mini-me feature can be reused (added) easily elsewhere.

	<div class="listBlock posterAvatar">
		<span class="avatarContainer">
			<a href="members/princeton.821/" class="avatar Av821s" data-avatarHtml="true"><img src="data/avatars/s/821.jpg?1281705283" width="48" height="48" alt="Princeton" /></a>
			<a href="members/forsaken.560/" class="avatar Av560s miniMe" title="You have posted 1 message(s) in this thread" data-avatarHtml="true"><img src="data/avatars/s/560.jpg?1280530412" width="48" height="48" alt="Forsaken" /></a>
		</span>
	</div>

It should be able to. 

 

[James]

I love the mockup Princeton.

The only issue I have is that this would probably be more appropriate as a homepage as it shows an overview of basically everything that is happening.

All in all, I'd love to have something like that implemented... definitely adds to the social part of the forum.

 

[erich37]

I love the mockup Princeton.

The only issue I have is that this would probably be more appropriate as a homepage as it shows an overview of basically everything that is happening.

All in all, I'd love to have something like that implemented... definitely adds to the social part of the forum.

exactly that is the trick:

All the stuff from Princeton´s mockup should NOT be at the homepage.
The homepage should be clean as it is now.

If you overload the homepage with too much stuff, people will leave because their mind is confronted with just too much information at once......

 

[Erik]

Listing highest posting members, most trophies, most likes, etc. will just encourage post count padding.
Is it a forum or a game/competition?

Despite what you might think, this "game" is part of what keeps members coming back and your community active.

Also, excellent mockup. If it's not in the first release, I will be coding it up immediately upon release.

 

[Shanj]

Well if I didn't have an A-Z Members page I'd have to get a mod to do it - we use it constantly on both my communities.
But I have edited it so it has interesting fields on it I've added to the profiles.

Compromise.

A bunch of pre-set Searches at the top of the page in a box with an icon on each.

Staff/ Mods. ........... New Members TODAY. ............. New Members this week.
Usergroup 1 . Usergroup 2. Usergroup 3. Usergroup 4.
Most active. Most Likes. Most whatever.
UK. England. Scotland. Wales. Europe. Asia. Africa. USA.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Senior Members (longest active). A-Z All Members.

Like, various options admin can enable.

 

[Anthony Parsons]

This reminds me more of what JomSocial member pages look like than anything else. Not real sure on that one... its been done.

 

[DamienDarwick]

No... I definitely want to be able to get to an alphabetical list of people. I have used that many times as a moderator, even if the site has 300k members. Someone sends a message about someone else and they typed the name wrong. I realize that there will be an auto fill in field for searching members, but that will not be as thorough as actually scanning a list, especially if there are periods and other things in users names.

Then why not have that placed in a moderators area or the admin panel? This would keep it for mods & admins but take it out of view of members, therefore being somewhat more useful. Admins may have the ability to search members like in vb in the admincp, that maybe the case here with XenForo.

Personally I think Princeton's mockup is awesome and would be very useful for members. Most of us want what's best for our members so they come back, spend money (if its that kind of forum), post & interact. Having a useless dead members page does nothing to encourage actual community following in a lot of sites. And as far as it being useful for a large forum, I do not think so. Personally I do not have hours to click through all the pages in a large forum to find one member name even when I'm an admin. I use the search it takes way less time. The social networking aspect would not be bad as long as it was done right unlike the half hearted stab of vB

 

[Grover]

A Personalized Entrance Page

The only issue I have is that this would probably be more appropriate as a homepage as it shows an overview of basically everything that is happening.

This is exactly the reason why I suggested A Personalized Entrance Page to vBulletin a while back: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/show...zed-vB-entrance-page

 

[Shanj]

A Personalized Entrance Page
This is exactly the reason why I suggested A Personalized Entrance Page to vBulletin a while back: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/show...zed-vB-entrance-page

Grover I'm making one using Logician's webtemplates right now. With conditionals on usergroups getting a different page or different page sections. It bypasses the forum homepage with a redirect.
I would hope to do the same with the Page feature here.

 

[CallieJo]

Great suggestions! Love the mockup! Wow!

A Personalized Entrance Page
This is exactly the reason why I suggested A Personalized Entrance Page to vBulletin a while back: http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/show...zed-vB-entrance-page

I still support your idea! It was one of the best ideas on VB!

 

[Grover]

I still support your idea! It was one of the best ideas on VB!

Thanks . XenForo already gives us more then vBulletin now, with the Your News Feed functionality, which is one of the things I wanted to see in this 'Personalized Entrance Page'. I hope to see much more in future releases of XenForo.