Forum users have tunnel vision. They're not interested in extra features.

Carlos said:
Been saying this many times on xenForo, but nobody wanted to listen to me. Welp, guess what? Contrary to what they believe; most people don't really care for "extra features." This [thread] just proved my theory 1,000 times over. Especially the media gallery, photogallery, whatever image plugin there is.
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My VB automotive forums have photo galleries with well laid out categories and as a result are heavily used by my members. The only thing holding me back from converting these forums to XF is the lack of a gallery replacement. Once Xen Media Gallery has the importer I need, I will be converting.
 
0ptima said:
My VB automotive forums have photo galleries with well laid out categories and as a result are heavily used by my members. The only thing holding me back from converting these forums to XF is the lack of a gallery replacement. Once Xen Media Gallery has the importer I need, I will be converting.
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Yeah, it's understandable for your niche (automotive), but a lot of forums don't really need a media gallery, so your members don't end up using it. I'd seen it on a few gaming sites, and they're useless. I wish there was a moderation process to mitigate quality images in expense for these stupid troll images (ahem, memes).

I want quality over anything else. Most plugins don't provide it.
 
Carlos said:
Yeah, it's understandable for your niche (automotive), but a lot of forums don't really need a media gallery, so your members don't end up using it. I'd seen it on a few gaming sites, and they're useless. I wish there was a moderation process to mitigate quality images in expense for these stupid troll images (ahem, memes).

I want quality over anything else. Most plugins don't provide it.
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Its really up to you how you setup the gallery. Create a troll category and place it the end of your gallery list. Dont feature any images from that category. Do the exact opposite with the quality images. Show them first, feature them, etc... Creste threads which feature the quality images and then direct them to the gallery for them to see more, etc.
 
I think the core reason why people are at a forum is to discuss stuff. So you can have extra features, but unless those features are closely tied to the discussions, retaining the same ability to discuss the content of the features, then you're creating a barrier between the content of the feature and the people who might discuss it.
The more I think about it, the more useless I think the comment system is. Unless the discussions are right there amongst the core forums, people won't see them and won't have the same motivation to participate.
Now the Showcases addon does this perfectly, integrating the discussion with the forum, but when users go to the forum (as they will at first) to post the information about their home cinema or garage or hiking trail or whatever, there is no 'call to action' to use the showcase feature to enhance the presentation of it.

Just thinking out loud here. So Showcases categories have an associated forum where discussion threads are created. I wonder whether, when someone creates a new thread in that forum, we should prompt them to create a showcase? Or maybe even take them to the showcase creation script for the appropriate category to force them to create a showcase? That would, of course create a new thread as well, but we would be forcing them to create a showcase when they might not want to.
 
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Stuart Wright said:
So Showcases categories have an associated forum where discussion threads are created. I wonder whether, when someone creates a new thread in that forum, we should prompt them to create a showcase? Or maybe even take them to the showcase creation script for the appropriate category to force them to create a showcase? That would, of course create a new thread as well, but we would be forcing them to create a showcase when they might not want to.
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This is exactly how I do it.
Hide the Showcase forum so it doesn't appear on the forum homepage, then use the Showcase ACP options for it to show itself on the form homepage (looking exactly like a forum and subforms). If users access the Showcase through here, then it takes them straight to the Showcase listing with the Create Item link.
 
Stuart Wright said:
I think the core reason why people are at a forum is to discuss stuff. So you can have extra features, but unless those features are closely tied to the discussions, retaining the same ability to discuss the content of the features, then you're creating a barrier between the content of the feature and the people who might discuss it.
The more I think about it, the more useless I think the comment system is. Unless the discussions are right there amongst the core forums, people won't see them and won't have the same motivation to participate.
Now the Showcases addon does this perfectly, integrating the discussion with the forum, but when users go to the forum (as they will at first) to post the information about their home cinema or garage or hiking trail or whatever, there is no 'call to action' to use the showcase feature to enhance the presentation of it.

Just thinking out loud here. So Showcases categories have an associated forum where discussion threads are created. I wonder whether, when someone creates a new thread in that forum, we should prompt them to create a showcase? Or maybe even take them to the showcase creation script for the appropriate category to force them to create a showcase? That would, of course create a new thread as well, but we would be forcing them to create a showcase when they might not want to.
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This is the same problem we faced 2 years ago when we discovered that any additional features are simply useless if they are not closely tied to the forum and the 'new post' button. So much money wasted and so many features rolled back. Everything has to be tied to the 'new posts' button and should have some appearance in the forum home.

Recently we have installed the gallery and I have zero hopes of users taking it up. Simply because they will never showup among the threads. Even if they do, content creation is another issue. People don't want to create something unless it can be done from the new thread button.
 
Renegade said:
Recently we have installed the gallery and I have zero hopes of users taking it up. Simply because they will never showup among the threads. Even if they do, content creation is another issue. People don't want to create something unless it can be done from the new thread button.
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I would like to see an option when someone uploads an image to a post: "Would you also like to add this image to our gallery? Yes/No" and if yes they get to choose a category or create an album etc - I dunno...

I suppose similar could be done for Showcase in certain forums as Stuart suggested by having a prompt, maybe something like: "Would you like to create a Showcase item? Yes/No" - It might help encourage content creation.

It's an interesting dilemma.
 
Stuart Wright said:
I am only just now appreciating that forum members are only interested in the forums.
  • The Xen Media Gallery. Complete disinterest. The enthusiasts use Flickr. That's it.
Unique Pageviews for all these addons combined account for less than .05%.
It's depressing!
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The lesson here is .... The forums are where the action is.

The way to create a gallery in a forum is from the images posted in the forums - not an "external" addon that is outside the forums.

More later.
 
Digital Doctor said:
The lesson here is .... The forums are where the action is.

The way to create a gallery in a forum is from the images posted in the forums - not an "external" addon that is outside the forums.

More later.
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Having an image posted in a thread automatically added to that users album would be quite useful, kind of like how any photo on my phone that I upload to facebook is put in a "iOS Photos" album automatically by facebook.
 
This is also one of the reasons why the most succeful forums haven't changed their system/layout for many years (4chan, reddit, Macroumers, etc').

Most of my add-ons are backend add-ons. The only 2 front end add-ons I have are gallery and a custom reputation system, which is used daily.
 
My site is way too small to judge but it can be hard to get them to use new items.

I had a contest for a small price to get people to use XenAttendo. I had a 3-5 post some events which wasn't bad for the amount of active members. The prize was worth about $12 I think. The events increased traffic which was nice. Might have received a couple of sign ups which didn't turn into anything.

Tried again and didn't get anyone to try that time. I will try it again when I get t shirts made and see if that helps.


Showcase is doing OK. Once I get some more members I think I can get that to do Ok.

Sportsbook does Ok at times. It died down a bit and I was too busy to enter events so it's half my fault. I'm going to try to push that a bit more as well.

James
 
I just use the straight forum. When I used IPB back in the day I had all the add-ons and also found no one used them. When I switched the Xenforo I just stuck to the base. Plus you don't have to worry about running into problems when you do updates from add-ons. What it really comes down to is people just like to post messages.
 
I've found that user's rarely care about something new just because it's new. Look around at what user's are having problems with and solve those problems. That's what the users end up caring about.

Take the event thing for example... Do your users have a problem scheduling events in their life currently? If not, ten why would they start using one you offer when they already do it?

Bottom line... If it doesn't solve a problem of some sort, it's not worth the effort.
 
Stuart Wright said:
I am only just now appreciating that forum members are only interested in the forums.
I added several features to AVForums when we migrated from vBulletin on October 26th. I announced them in newsletters. They have all been online for four months except the Media Gallery, which has been online just a few weeks.
  • Maps of eating challenges. We had people suggesting additions via posts when I maintained the Google map. Now it can be done by the members via Waindigo's Hotspots addon, only one entry has been added in four months.
  • The XenAttendo Events addon. Not a single event added by the members.
  • Showcases. 3 created in total. One by a moderator to test it out, and two by normal members. One of those I personally prompted to create his showcase. People have created threads with images in for years, and it seems that's how they want to continue. Even including the showcase module in the sidebar on the forum list has made no difference.
  • The Xen Media Gallery. Complete disinterest. The enthusiasts use Flickr. That's it.
  • Bookmarks has had a better take-up. Probably because of the prominent Bookmark link under every post and it enhances normal forum use. Still we have only 300 bookmark records in the database.
Unique Pageviews for all these addons combined account for less than .05%.
It's depressing!
Compared to the forums, even our editorial is ignored by a large proportion of our membership.
People, it seems, are only interested in the forums.
Have other admin successfully encouraged their members to use these useful addons?
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Good post because it's true.

And this is why plenty of large forums are still running vbulletin 3, and I doubt there's a user in those places that is complaining that the forum does not have this or that feature from another forum package.

With forums, it's about the community--the words.

And this one must also remember: Users don't want change. Why should they? They have lives to live.
 
I first joined AVForums when it was the "official" forum of the website of a major AV magazine - so principally an editorial site, with the forum as an "appendage". Having been a frequent (but not regular) reader of the magazine, I visited the magazine site occasionally, saw the forum link and joined.

Almost immediately I found the forum a far more informative and entertaining element than the editorial content and my visits to the editorial more or less ceased.

In due time, AVForums split from the magazine and the magazine site itself merged and effectively died. Whereas the appendage - AVForums - continued to grow. Whilst I have no empirical data to support this, it might suggest that I was not alone in finding greater value from the forum than from the editorial. If so, then this ought not to have come as any surprise, really.
 
I've got a big heap of add-ons installed. Of course, the members are seldom as excited as I am about new add-ons.

A few that are still being used a lot:
- Tapatalk : for better or worse ...
- [bd] Anonymous Posting : very successful
- Find unanswered threads : helps my members be more helpful ... no thread shall go unanswered.
- Join Usergroup by Waindigo : moderator approval needed to access/post in certain areas - [Nobita] Ignore Threads : good for the sensitive souls among us
- QuoteME ! : before 1.3 this was crucial, but even now it's got a slight edge

Some bigger features have failed miserably such as the [8wayRun.Com] XenCarta (Wiki), [8wayRun.Com] XenAtendo (Events), [SurreyForum] XenKingDir - Business / Links Directory,

I agree that successful add-ons need to be integrated with the forum and threads as much as possible.

Of course, not all features are there primarily for the members. While your existing members might not care to read your articles / blog etc, it might help to drive traffic to the site, some of whom might decide to sign up. Or in any case I would think it can help your search engine ranking. (But yes, don't count on your members to contribute any articles.)
 
Stuart Wright said:
Have other admin successfully encouraged their members to use these useful addons?
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Also had similar results. However, I forced my users to use what I implemented.

For example, my users use to create a thread and use that thread as a journal for their DIY builds. This is how all other sites in my niche do it and that is what members want. It is really annoying as a user to sit there and flick through 200 pages in a thread trying to spot where the OP made the update.

I implemented blogs for the members to put their builds in. The original threads were locked and archived. Members CRACKED.THE.****S even though they were told this is how it was going to be from now on. It took them months and months to get use to the blog structure of it. However, I have had members linking to other DIY builds hosted on other forums and they are now complaining that it is too much of a task to view the DIY build since it is not in a blog structure. So at the end of the day forcing them to use the new method by getting rid of the old one worked, I only needed to upset the community initially.

If you have a lot of better ways of doing things on your forum, I would suggest taking away the old way and forcing the new way. Do all of them at once so you only have pissed off members once, not multiple times.

Ultimately though, the changes work. You're the admin, not the user.
 
In the spirit of "integrating with the forums," we are very happy with our decision to uninstall XenMedio and replace it with a special subforum for videos and other media. In hindsight it just seems so obvious. Why would people go to a different tab when they already get the idea of subforums? Why would we want special tags and comments in XenMedio when we already have tags (XenTag) and comments in the forum? It's just much simpler and integrated this way.
 
Stuart Wright said:
I am only just now appreciating that forum members are only interested in the forums.
I added several features to AVForums when we migrated from vBulletin on October 26th. I announced them in newsletters. They have all been online for four months except the Media Gallery, which has been online just a few weeks.
  • Maps of eating challenges. We had people suggesting additions via posts when I maintained the Google map. Now it can be done by the members via Waindigo's Hotspots addon, only one entry has been added in four months.
  • The XenAttendo Events addon. Not a single event added by the members.
  • Showcases. 3 created in total. One by a moderator to test it out, and two by normal members. One of those I personally prompted to create his showcase. People have created threads with images in for years, and it seems that's how they want to continue. Even including the showcase module in the sidebar on the forum list has made no difference.
  • The Xen Media Gallery. Complete disinterest. The enthusiasts use Flickr. That's it.
  • Bookmarks has had a better take-up. Probably because of the prominent Bookmark link under every post and it enhances normal forum use. Still we have only 300 bookmark records in the database.
Unique Pageviews for all these addons combined account for less than .05%.
It's depressing!
Compared to the forums, even our editorial is ignored by a large proportion of our membership.
People, it seems, are only interested in the forums.
Have other admin successfully encouraged their members to use these useful addons?
Click to expand...

My pages/member doubled once I started using @******* credits. It was like 1/10th away from a 100% increase in pages/user.
 
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