It's nothing personal - I just think xF might be what my
members want? That it might be just the thing to get people back on board and get the site busy again.
When I originally moved to IPB it was to create a cycling super-site for my members with CMS, blogs, gallery, etc. - something to rival the commercial "big boys" out there, and I was really psyched about it. My vB3 site was busy and growing well, and my membership was dedicated and enthusiastic. Little old working lad from 'ull had a site to be proud of and I thought everyone else would be along for the ride too. (Pardon the pun ...
)
I spent ages testing and making sure it was what I wanted, got a new custom skin designed, and made the move. Unfortunately what I hadn't properly accounted for was what my
users wanted - the main reason people visited CycleChat in the first place was that it was a simple, easy-to-use chat forum that worked without fault and worked fast. They didn't particularly want a CMS or blogs or a gallery even (
there was a forum for posting bike pics) but they didn't complain too much so I went ahead regardless.
Technically, the move was a complete success. However I made quite a few mistakes and lost a few people along the way - you get colateral damage with any move, I know, but I changed EVERYTHING all at once and quite a few long-term regulars ran for the hills as a result. The site was also quite a bit slower (
initially) and people complained that it was less easy to use (
due to all the new bells and whistles, and the more comprehensive layout options).
I've spent a lot of time getting the site back up to speed (
which has also made a big difference to my Google indexing too - it's eating up my site now!!) and working with my moderators and members to help them get used to the new software, but it's just not as busy as before and people seem to visit/post less often (
compared to before the move). A good few moderators have left too, and the ones that remain are not as confident as they were about managing posts/threads/members in spite of me writing tutorials and giving them good support.
My "numbers" continue to go down and I think that I need to get back to basics. Just be a forum again. xF has that "something" about it that makes it simple and fun to use (many of the complaints I've had about the IPB software is that it's 'clunky' - an emotional response I know, but equally valid as it's the end users that make the site).
I am going to continue to work on my site and try to get some of the things in place I had originally planned (
wow ... six months has flown
by) and I may end up
not moving to xF, but it is an attractive prospect and when you consider who the developers are (
the blokes who brought us the worlds most popular forum platform) it is bound to become as good as - if not, far better, than vBulletin 3.x (
the software that me and my members loved best, but that unfortunately wasn't being developed any more).
I just want to make it
very clear that I continue to receive nothing but great service and support from IPB and the issues with my site are mine - it's about how I "feel" about it. The more I use xF, the more I like it.
I will continue with IPB and it may well be that my plans pan-out and I don't move at all (
there's 3.2 in the making that may tick a lot of the missing boxes for me), but I just wanted to know how other people's moves had gone and how
their members had responded to it in case I do decide to move.
Cheers,
Shaun
