Something occurred to me the other day - when people use Facebook, Twitter, and similar social media sites, often information about them and their contacts surrounds the messaging area like a frame.
And yet, with forum software, the posting area is the overwhelming single feature, and any personal user information - albums, contacts/friends, uploaded images, etc, is shunted off into a separate section.
So I thought - for the development of XF 2.0, why not experiment with a new layout that puts the user at the centre of everything, with all their information at hand around the left and right hand of the posting area of whatever part of the forums they're on?
I would certainly recommend the XF team experiment with this, not because admins think they want it, but because users - potential forum members - might enjoy the greater familiarity of a social media experience in forums.
(I know most forum admins would howl in fear at any change that changes the look of internet forums from the style default style we've used for over 15 years. But, you know, that's not what the general population on the web is used to. And those are precisely the people I want to join my forums to keep them thriving.)
Perhaps some form of widget system, like Wordpress uses, to allow additional boxes to display to the left and the right to help admins personalise the community experience for their own users. After all, forums are supposed to be social media, too.
2c.
