Biggest competition threats to PHPBB forums

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Master_Cylinder
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Re: Biggest competition threats to PHPBB forums

Post by Master_Cylinder »

KnocksX wrote:Except he wouldn't switch to anything else, because there is no commercial forum software that DOESN'T have the like feature.
I certainly don't know about *all* forum sw but I don't think that wpbb has ratings, by default, but there is a ratings plug-in.

Regardless, it's not the "like" that I object to, it's when they *only* have a like without a dislike. That kind of SM site is all about "look at me and tell me that I'm worth something (but don't you dare try to disagree (since you can't)), I'm about to post something that only I think is important so LOOK AT ME! LOOK AT ME! ... And don't forget to like, add me as a friend and subscribe because I think that I'm clever...and important."

No thank you... :roll:
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stevenmw
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Re: Biggest competition threats to PHPBB forums

Post by stevenmw »

Pony99CA wrote:
stevenmw wrote:
KnocksX wrote:Actually, +1/like should be a core feature. It's not just "retards" who want it, "liking" posts is huge for encouraging interaction in the forums and making people actually want to post, which is the dream of every admin.

Just because you're stuck in 2003 doesn't mean every new feature makes a forum similar to MySpace.
This is not the purpose of a message board. Being a part of a discussion and getting feedback are their are own encouragement for interaction.
What do you think "like" or "+1" are if not feedback? The point is that they save time and possibly posts. If you can like a post, there's no reason to reply with "Good post!" or "Me too" (which many boards discourage). Plus, those cause notifications to be sent, which liking a post probably wouldn't.
stevenmw wrote:Just like these forums, the support forums, and other support forums found else where. There is no reason to 'like' a post on a message board. It serves no purpose.
Wrong, wrong, wrong. How many times have you seen somebody on Area 51 post nothing more than "+1" in a reply . That annoys me to no end, partly because it generates another E-mail to me and partly because it's basically a junk post that could have been avoided with a Like/+1 system.

Yes, there may be times when you don't want post rating, so it should be an option, but it should definitely be part of the core system.

Steve
But that falls more into thanking a user for a post, or marking a post as helpful. Simply labeling a post as "liked" or "+1" is far too vague. Someone can 'like' something just because they share an opinion or want to associate themselves with an opinion or way to do something. Allowing the OP to thank a user for a post is far more practical. It could even tie into reputation letting other user's know which users are helpful and post useful working solutions.

I agree that a +1 / -1 system applied to posts could be useful, but I disagree with it being some huge form of encouragement to get people to interact. People interact on message boards by simply using the message board there is no need for further encouragement. And that was what I was addressing.

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Master_Cylinder
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Re: Biggest competition threats to PHPBB forums

Post by Master_Cylinder »

Pony99CA wrote:What do you think "like" or "+1" are if not feedback? The point is that they save time and possibly posts. If you can like a post, there's no reason to reply with "Good post!" or "Me too" (which many boards discourage). Plus, those cause notifications to be sent, which liking a post probably wouldn't.
Those darn forum admins are always looking for ways to save posts. Who'd want people to actually post something on a forum? I know I'm always looking for ways to discourage lazy members from posting and a button would save them at least 6 whole key strokes. Of course, not having a "like" button would save them an additional click.

If a "me too" post is bad how is a "like" button better? Is the forum going to hit it's reply limit and keep somebody else out of the conversation? Are admins that don't like "me too" posts going to like the "like" button more? Personally, I don't see a difference since neither add much. If anything, "me too" or "not me" is better, imho, because at least then people know who agrees and who doesn't.

As I said, I think post and user ratings are fine as long as they go both ways but just a like without a dislike is worthless...
These kids today...
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They eat the paste. :lol:

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Pony99CA
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Re: Biggest competition threats to PHPBB forums

Post by Pony99CA »

stevenmw wrote:I agree that a +1 / -1 system applied to posts could be useful, but I disagree with it being some huge form of encouragement to get people to interact. People interact on message boards by simply using the message board there is no need for further encouragement. And that was what I was addressing.
OK, that I agree with. I don't want people posting just because they're trolling for "likes".
Master_Cylinder wrote: If a "me too" post is bad how is a "like" button better?
I believe that I addressed that already. A "me too" post will generate E-mail notices to people subscribed to the topic. When people visit the topic, they'll probably be annoyed that there's a "useless" post there.

I presume that "likes" would not generate E-mail to people subscribed to the topic. However, they could generate the new phpBB 3.1 notifications, so that you could see who liked your post. However, even in that case, I hope that they wouldn't generate notifications to everybody in the topic.

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Kamahl19
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Re: Biggest competition threats to PHPBB forums

Post by Kamahl19 »

I agree that +1 is useless without -1 . I also want to dislike posts.

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Master_Cylinder
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Re: Biggest competition threats to PHPBB forums

Post by Master_Cylinder »

I don't want members constantly begging for their posts/profile to be "liked" as they do on other SM sites either...

I never subscribe to topics but I'd imagine that people that do are used to the "me too" posts since SM sites aren't that old...relatively speaking. "Like" events might trigger notifications to the OP depending on settings which could be just as annoying. See, there are pros and cons to the like/dislike system. ;)

I'll say it again though, just in case people think that I don't want ratings; I think that user/post ratings should be an optional feature in the core as long as there are pos/neg events but I don't think that all SM features should be in the core.
These kids today...
Buy them books, send them to school and what do they do?

They eat the paste. :lol:

ekerazha
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Re: Biggest competition threats to PHPBB forums

Post by ekerazha »

About BBs and Q&A sites, Vanilla seems a good hybrid: http://vanillaforums.org/discussions
There's also an add-on to make it more Q&A oriented: http://vanillaforums.org/addon/qna-plugin

Some people (mostly people who used BBs for a long time) don't like the Vanilla structure, but I have to say it was probably the first BB which tried to break old habits (hierarchical rigid boards with category > forum (> subforum) > discussion) and try something new.

I think tags are going to replace hierarchies. For communities and other stuff (example: filesystems).

Socially Uncensored
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Re: Biggest competition threats to PHPBB forums

Post by Socially Uncensored »

Lack of development
Lack of friendly development / communication

phpBB is indeed free and yes, we can easily make the arguement that you get what you pay for.... But I have seen other individuals willing to help and even supply solutions, be shot down or ignored. Further, the development maybe on going, but it is going at such a slow pace that some people are surprised to learn that phpBB is still being developed (I actually spoke to someone not so long ago who thought phpBB was closed).

In our ever growing world of technological advancements you either adapt and grow or you die. And the lack of friendly responces or willingness to work with others, is actually slowing the add-on development at this time. So the old reply, X should be an add-on is becoming mute.

I stand by my original statement that a responsive design, built into the core is needed for phpBB.

opc0de
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Re: Biggest competition threats to PHPBB forums

Post by opc0de »

Mess wrote:
opc0de wrote:Registered an account to make this post.
Welcome.

Just to sum up you post to make sure I understand you correct.
  1. Focus on making bridges a core part of phpBB because you once needed it.
  2. Remove everything else you don't need. Because those who think they need it are retards.
  3. Focus on making an extension system (like the one coming in 3.1), and maybe add everything removed as officially supported extensions.
  4. Those who use phpBB, use it because they can't figure out how anything else work.
Did I get it about right?
No, not even remotely, though I'm unsurprised at the oh-so-typical emotional lashing-out.

1. I pretty specifically said that developer documentation needs to be better. I did not even suggest that bridges should be a core functionality.

2. No, what I suggested was to remove everything that isn't specifically about communication, so as to streamline the user experience. The interface is too cluttered and truly hasn't changed very much in more than a decade.

3. Yep, pretty much. I've used 3.x and didn't find the experience to be very streamlined but if there's an extension system being worked on that'd be a step in the right direction.

4. No, what I said was that for a lot of people, using phpbb is the best of offerings but that phpbb doesn't live up to what it could be.

Your standard hostile response is exactly what I suspected from someone who's spent too much time in the echo chamber that is phpbb development. Change aversion and hostility.
Last edited by opc0de on Mon Aug 26, 2013 8:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

opc0de
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Re: Biggest competition threats to PHPBB forums

Post by opc0de »

stevenmw wrote:
KnocksX wrote:Actually, +1/like should be a core feature. It's not just "retards" who want it, "liking" posts is huge for encouraging interaction in the forums and making people actually want to post, which is the dream of every admin.

Just because you're stuck in 2003 doesn't mean every new feature makes a forum similar to MySpace.
This is not the purpose of a message board. Being a part of a discussion and getting feedback are their are own encouragement for interaction. Just like these forums, the support forums, and other support forums found else where. There is no reason to 'like' a post on a message board. It serves no purpose.
Actually being able to +1 a post would remove the need for so many cruft posts in announcement threads, etc. Instead of cluttering up the thread with a post containing the word "cool" or "nice" or "this" you could just +1 it.

I dunno if it needs to be a core function but there really ought to be an official plugin/extension for this feature.

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