I belive we have too many subforums

[Bluez]

We have too many subforums.
This is a common mistake forums make thinking it will offer everyone a slice they like.

But most discussions overlap anyway and alot of synergy gets lost when everthing is split.

Also makes it harder to find a discussion one either is curious about or that one might be interested in w/o realizing it (yet)

The dark default background I think is also not helpful.
For those consumers who prefer this they can always set their own skins.

just my respectful 2 cents on how I think we can work better

 

[Arckadian]

Trying to think of something that can revitalize the forum, can start looking into this suggestion.

 

[Bluez]

Trying to think of something that can revitalize the forum, can start looking into this suggestion.

There is no reason this forum should not be able to grow given the growth of firearms sports in this country.
I used to run successful forums...

too many subforums was common issue
Issue #2 a less than friendly default setting for skin

 

[ViperJeff]

Forums I can help with, Shaggy will have to work with the skin

 

[Bluez]

Lets change the skins and start merging some forums.

For example

There is no reason the "range" and the "Training" forum should exist as seperate entities

 

[Bluez]

I need to bump this.

 

[SilvrSRT10]

Making those changes is above my pay grade. Without going on other gun forums how would someone go about promoting this site?

 

[Bluez]

Making those changes is above my pay grade. Without going on other gun forums how would someone go about promoting this site?

Google ads.
Are not expensive and have been used successfully in the past.

but we need ot chnage the skin and do some sub forum housekeeping first so the people who come are more likely to stay

 

[ViperJeff]

I've seen one suggestion, is there more. There is the option of just making a series of housekeeping changes simply based on activity

 

[Bluez]

- Housekeeping.. to dramatically reduce the numbe rof subforums ( even I often struggle to find a thread I just posted there there are so many legit places to put it, think of a newbie!)
-The dark default skin of the forum projects unfriendliness and darkness .. it needs to change.. people in general prefer to "meet" in well lit rooms.
This skin give a claustrophobic feel. It psychologically raises the bar on how badly you want to make a post before you actually make one (i hope I explained it right)

These are not hard fixes..
And once they are made do goggle ads, which are not terribly expensive at all.
Guns are hot right now should be no issue...

But dont do google ads until you made the other two primary fixes.. as otherwise you wont get nearly the full benefit from any of the new traffic u might attract from that.

 

[ViperJeff]

I've done some minor changes, more to come, just have some gun related items to attend to

 

[Bluez]

I've done some minor changes, more to come, just have some gun related items to attend to

Forum is already looking a lot better!! :handshake:

 

[ViperJeff]

Forum is already looking a lot better!! :handshake:

A good start I hope, feel free to toss out other forum changes you would like better

And remember, I have no control over the skin

 

[Bluez]

Jeff,

Who can change the default skin?
maybe from the very dark grey to a camo pattern... but even default will do.

 

[Bluez]

Based on running large+successful forums in the past I have some more suggestions to improve clarity and ease of use:

The "General Discussion" tab in "Weapons" I would change to read:

"Firearms Discussion"

Also could rename "Long Guns" to "Rifles (Carbines etc)" or just "Rifles" (since PPL new ot this think of them as rifles rather than long guns.. long guns is a term used by people like us who are very good at firearms)

Rename " Ammunition/Reloading" to "Ammo/Reloads" ( for space reasons so the tabs list doenst look too busy)

Then reverse the order of the tabs

So first "Rifles" (what u have as Long Guns) then "Handgun" then "Ammo/Reloads" (because of what brings newbs to gun forums in order of interest ARs are hot so Rifles would be first)

 

[Shaggy]

What do you think is wrong with the current skin? I have used Google Adwords in the past for many forums and it never worked out. Would be spending a ton of money and get next to nothing in new members.

I'm also thinking of changing the forum software from vBulletin to XenForo.

 

[Bluez]

What do you think is wrong with the current skin? I have used Google Adwords in the past for many forums and it never worked out. Would be spending a ton of money and get next to nothing in new members.

I'm also thinking of changing the forum software from vBulletin to XenForo.

The forum skin is dark.
Dark!!

Its the opposite of what you want in a forum.

A forum needs to have a nice inviting feel to it.

Even I can sense when I have the choice of posting something elsewhere vs here it comes much easier to me to post elsewhere it looks more inviting.

As long as that default skin exists any ad campaign will have little effect.
Forums are about encouraging posting.

Everything facet of a forums design needs to support that line of effort. ..
and the dark skin does not support that.

A nice camo pattern maybe (not a real dark one) say ATACS FG or some such would make an excellent skin.

Warm + lots of green (perceived by the human brain as a friendly color)

 

[Shaggy]

The forum skin is dark.
Dark!!

Its the opposite of what you want in a forum.

A forum needs to have a nice inviting feel to it.

Even I can sense when I have the choice of posting something elsewhere vs here it comes much easier to me to post elsewhere it looks more inviting.

As long as that default skin exists any ad campaign will have little effect.
Forums are about encouraging posting.

Everything facet of a forums design needs to support that line of effort. ..
and the dark skin does not support that.

A nice camo pattern maybe (not a real dark one) say ATACS FG or some such would make an excellent skin.

Warm + lots of green (perceived by the human brain as a friendly color)

Where are you getting all this info? I understand that some people have different tastes as in having a white background rather then a dark background. I hear about it all the time with all my other forums and members. When I do decide to change the forum to XF, it will have 2 different color schemes, light and dark. To please everyone.