Thanks for the feedback. You've made a lot of good points - both in favor of converting and in favor of starting fresh. I apologize for the glacial response on this - I spent much of this time on vacation and I've been busy catching up on stuff.
Mors wrote:
Having less posts and userswould simply make the forums look deader.
Pedigree wrote:
we already have that small size of active users with the statistics and member list cluttered with over 1500 abandoned user accounts. When people see the number of members we have and see so little activity, it sends a message that we're pretty much dead.
These are both valid points. Forums that look active are indeed more inviting to new/returning members - but it's also true that having hundreds of abandoned/spambot accounts makes a community look less active too.
Mors wrote:
As for server space... Well, archiving the forums would take additional server space too. And for live version of phpBB skins, a test forum for that can be created for that.
Server space isn't a factor in this decision. The MyBB installation takes up 10.4 MB, and the phpBB files aren't large either. That's smaller than most mainsite games today. Merging the databases would save a bit of space, but server space isn't a concern one way or the other.
Mors wrote:
having a lot of the older posts in a different archive forum would make it harder for people to look at them.
I agree that having information scattered across different forum archives makes it a bit harder to search for things. However, I don't think too many new members are going to be interested in scouring the forums for things that happened in 2004. I was considering including an "MFGG FAQ" topic with a link to all of the forum archives.
Pedigree wrote:
Wiping the slate clean will make our community less intimidating to join for newcomers, I think.
I don't think MFGG has as big a problem with post-count elitism, year-ism, and similar problems as we did during the IPB era, but it still might be nice to get a fresh start.
CM30 wrote:
It also looks more inviting to have that content too, as well as provides search engines with useful content to index under the URLs they've always been at.
The search engine rank of the MFGG forums will probably take a temporary hit when the new forums are launched, and it'll be a bigger hit if we archive instead of convert. However, in the long run, moving to MyBB should help (or at least not hurt) our performance in searches. In our current state, our SEO must not be too effective, since few guests are registering and sticking around.
MoneyMan wrote:
breaking links is a bigger inconvinience than you may think (maintaining usability of older web content is something not many think about, yet is often neglected. The MFGG wiki alone would prob have hundreds of broken links).
As Vimimin mentioned, moving to new software is going to break old links regardless of whether we convert. In the case of Wiki links, I can use the mass-editing function to change any instances of "phpbb.mfgg.net" to the new URL. I can do something similar with forum posts that link to other topics on the forums. If people are linking to forum topics on social media, blogs, or other forums, those links will break, but I don't think too many people will be clicking on old links to the MFGG forums - we'll get a lot more mileage out of fresh content.
MoneyMan wrote:
Also you're kinda fallaciously implying that moving will somehow increase the quality of the posts themselves (it wont).
Moving to new forum software is kind of like a New Year's resolution - except our last new year came seven years ago. It certainly won't cause a massive shift in members' attitudes or behavior. However, it is an opportunity to reflect and rebrand, both for individual members and for the community as a whole.
Super Mario WTL wrote:
Unless there's some big enough changes to make it feel like a fresh start, just port things over (obviously test and make sure things like links still work too). By big enough changes I mean things like new rules, staff mixups, new features and events, new board layout, a big launch ad campaign??, that kind of thing; stuff that'd make the board feel fresh where it'd be worth a fresh start.
There's going to be a lot of cool new features on the MyBB forums, and a nicer and more mobile-friendly interface. We'll probably do a mass-message of current MFGG users inviting them to check out the Shiny New MFGG, as well as a social media blitz. Also, free brownies for new members who find me in real life and tell me that they registered on the new forums.
Super Mario WTL wrote:
Otherwise it's just going to be annoying (especially since we're planning on moving software again in the Near future).
I'm not sure how near that future is, but lumaSMS will combine the functionality of the forums and mainsite. If HylianDev gets everything done sooner than expected, and the MyBB forums run for just a few months, I could always convert the MyBB posts to the new forum system - it wouldn't be difficult.
Thanks for the feedback. You've made a lot of good points - both in favor of converting and in favor of starting fresh. I apologize for the glacial response on this - I spent much of this time on vacation and I've been busy catching up on stuff.
[quote="Mors"]Having less posts and userswould simply make the forums look deader.[/quote]
[quote="Pedigree"]we already have that small size of active users with the statistics and member list cluttered with over 1500 abandoned user accounts. When people see the number of members we have and see so little activity, it sends a message that we're pretty much dead.[/quote]
These are both valid points. Forums that look active are indeed more inviting to new/returning members - but it's also true that having hundreds of abandoned/spambot accounts makes a community look less active too.
[quote="Mors"]As for server space... Well, archiving the forums would take additional server space too. And for live version of phpBB skins, a test forum for that can be created for that.[/quote]
Server space isn't a factor in this decision. The MyBB installation takes up 10.4 MB, and the phpBB files aren't large either. That's smaller than most mainsite games today. Merging the databases would save a bit of space, but server space isn't a concern one way or the other.
[quote="Mors"]having a lot of the older posts in a different archive forum would make it harder for people to look at them.[/quote]
I agree that having information scattered across different forum archives makes it a bit harder to search for things. However, I don't think too many new members are going to be interested in scouring the forums for things that happened in 2004. I was considering including an "MFGG FAQ" topic with a link to all of the forum archives.
[quote="Pedigree"]Wiping the slate clean will make our community less intimidating to join for newcomers, I think.[/quote]
I don't think MFGG has as big a problem with post-count elitism, year-ism, and similar problems as we did during the IPB era, but it still might be nice to get a fresh start.
[quote="CM30"]It also looks more inviting to have that content too, as well as provides search engines with useful content to index under the URLs they've always been at.[/quote]
The search engine rank of the MFGG forums will probably take a temporary hit when the new forums are launched, and it'll be a bigger hit if we archive instead of convert. However, in the long run, moving to MyBB should help (or at least not hurt) our performance in searches. In our current state, our SEO must not be too effective, since few guests are registering and sticking around.
[quote="MoneyMan"]breaking links is a bigger inconvinience than you may think (maintaining usability of older web content is something not many think about, yet is often neglected. The MFGG wiki alone would prob have hundreds of broken links).[/quote]
As Vimimin mentioned, moving to new software is going to break old links regardless of whether we convert. In the case of Wiki links, I can use the mass-editing function to change any instances of "phpbb.mfgg.net" to the new URL. I can do something similar with forum posts that link to other topics on the forums. If people are linking to forum topics on social media, blogs, or other forums, those links will break, but I don't think too many people will be clicking on old links to the MFGG forums - we'll get a lot more mileage out of fresh content.
[quote="MoneyMan"]Also you're kinda fallaciously implying that moving will somehow increase the quality of the posts themselves (it wont).[/quote]
Moving to new forum software is kind of like a New Year's resolution - except our last new year came seven years ago. It certainly won't cause a massive shift in members' attitudes or behavior. However, it is an opportunity to reflect and rebrand, both for individual members and for the community as a whole.
[quote="Super Mario WTL"]Unless there's some big enough changes to make it feel like a fresh start, just port things over (obviously test and make sure things like links still work too). By big enough changes I mean things like new rules, staff mixups, new features and events, new board layout, a big launch ad campaign??, that kind of thing; stuff that'd make the board feel fresh where it'd be worth a fresh start.[/quote]
There's going to be a lot of cool new features on the MyBB forums, and a nicer and more mobile-friendly interface. We'll probably do a mass-message of current MFGG users inviting them to check out the Shiny New MFGG, as well as a social media blitz. Also, free brownies for new members who find me in real life and tell me that they registered on the new forums.
[quote="Super Mario WTL"]Otherwise it's just going to be annoying (especially since we're planning on moving software again in the Near future).[/quote]
I'm not sure how near that future is, but lumaSMS will combine the functionality of the forums and mainsite. If HylianDev gets everything done sooner than expected, and the MyBB forums run for just a few months, I could always convert the MyBB posts to the new forum system - it wouldn't be difficult.