Needed: Your opinions on a forum upgrade

[The Duchess]

There's some back-channel discussion going on regards upgrading our little Proboards site into a more full-scale social-media-enhanced website, using a similar template to: www.vrooklamar.net

Note, we are simply looking at options now - this is in no way an indication it WILL happen.

So, we need your recommendations/comments. Most of us don't have the time to develop something new from scratch, thus why we're looking into partially pre-built setups that allow a lot of customization.

What we're missing here, that we really could use, are such fancy pro-roleplay features as: an event calendar, character journals, server news, and organized places to post fan fic and art. Maybe even integrate our own wiki (I think someone already started one too) and some better chatting.

On the down side, it would obviously necessitate migrating old content over, and re-registration for users. This is an annoyance, surely, but may be worth it in order to have a sleek website that compares to other server's forums - and helps inspire our creative outlets.

What do you all think?

[Cyras]

I like this idea. As you mention, there are alot of features that I consider vital for an unofficial server forum. A calendar is for one. An actual calendar I think would be easier to keep track of events.

I am one that likes to journal as my character progresses in the world in both her personal story and the server arcs. I hate placing my writings here because I feel like I am spamming.

I hope my opinions help

[The Duchess]

Well, proboards HAS a calendar, but it's not exactly readily visible. These days with what we're using to seeing on internet websites, easy visibility and access to information is key.

And we -could- do journals and fan art on forums, but it lacks archiving and organizational abilities.

As for spamming, noooo! People are -inspired- when they see the work of others (heck, even jealousy can work to the community's benefit!)

[amistar]

Maybe something based on IPB or one of the Free alternatives. These boards do feel a bit dated. I have experience with LAMP development if you need help with implementation or data migration I may be able to pitch in a hand.

[The Duchess]

Well, the forum owners here (Raph and Stormkitten) might have something else that gets over the initial hurdle - I can't say just what, yet. They're more concerned about a negative user experience, I think! At least as far as requiring content migration, etc.

[Caldari]

Well I am not much of a website designer, so I don't really know all to well what works and what doesn't. But in my opinion, I like the format of our current forums right now. However that's not to say I wouldn't mind some additional features such as wiki pages, a home page with news announcements, live chat, and member blogs. Hopefully my input helps. To be honest I am fine with the current setup no matter what.

[The Duchess]

I have a fair bit of experience in what UI attracts people, but I admittedly am basing many of my assumptions on past experience watching the growth patterns of other MMO fan sites, and what seemed to "work" as far as facilitating creativity.

It's harder to gauge here because we only have a handful of people that regularly post (lots of lurkers though), and traditionally, most rpers simply don't use ANY forums. Part of that is due to ignorance of where they are, but mostly, people are either simply not social in that manner, or have been scared off forums due to bad experiences with forum drama and trolls.

[Caldari]

I am doing my best to advertise the site through OOC chat ingame. The usual reply is that people play on multiple servers, so they don't want to be exclusive to one server. That means less devotees to the Ebon Hawk. And as long as the UI and color scheme are neat, I won't complain about any changes.

[Raphael diSanto]

The reason we have these forums is because when I started playing on EH, during early game access, it became apparent that BioWare wasn't going to give us official server forums.

So I set this up. Proboards seemed like the easiest way to go, so I didn't have to spend too much time doing anything. I'm also very old school, and some of the best experiences I've had on an MMO forum were back in the day with the Xev server forums for EQ 1.

Of course, technology has moved on, since 2001, and forums are not the be-all and end-all of community sharing and social interaction anymore. Sometimes I forget that. Social media integration, calendars, wikis, all of those things are good.

Mostly, I don't want to make y'all re-register. But if we end up with a better system, would you all come back?

[Caldari]

Of course! I am just as committed to the community of the Ebon Hawk Raphael. I have no problem re-registering. Coming onto this mature and friendly forum is not a hassle for me. I enjoy interacting with the community out of game. Do what you think is best, and I will follow. =)

[tolian]

Re-registering wouldn't be a big deal. I appreciate all the effort people have been making on behalf of our little Ebon Hawk community.

[Stormkitten]

I've enabled the calendar for everyone to use, for now.

[Cyras]

I just want to say that I will follow whatever you guys decide to do.

[dasri]

I've not been here long, but re-registering is hardly anything I would worry about. Sometimes those Captchas get me, though. Makes me feel bad for failing to prove I am a human.

[Raphael diSanto]

I think I might spend some time this weekend doing good things to this domain, then. It'll cut into my TOR time though.....