POLL ADDED
I’ve been spending a ton of time looking at options in changing up the forum, from tiny interface changes to massive overhauls into an entirely new system and format. With all the calls, presentations, demos, and research, I’ve narrowed it down to a few options, each has its own benefits and/or drawbacks. I’ll go through each, from least change to most, and really want as much feedback as I can get, here or privately (email or PM). The goal is to preserve the ongoing growth and spirit of the community but also to attract new blood, re: Millennials, as they expect to be communicating on a site that is similar to how we’ve all been trained lately with social media - ‘reactions’ instead of smilies, spacing, lack of colored background, formatting, embedded articles/pages, etc.
Option 1) Retain current system and just change the theme, try to modernize it a bit, making it more like the other systems I’m looking at (listed below, with samples, if you want to know the new look and feel goal).
Benefits: No major changes, more contemporary feel
Drawbacks: Smilies, topic icons, and features all quite dated. I’ve added a few features that are imitations of what exists in the ‘upgraded’ systems, but still the interactions, main feature set is outdated, even with updates.
Option 2) ‘Newer’ forum software, current leader being Invision. You’ll see similarities between it and phpbb as it is still a forum software, but a more modern interpretation. More features, easier access, upgraded overall from phpbb. Here’s an example https://linustechtips.com
Benefits: Newer, more modern interface, ‘reactions’ on posts (not just our ‘thumbs up’ vote, so very similar to Facebook), better messenger system, highlighted posts, hot topics, recommended posts (curated content), profiles show much more info including recent activity, ability to change your own interface when viewing the forum, condensing or expanding it with a click, embedding hyperlinks that show as mini-windows within the post from all over the web (super cool, it’s called 'external links rich embed, sample here External Links Embed [Rich Mode] - YouTube)
Drawbacks: Still similar to phpbb, but improved, not entirely ‘new’, so making a change like this one has to consider are the above benefits worth the hassle of changing?
Option 3) Significantly new format - Discourse. this is the most commonly used format for discussion communities that start now, from scratch. Feature-rich, minimalistic in design. Full feature list here - Discourse features | Discourse - Civilized Discussion sample forum here https://foodtalkcentral.com or many others here Discourse customers | Discourse - Civilized Discussion
Benefits: Most contemporary formatting overall, best mobile feel, most feature rich.
Drawbacks: ‘Change is bad’ and it will be a more significant change from what we’re all accustomed to here, might lose a few pieces of what is here in the process of migrating all the data over, minor things like losing the ‘likes’ and such. For those with GC and MC subscriptions, you’ll likely have to restart that process, as that data won’t transfer over (payment info on the subscriptions) and I JUST had you do that a year ago
My guess is that the ‘older’ crowd won’t want the change and the younger crowd will
I need to preserve the vibrancy of this community while bringing new features, abilities to interact, and general enrichment. Want to find the best fit for all of us, current and future.