Forum style, maybe go the UBB route?

scottshackrock wrote on 6/19/2004, 8:33 AM
I dont know about everyone else, but these forums in particular are hard to work with sometimes.

SONY, why not go the other route - as many forums are currently doing?
Check out some of these forum options:
vBulletin Version 3.0.1 http://www.vbulletin.com/
phpBB 2.0.2 http://www.phpbb.com/

those are just 2 examples that came to mind real quick.
but, they are much more powerful, stable if you configure them right (which is very easy, mostly everything is automated for you! haha), and most of all - very organized and easy to work with for people who post on it frequently!

just an idea, but it'd be awesome if you guys really used it.

Comments

Chienworks wrote on 6/19/2004, 8:54 AM
I always shudder when this topic comes up. One of the reasons i like the SONY Media Software forum so much is because it is so much better than everything else out there. There's no clutter of graphics and useless stats. It is very stable, and while we couldn't say this a couple of years ago, it's now one of the fastest and most efficient forums around.

Please, once again enter my vote for leaving it just the way it is!
TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/19/2004, 8:59 AM
Yes, I agree. I don't like any of those graphical smilies, embedded pictures, etc. :(

I'm for the completely no BS (code wise! ;)) sony forum. :)

Maybe in the FAQ they could put instructions on how to put in links and such if they wanted.
BillyBoy wrote on 6/19/2004, 9:23 AM
In my OPINION the forum software is CRUDE. You don't have to have graphical smilies or embedded pictures, but to not even directly support simple embedded HTML makes it more difficult then it needs to be to add links or even simplistic formatting. This forum software is so crude it doesn't even support contacting forum members via their email address. There is no means to set up private "rooms" no way to exchange files, etc., etc.. Very dark ages. This isn't the 60's

I vote to change it. Its 2004, get up to speed Sony.

Been "nagging" about this for years.
bStro wrote on 6/19/2004, 9:27 AM
BillyBoy wrote:

This forum software is so crude it doesn't even support contacting forum member via their email address.

That...can be a good thing.

Rob
bStro wrote on 6/19/2004, 9:29 AM
scottshakrock wrote:

I dont know about everyone else, but these forums in particular are hard to work with sometimes.

Are you using threaded or non-threaded view? Oddly enough, I find non-threaded to much more useable.

Rob
B_JM wrote on 6/19/2004, 9:29 AM
i would have to agree with BillyBoy right down the line .....

mbelli wrote on 6/19/2004, 10:18 AM

No I agree with the original post, this forum interface sucks. It's by far the worse of any of the forums I visit daily.

My biggest problem is speed and that you can't read "full threads". Example, you have 50 posts in a thread, I don't have time to open each individually. Most other forums have a button to open all the threads, which i do in the bg as i view other pages in the meantime.

I hate to say it, but this forum is one that I don't look forward to using -- but the comments, posts, are great and tit's incredibly busy, given how quickly people respond to posts.

Sony, should revamp it -- it doesn't match ths standard of many, many other forums.

Just my point of view.


MB
epirb wrote on 6/19/2004, 10:20 AM
my 2 cents worth, I agree with BB, plus it would be nice to have
1)email notification when you get a reply to a thread you posted
2) or notification of certian keywords,
ie:if heading or body contains the word"xxxx"
this might help Spot,BB, and so many others find threads that are posted, when someone is asking them directly or refering to them, so they dont need to look at every thread in every forum.

personaly I dont know how they do it now, so many forums,so many questions,....So many other things going on outside the forums
amazing!
mbelli wrote on 6/19/2004, 10:22 AM

Of course the moment I post I realize that there's I find out there's a threaded and non threaded view, which basically allows me to read all the posts at once in a thread. However, that feature shoulld be selectable per thread basis. But, better than nothing.



MB
Nathan_Shane wrote on 6/19/2004, 10:24 AM
"Are you using threaded or non-threaded view? Oddly enough, I find non-threaded to much more useable."

Great suggestion...thanks for this comment. I had no idea there was an option for seeing all the messages at once. I too was struggling with having to open each individual response to read them...not anymore!
Jsnkc wrote on 6/19/2004, 10:26 AM
I like these forums, I think they are a lot better than the ones that are flooded with smileys and avatars and useless junk like that.
You all know the old saying KISS.

The only thing I would change is that if you type a weblink in your message that it would automatically turn into a link when you post, kind of a pain to always have to type in the HTML code.
earthrisers wrote on 6/19/2004, 11:03 AM
Logging my vote for "the way things already are."

One or two minor improvements, such as easy-add hotlinks, would be nice, but speaking as a guy who visits several different forums every day, THIS is the one I find least cluttered and visually most to-the-point and easy to navigate. I come here for the content, and for the valuable input from my fellow forum-users, and I appreciate the lack of distracting gizmos.
TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/19/2004, 11:39 AM
that's in your edit account options (up top). :)
TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/19/2004, 11:42 AM
I like is this "click on one message as a time" way. Why? Well, if a couple people start getting pissing contests, I can just skip those threads & move onto the next bunch. :) Or, if i'm not interested in what someone says, I can ignore their posts cuz is lists their names right next to it w/o wasting my bandwidth loading threads! :)x2
John_Cline wrote on 6/19/2004, 12:42 PM
I'm in the "leave it alone" camp. I, too, visit quite a few forums on a daily basis and I much prefer the look and feel of this forum. Yes, It would be nice if it were easier to add hyperlinks to a post, but otherwise, it is very easy to navigate and I like it just the way it is. Just my opinion...

John
bStro wrote on 6/19/2004, 12:51 PM
TheHappyFriar wrote:

Or, if i'm not interested in what someone says, I can ignore their posts cuz is lists their names right next to it w/o wasting my bandwidth loading threads! :)x2

Wouldn't it be even easier just to click "Ignore This User"? Then, I believe, you wouldn't even have to see their name, let alone their posts. (Not entirely sure how this feature works -- no one's annoyed me enough yet for me to try it.)

Rob
joelaff wrote on 6/19/2004, 1:10 PM
With the prefs set to show all the posts in a thread this one works pretty well. THough I wish it would still show the "threadness" in this mode, bu showing what replies to what. But that is no big deal.

Personally, I would take an email list any day over any forum. Forums tends to be slow and bulky. They require a graphical user interface (unless email lists I can read just fine with a command line mail client).

But as far as they go this one isn't so bad. No clutter like smilies, pictures, avatars and other nonsense.
scottshackrock wrote on 6/19/2004, 1:25 PM
oh wow, that non-threaded thing is awesome, thanks for THAT suggestion.. ha.


BUT, i still find these features very important to my BB use:
*A huge dot/notification by the threads that have been updated since my last visit.
*Another way to notify my of a thread that I HAVE POSTED IN (updated since last visit, or not!).
*Profiles where I can find all the digital contact info I could ever want if the people chose to provide it, so that I can try to talk with them more personally.
*private messages through the forum, if they include no contact info!
*simple formatting to make posts sometimes more legible, if nessessary.

there are more, but that's good enough. ha.
all the forums i visit now, except this one, have the new UBB style boards. They all load just as fast if not faster than this one.

haha

with a program like VEGAS 5, you'd think they would have a LITTLE more sophisticated forum, no? HA!
TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/19/2004, 2:05 PM
What I mean is if you list all the threads at once, you just see everything. If you list them in the other format (threaded" you can ignore whole conservations. So, if I say something like "I hate UUB code" then it's pretty safe to assume most of the messages after that will be responces to that. That whole section can be skipped.

Plus, if you view in the non-threaded mode, you have to (sometimes) go through page after pages of useless stuff before you get back to relavent stuff (like some of those threads that are hundreds of psots long).
TheHappyFriar wrote on 6/19/2004, 2:13 PM
Most of the things you suggested don't actuatly have anything to do with the forum. All threads that have been updated are also up top (and if they haven't updated since you last visited them, are a different shade due to browser settings). They also show the time it was last updated, so unless you don't have a watch & your start bar is on autohide, you should always know if anything is new.

Everything else could be added in the account settings ans have no actual impact on the forum. :) I wouldn't use any of that extra stuff, but someone wil (you would, or else you wouldn't of recomended it!)

And most of the other forums I visit too have that UBB code, personal icons, signatures (picture & lines) and it's frikken annoying! I don't really care if someone runs a website, or they are good in photoshop. They can goto the adobe forum for that!
farss wrote on 6/19/2004, 3:51 PM
My vote is leave it the way it is. This is the easiest forum to read I've ever come accross, all the fancy stuff just gets in the way. This is supposed to be a support forum, not a general chat forum so threads shouldn't get that long anyway.
The forums I mainly visit are, COW, DMN and dvxuser; all of those a nightmare to read.
JohnnyRoy wrote on 6/19/2004, 6:18 PM
Ditto. Leave it alone. I like this forum software best. It would be nice to be able to track posts you have made a bit easier but other than that I really like this forum the best of all those I visit daily. No fluff, just beef.

~jr
Chienworks wrote on 6/19/2004, 6:39 PM
JohnnyRoy: click on your own handle and you'll be shown a list of every post you've made in reverse chronological order.
MJhig wrote on 6/19/2004, 6:58 PM
Please bear with a predominantly audio guy but I would like to cast my vote for keeping the forums the same.

There is nothing more useless than all the trinkets other forums have wasting bandwidth.

This forum setup is second best in all my forum travels only because when I use my dial-up PC it's a little more of a hog than one other I frequent. Load black background, load teal background, load text...

We don't need no stinking luxuries. I prefer substance over fluff in my forums. As previously posted all the essentials are here, set it to non-threaded view, the visited links are another color than unvisited, the username is available for those that want to post personal links, email addys and for viewing previous post history, there are no silly smileys, no personal ads or pics on every post and is ascetically appealing to boot.

Yes it does take basic HTML knowledge but it's supported for those that want it and "edit" is aslo supported.

MJ