CoDForums needs some improvements

[KeyboardDemon]

I've spoken to @Carlos about this a few times, there are some aspects of these forums that could be improved and other things like Tapatalk that should be replaced for a better solution.

Carlos would like to be able to do these things but is barely making enough money from ad revenue to cover his current costs, any new features will need new money.

I'd be willing to pay either $2/month or $20 for a full year, but we would need a few of us doing this to make a difference.

How many people would be willing to contribute if in return you got some extra features back like being granted the ability to edit your own posts, or have fancy flame effects on your forum names like Carlos has or elite membership status etc... maybe Carlos would give us voting rights over done of the decisions being made

The new year is coming, this seems like a good time to think about these things, helping Carlos build better forums is like a gift to ourselves as we all benefit.

What do you all think?

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

 

[Carlos]

I've spoken to @Carlos about this a few times, there are some aspects of these forums that could be improved and other things like Tapatalk that should be replaced for a better solution.

Carlos would like to be able to do these things but is barely making enough money from ad revenue to cover his current costs, any new features will need new money.

I'd be willing to pay either $2/month or $20 for a full year, but we would need a few of us doing this to make a difference.

How many people would be willing to contribute if in return you got some extra features back like being granted the ability to edit your own posts, or have fancy flame effects on your forum names like Carlos has or elite membership status etc... maybe Carlos would give us voting rights over done of the decisions being made

The new year is coming, this seems like a good time to think about these things, helping Carlos build better forums is like a gift to ourselves as we all benefit.

What do you all think?

Sent from my CLT-L09 using Tapatalk

Here's my public response to this subject: We have Premium Status, but I don't advertise it, because of how the community is. People just register to forums, but never really participate besides Recruitment drives, YouTube/Media threads, and general Q & A questions related to Call of Duty. I echoed this in another thread, and allow me to re-post it here:

Trust me, I want people posting there, but most people just post recruitment threads, and leave. Most people post their questions and comments about Call of Duty and just never converse with the community at large once they've grown tired of the thread. There is a small percentage participating in these threads, but beyond that, I don't know what to really do about this. I do try to make the forums fast behind the scenes. And I've gone so far to upgrade the server so you can just load the pages fast enough.

Anytime I get profit from this site, it goes to server payments, forum software upgrades, skin upgrades, plugin upgrades, domain renewals, mostly improvements. I'm paying for the server, people think that servers are cheap, and free. They can just waltz in and do whatever they want. No. No, that's now how it works. I'm providing a service "for free," but I expect profit. That's why the ads are there. That's why when someone requests advertisement, I screen what the service is, and if I like it, or if it is acceptable, I'll allow it and accept their payment. I've rejected many advertisement requests over the years. Those include casino game ads. I don't want to be too obtrusive, so I try to keep it low, and in the right spots.

My other sites have already upgraded to xenForo 2.2, but not CODForums and DestroyRepeat. It's $50 x2 (equals $100 for two, meaning each time I add a renewal request, that number goes down by $5.)

 

[iTzHoLT]

Knowing that CODForums is one of if not the only place to actively recruit new members - TeamTwD would be interested in working something out to help financially support this community. We are one of the fortunate groups of the community where we have been blessed with dedicated members that are passionate enough to financially back their support. As more platforms move away from forums there will be an increase in people looking for a place to recruit members and/or promote streams and socials. This could be beneficial for CODForums. Though I do not mind the current layout or system being used (We are an IPB community ourselves) if upgrades or improvements are necessary we would be happy to entertain supporting the community if a plan were put into place. We will follow this discussion with interest.

PS - will do anything for an edit button. =)

 

[Carlos]

Knowing that CODForums is one of if not the only place to actively recruit new members - TeamTwD would be interested in working something out to help financially support this community. We are one of the fortunate groups of the community where we have been blessed with dedicated members that are passionate enough to financially back their support. As more platforms move away from forums there will be an increase in people looking for a place to recruit members and/or promote streams and socials. This could be beneficial for CODForums. Though I do not mind the current layout or system being used (We are an IPB community ourselves) if upgrades or improvements are necessary we would be happy to entertain supporting the community if a plan were put into place. We will follow this discussion with interest.

IPB is more expensive from what I understand. vBulletin - I know for a fact it's expensive all around.

PS - will do anything for an edit button. =)

I've said this before on numerous occasions - the edit button is gone because a user was abusing the functionality. Google's #1 rule is: Content is king. If your thread or page does not have content in it, that page or thread gets devalued. (Page derank.) So, believe me when I say it: It's for a good reason.

 

[iTzHoLT]

Yes, vBulletin is very expensive. We have a license for vB as we use it for our internal control panel.

IPB... I can't remember how much it was because we purchased the initial plan so long ago. The renewal is pretty cheap each year. Just renewed ours the other day. I think it was like $60.

But... anyways if this gets any traction we would be happy to contribute. Maybe, a clan tournament to raise funds. Entry fee + wagers + buy backs. I don't know just spitting. Either way count us in.

 

[JusZenTFN]

I'll do whatever I can as well Carlos, you know me.

 

[KeyboardDemon]

It's a shame about the edit option, all I want is to be able to do is to fix issues with missing words, mis-spelled words, and those stupid spell-checking corrections my phone likes to make,

Oh, and sometimes, when I have 1 of those afterthoughts where I want to add a paragraph or more.

It seems like we're being punished for the action of a member that left the forums before I joined, but I do understand the issues behind messing with the content search algorithms on Google and other search engines.

It would still be nice to have a fancy decorated name under my avatar like Carlos and JusZenTFN, plus a better title, more than 800 posts and I'm still just a Recruit, when do I get my first prestige? ⁝(˚͈͈͈͈̥̆₍₎˚͈͈͈͈̥̆⁎)⁝

 

[Carlos]

It's a shame about the edit option, all I want is to be able to do is to fix issues with missing words, mis-spelled words, and those stupid spell-checking corrections my phone likes to make,

Oh, and sometimes, when I have 1 of those afterthoughts where I want to add a paragraph or more.

I know. To my credit, though, I've been silently merging your posts.

It seems like we're being punished for the action of a member that left the forums before I joined, but I do understand the issues behind messing with the content search algorithms on Google and other search engines.

Let me put it another way: Some of my sites don't even have this restriction, but this is what happened. Sometimes spammers register, don't post, don't edit their accounts to throw me, mods, and the spam mitigation off their scent. One day, they edit their post to slip by a link in the post itself. Sometimes inside quotes, because they think the spam mitigation won't "read it." So, I ban the account, IP Ban and Discourage the account so it doesn't come back. I do it here, because after PS5Forum, CODForum is the most invested site on the network. That's my money on the line.

It would still be nice to have a fancy decorated name under my avatar like Carlos and JusZenTFN, plus a better title, more than 800 posts and I'm still just a Recruit, when do I get my first prestige? ⁝(˚͈͈͈͈̥̆₍₎˚͈͈͈͈̥̆⁎)⁝

You could've had a new title if I knew how to "promote" the ranks into the next bracket. The images are there [old thread here], the ranks are there in the ACP, but the software doesn't seem to move recruit members into the next rung. It's something I brought up to xenForo's attention, but they don't seem to care, or understand what my issue is. I wish they would just adopt the vB3 model - which they were developers for before becoming xenforo that we know today.

 

[KeyboardDemon]

I know. To my credit, though, I've been silently merging your posts.

It hasn't passed me by, without me noticing, it shouldn't be something you have to do.

Let me put it another way: Some of my sites don't even have this restriction, but this is what happened. Sometimes spammers register, don't post, don't edit their accounts to throw me, mods, and the spam mitigation off their scent. One day, they edit their post to slip by a link in the post itself. Sometimes inside quotes, because they think the spam mitigation won't "read it." So, I ban the account, IP Ban and Discourage the account so it doesn't come back. I do it here, because after PS5Forum, CODForum is the most invested site on the network. That's my money on the line.

Totally on board now, I never would have thought that someone might do a thing like that and wouldn't want to see it here. There might be a middle ground where edits are available for up to 3 to 5 minutes after posting, just to allow people fix stupid quirks like we can in our PMs, but I wouldn't want to do that if it messes with the forums.

You could've had a new title if I knew how to "promote" the ranks into the next bracket. The images are there [old thread here], the ranks are there in the ACP, but the software doesn't seem to move recruit members into the next rung. It's something I brought up to xenForo's attention, but they don't seem to care, or understand what my issue is. I wish they would just adopt the vB3 model - which they were developers for before becoming xenforo that we know today.

Damn, I could be a Lieutenant General by now, which sounds quite grand IMHO.

 

[Carlos]

Update: New skin has been released. I came into extra money, so I was able to get CODForums' skin renewed!

Now, all I need to do is get PWA enabled.

 

[KeyboardDemon]

Update: New skin has been released. I came into extra money, so I was able to get CODForums' skin renewed!

Now, all I need to do is get PWA enabled.

PWA? Posts With Attitude?

 

[Carlos]

PWA? Posts With Attitude?

Have you not been paying attention? Progressive Web App.

 

[KeyboardDemon]

Have you not been paying attention? Progressive Web App.

"I'm so broke I can't even afford to pay attention!" - Doug MacLeod

 

[Carlos]

"I'm so broke I can't even afford to pay attention!" - Doug MacLeod

Broke ass.

 

[KeyboardDemon]

So, I have just come on to CodForums using my PC for the first time in ages.

Loving the new skin, it was harder to make out on my mobile using Chrome.

I like it, the refresh is awesome and it's perfect for Block Ops.