Could Oppo forum?

"JRapp: now as good as new again" (jrapp)
08/10/2016 at 21:01 • Filed to: None

Not to jump on the oppocalypse bandwagon, but one of the options that’s been thrown out as a potential solution is to move Oppo to a forum format.

And I figure wherever we end up, we can use Facebook and Reddit to get the word out. Those should not be our new permanent shelter in the case of an Oppocalypse though.

Now the question is though, would a forum format work for Oppo ? Let’s see what’s different:

No images in post titles . This is potentially a negative, that I’m not sure we can overcome from a technical standpoint without hosting on our own infrastructure. Most of the forum services that I’ve seen don’t do this.

Bumping of old posts. There may be something we can do to lock old posts after a while. We’d need to investigate that and that depends on what service we land on. Alternatively, maybe we can force the display to always be sorted by the post date. Again, would need to be investigated. I’m not sure if this really is a negative though. If we can do multiple topic based boards, we could keep the shitposts contained, and there likely is minimal harm in bumping good quality posts.

Not part of an existing community. We’d all need to re-sign up, but that may be the case anywhere. This also ties in with the #5 below.

Auto-embedding of youtube videos or images. Images and videos can still be embedded, but it may not work as seamlessly as on Kinja.

No gray commenters waiting to be vetted as real members. As we’d be starting fresh, there’s nothing we could do to weed out the trash posters. We could potentially have Private boards where only a certain level of a member can comment, and public boards where every member can post, so that’s something.

Better more robust Search functionality. This is definitely a positive. I know there are tons of quality posts on Oppo that have disappeared into the ether, that are now rather hard to find.

Potentially multiple boards per topic , if we so choose.

Private Messages. This is a positive no matter how you cut it.

Linear comments. Not sure I’d be a fan of that. I haven’t looked at the feature set on ProBoards or others in a while, so there may be a way to do comments on comments now.

No Top 3 most popular posts sidebar. There may be a way to do like a hot posts section on a main page... I’ve seen that before.

No scheduling of posts. This is not a feature I’ve seen on any forums.

What else Oppo? Do you think a forum format would work for us? Or do we really need a blog format instead? (Though some of these may apply there too, like the starting fresh so you can’t easily vet people..)

(And I can help create/administer a ProBoards or similar forum. They have free versions and paid versions with more functionality. Unless someone wants to go to the lengths of paying for and installing a full blown IIS on AWS or something with an independent BBS instance.)

DISCUSSION (19)

Leadbull > JRapp: now as good as new again
08/10/2016 at 21:07

There’s definitely pros and cons. But it’s non-forumness is part of what attracted me to Oppo in the first place. The images, and the loose/free format were appealing after spending time on forums before. I think it could work though, God forbid this thing go under.

. . > JRapp: now as good as new again
08/10/2016 at 21:11

About 5 - I know that phpBB has groups that users can be added to, using that feature we could limit new members to just selected subforums where they’d need to prove themselves before getting full access.

Urambo Tauro > JRapp: now as good as new again
08/10/2016 at 21:11

I like Kinja (when it works), but you’ve got a pretty good list of pros and cons there. Private messaging is probably the most important feature that Kinja is lacking right now.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > JRapp: now as good as new again
08/10/2016 at 21:12

In all honesty I don’t care what format it is. I’m sure I’d adjust eventually.

JRapp: now as good as new again > . .
08/10/2016 at 21:13

Yea I’m aware of that. ProBoards does that too. The problem with that is still that you’re only limited to the posts on that forum. There’s no front page to read and post gray comments on, so attrating new members is near impossible.

sony1492 > JRapp: now as good as new again
08/10/2016 at 21:17

The big drawback to a forum for me is #1. I dont think I would be entertained enough. All the other forum aspects seem either awsome or overcome-able.

JRapp: now as good as new again > sony1492
08/10/2016 at 21:18

I agree. It’s nice to be able to see more about a post you’re about to open than just the title.

Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap > Urambo Tauro
08/10/2016 at 21:24

Sorting posts based on time.

sony1492 > JRapp: now as good as new again
08/10/2016 at 21:24

From what Ive noticed the cover photo is about 70% of the game for determining how many peaple look at the post.

JRapp: now as good as new again > sony1492
08/10/2016 at 21:29

I’m gonna say 50% image, 20% title, 30% first few lines of the post.. I’m pretty sure that’s accurate because only about 30% of all statistics on the internet are made up.

Urambo Tauro > Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
08/10/2016 at 21:35

“Posts” are different things in forums than they are in Kinja. There’s a whole different terminology. Technically, both formats sort “posts” by time.

In Kinja, the “post” is the main article. Comments are “replies” and if replies receive replies of their own, you have a “thread”.

But on forums, it starts with a “thread”. Each thread starts with a “post”, and every response, whether it be to the thread starter, or to another poster, is another “post”. I don’t think I’ve seen a forum that refers to responses as “replies”, but since there’s usually a reply button, I guess that “reply” is just a verb, and not the official name for a response.

Scary__goongala! > JRapp: now as good as new again
08/10/2016 at 21:36

I’d this place became a forum format, you would never see me on here again. Forum format works for set cars and manufacturers when you are looking for info. But it would ruin the good dynamic we’ve got going on now.

Nothing > JRapp: now as good as new again
08/10/2016 at 21:42

Positive of forums, chatbox!

JRapp: now as good as new again > Scary__goongala!
08/10/2016 at 21:42

I think a forum format can work for a bit more than a specific car brand or model, but I agree that the dynamic we have going on here is great.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > JRapp: now as good as new again
08/10/2016 at 21:43

Man of these aren’t really concerns with the extensability of many forum software. Many forums have a front page that shows recent posts, which could be manhandled to show image previews of the most recent posts. Or something.

My concerns lie in with moving a community as heavily-trafficked as Oppo onto *anything* other than the— love it or hate it— corporate-maintained enterprise-level hosted BBS software with a team of engineers implementing it.

Furthermore, we would be placing the keys (domain name, hosting account, php privs, forum privs, etc.) into the hands of one person and banking the forum on their ability to keep up with it and not just randomly disappear some day.

Personally I feel moving to Reddit or some sort of other established public forum would be our best bet. Up/down voting of comments and posts, a constant stream of new/fresh content on the subreddit front page, etc. Redditors are godawful, but the community active on the subreddit would be composed of most of the same people we have here so it’d be fine.

JRapp: now as good as new again > Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To
08/10/2016 at 21:54

Trustworthy admins aside, that’s why something like a ProBoards or similar forum provider would be preferred over a self-hosted site, is that even if the admin(s) disappeared or went broke, the forum would keep functioning as it is run by a corporate overlord. The hosting wouldn’t disappear as the site would just default back to the “free” version with ads. Granted a domain name could lapse, but each of their forums also has a subdomain path that won’t lapse.

I do agree though that migrating a community of this size could be detrimental.

As far as Reddit specifically though, from what I understand, it can’t be manhandled to maintain the synergy and flow of Kinja here.

(not that I’m advocating a forum format necessarily mind you)

MM54 > JRapp: now as good as new again
08/10/2016 at 22:18

I like forums, so if needed I’d be down for an oppo-esque forum. I’ve mentioned this before.

JRapp: now as good as new again > MM54
08/10/2016 at 22:22

I think attracting fresh blood would be difficult on a forum not tied to something larger though.

MM54 > JRapp: now as good as new again
08/11/2016 at 18:59

I agree, but that would be the case for any of the (realistic) alternatives