What's New
Off Topix: Embrace the Unexpected in Every Discussion

Off Topix is a well established general discussion forum that originally opened to the public way back in 2009! We provide a laid back atmosphere and our members are down to earth. We have a ton of content and fresh stuff is constantly being added. We cover all sorts of topics, so there's bound to be something inside to pique your interest. We welcome anyone and everyone to register & become a member of our awesome community.

Content vs Software

Nebulous's iconNebulous

Founder of Off Topix
Elite Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2009
Posts
82,850
OT Bucks
157,799
One of my fav discussions.

What is more important to you.... the content & community interaction OR the software / appearance of the forum?
 
Definitely the former. A dead forum is a dead forum, nothing you can do about it. If there's a lot of trolling, the staff members don't make the cut, spam everywhere, no decent conversation...that's not a forum I'll stick around for.



A visually attractive forum is pretty important to me too, because I cannot stand noobish layouts in gaudy, primary colours and flashing sparkly GIF's everywhere...
 
Content and community interactions. You want to make sure noone starts fighting with each other and that everyone is still interested in the forums.
 
I think it evens it self out. You need to have a good balance of both to have a amazing forum
smile.png
 
Content. Like already said, a forum with no content isn't going to do well, regardless of how visually appealing it is.
 
I would say content is more important than software. And the community involvement. I mean, I could join a forum that's merely using a Subsilver theme on PHPBB2 and as long as the community is getting along fine, and the administrators are happy and having fun, that's all I care about. I'm not picky about what a forum looks like. Content and community interaction are more important than anything.
 
A forum should be running on whatever software the admin(s) are most comfortable using. Software is meaningless from a members stand point. They all do the same basic thing.

Content is the most important part of a forum. Without any substance, a forum will fail.. No matter what software its on.
 
I've seen really great forums running on subsilver, php v2. It's all about the content. Bells and whistles are nice, but if you don't have any substance--it's not something that people will come back to.

NytSFyi.png
 
They are both very important to me. First off, something on the forum has to attract me before I join. It needs to look nice. If after I join, the content sucks, then I'm gone.
 
Both are key points to forums.



Content because it keeps the forum active, and software because it keeps the forum running.



One can't be possible without the other.
 
Tom said:
Both are key points to forums.



Content because it keeps the forum active, and software because it keeps the forum running.



One can't be possible without the other.



Well said.
 
Content. If I joined a forum I'm there to discuss stuff, not ooo and ahhh over the fact that you use the newest IPB or SMF software version and have so many cool features. But with that being said, having a forum that is visible appealing does give people more of a reason to stay or look at your forum.
 
To some, the software is important. Nobody wants JHG forum software at their favorite forum when they've never heard of it.



It's better to use mainstream, reputable software, not software that only programmers and administrators heard of.
 
Software is only important to the administrator and what he/she wants to do with his/her forum. Some softwares give you better control over everything and a better selection of modifications / addons.. Or maybe they have more powerful moderator tools / admin tools.. etc etc etc..

To the user though, the software shouldnt matter at all.. As long as they can figure out how to post replies, then thats all that matters.
 
Nebulous said:
One of my fav discussions.

What is more important to you.... the content & community interaction OR the software / appearance of the forum?

That reminds me of a similar discussion at Forum Promotion titled Design or Content? Here is what I posted:



Of course, a decent design is necessary to ease the process of sifting through, and submitting, content, and in order to give the guests and members a pleasing environment within which to seek out content.



The content is my foremost concern, but the other elements remain important though they are secondary.



Regards,



Kevin
 
Definately the content & community interaction. If that's lacking then I could care less about the fancy software being used.
 
Back
Top Bottom