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Some new feature ideas?

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    • 07/18/2024 at 9:34 PM #218876
      3
      Tony (admin)
      Keymaster

      I have some new website feature ideas I’m considering. I’d also like some input from you fine folks if you have any other ideas for features that can make the site or mobile app better, help increase participation, and/or grow membership.

      I’m considering limiting the readable content of topics and replies to a few words, and requiring users to login to see the whole post. That would potentially “force” some lurkers to actively sign up and login. Thoughts on this?

      I’m also considering making some (or all?) forums require a logged-in user to read them. Say… football. 🙂 and maybe They So Poo Poo to keep out the CB riffraff.

      I understand that both the two above ideas may hurt the site’s search results and such. I wonder if it would be worth it.

      Another idea is some kind of “private” area that’s subscription based. (Some revenue would be nice right?)

      I’m going to redo the feature that put up a banner every so often for lurkers to ask them to login or setup an account. That was more effective than nothing at getting members to either login and/or sign up.

      I think perhaps a Social Login might get a few more users registering. If it is convenient to use their Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Google, or who knows whatever else accounts to login it might be easier for them.

      I’m still working on some other improvements. I have a pretty wild home page that has some awesome features, but it’s really complicated and might be months before I try to spring that. May wait until football season is over for that.

    • 07/18/2024 at 10:08 PM #218878
      1
      Ute Dub
      Participant

      General thoughts. You could test the ideas one at a time and see what the reaction and feedback are.

      What would be accessed and discussed in the membership area?

    • 07/19/2024 at 11:59 AM #218894
      4
      //r00t4Utes
      Participant

      What about, last read or unread feature. Where it automatically goes to the newest comment in a thread ?

      • 07/19/2024 at 12:37 PM #218898
        2
        Tony (admin)
        Keymaster

        If you look in the home page recent topics list, you’ll see a “Freshness” column. On the right of that there’s a date with a username under it. That’s the latest activity. So if you click that date, which may say something like “17 minutes ago” or “4 days ago” or whatever, that takes you straight to the latest activity.

    • 08/17/2024 at 7:30 AM #220344
      Eggers
      Participant

      I’d be a bit cautious with hiding too much content behind a login. It might push some lurkers to sign up, but it could also turn away new visitors who just want to check things out first. Maybe try a teaser or a summary to lure them in, then ask them to log in for the full scoop.

      I’m all for a subscription area if it offers something exclusive or valuable. Just be careful not to lock everything away, or you might scare off casual users who aren’t ready to commit.

      Social logins are definitely worth considering. They make the signup process way easier, and I’ve seen them boost registration rates on other sites.

      Overall, mixing some open content with premium stuff might strike the right balance for growth and search rankings.

      • 08/17/2024 at 9:47 AM #220351
        1
        Tony (admin)
        Keymaster

        Yeah I built a plugin that shows the first x number of lines or characters on topics and replies, as a teaser. Then the user has to login to read the rest. Haven’t implemented it. Not sure, like you mentioned, whether that helps or hurts. The goal is more participation, posts, topics, etc.

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