discussion

The Switch To vBulletin

Vbulletin Logo
Don’t mind the dust that is being kicked up by the work I’m doing to the forum. Actually, I wanted to let everyone know that I have decided to plunk down $85.00 and purchased a one year lease on vBulletin. I gave PHPBB a shot and although they have made leaps and strides over version 2, I can’t help but feel how spoiled I was when I managed a forum that was powered by Vbulletin. In my honest opinion, Vbulletin is worth every penny. It’s more user friendly, is packed with power and punch right out of the box, and provides an excellent framework for growth. Best of all, most of the things I want to use in forum software is already built into Vbulletin. I don’t have to spend every waking moment of the day installing 100 mods in order to get the functionality that I need.

Everything that was on the PHPBB forum install is now gone. We are starting over from scratch but this is as good a reason as any to do so. I have experience with Vbulletin and I know what it’s capable of. It might take me a few days to get everything the way I want before I re-launch the forums but it’s something worth waiting for.

Break Down Of Communication

Ever notice how a good conversation on a forum or blog will usually take a nose dive? What was once an informative exchange of information turns into a slug fest with expletives being tossed around left and right with someone usually being referred to as a nazi. I’ve learned that the term for this breakdown in communication is called ‘Godwin’s Law’.

Back in 1990, Mike Godwin of the EFF noted a feature of online discussion groups: As a thread gathered steam, members would start hurling insults and inevitably someone would be compared to Adolf Hitler. Hence Godwins Law. The longer an online conversation continues, the greater the possibility of a reference to Nazis. Usually at this point, the conversation is over.

Although this video doesn’t highlight the comparison to Adolf Hitler, it does a nice job of showing just how communication breaks down.

Viewer Voices: Where We Respond To The Opinions Of Our Uninformed Viewers

Participate In A Forum Within Your Niche

V7network LogoProblogger is doing their blogging tips for the month of August and the tip for August 3rd centered around joining and then participating in forums that are part of your niche. Taking this tip to heart, I typed a search string into Google and a few minutes later, I discovered the v7n Webmaster Forum. This forum contains topics that I’m interested in such as SEO, Blogging, Marketing, Graphic design, ect. Because these topics are directly related to the content that I post regularly on this site, participating in this forum should be a piece of cake.

I’m participating in a forum not only for the extra boost in traffic to this site, but also to create new relationships. Relationships are one of the most powerful tools a blogger can posses as in most times, it’s not what you know, it’s who you know. Using this forum, I can gain a new level of knowledge of the topics I discuss which will help me out when I am suffering from writers block. The forum also provides me an avenue of sharing information that I have learned which is one way in which I can give back to the community.

So do yourself a favor. Look for a forum that relates to what you blog about and participate in it. In the long run, you’ll be glad you did.

If you happen to join this same forum, be sure to look me up as my handle is Jeffro2pt0.