User particpation dropped 50% since changing to vbulletin :(

[TechTalk]

I know it sounds unbeleivable but unfortunantly its true :( Every since I switched to vbulletin, it seems as though noone visits the site. I average 10 posts a day now where I used to average 50. I know my site is very small and is serverally lacking content but i am working it.

I just cant figure out what has happened. At first I thought it was just a slow period, but it never did pick back up.

I keep seeing success stories of sites that switched to vbulletin and I guess what I would like to know is, what can I do to encourage user participation? I really like this program and I know it surpasses ubb 100% I just need some pointers on getting people to post!

Thanks in advance
~Chris

[JimF]

At first, my usage dropped a little bit too. Then I removed the last post names on the forumhome page, and things picked up. Apparently they didn't like seeing their names on the main forum page.

Worked for me, maybe it would work for you too :).

-jim

[Shoe]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by JimF [/i]
[B]At first, my usage dropped a little bit too. Then I removed the last post names on the forumhome page, and things picked up. Apparently they didn't like seeing their names on the main forum page.

Worked for me, maybe it would work for you too :).

-jim [/B][/QUOTE]

How do you remove the last names--I don't like that either. And how do you remove the moderator column--I don't use it.

[George L]

okay here goes, this is my experience...

i moved from ezboard free forums with 190 members and 3900 posts in 10 months to vbulletin with 777 members and 42285 posts in 3 months ~ 464 posts/day - highest day ever had over 1100+ posts !

things that i think helped user participation

1. my constant and regular participation and presence on my forums every day. I found the more time i spend on my forums, the more time members stay around and hence eventually post more.

2. for 95% of the time i am the first person to weclome each new member of the forum (both on my old ezboard and vbulletin now), and normally within 1 min - 12 hrs of the new poster's first post. It makes them feel good and also gives them the first impression that this forum is worth staying around to check out... the other 5% of the time my existing members are into the habit of trying to beat me to welcoming a new member, which means within minutes of the new member's first post you have like 5 - 15 replies welcoming the new member :) - makes them stick around that's for sure :D

3. quality posts on the submit matter of your forums by several members who are into seriously discussing the forum's topic(s) is a must.. new members and existing members signed up for a reason, to get something out of the forum, if they can't get that, they'll move on.

4. referring to a member by the username or real name helps... people love the sound or like to see their name, contrary to what JimF has experienced.

5. to add to the last point, my front page's top 25 posters ranking has spurred alot of posting by existing and new members = all trying to make their mark on that listing :)

6. Avatar icons - wanting to get more icon selection choices as their post counts go up, has been another reason for my continued increase in postings and activity :)

7. Listening and interacting with members, keeping them updated with what's happening on the forums and making them apart of a community is vital. You see a new member who has made their first or second post with no replies, cause their post has been pushed out of sight on the 1st forum page, you bump it up with a reply which encourages other members to do so as well.

I mean sometimes members are just waiting for me to reply to something or anything before they do the same.

8. Being fair to all members, treat them equally and develop your own unique practises, customs or community jargon - my big ones are my admin and mod caps which are imaginery items handed to moderators which symbolize addition powers and privileges... - my mods love it and all members know what they stand for, well i hope :)

9. Make it easy for members to access posts, and find posts they are interested in. For one thing my cookie lasts for a certain time before new posts are unmarked as such. Members spend hours on my forums and never get to read those new posts unmarked. So i added in a search link to call to display the posts made in the last 24 hrs in each forum.

Members are starting to use this to get posts they missed.

I probably have more to say, but that's it for now :)

[Intec]

Thanks eva, these are good and important points.

@JimF
I dont think the user dont like it to see her own names, but when a user come back to the forum he see the last post and click to it and now he dont scroll around through the different threads and dont see anotheer interesting things. And now you have lost traffic. I had seen this by going from ubb to vbb. The user like this feature but it reduce the traffic.

What possibilties in the software function give it, to increase the traffic - especialy for site with low traffic on a day?

- For instance private message? I think no, some user dont post in the forum, she only post each other in the private message system.

Have you other ideas?

[DVD Plaza]

Although I've found VBulletin to be much better in the way it does things and certainly has some very nice features, it's default appearance is a little "technical" - that way the "new thread" and "new reply" buttons are laid out and so forth don't jump out at you. I also feel the "leaping directly to new threads" and so forth would be a problem. Also keep in mind the following...

IF I make the change to VBulletin, the task that will take me the most time doing is...creating templates that ensure every single page looks EXACTLY like my current UBB - [b]this includes removing any fancy features, even if REALLY COOL[/b]. If you have an existing environment such as mine that has a "reasonable" amount of participation, and most importantly an absolute @#^%^@%# shitload of readers (I have a MASSIVE audience, it's a matter of getting more to talk), then you're talking about a LOT of people who are familiar with an existing system. Even if I make VBulletin look identical, there will still be minor differences and complications like everyone's cookies no longer working and minor teething problems and so forth.

In my opinion no matter how hard I try it will be disruptive making the switch, and so it is important that I minimise the differences as much as I possibly can. THEN, once things have calmed down and seem to be back to normal - even if this means waiting several months, ONLY THEN do I plan to start adding in some of the cool stuff.

Just a thought. I haven't made the change yet so there's nothing to say my approach may be wrong, but I strongly believe in the above. Mind you I've still got outstanding concerns before committing to such a change, and non of the VBulletin staff have returned ay of my e-mails...which makes InfoPop's outrageous/digusting/insulting support they offer in the good books since they had least send something back (even if it's total BS).

[Wayne Luke]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by DVD Plaza [/i]
Although I've found VBulletin to be much better in the way it does things and certainly has some very nice features, it's default appearance is a little "technical" - that way the "new thread" and "new reply" buttons are laid out and so forth don't jump out at you. I also feel the "leaping directly to new threads" and so forth would be a problem. Also keep in mind the following...
[/quote]
Changing the templates is not that difficult. You can change the entire look and feel relatively quick.

[quote]
IF I make the change to VBulletin, the task that will take me the most time doing is...creating templates that ensure every single page looks EXACTLY like my current UBB - [b]this includes removing any fancy features, even if REALLY COOL[/b]. If you have an existing environment such as mine that has a "reasonable" amount of participation, and most importantly an absolute @#^%^@%# shitload of readers (I have a MASSIVE audience, it's a matter of getting more to talk), then you're talking about a LOT of people who are familiar with an existing system. Even if I make VBulletin look identical, there will still be minor differences and complications like everyone's cookies no longer working and minor teething problems and so forth.

In my opinion no matter how hard I try it will be disruptive making the switch, and so it is important that I minimise the differences as much as I possibly can. THEN, once things have calmed down and seem to be back to normal - even if this means waiting several months, ONLY THEN do I plan to start adding in some of the cool stuff.

Just a thought. I haven't made the change yet so there's nothing to say my approach may be wrong, but I strongly believe in the above. Mind you I've still got outstanding concerns before committing to such a change, and non of the VBulletin staff have returned ay of my e-mails...which makes InfoPop's outrageous/digusting/insulting support they offer in the good books since they had least send something back (even if it's total BS). [/QUOTE]

Sitepoint.com recently switched from UBB to vBulletin. It has only been about 4 weeks now. The biggest problem we have had is we can't install new features for the users fast enough. Just ask Eva2000. :) The actual disruption was minimal. Our user's cookies were invalidated anyways because the forums received their own domain name and the layout still needs some work to be integrated more into the main site but it is coming along. All in All I think the change was more than worth it. I can say it has cut my work in half as a forum administrator.


p.s. Great Tips Eva.

[JimF]

[QUOTE][i]Originally posted by Intec [/i]
[B]@JimF
I dont think the user dont like it to see her own names, but when a user come back to the forum he see the last post and click to it and now he dont scroll around through the different threads and dont see anotheer interesting things. And now you have lost traffic. I had seen this by going from ubb to vbb. The user like this feature but it reduce the traffic.[/B][/QUOTE]

Maybe not on your board. But on mine, I got emails, as well as many "Thank You" posts when I did that. It made people much more likely to post. Sure, it takes away the convenience factor, but I left the blue arrows which work fine as well.

Plus, if they see the name, they don't have to click into the forum. If there is no name, they DO have to click into the forum. Therefore my traffic went UP.

Shoe-

It's all in the templates :)

-jim

[john2k]

I'm not a vB user yet... still waiting for the new release before I switch from UBB...

My suggestion: Make sure that all of your previous UBB html threads/pages & even the cgi programs redirect to your new forum homepage or to a page explaining that you *upgraded* to a new forum system & include the linked url to the new forum homepage.

If a good amount of your repeat & new website traffic is coming from bookmarks & links to the old forum files, your visitors may be getting "404 Page not found" errors. Many of these users may not know what happened to your forums or how to access the new forum area... some people abandon sites all together once they begin receiving 404 errors.

[jamesglewisf]

Techtalk - Didn't you change URL's and forum names at the same time? I thought you were Extreme Forums before you were GlideTech. That has got to throw some people off. It makes you suspicious about what has changed. Does the site have a new owner, etc.

I might have been the only person who wondered about these things.

One thing that has really driven new visitors to my forum is active participation in other forums.

[jacob]

Hi TechTalk

I used to visit your site (xtereme) before you move, it was very nice and informative actuly I got some help from there too.
But after you change your design specially in forumdisplay you made it confusing by putting the name of Thread Starter under the title [img]http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/images/icons/icon13.gif[/img] I suggest you change your design like before